He cages me to the wall, leaning down so his lips are almost touching mine. “I’m not paying you, Aspen. Not tonight anyway. You’re fucking fired.”

Chapter Twenty-seven

Sawyer

The Uber ride back to the hotel is torture. We have to drop Denver off at his apartment and Aspen runs up to get her things. And when I say runs, I mean runs. She takes two stairs at a time as I watch from the car.

She tries to pretend she’s not into me. And she can deny it all she wants, but I see the way she looks at me. The way her eyes burn into mine. The way her breathing accelerates and her nipples pebble when I touch her. She wants me as much as I want her.

When she comes back down the stairs with her small suitcase, I take it from her and put it in the trunk. I notice she changed her shirt. This one is not damp with sweat. It’s tiny and sleeveless and has me thinking about how quickly I’ll be able to strip her out of it.

I scoot in next to her and kiss her neck, smelling the spritz of perfume she must have put on when she was changing.

“Nobody’s watching,” she jokes. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

I laugh. “Nobody better be watching when I do to you what I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

She bites her lip. It’s an innocent move, but she looks so hot when she does it. She has no idea what she does to me. I look down at the rising problem in my lap.

I rest my hand on her thigh, running my thumb in tiny circles. I feel her tremble and it makes me smile.

She doesn’t fail to notice. “Don’t get cocky, Tom Sawyer,” she says, nodding to my lap. “You have no right to talk.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“But you were thinking it,” she says.

“I’m thinking a lot of things right now,” I say, moving my hand up closer to the apex of her thighs.

She looks at the driver to make sure he’s watching the road, and then she puts her hand on my lap and moves her fingers around against the fabric of my jeans. Shit. I’m not going to be able to get out of the car if she keeps this up.

“What are you doing to me?” I ask.

She giggles. “I figured with your sordid past, you’d know what, Mr. Mills.”

I shake my head and laugh. That’s not what I meant, but I’m not about to tell her that. This woman – I can’t get her out of my head. Maybe a good fuck will do the trick. I ignore the voice in my head that reminds me I already had one of those and it did nothing to squelch my want of her. If anything, it did the opposite.

And I realize I’m in a position I’ve never been in. I’m about to sleep with a woman for the second time. Sawyer Mills doesn’t sleep with anyone twice. One and done. I’m breaking my rules with her.

This is different, I tell myself. We’re living together like boyfriend and girlfriend. That makes this okay. It’s expected of us. It’s no big deal. This doesn’t affect the contract. It doesn’t affect the outcome. Because there can only be one outcome. And I’ve known that since I was ten years old.

“We’re here,” the driver says.

We both look out the car window. We were oblivious to the fact that the car had come to a stop. We look at each other and laugh. Then we get out and retrieve her bag.

We run into a few of my teammates going into the lobby bar at the hotel.

“Want to join us for a nightcap?” Caden asks as we walk past.

“Nope,” I say, my steps quickening as I pull Aspen towards the elevator.

I hear laughter behind us and glance back to see the guys staring at us. Brady has an amused look on his face.

“Mind your own business!” I yell at him just before pushing Aspen into the elevator.

The doors close. We’re the only ones inside. She looks at me. I look at her. She drops her purse on the floor and jumps into my arms. I catch her as I back up into the corner just as our lips crash together.

As the floors go by, our kisses become deeper. Our tongues mingle together as we taste each other. When I’m out of breath, I break our seal and move my lips to her neck. She tastes salty sweet. A mixture of sweat and perfume. A moan escapes her when I suck on a place by her collarbone. I chronicle the exact location in my memory.

The elevator dings and the doors open. I don’t want to put her down. I want to carry her like this until I can throw her on my bed. But we have her suitcase in here and her purse is on the floor. I reluctantly let her go and we gather up her things and make our way to my suite.

I unlock the door and deposit her suitcase inside. Aspen immediately jumps back into my arms. It’s almost like she read my mind. She doesn’t even bother looking around the room. She doesn’t notice that I’ve booked us the Presidential Suite. She doesn’t notice the view overlooking the river. Or the ornate flowers on the table. She doesn’t notice the stocked bar and the array of food I had pre-ordered for the evening. She doesn’t notice because her eyes never stray from mine.

Nobody has ever not noticed. Nobody until her.

I carry her into the bedroom and put her down on the bed, immediately crawling on top of her. Having her under me is like something out of a dream. It is out of a dream. My dreams. Since the first day I met her, she’s plagued me as I sleep.

I pull up the hem of her shirt, removing it when she arches her back and lifts her head. Her white satin bra has a hook in the front and I waste no time unfastening it. The two cups fall to the side, revealing her gorgeous creamy breasts.

I palm them. Then I run my fingers around the edges, teasing her before I pinch her nipples. “If I didn’t tell you before, these are incredible.”

She laughs. “Of course you haven’t told me before. Did all the alcohol fry your brain?”

Oh, shit. That’s right. This is supposed to be the first time I’ve seen her. “I don’t know,” I say. “That skimpy shirt you had on at the club gave me a pretty good idea.”

Thinking about her alcohol comment has me removing my hands from her momentarily.

“How much have you had to drink?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I had a beer at the game and a few shots at the club. Why?”

“You didn’t take one of those pills, did you?”

“My muscle relaxants? No. Of course not.”

“Good.”

She smiles up at me. “Is this you taking care of me again? You’d better watch out, Sawyer, or you’ll turn into a nice guy.”

I shut her up when I lean down and kiss her again. She arches her back and reaches around to pull me tightly against her.

With my hand between us, stroking her breasts, we kiss until I can’t stand it any longer. The pressure in my pants is driving me insane. I sit up and straddle her, reaching behind me to pull my shirt over my head. Then I undo the button on her pants. Her eyes study my chest. My tattoo. She traces the outline of it with her finger.

Her finger stops its path and she looks up at me, cocking her head to the side.

“What is it?” I ask.

She shakes her head, looking at my tattoo. “Nothing. Just a strange feeling of déjà vu.”

I move to the side and peel her pants off. “I promise you won’t be thinking of anything in about twenty seconds.”

The sides of her mouth curve into a smile. “Is that so?”

“Oh, yeah,” I say, my lips coming down to meet her right breast.

While my tongue is busy playing with her nipple, my hand works its way under her panties. Her very small, very wet panties. My cock strains even harder against the seam of my jeans. I slip a finger through her wetness and coat her tiny nub with it. Then I rub my thumb in circles, extracting a moan from deep inside her throat. When I slip a finger inside her, she pleads with me. “Yes!” she yells.

Her excitement fuels me further and I slide her panties down her legs, removing my mouth from her chest so I can follow every curve with my tongue until I hit her ankle. Her hips buck under me as I slowly work my way back up her legs, tasting every bit of flesh up to the apex of her thighs. When I put my tongue there, she calls out my name three times and I feel like Tarzan. King Kong. Fucking Superman.

The way my name comes off her lips when I’m feasting on her is the most erotic thing I’ve ever heard. With my tongue on her clit, I use my fingers to stroke inside her, searching for the spot I know will drive her crazy. I know it’s there. I’ve found it once before.

I crook my fingers and she shouts again. Her thighs tighten around my head. Her fingers weave into my hair, tugging, pulling, clawing. When her back arches and her insides clench my fingers, I have to grit my teeth to keep myself from coming with her, because watching her come is fucking hot. And more satisfying than any of my fantasies.

“Holy shit,” I say, hopping up to quickly remove my jeans. “I have to see that again.”

She throws an arm over her face in embarrassment as she recovers from her orgasm. “It won’t happen,” she says. “It never happens twice.”

“That’s not true,” I say. “You—”

Damn it.

“I what?” she asks, turning on her side while reaching out to grab my cock.

Jesus, her hands feel good on me. My cock is hard as steel as she runs her hands up and down my shaft.

“Nothing,” I say. “I don’t even know my own fucking name right now with you doing that to me.”

She laughs and then she leans down. “Well, what if I do this?” she says, right before taking me into her mouth.

“Aspen!” I shout as her wet warmth encapsulates me.

The seal she has on my cock breaks when she smiles around me. She looks up at me while she takes me in from tip to root and back. Her fingers work fervently around my balls and over my perineum.

I pull away. “I want inside you. Now.”

“Condom?” she asks.

“Got it.” I reach over the side of the bed and open my wallet. There are two condoms inside. Because I always double-wrap. I look from my wallet back to Aspen. Then I pull out one.