The Redhead Revealed (Redhead #2)(53)
Author: Alice Clayton

We kissed eagerly, passionately, and I forgot everything except his lips, the scratch of his stubble, and the feel of his hands on me. My fingers found his hair and dug in. I scratched his scalp, and he sighed into my mouth at the sensation.

I heard a scuffle, then a muffled giggle. I turned to see a few ladies from the hotel restaurant peeking in, but all but one immediately scrambled out the door. The one remaining blushed deeply.

“We just came to see if you were ready for your lunch, Mr. Hamilton,” she stammered, clearly feeling his star power.

I looked back at Jack, and he nodded to say it was my choice.

“I think we’ve decided on a little room service instead, right, George?” I asked, grinning cheekily at him.

“Whatever the lady wants.” He grinned back at me as I led him past the still-stunned hotel employee and out the door. He then led me to the bank of elevators next to the banquet center. As we waited for the elevator to arrive, we began to kiss. At first slowly, tiny little pecks, but they quickly grew into wonderfully sloppy kisses.

An elevator arrived, just as the doors to the adjacent banquet room opened and dozens of women from the Greater New York Area Quilting Society poured out after their buffet lunch. And there they found their Super Sexy Scientist Guy groping an older redhead. Shocked whispers turned to swooning frenzy in less time than it took to blink. Phone cameras appeared instantly.

“Grace, we need to get out of here,” Jack whispered in my ear, trying to shield me from the cameras as we hurriedly stepped into the elevator.

I laughed out loud. Nothing was gonna kill my buzz. “Ah, f**k it, George. C’mere.” I giggled and jumped up into his arms. I wrapped my legs around him and kissed him. Like it was my job.

He responded without hesitation, kissing me back with equal force as the doors closed. The quilting bee took plenty of pictures, and I didn’t care for a second. This was my life, his life, our life, and we might as well get used to it.

Chapter 17

He held me the whole way up in the elevator, refusing to put me down. We kissed slowly and leisurely, exploring each other’s mouths again, with serious attention to detail. When we got to his floor, he swung me up onto his back and carried me piggyback down the hall.

“Wow, swanky digs, Hamilton,” I said as I took in his suite from my perch on his back.

“Nothing but the best for this guy,” he said, closing the door and locking it behind us.

“I’ll say,” I responded softly, laying my cheek against his shoulder and squeezing his waist with my legs.

He walked me over to a big chair in the corner and dumped me unceremoniously.

“Hey!” I exclaimed.

He settled himself on the floor in front of me on his knees, his hands holding onto my legs. His fingertips made little patterns on my thighs while he studied me carefully.

“We need to finish talking,” I said gently, tracing his cheekbones and jaw line with my fingertips. We seemed to need the physical contact.

“I know.” He sighed and laid his head in my lap.

I scratched his head.

He made Jack’s Happy Sound.

We sat like this for a while. Just being.

“Grace, I want to ask you something,” he said, his voice a little muffled by my thigh.

“Ask me anything,” I said. And I meant it. No more secrets, no more half-truths, no more keeping anything from him.

“Did you mean it when you said you thought we were in a little sex bubble? Is that really all you think we are?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

I sighed. “Look at me, please,” I said, and he turned his face upward.

“I was out of my mind when I said that. I do think we were in a bubble when we first were together in L.A., but only because everything was so fast and concentrated—and it was fantastic. Then I left. And we never got to see each other. There was never a normal progression to our relationship. Amazing, but not normal.”

It was his turn to sigh as he laid his head back into my lap. But I put my hand under his chin and turned him back toward me.

“Here’s what I realized, Jack. What’s normal? That’s one of the things I was concerned about—this need to be normal, to be defined. Is it normal for two people so far apart in age to fall in love? Nope, but we did. Now think about everything else. Neither one of us is living a normal existence. Everything about us—our lives, our careers—is the opposite of normal. And how amazing is that?” I said, giving him a light slap on the cheek.

He grinned. “Fuck normal,” he said.

“Yeah, f**k normal. I don’t want normal. All I want is you, George.”

He rose to his knees, bringing himself within kissing distance. “We still need to talk about some things,” he said, the green beginning to darken.

“Yep,” I said, sliding down a little in the chair to get closer to my Brit.

“I want to hear more about this—what did you call it? Baby train? I want to hear about this baby train you may or may not be on,” he said, his hands slipping below me and hitching my legs up around his waist.

“Mm-hmm…” I snaked my arms around his neck as he lifted me out of the chair. He began to walk me toward the bedroom.

“And we need to have a very long talk about what we’re going to do if you get freaked out again,” he said, his eyes the color of the sky before a big, fat, Midwestern summer thunderstorm. In other words, really f**king dark.

I shivered a little. “I’m not gonna freak again. What if you get freaked?” I asked as we moved into his room.

He rolled his eyes as he held me above the bed, then dropped me. He stood back to look at me. His eyes raked me up and down, and I scooted to the edge of the bed, pulling him closer to me. I clutched at him, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head against his tummy. I inhaled deeply, breathing in that inherent Hamilton scent, and I felt warm and toasty instantly. I inhaled again, and he chuckled, bringing his hands to me, brushing my hair back from my face as I looked up at him. I rested my chin on his belt buckle and gazed at him as he traced his fingertips across my forehead, my eyelids, my cheeks, and finally my lips.

I parted them and took his thumb into my mouth, sucking gently. I pressed down slightly with my teeth and delighted in the lust that tore through his eyes at the sensation. I brought his thumb deeper into my mouth, tasting the salt of his skin, and I knew I wanted to take care of this man for the rest of my life.

I reached up and grasped his shoulders, pulling myself up, dragging my body against his along the way. I stepped out, turning him so he was against the bed, and I was in front of him. In one swift move, I removed his shirt and tossed it to the floor. He smiled, and I grinned back as I began to work at his jeans. He let me, watching carefully. I quickly pulled them down and helped him step out of them, along with his shoes.