Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
WINNIE
Okay, he did more than kiss her.
He pressed her against the elevator wall, cradled her head in his hands, and stunned her by pressing his lips against hers.
It was so shocking that for a second, Winnie wasn’t sure it was actually happening.
But yes, he was kissing her, and then she appeared to be kissing him back, gripping his arms, then sliding her hands up along his shoulders.
His mouth was warm and, um…yes, it was…yep. They were kissing. And it was…
Incredible.
Her organs seemed to be melting, and heat throbbed between her legs. Her mouth was doing things against his, and a low sound came from her throat.
Lorenzo was lean and warm and hard with muscle, and one arm slid around her waist. She felt dizzy with shock and lust and possibly with gin.
She deepened the kiss without thinking, and he responded by pulling her harder against him.
The bell dinged, and without moving his mouth from hers, Lorenzo simply picked her up and carried her into the hallway, her legs dangling against his, still kissing her.
Then he set her down in front of a door—his or hers, she didn’t know—and slid his knee between her legs and lowered his mouth to her neck.
If she hadn’t been pressed against the door, she would’ve slid to the floor.
His hand slid up her ribcage and skimmed the side of her breast while his other hand tugged at her ponytail, exposing more of her throat to his mouth.
She had never been so turned on in her life.
“Is this all right?” he muttered against her collarbone.
“God, yes.” She tugged his shirt out of his pants. Lorenzo fumbled in his pocket, and she heard the click of the keycard reader. Then the door was open, and they were inside his suite, and his hands were cupping her ass, and all she wanted was out of these clothes.
“Wait, wait, wait,” he said, his breath coming hard. “Are you…are you consenting to this? To sex? With me?”
She almost laughed. “Yes. Want me to write it down?”
“It would take too long,” he said, and his mouth was on hers again, his tongue sliding against hers.
She gripped his hair and welded herself against him.
Then he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom and dumped her on the vast white bed and tugged off his shirt, the muscles sliding under his smooth skin.
Had he always been so beautiful? Had she actually been neutral about his looks before?
With his hair tousled and his cheeks flushed, his blue eyes intent on her, she thought he was the most gorgeous man alive.
She knelt and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him again, and felt his hands go to the zipper of her dress.
“Um…condoms,” he said.
“Right. In the drawer. The hotel stocks them.”
“Very thoughtful.” He opened the drawer, fumbled around and pulled out the “intimacy kit,” which Winnie knew, from having explored the one in her room, contained massage oil, a candle, condoms and some chocolate. Very thoughtful indeed.
Then he sat on the bed, looked at her for a long moment, and ran his hand along her hair. Then he unzipped her dress, sliding it off like a caress. “Beautiful,” he whispered, and that was it. She was undone.
Then he pushed her back against the mattress, his weight utterly perfect on top of her.
* * *
All of that had made sense last night. Now, not so much. Not at all, in fact.
She blamed the cocktail on a semi-empty stomach.
In fact, all of last night had been ill-advised. She’d told off a surgeon at a surgeons’ conference in front of other surgeons. She, who knew nothing about medicine.
Then she’d shagged her boss. Quite possibly the most esteemed surgeon in the United States, a man who lived a life of wealth and huge responsibility. A man who overpaid her to pick up his dry cleaning and reorganize his cabinets, and water his plants.
A man who was her sister’s brother-in-law, a man she’d have to see at future family gatherings. They would share a niece or nephew if (when) Dante and Lark had kids.
With each thought, another muscle in her body stiffened.
Winnie was nothing if not pragmatic. She had an excellent job with Lorenzo.
Sleeping with him was going to screw that up.
He was not built for a relationship of any kind, and she was still on the rebound, probably.
And even if she wasn’t, there was a power dynamic issue here.
Or something. What if she fell in love with him?
God! She wasn’t about to do that again. Look what had happened with Mitchell-Tanner.
That sure hadn’t made her life better, all that… devastation.
Winnie stared out the window, trying to be invisible. It was her superpower, after all, but she was half of the people in the bed, so… Could she slip out and dash down to her own room without him knowing? She’d feel better if she was less naked.
She moved a fraction of an inch, only to have Lorenzo bolt upright next to her. She froze for a second, then turned to look at him. He did not look thrilled to see her either. A beat passed, and then they spoke at the same time.
“This was a mistake.”
She sagged with relief. Oh, thank God. They were on the same page. “Yes,” she said. “But you know, uh, very…um, nice. Let’s just never speak about it again, okay?”
“Agreed.” He ran his hand through his tousled hair. “And yes. Very…nice.”
Another long second passed as they didn’t make eye contact. She glanced at him. He looked ten years younger, being naked and all. A tingle started between her legs. Lorenzo shifted a bit. Get out, Windsor, before you do another thing you’ll regret.
“Okay!” she said. “Close your eyes, I’m getting out of bed.”
He obeyed, and she got out, yanked on her clothes, ran her hands through her hair, and stepped into her shoes.
“You have the organ transplant lecture at nine, a meeting with Dr. Connors at eleven and said you wanted to hear the lunch speaker. You’ve got time for a run at two o’clock, then the innovation award thing tonight. ”
“Yes.”
“Anything you need from me?”
“No.”
“Okay. I’ll, um, just…I’ll be around. Text me if you need anything.”
“I will.”
“Okay, great.” With that, she left his room, forced herself to walk calmly yet briskly down the hall, and fished the key that was still in her dress pocket.
In the safety of her room, Winnie looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Pink cheeks, messy hair, rosy lips. Definitely like a woman recently and well shagged.
She turned on the shower and adjusted the water to cold.