She retreated
down the hallway and lurked by the door leading to the stairwell. Taylor knew she was acting like a crazy
person, but since Ryan’s room was only two floors down there was no point in
risking an elevator run-in with someone they knew. She wished she wasn’t such a coward, but just
saying yes to this and then actually following through was using up her current
store of courage, and then some.
Ryan pushed open
the glass doors of the bar and strode into the hallway. He glanced toward the elevators, frowned, and
then quickly scanned the corridor. When
his gaze lighted on her, he smiled. He came
to her with a quick, long-legged stride that told her how eager he was to be
with her. That set off a lovely glow of
warmth inside, and eased the tension that spiralled through her like a
corkscrew.
“So, we’re doing
our best to evade detection, I take it,” he said as he came up to her. He glanced at the high-tech security camera
placed high on the wall on the opposite side of the stairwell. “Do you want me to disable the camera?”
She mentally
winced even as she let out a reluctant laugh.
“I know it’s stupid, but I think it makes sense, don’t you?”
He took her by
the elbow and steered her through the heavy metal door into the stairwell. “Are you kidding? I love the idea of sneaking around with a
beautiful woman.”
As the door
clanged shut behind them, he surprised her by pushing her up against the hard
concrete wall at the top of the landing.
Deliberately, he covered every inch of the front of her body with his,
pressing his already impressively hard erection into her belly as he captured
her face between his big hands.
“Sneaking around
makes everything so much dirtier, don’t you think?” he murmured as he feathered
kisses along her cheekbone and down to the corner of her mouth. “And way hotter. Already I can’t wait to be inside you, baby.”
God help her,
but Taylor loved how he took charge.
Given the current state of her nerves, it was just what she needed.
She answered him
with a satisfied sigh, sliding her hands around his neck. Angling her head, she felt her tensions
unspooling as his lips moved from her jawline to the sensitive flesh below her
ear. But when he nipped her earlobe, the
resulting shock jolted her back to her senses.
“Jeez,” she
exclaimed, giving him a smack on the shoulder.
“What are you, a vampire?”
His low, husky
laugh made her go weak behind the knees.
“Come on, Taylor. I think you
liked it.”
Damn it, she had
liked it. In fact, the thought of him
making little love bites all over her body was a surprisingly exciting
thought. Not that she intended to admit
that to him.
“Well, maybe a
bit,” she admitted in a grudging voice.
“But there’s no need to go caveman on me.”
He braced his
forearms on either side of her head while still keeping his pelvis plastered
against her. Almost unconsciously she
couldn’t help giving a little wriggle, and his eyes rewarded her with a flare
of sexual heat.
“One second I’m
a vampire and the next I’m a caveman,” he answered with mock complaint. “If I didn’t know better, I would guess you
had a thing for alpha males.”
She
snorted. “Trust me. I have more than
enough alpha males in my life without having to resort to fantasies about
vampires or cavemen.”
He appraised her
with a smoldering, narrow-eyed gaze that made her just a wee bit nervous and
more than a little hot.
“Um, Ryan, what
are you—”
“Caveman,” he
said with a nod, cutting her off.
And before she
even had a chance to catch her breath, he quickly stooped and then tipped her
over his brawny shoulder. When he stood,
she found herself hanging over his back in the classic fireman’s carry, with
his hand on her butt and her purse dangling down around his knees.
“What the hell
are you doing?” she forced out with a strangled cry.
He began jogging
down the stairs, bouncing her stomach against his shoulder and forcing most of
the air out of her lungs.
“From my
intimate knowledge of you, I’ve decided that you’re more the caveman type,” he
said. “I just can’t see you as a
Twilight kind of gal, to tell you the truth.”
“I’m not the
anything type,” she said in a breathless pant.
“And this is insane.”
He was moving
down the stairs with effortless motion, one hand skimming lightly over the
railing and the other planted firmly on her cheeks. Predictably, her skirt had hiked up when he’d
thrown her over his shoulder, and part of his hand was resting on her naked
flesh. Today of all days had to be the one when she wore a thong. That wasn’t her normal choice of underwear,
but her little black skirt was so tight that anything else created panty
lines. So to say that she felt virtually
naked and exposed was something of an understatement.
She was also
beginning to get incredibly excited at the thought of what Caveman Ryan was
going to do her, and that kind of instinctive response was bringing the blood
rushing to her face.
Of course, that
probably had more to do with the fact that she was hanging upside down. Oh, well, at least she had a nice view of his
very fine ass underneath the soft leather of his jacket. And it was
only two floors down, so she supposed she could let him have his little
fantasy.
But when he
pushed open the door to his floor without putting her down, Taylor let out a
startled yelp. “Ryan, put me down! What if someone sees us?”
He gave her ass
a little squeeze. “Don’t worry,
gorgeous. I looked first. There’s nobody around.”
She craned
around, peering along the softly lit hallway in the direction of the
elevator. The corridor was empty, and
the only sound was the tread of his shoes on the thick, burgundy colored
carpet.
“And here we are
at my door,” he said, smugly cheerful.
“Just one second more and—”
When the door
next to Ryan’s room opened Taylor almost had a heart attack. From her upside down position she could see
an older couple emerge, the man dressed in a tuxedo and the woman in an evening
gown, fur stole, and pearls. Even
hanging off Ryan’s back she could see the consternation written all over their well-bred
faces.
“Good gracious,”
exclaimed the woman in a horrified voice.
“Oh, hi,” Ryan
said, as friendly as anything. “My wife
was feeling a little tipsy, so I’m just helping her back to the room. We’re celebrating our anniversary and she got
a little carried away.”
Taylor had to
repress the impulse to dig her nails hard into Ryan’s butt. Instead, she managed a weak wave.
“Well, I never,”
huffed the woman, dragging her husband down the hall toward the elevators. But even she hustled him along, the man
turned back toward Taylor and Ryan and, grinning like a maniac, gave them a
thumb’s up.
Taylor groaned,
letting her head thunk down in the middle of Ryan’s back as he carried her into
his room. He bent at the knees and
gently set her on her feet, holding her by the shoulders for a few seconds
until her blood settled back where it belonged.
“I’m going to
kill you,” she promised as he got busy with her blouse.
About The
Authors
V.K. Sykes is
really two people - Vanessa Kelly and Randy Sykes, a husband and wife team who
write USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance. Randy excels at plot and
characterization, but tends to fall down on the job when it comes to that pesky
old thing called emotion. That's where Vanessa steps in. She usually writes the
sex scenes too, since Randy is a bit uncomfortable when it comes to that sort
of stuff. Vanessa also writes award-winning Regency-set historical romance for
Kensington Zebra under her own name. You can find V.K. on the web at
http://www.vksykes.com and Vanessa at http://www.vanessakellyauthor.com
Vanessa is also
a member of Rock*It Reads, a group of traditionally published authors
who are committed to bringing high standards and professional quality to their
independently published works. Members include New York Times bestselling and
award winning authors like Pamela Clare, Monica Burns, Elisabeth Naughton and
Kris Kennedy. You can find Rock*It Reads on the web at http://www.rockitreads.com.
I love sports romances, and especially ones about baseball. My review will be posted later this week. Leave a comment and be entered to win a ebook copy of either FASTBALL, book one in The Philadelphia Patriots series, or HOT NUMBER. Be sure to leave your email address to be entered in the giveaway.
