5. Kayla
5
KAYLA
“I didn’t know anyone would be up here,” the guy finally croaks out.
“Clearly,” I laugh. “You one of the dancers here for the bachelorette party?”
He hangs his head. “I don’t think you could call what I just did dancing . But yeah, that’s why I’m here.” It sounds like if I could see him, he’d have a sheepish grin on his face.
“This your first time?” I ask.
He laughs. “Doing…whatever I just did? Yes. And it’s my last,” he says. Seeming to relax a bit, he says, “So, why are you up here? Not into half-naked guys prancing about?”
“Something like that,” I say.
“Too bad,” he says. Than his voice deepens. “From what I can see, I might have been a lot more inspired if you’d been down there.”
My lips tilt up. “Well done.”
He dips his head. “Thank you.”
“Speaking of which.” I lean over and turn on the bedside lamp, which is so dim it’s barely a step up from the darkness we’d been in. But when I turn back, my mouth goes dry.
Holy mother of all things good and right in the world. This man is…wow. I swallow, completely incapable of staring. I’m betting he’s in his mid-twenties at most, bless him. His bare chest is incredibly well-defined, naturally tanned with the lightest dusting of dark hair. His eyes are a maple brown, soft and curious, deep-set into a face that looks like it’s been chiseled from marble. His lips are full and lush, and as they break into a smile, I see not one, but two dimples. His hair is thick and dark, and my hands itch to run through it.
Then there’s the tidy fact of the Santa hat and velvet bowtie he’s wearing.
Merry. Fucking. Christmas. To me.
I finally look back at his eyes, and they’re warm with a little bit of heat in them.
“Like what you see?” he asks, the smile still holding.
I try to remember the last time I was this close to someone this unclothed. Right: more than a year.
It’s not that I’m picky, it’s…okay, it’s that I’m picky. I’ve earned that right. Trust me. But this beautiful man just asked me a question.
“I do,” I say.
“So do I,” he says.
We stare at each other for a moment, the air thickening with tension, and I’m certain my eyes are mirror of his: irises blown, lust raging.
Do I want this?
Yes. Yes, I do.
“Tell me your name,” I say softly.
“Gabriel.”
“Like the angel.”
He grins naughtily. “There are a lot of things you could say about me, but I don’t think ‘angel’ is one of them.”
“That remains to be seen.”
“What’s yours?”
“Kayla.”
“Beautiful,” he says, his voice low.
I realize I’ve not actually seen what he’s wearing—or not wearing, as the case may be—on his lower half. Without overthinking it, I straighten and peer over the fluffy white comforter to have a look. And with the biggest smile on my face, I blurt, “Oh hell yeah.”
Because this specimen is sporting red velvet short shorts that fit him like boxer briefs, and I am here for it.
He chuckles. “Are you always this forward?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Is now when I point out that you are the one who came into my room, wearing a whole lot of nothing?”
“True. Though, to be fair, I didn’t know it was going to be this…intense.”
I tilt my head. “What do you mean?”
“ You ,” he says, his eyes darkening. “Look at you.”
I feel the heat begin to swirl low in my body. “And what about me?”
A low growl comes from the back of his throat. “I come in here and find you, in bed with your messy red hair and fucking insane tits, looking at me like you want to make a meal out of me, and now all I want is to see you spread out on this bed.”
My blood fizzes at his words and my heart races. Am I going to do this? “They really are great tits,” I say.
His laugh is low and full of promises. “Yeah, they are.”
“You should see them without the sweatshirt.”
His eyes heat even more, and he glances at the door and back to me. “So, with you being up here,” he begins, “you haven’t heard the news.”
I raise an eyebrow. “What news?”
“That the storm has gotten so bad that we’re not going anywhere.”
“Is that so?” I say.
He nods. “Which means I need a bed to sleep in, and I was told this one was available.”
“You were, were you?” An illicit thrill surges through me at the idea that the girls sent him up here.
“And Axl—the other guy, he’s…” he trails off, a knowing grin spreading.
“Making himself available?” I finish.
“For the shorter girl. Di, I think they called her?” He shifts closer on the bed.
“Diana,” I answer. “Good for her. And him,” I say with a smile. Then the name hits. “Wait. Axl. Does he work at Jamie’s Lodge?”
Gabriel squints at me. “He does. Do you know him?”
I laugh. “No. But I’m staying there. At least, I was supposed to. He checked me into a room this morning.” As Gabriel smiles, I ask, “What about the rest of the girls?”
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not.”
He grins again, flashing a dimple. “Once we realized we weren’t getting out of here tonight, Axl disappeared with Diana and I told the other three that I was coming up here to change.”
I scan his torso pointedly. “You haven’t changed.”
He shakes his head, scanning me right back. “Maybe I don’t want to.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t. In fact,” I say, wanting to kick myself for having waited this long to think about it, “I think you should let me see a little of what you were doing down there.”
“That is, truly, a terrible idea,” he says wryly. “Honestly. Worst idea ever.”
“I don’t know,” I say, delighted. Sinfully sexy and playful? It’s a heady combination. “You have on a red velvet bowtie,” I continue. “And velvet shorts. I’m having a hard time seeing how this could possibly go wrong.”
“Well, that’s where you’re mistaken,” he says, but he rises as he speaks. “You might like what I’ve got going on right now, but the minute—no, the second I start my moves, it’s all over. You’ll be laughing too hard for anything else to happen.” His voice dips. “And I’d really like for something to happen, Kayla.”
“Trust me, that’s not going to be an issue,” I say, then circle my finger in the air for him to turn around.
He obeys, doing a one-eighty, then pins me with a stare as he comes back around. He’s utterly at ease with himself, and it’s the biggest turn-on of all. So different from my insecure ex. “Still like what you see?”
My answer is instant. “Absolutely.”