Chapter 32
So fucking adorable, Garrett thought as he watched the small woman, who’d somehow managed to cocoon herself in every single throw blanket as well as the comforter, mumble what sounded like, “I was watching that,” into the mound of pillows that she’d claimed as her own.
When she’d arrived at the hotel, he’d panicked, wondering if he should have just gone with the over-the-top romantic weekend that she wrote about in her books.
With a few simple calls, he could have had two dozen white and red roses delivered to the room and arranged to have a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for her along with a tray of chocolate-dipped strawberries, a romantic dinner for two by moonlight, expensive lingerie, lotions, bath salts and lotions, and did all those things that made women swoon.
He’d been tempted, more than a little fucking tempted to do it, but something about the way that she wrote those scenes, almost as though she was bored, had him rethinking that plan.
He’d honestly never seen her more relaxed, Garrett thought as he climbed off the bed, careful not to disturb her. He was tempted, more than a little tempted, to stay, but he knew that wasn’t an option. At least not yet. He’d already fucked up once, he wasn’t about to do it again.
With that, he turned off the television, dimmed the lights, and leaned down so that he could kiss Kristen goodnight only to feel his lips twitch when the grumbling began.
That was followed by muttering into her pillows, shifting, wiggling, and then finally, blindly reaching out, grabbing a pillow and yanking it over her head.
He stood there for another minute before he made his way to the door connecting their rooms and quietly closed the door behind him.
He toed off his shoes and placed them in the closet before checking his phone to make sure that he didn’t have any missed calls only to end up searching his bag for the charger when he realized that his phone was dead.
He plugged the charger in by the nightstand and turned the television on before tossing the remote on the bed and dropping down in the chair with a heavy sigh.
Between working on the house, handling a full-case load, spending time with Kristen, and doing all those things that he was doing to ensure that she fell in love with him, he was beyond fucking exhausted. That, and he wasn’t sleeping well. Not that that was anything new.
He’d always had problems sleeping.
When he was a kid, he used to stare up at the ceiling, waiting for his brothers to fall asleep so that he could climb out their bedroom window and make his way across the street, where he would keep Kristen company while she wrote.
Sometimes when he came back, he was exhausted and managed to pass out as soon as his head hit the pillow and other nights, he grabbed a dictionary and a flashlight and read until he couldn’t see straight.
After he started college, he used to crash at Kristen’s tiny studio apartment every chance he got and after he ruined everything, he learned to deal with it.
When he couldn’t sleep, he studied, worked, went for midnight runs, and became well-acquainted with every twenty-four-hour diner within a twenty mile radius.
It made it easier for him to get ahead at work, take on more cases, and get ahead.
And now, the only time he was able to sleep was when Kristen snuck into his room to write, which hadn’t happened since she decided to give him another chance.
Sighing, Garrett grabbed his phone off the nightstand, turned it on to find it charged at five percent, unlocked his phone, swiped until he found the settings, scrolled down until he found the factory reset option and tapped it, hoping that would fix whatever was wrong with his phone.
He placed it back on the nightstand to charge and made his way to the bathroom, pulling his clothes off and tossed them on the counter.
He stepped into the walk-in shower, turned the water on, adjusted the temperature before he grabbed the complimentary toiletries off the shelf and made quick work of washing himself all while thinking about the small woman sleeping in the other room.
When he was done, he dropped his head beneath the spray of hot water and-
“Jesus Christ!”
-was forced to jump back when the water suddenly turned boiling hot.
That was followed by turning around when he heard a small throat clearing to find Kristen standing there, gesturing for him to get out of the way. Frowning, he stepped back and watched as the small woman driving him crazy, stepped beneath the spray of hot water and released a satisfied sigh.
“That’s better,” Kristen said, while he stood there, freezing his ass off as he watched her drop her head back and-
“Why didn’t you try having your naughty way with me?” she asked, taking him by surprise.
“Did you want me to?” Garrett asked, sitting down on the built-in bench as he reached for her.
“I mean, I really feel like you should know that,” Kristen said, making his lips twitch as he pulled her closer.
“Probably,” Garrett said, pressing his lips against her flat belly. “What else should I know?”
“That I love my surprise,” Kristen said, running her fingers through his wet hair.
“What was your favorite part?” Garrett asked, even though he already knew that it was probably the bathtub since she’d spent most of the night in it, watching movies and-
“This,” she said, running her hands down his back.
“This is your favorite part?” Garrett asked against her skin.
“Mmmhmm, but I am curious about something,” Kristen said, taking her time running her hands over his back and shoulders.
“What’s that?” Garrett asked, pressing a kiss against her flat belly just above her navel.
“If you were going to make love to me right now,” Kristen began, making him go still. “What do you think I’d want?”
“Besides to be worshipped?” Garrett asked, absently caressing her hips with his thumbs as he thought about all those things that he read in her books and what he knew about her.
“That really went without saying,” Kristen said as she ran her hands over his shoulders.
“Do you want me to show you or tell you?” Garrett asked, kissing a path up to her ribs only to force himself to drop his hands away when she suddenly stepped back out of his reach.
“You should probably consider this the interview portion of the process,” she said, making his lips twitch as he sat there, watching her as she stepped back beneath the spray of hot water, leaving him free to run his eyes over her and-
Christ, she took his breath away.
He watched her close her eyes as she tilted her head back, the way that her soft pink lips parted on a sigh as water began racing over her skin, over her shoulders and down her arms and over her chest before racing down her large breasts only to tease her butterscotch nipples.
He wondered if she had any idea just how beautiful she was as he ran his eyes over her, from her flat belly to the neatly trimmed black hair covering the soft lips between her legs and nearly fucking groaned.
“First, I’d lower the temperature so that I didn’t end up spending the next month in the burn unit,” Garrett said, watching her lips twitch as she reached back and took pity on him by lowering the water temperature.
“Then, I’d pull you into my arms,” he said, standing up and joining her so that he could do just that.
“And then?” Kristen asked, reaching up to wrap her arms around him as he pulled her closer.
“I’d take my time kissing you while I ran my hands over your body,” Garrett said, leaning down and brushed his lips against hers as his hands began to move. While he kissed her, he ran his hands over her skin, tracing her soft curves with his fingertips.
“And when the water started to cool off?” Kristen asked as she moved closer, the move causing her hard nipples to brush against his stomach.
“I think the hotel has an unlimited supply of hot water,” Garrett pointed out, only to feel his lips twitch when she reached over and turned the hot water off.
“Then, I’d take you out of the shower and dry you off before I carried you into the bedroom,” Garrett said, breaking off the kiss as he reached over and turned the shower off before taking her hand in his and gave it a gentle tug that had her following him out of the shower.
“And then...”
“I would lay you down on the bed and take my time touching, kissing, and licking your body before I slide my hand between your legs and tease your slit, your clit, and then finally, slide a finger inside you while I take one of your nipples between my lips and lick and suckle it,” Garrett explained, leaning down to brush his lips against hers as he grabbed a towel off the bathroom counter and began drying her off.
“And then...”
“I would kiss my way down your body and let my mouth take over, teasing you and licking you while you lay back on the bed, moaning my name. I’d make you come with my mouth before I kiss my way back up your body, pausing along the way to kiss your breasts while my hand slid back between your legs.”
“And then...”
“I’d settle between your legs and-”
“I’m afraid that’s just not going to work for me,” Kristen said with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of her head that had him going still.
“Which part?” Garrett asked as he ran the towel over her body.
“All of it,” Kristen said with a pitying look as she pulled the towel from his hands and dropped it on the floor before she grabbed a fresh towel off the counter and began running it over his body.
“Why’s that?” Garrett asked, only to groan when the move teased his cock.
“You’re overthinking this,” Kristen said, keeping her gaze locked with his as she dropped the towel on the floor and-
“You still want me to carry you, don’t you?” he asked, unable to help but smile as she gestured for him to get on with it.
“That really went without saying,” Kristen said with a pitying look as he moved to sweep her off her feet when something occurred to him, something that had him rethinking this plan.