The Wedding Trap (Second Service #1)(26)
Author: Adrienne Bell

Alex didn’t say a word as he closed the hotel room door. He threw the bolt lock, tossed down the room key, and slipped off his jacket and gun holster. He walked across to the window and looked outside, his expression distant.

Beth stood awkwardly in the center of the room, mustering the courage to speak. “Thank you,” she finally said.

He turned around, his brow furrowed in worry and confusion. “For what?”

“For getting me out of there safely. You calmed me down.”

“Is that what I did?” He pulled off his tie as he walked toward the bedroom.

Beth followed. She put her hand on his shoulder, and he froze in the archway between the rooms. She could feel the pent-up energy underneath the thin material of his shirt.

“Okay, maybe that’s not exactly how I felt. I’m sorry. I was nearly in a full panic back there, and you did what you had to do to snap me out of it. So, thank you.”

She slid her hand down his arm as he turned around to face her, not wanting to break contact. His eyes glistened with a hot emotion she didn’t dare name.

Still, she had to try and fix whatever rift had suddenly formed between them. She put her other hand out to him. "Friends?"

He looked down at it for a long second. She was just about to give up and pull it back when he grasped it.

It happened faster than she could react. One second she was standing in the archway, the next her back was up against the wall, her arm pinned above her head. Alex’s body pressed against her, holding her immobile.

"This is what I am, Beth. This is what I can do," he said. "You don’t thank me, and you sure as hell don’t apologize to me."

He knew the way to make a point. He held her so that she couldn’t get away, but she wasn’t afraid. Not even close. He didn’t want to hurt her.

Suddenly, she understood the look in his eyes. It was longing. It was want. It was the same desire that was burning a path through her body.

She wrapped her free hand around his neck. Then she pulled his lips to hers.

His mouth crushed hers. His tongue swept inside, drinking her in, filling her up with desire. She kissed him back, hoping that she could return even a fraction of the pleasure he was giving her. Her mind cleared of thought as sensation took over.

She squirmed against him, desperate to feel the sensation of his body moving over hers.

He moaned, a deep guttural sound that set off a physical reaction in her. Dear God, she’d do anything to hear that sound again. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.

"Beth.” He said her name with such longing. Warmth rushed between her legs. “I’m trying to tell you, I’m not a good guy. I’m not Charlie."

A bubble of laughter escaped Beth’s throat. She couldn’t help it. She’d nearly been killed. She’d become a social pariah. Her emotions were far past the boiling point. She needed release.

She needed him.

"I don’t want Charlie. I made him up for everyone else’s benefit. He was never mine.” It was hard to get out the words with him staring at her lips. She didn’t want to talk any more. She didn’t want to think. She just wanted him.

Maybe it would be better if she just told him that.

"I want you," she said.

She pressed closer for emphasis. His delicious groan was her reward. She saw the moment that his resolve broke. A sense of victory swept through her. She was willing to bet that there weren’t many people in this world who could claim to have done that to Alex Tanner.

She didn’t have long to gloat. His mouth was back on her in an instant. He pulled her away from the wall, just far enough that his hand could find the zipper of her dress. His mouth moved to her neck as he slid the soft silk over her shoulders. His hands swept up the exposed skin of her back. Her fingers curled deeper into his shoulders. He flicked at the clasp of her bra.

She wasn’t about to let him have all the fun. Beth went to work on the buttons of his shirt. Her fingers brushed against the hard ridges of muscle as she pushed back the white material. He felt as smooth and solid as he looked.

She went for the waist of his pants just as his mouth closed around her earlobe. Suddenly, her fingers weren’t quite so deft. She fumbled with his buttons for a moment before the fly popped open.

Oh dear God, he even had abs down there. Was that even possible? She felt her mouth go dry. Ancient Greek statues didn’t have bodies this perfect.

He hissed in a breath as she traced her fingers down below the waistband of his pants. He stiffened. All of him stiffened. She moved her finger slowly, exploring the plane of his lower belly, the ridge of his hips, but always keeping her fingers inches away from the part of him now straining the material of his pants.

It gave her a thrilling sense of satisfaction to know that she could affect him that way. He eased her dress over the swell of her hips and let it fall to the floor. Her panties followed a second later. He stopped kissing her long enough to pull back and look at her.

Beth couldn’t help the sinking feeling deep within her belly. She wasn’t someone with particularly low self-esteem. At least she never thought of herself that way. Of course, when she did her thinking on the subject, she was usually fully dressed and in the company of people that she had no intention of getting sloppy with. Sometimes she was even wearing a turtleneck. Standing before a modern-day Adonis, she found she couldn’t muster the same certainty.

The fire in his eyes darkened as he looked at her. It grew…hungrier.

"Oh, God, Beth," he said. He started kissing her again. His mouth moved over her neck, her shoulders, down to the curve of her breast. He drew a nipple into his mouth. Beth’s eyes closed as delicious sensation swept through her.

A second later she was being lifted up.

He carried her over to the bed and sat her down.

She pushed down his pants over the hard ridge of his hips. He kicked them down the rest of the way. He was perfect.

She wrapped her fingers around his around his shaft, his erection heavy in her hand. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. It was a heady feeling being able to affect him like this—the same way he affected her.

He dragged his hands up her body, peppering kisses across her skin. Then he leaned her back over the bed. She clutched at his shoulders and took him with her. Her heart thundered in her chest, blood pounded through her veins.

He positioned himself between her legs.

For half a second, Beth worried about how this was going to work. She hadn’t been with anyone for a while, and he was bigger than most—hell, he was bigger than anybody she had ever been with. How would he fit?

He slid his fingers down until they found her clit. Instantly, those thoughts—all thoughts—fled her mind. Her head fell back against the pillows, and her back arched as he caressed the most sensitive part of her. She shouldn’t have worried. She was plenty wet to take him. Just the thought of him was enough to make her ready.