Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Rowan
I stopped breathing as I waited for Chance’s reply.
I wasn’t usually an aggressive girl. I hadn’t ever initiated a hookup, not even before Christian.
But the past two years had taught me how precious every moment could be.
Being passive wasn’t an option tonight. Not when I wanted to feel so badly.
I wanted to feel what this man could do to me with every sensuous nerve in my body. This specific man.
“Hell yes,” he said with a half laugh. “Let’s go.”
He took my hand and headed toward the door, carving a path through the crowd with me following in his wake. I loved the feel of his hand around mine: large, strong, and sure.
We finally made it through the throngs of celebrating people to the door. There were a few others leaving too. He led me to a corner, out of the way, then faced me, our hands still laced together.
“Where to?” he asked.
“My room?”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“This way.” I tugged him toward the west wing of the inn.
The hallway was relatively quiet, the roar of the party barely audible. The lights were brighter out here, seeming harsh after the dimness of the ballroom.
At the door to my room, I stopped and reached into my bra for my ID case that held my key as well. I’d left my phone in the room to further get away from the real world for a few hours. There was no longer anyone who’d need to talk to me anyway.
Once we were in my room, I closed the door, then turned as Chance advanced, gently pressing my back against the door.
The lights were off, but I could make him out by the illumination coming in under the door.
Just enough to see the intent look in his eyes as he closed the distance between our mouths again.
When his lips touched mine, it was urgent, passionate, unrestrained.
He laced both of our hands together and framed my head with them against the door as his hard body pressed into mine, arousing a pulsing ache deep inside of me.
“I want to strip you down and kiss you everywhere,” he said into my ear.
“I want you inside me,” I countered, the need in me climbing, emboldening me, making me grind against him.
“That can be arranged,” he said, grinning, his voice low and sexy.
I’d never been so turned on by a man’s voice, never mind his kisses and his rock-solid body.
We continued to kiss, our tongues dancing, teeth knocking together, shaky breaths mingling, coming out in gasps and pants. I loosened my hands from his so I could touch him, pushing his coat off his shoulders.
“You forgot your radio,” I said as he shrugged out of the coat and tossed it aside.
“Don’t care,” he growled as he kissed me again.
I ran my hands under his T-shirt, up his tight abs, to his solid chest, liking everything I felt.
He was solid and muscular but not so much so it was intimidating.
As if he went to the gym when he had time but didn’t obsess about it.
I kneaded his pecs, trailed my fingers to his shoulders, pulling the shirt up.
He broke off from kissing me long enough to reach to his back and yank his shirt off, then tossed it to the floor too. I untied the annoying scarf around my neck and got rid of it just as he pulled the hem of my blouse out from my skirt. I helped him get it off me.
Chance’s gaze dropped to my light yellow plain-Jane bra. I’d had no thoughts of picking up a guy and bringing him to my room when I’d put it and the nonmatching pink bikini panties on. I didn’t really own anything sexy anymore anyway.
He didn’t seem to mind. He lowered his head and took the tip of my breast, bra and all, into his mouth as if he couldn’t wait long enough to get the bra off me.
I could feel the wet heat of his mouth through the thin fabric, but I wanted more of it.
I reached behind me and flicked the clasp open, then let it slide down my arms, freeing the breast Chance was still suckling.
He groaned and ran his tongue over my bare nipple, letting the lingerie fall to the floor.
His mouth had everything deep inside me contracting with hot, throbbing need.
I arched into him, but it didn’t relieve anything.
Too many clothes in the way. I went to work on his pants, unbuttoning them, unzipping, dipping my fingers inside to find him rock hard and jutting out of his underwear.
He released my nipple, his head falling back.
I ran my fingers over his velvet-soft tip, eliciting another groan from him. Impatiently, needfully, I shoved his pants and boxer briefs down his thighs and wrapped my hand around his dick.
“Mmm,” I growled at the feel of his thickness in my hand. I stroked him, hoping to make his need as urgent as mine.
“Jesus, that feels incredible, Rowan.”
“Good,” I said with a smile, loving his reaction, particularly since I was so out of practice.
“It’s been a while.” He sucked my nipple into his mouth again, toying with the tip, drawing a gasp of pleasure from me.
“For me too,” I said on an exhale. “I don’t normally—” He plucked at my other nipple with his thumb and forefinger, the ecstasy of it cutting off my words. “I don’t usually do this.”
“I’m so fucking glad you are tonight.”
I was too, wholeheartedly. Whole-bodily. Every cell was screaming for him to fill me, to end the pulsing ache at my core.
“Right guy, right time,” I said, then caught my breath again as he worked magic on both of my nipples at the same time. I let go of him so I could undo my belt and get my skirt off as fast as humanly possible, which, with the things he was doing to my body, wasn’t fast enough.
As soon as he realized what I was doing, he helped. Within seconds, I was naked. He got rid of his shoes and pants, then pressed me up against the door with his body again, allowing me to feel every solid, bare inch of him against my skin.
He kissed a trail from my lips, down my chest, across both of my breasts, and lower.
After circling my navel once, he went to his knees and trailed his tongue lower still, lifting one of my legs to his shoulder.
When his mouth reached my center, I sucked in my breath, my legs going weak from the instant pleasure.
With one large hand supporting me at the hip, he used his other one, along with his mouth, to make me come in record time.
I gripped his shoulders as my body contracted, calling out his name with a mix of incoherent words.
He laved at me until I couldn’t take the sensations anymore and buckled forward into him.
He stood and scooped me up, then carried me to the bed. As I lay in the near dark, trying to get my bearings back, I heard him walk over to the door. He wasn’t leaving, was he?
Before I could ask, he returned. He crawled over me, supporting his weight with his arms, and found my mouth with his.
I felt his erection against my belly and clumsily reached for it, still catching my breath after he’d shot me to the stars. Chance caught my hand and angled himself to the side, resting his hip on the mattress.
When I heard the tearing of a condom packet, I understood what was going on.
“Good thinking,” I said, grinning.
I appreciated that one of us had our brain at least partially intact.
“I only have one, so we better make it good,” he said.
“Mmm, it’s going to be good.”
“No pressure, huh?” he said, smiling as he positioned himself over me again, teasing me with his erection brushing over my belly and lower.
The bar was ridiculously low, but I didn’t tell him that. He was already blowing my ever-loving mind.
He trailed kisses and nibbles along my jawline, taking his sweet time, even as he teased my center with his dick. Though it’d been less than five minutes since he’d given me an orgasm, my body responded electrically to every touch.
I grasped his sheathed length as best I could manage with him on top of me and guided him to my opening. He might think I needed time for my body to be ready again, but I was right there with him, aching to have him inside me.
When I angled my hips just right, he got the message and entered me. I let out a gasp at the feel of him, the size of him.
“Okay?” he asked, sounding like he was struggling to hold himself in check.
“More than.” I wrapped my legs around him and kissed him.
“You feel so fucking amazing. I hope I can last long enough to make it good for you.”
I let out a little laugh. “News flash. Already good. Stop worrying.”
He kissed me thoroughly, passionately, as he thrust deliciously into me, over and over. If it was good before, he upped it to stupendous.
This man absolutely knew how to work magic on my body. Even though I’d just met him, the connection between us felt sacred. I wanted to hold on to it for hours. At the same time, I felt myself climbing higher and needing desperately to burst over the edge.
My mind shut down, and I merely held on. I hadn’t felt so alive for years.
We moved as one, as if we’d been doing this together for ages.
When he reached between us and brushed a finger over my clit, everything in me tightened.
Another few touches from him and I exploded, clinging to him for everything I was worth.
The contractions went on, wringing me out as if I was being pulled through a portal to an amazing dimension of sheer ecstasy.
“Oh, God,” Chance said as he thrust his hips harder into me.
All I could do was hold on and try to breathe as he came as hard as I had.
We lay there, entwined, hearts thundering, breaths coming hard, but otherwise not moving for a spellbinding few seconds, or maybe minutes. I didn’t know. Time stopped making sense.
Eventually he rolled to his side and pulled me with him.
I loved the feel of his arm banding around me, his thigh against mine, his overheated, solid body all along mine.
I closed my eyes and relished the bliss that was still sparkling through my body.
Taking in a slow, lung-filling breath, I reveled in the luxury of being with someone.
Not alone. I’d been alone for so very long.
“Happy New Year,” he said in a low voice, his smile audible.
“Happiest,” I said, falling into a deep, sated relaxation after that incredible release.
“Can’t be a bad year when we start it off like that, can it?”
I shook my head, grinning as I burrowed against his chest.
Chance kissed my forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be right here,” I said drowsily, content that he planned to rejoin me.
This was a one-time thing, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t take comfort in each other for a few more hours.
Though I’d never been big on cuddling, being in this man’s arms was reassuring.
Life-affirming. The sex had been off the charts, and lying here with him afterward, in the dark, in the quiet, listening to his breath, calmed something in my soul.
Chance
I felt my way to the bathroom, where there was a thumbnail-sized night-light giving out just enough light to find the toilet, the sink, and the trash. I got rid of the condom and washed my hands.
Outside the bathroom, I spotted my coat. I picked it up and grabbed my phone from the pocket to check the time. It was just after one.
I hurried to the bed with my phone, setting it on the nightstand. The air was cool, particularly because of the sheen of sweat I’d worked up.
Rowan had pulled the covers back and crawled under them, since we hadn’t bothered to do that earlier. She held them up now in invitation.
Was it weird to come back to bed with a woman I didn’t really know? It’d been so long since I’d done this, I wasn’t sure what the protocol was.
Fuck it. I wanted more time with her. Just a couple more hours. This was my rare chance to appreciate a woman’s touch, her softness, her warmth. I’d been aware as hell I was overdue for a good screw, but I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed being so physically close to another human.
This one night would have to tide me over for who knew how long. In a few hours, it was back to my usual overfull life and the responsibilities that took up all my headspace.
I climbed into the bed and rolled close to Rowan, pulling her naked body into mine. She made a drowsy, satisfied sound as she nestled into me. I breathed in her scent, knowing the floral sweetness was already imprinted in my memory.
Tonight had been magical, our temporary connection a rare gift.
With her being from Nashville, it was clear from the start this was only for a night.
Maybe that made the fireworks between us all the more spectacular.
There was no pressure for more. No worries about how we’d act tomorrow.
We didn’t have a tomorrow. It was now or never, and we’d both chosen now.
Her breathing evened out as she sank into sleep. I was struck by how good it felt to know she trusted me enough to let down her walls, bare her body and maybe parts of her soul to me, and fall asleep in my arms.
Did I want more of this someday? Most days I couldn’t even think about it, but now, with this woman curled up against me, I could admit that, yes, someday I hoped to find love again. A partner. Someday later, when Sam was an adult.
Thoughts of my daughter awakened old habits, and I loosened my hold on Rowan enough to roll to my back and pick up my phone. Just to make sure Sam was still at Lacey’s.
I opened the app that showed me where her phone was, expecting the symbol to still be on Oriole Street.
Fuck.
My daughter’s phone was at home, which meant she was at home.
I needed to get there right fucking now, not only to set a good example for her—yeah, that ship might’ve sailed about an hour ago—but to make sure she was okay…and alone.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I studied Rowan’s pretty face, considering my next move.
I could wake her, but I suspected she’d been through a hell storm recently.
She was here at the inn to escape. She didn’t have a clue I had a teenage daughter.
There was no reason for her to know that.
No reason to wake her with my problems. After tonight, she’d be out of my life.
When I was certain she was still asleep, I slipped out of bed, dressed as quietly and quickly as possible, and crept out of her room.