Seven Nights

by Kristin Daniels

  He sipped on his martini and slid his gaze to Evan before coming back to her. Okay, could that be any clearer? She couldn’t help but think that perhaps they had themselves a little mutual understanding.

  “I don’t doubt it in the least,” she agreed, glancing away from his intense stare in a weak attempt to calm her now-berserk heartbeat.

  There was a small dance floor at the far end of the bar, and the instant she imagined being wrapped in Garrett’s arms while rubbing and moving against him in a sexy dance, the music on the juke box changed to an upbeat, sensual Salsa tune. When she tapped her toe in the air to the rhythm and wriggled her hips ever so slightly, he surprised the hell out of her by standing and holding out his hand.

  “Care to?”

  Would she ever.

  “I’d love to but I don’t know the steps,” she said. Regardless, she slipped her fingers over his waiting palm and let him lead her to the center of the parquet floor.

  “You really don’t know how to Salsa?”

  She shook her head. “Not officially, no.”

  He twirled her once before sliding his hand around her waist and pulling her in close. “I took a couple lessons years ago. Completely under duress, mind you, but the moves stuck with me.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, it’s a long story. I’ll have to tell it to you sometime.”

  “Can’t wait to hear it.”

  The fabric of his shirt scarcely muted the heat radiating off his body when he clutched her tighter. In turn, she caressed his shoulders and worked her fingers higher to explore the skin along his neck before toying with the curly ends of his dark hair.

  Thick and silky—that was putting it mildly.

  “First off, a Salsa is all about the hips,” he instructed with a whisper. “Moving them smoothly, letting the music take over. Just doing what your body tells you to.”

  Oh boy, if he only knew what her body was telling her to do, she thought as he trailed his hands even lower to grip her hips and roll them side to side. Then again, based on the energy between them, she figured his body was probably telling him the same thing.

  “Like this. Easy. Smooth.”

  Heaven help her, she wanted to groan.

  “Bend your knees a little. Yeah, like that. You got it. Here we go now. Follow my lead.”

  He made following his steps utterly effortless. She simply moved back and forth with him in a fluid pattern, in tiny circles around the center of the dance floor.

  She laughed when he spun her again, only to bring her right back to where she started from, with his strong hands leading the way and his forehead resting against hers. He flashed a conspiratorial grin that she answered with a squeeze of his biceps. The muscles there were hard as rocks and that had her wondering what else might be as well.

  “You’re a natural at this.”

  “Yeah?” she asked, breathless.

  “Absolutely.”

  He spun her once more, but this time he stepped forward and caught her with his chest plastered against her back. He snaked his hands under her arms and over her stomach, one coming to rest under her breasts and the other heading lower as they continued their sexy dance. He ground against her ass and this time she didn’t even try to hold back.

  Her groan rose from deep in her throat, yet it was quiet enough that only he could hear her. When he nuzzled her neck, his breath burned over the same spot as before. She dropped her head back on his shoulder as she slid her hands lower to clutch his thighs.

  Dear God, could those be even harder than his biceps? Every inch of this man was solid, including the erection now prodding her lower back.

  “Right there.” He sucked in a breath between his teeth. “I like it right there.”

  That was all it took. Her entire body heated to inferno level, and she could’ve come right then.

  He held on tighter and danced them in a loop to face the bar. Evan was standing there with his arms folded over his wide chest, leaning against the center island, just staring at them. He held his jaw firm and his chest rose slowly and evenly with each breath, but nothing could mask the undeniable want in his eyes.

  Garrett worked his fingertips against the silkiness of her blouse and hooked the thumb of his opposite hand under her belt. Her nipples tightened even more, tingling to the point where she was sure nothing would ease the ache his simple touch created.

  “Looks as if our friend over there isn’t too shy about what he wants,” Garrett mused at the edge of her ear. “Can’t say as I blame him, though. Seems to be a lot of that going on here.”

  Never in her life had she felt so free. Wild, even. She covered Garrett’s hand with one of her own and worked her fingers between his to hold it there while lifting her other hand to that silky place along the nape of his neck. She gripped those short curls and reveled in the quiet growl he let loose when she tightened and tugged a little.

  “Ah, baby. You’re some wicked sexy, you know that?”

  She had to smile. “You’re the first person to ever call me that.”

  “What? Sexy? I highly doubt that.”

  She shook her head ever so slightly. “No. Wicked. I’ve never been called wicked before.”

  More heat cascaded over her skin when he pressed his lips against her temple. “Then I’m the first person to see who you really are,” he whispered.

  As revelations went this one floored her, simply because she couldn’t help but think that, in this moment, he might be right.

  They stayed like that for a few beats, gyrating together, mimicking a slow, rhythmic fucking, all the while being watched intently by Evan. Her breath came quicker and her knees started to feel like jelly.

  “You want him,” Garrett continued at the shell of her ear. “Don’t you?”

  Her throat constricted, but whether it was from nerves or excitement, she couldn’t be sure. Gripping him tighter was the only answer she could give.

  “I watched you today. When you stopped in here, you gave him these looks.”

  “Did I?” she managed.

  His chuckle rumbled in his chest and penetrated through her back. “Yeah, you did.”

  “Mmm.”

  “You’re not denying it, are you?”

  The devil in her just kept staring into Evan’s eyes. She remained silent.

  “I know you’re thinking it,” Garrett kept going. “My hands all over you. His hands. Our mouths.” He pushed against her ass again. “Among other things.”

  God, he was reading her mind. “And you’re calling me wicked?”

  “Come on, Riley,” he said quietly. Darkly. “Let me hear you say it. Let me hear you say how much you want him. How much you want us.”

  She peered over her shoulder and caught his gaze. Lust, desire, need—all were heady emotions in and of themselves. But weaved together in the depths of Garrett’s near-black eyes… She found herself lost and grounded all at the same time as an easy truth spilled past her lips.

  “Yes, Garrett. I want you. And I want him. I want you both, and I want you together.”

  Chapter Two

  Riley dropped her gaze to Garrett’s mouth. There was no smile, not even a quirk. When he merely slid his tongue across his lips, she couldn’t help but wish it was her tongue doing all that licking.

  “Let’s see what we can do about that, then,” he said.

  His words brought her attention back to his eyes. She was instantly slammed by the connection they shared. Deep. Fierce. Definitely on the same page.

  They both looked back at Evan, who had turned away when a server brought out their food. He took the plates from her, held them up and hitched his chin at them.

  Part of her wanted to stay in Garrett’s arms on the dance floor all night long, but an even bigger part of her was more eager to move forward with both men—to get the party started and live out her fantasies, so to speak.

  “To be continued,” Garrett whispered before brushing his lips along the side of her neck. He loosened his g
rip, twirled her once more and led her back to their barstools. When they got there, she hitched her hip on the edge of her seat, but Garrett remained standing.

  “On second thought, Evan,” he started, “can we get these to go?”

  “To go?”

  A new bout of tingles fired in her stomach when Evan came close to putting on a sad, puppy-dog face. Granted, it was damn sexy, but it was a puppy-dog face nonetheless.

  “Yeah.” Garrett yanked his wallet from his back pocket, plucked out a fifty along with a key card and pushed them both across the bar top. “And do you deliver?”

  Evan ignored the money for the tab but zeroed in on the key card. He picked it up, lifted his eyes and studied them for a moment. “I’m guessing this isn’t an invitation to hang out with you guys as just a third wheel. I’ve gotta say that’s never really been my thing.”

  Her breath caught at the notion that she and Garrett might’ve read him wrong this entire time, but Garrett stayed completely composed as he replaced the wallet in his pocket.

  “You guessed right. There’ll be no third wheels tonight. Only willing, active participants. And for the record?” He tilted his head toward Riley. “This is all about her. For her. If you’re interested, that is.”

  “Hell, I’ve been interested for the last three days.” Evan flicked the card between his fingers. “This is what you want?” he asked her.

  Clear, controlled. No wavering. “This is what I want.”

  He paused only a second before he said, “Delivery it is, then. Room number?”

  “1207,” Garrett answered.

  Evan checked his watch. “Give me ten minutes.”

  Garrett held out his hand for her as she took a final sip of her drink. “We’ll try,” he said, laughing.

  Evan slid him a hard glare. “Try hard.”

  Garrett settled his hand on the small of her back and helped ease her from the barstool. The gesture was possessive but not domineering and she found that she liked it. She grabbed her bags and they headed toward the hotel’s lobby.

  “I just need to make a quick stop at that little store over there before we go up.”

  At this point, she probably would’ve waited forever for him, but was relieved when he was gone less than five minutes. He met her back by the fountain in the center of the lobby with a small black shopping bag clutched in his left hand. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was inside.

  “Ready?” He slid his fingers across her cheek, under her ear and up into her hair before leaning in and stopping a mere centimeter from kissing her. Lord, every ounce of her was dying to lift to her toes to close the distance. Her lips burned for his kiss, yet somehow she knew that if they started anything here in the lobby they’d either embarrass the hell out of themselves or go so far they’d end up getting thrown in jail. Being charged with lewd and lascivious acts, only to get tossed into a ten by ten holding cell to wait for someone to bail her out really wasn’t the way she envisioned ending the night.

  “As I’ll ever be,” she answered.

  “Perfect.”

  The way his eyes sparked and the gentle yet commanding caress of his fingertips against her scalp had her heart racing even more. She wasn’t sure whether he meant what she just said was perfect, or if he was referring to her just being her. Either way, her pulse went nuts, as if she’d just sprinted across the finish line after running a 5K marathon.

  He trailed his fingers from her hair, down her arm and clasped her hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

  He strolled to the elevators with her hand held tightly within his and a haughty coolness in his stride. He pushed the up button and they waited impatiently but quietly, watching the numbers flash along the gold strip over the elevator doors. Five, four, three, two and ping. The car arrived empty and he let go of her hand to usher her inside.

  He thumbed number twelve once they entered, and spun to face her. The doors barely had a chance to close completely before he took the few steps to pin her against the back wall.

  “This might be my only time alone with you tonight and I just wanted… Well, I wanted to do this.”

  She was caught off guard for a split-second when he lowered his lips and possessed her in a crazy, melty kiss. He took her slowly, yet it all happened so fast. He sipped at her lips, drank from them and literally took her breath away. His tongue was like a lick of hot blue flames as he gently worked it inside against hers. Scorching. Moist. As rough as it was smooth, and salty from the olives in his drink. With the two of them alone in the elevator, she saw no reason to try to quiet her moan.

  She felt his male pride in his smile as he cradled her cheeks while she clutched the shirt at his waist and pulled it free from his pants. When she finally worked her hands underneath and touched skin, he pressed against her harder. Chest to chest, hip to hip, all the way down to their knees.

  She was in heaven and the night had barely even begun.

  “Jesus… What you do to me, Riley.”

  The groaned words were muffled against her jaw as he lowered his hands to her waist and moved his lips closer to her ear. When he captured her lobe and sucked, she responded with a dig of her nails into the toned flesh at his sides.

  She didn’t say anything in return for the lone reason that, quite frankly, she couldn’t. She was too lost in what he was doing to her to draw in a single breath, let alone form any logical words of her own.

  They both nearly missed the ping once the elevator reached the twelfth floor. Garrett lunged and shoved his arm into the path of the closing doors before tugging on her hand once more.

  She followed him down the hallway, somewhat surprised at his urgency. Not because she truly found it shocking, but because she was amazed at how much it mirrored her own. They were in sync, she and this powerful man, and the realization was downright erotic.

  Only four doors down on the right, they hit room 1207 in seconds. He let go of her hand to shove a second key card in the door handle plate. As soon as the lock clicked and released, he repeated the whole leading hand at her lower back thing. She didn’t think she’d ever tire of how special that made her feel.

  The only light in the room shone from a small lamp on the desk. The hotel’s turndown service had worked its magic, complete with a white towel folded into the shape of a swan in the center of the king size bed along with two pieces of dark chocolate nestled atop each pillow. She dropped her bags by the door, sauntered over and picked up one of the chocolates as Garrett tossed the little black bag and his key card on the nightstand.

  “Here, let me do that.” He took the candy from her fingers, unwrapped it and held it to her lips. She bit it in half and let the silkiness melt over her tongue as the bitterness of the chocolate assaulted her taste buds. She closed her eyes and savored the flavor, thinking the combination was almost as good as how Garrett had tasted in the elevator.

  Yeah…but not quite.

  “Good?”

  She opened her eyes in time to see him pop the rest of the piece into his mouth and nodded. “Very.”

  He chewed with a devilish tilt to his lips. “Yeah, it’s not bad.”

  She didn’t want any awkwardness to develop between them as they waited for Evan, so before they ended up headed down that highway, she stepped past him and made her way to the window. The Gulf view of the white sand beaches and emerald-green surf was spectacular from this side of the hotel during the light of day, but at this time of night the water past the coastline cast an eerie pitch-black shadow. She stood at the window, looking out at the moon’s glow over the water and pressed one hand against the cool glass.

  When Garrett silently moved behind her, she almost trembled. Their gazes met in the window, his dark and sultry while hers hovered somewhere between nervous and excitement laced with a tinge of… Exactly what, she wasn’t sure. Even so, she didn’t need to see his murky image to know he stood just inches away. She could feel his presence everywhere—all over her skin, inside her lungs, between her thighs. />
  As he unclasped her link belt, any lingering trepidation drained from her body. And when the metal jingled when he dropped it to the floor, every bit of that secret thrill rose to the surface and grabbed her in a stranglehold.

  “Put your other hand up on the window.”

  She did as he instructed without a second thought. Standing there, she leaned forward with both hands braced on the glass, watching every move he made in a hazy mirror image.

  Just then, the electric lock whirred and the room door opened slowly. Evan stepped through with the handle of a carry-out bag fisted in his hand, and from what she could see, a heated fuck-me-now expression plastered all over his face.

  “Perfect timing,” Garrett said.

  “Seems so.” Evan placed the bag on the desk and sat on the edge next to it, sticking his long legs out and crossing them at the ankles. “What’ve I missed?”

  Garrett smoothed his palm down the arch of her back and over her ass. She sucked her lips between her teeth and bit when he stopped and squeezed the rounded part with a controlled dig of his fingertips.

  “Not a thing. We were just getting started.”

  When she peered over her shoulder, Evan cocked his head and folded his arms over his chest. She was a little bummed to see he’d taken off the bow tie and cuff links, but not so upset that she missed how he’d loosened four or five buttons and rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. His forearms could’ve rivaled Garrett’s, and she considered for a moment how similar the physiques of these two men really were—only tonight the more olive-toned of the two dominated in classic white, while the fair-complexioned man rocked out in head to toe metal-god black.

  An archetypical case of good versus evil?

  Maybe.

  Although, given the flutter of her pulse and the buzz inside her head, she wasn’t so sure she could hold a thought long enough to decipher which man represented which. Not that it mattered. The only thing that did matter right now was that both of these men were utterly mesmerizing, sexy as sin, and that for the rest of the night they were all hers.