CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
NATHAN
THE NIGHT AIR hit us the second we stepped out of the speakeasy. The streetlights flickered against the slick pavement, and for a second, it felt like the whole city had changed. Rain poured down in thick sheets, soaking through Elise’s hair before she could even gasp.
She let out a startled laugh and tried to cover her head with her hands. I pulled off my jacket and held it over her head as I steered her toward the car parked at the curb.
“Perfect timing,” she said, half laughing, half shivering.
“Seems like our luck ran out,” I muttered, though even I couldn’t help the ghost of a smile tugging at my mouth as she stumbled against me, her small hand gripping my arm for balance.
The roads were already a mess. The rain came fast and hard, the kind that flooded intersections within minutes. When we reached the car, I turned the key, only for the dashboard to light up with notifications about road closures ahead.
“Of course,” I said under my breath.
Elise leaned closer, peering at the GPS. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’re not getting back to the hotel tonight.”
Her brows lifted. “So what now?”
I called the hotel front desk after turning on the heater, not liking the way Elise was shivering slightly at my side. The clerk confirmed what I already suspected, which was that the street our hotel was on was closed off, but he thankfully gave me directions to a small inn nearby.
It wasn’t much. But it was close, and it was dry.
By the time we pulled into the gravel lot of the inn, the rain had turned into a steady downpour.
Warm light spilled from the front windows, and the faint scent of coffee and lemon cleaner met us as we stepped inside.
The woman at the counter looked up as soon as the bell above the door jingled. She was in her late fifties, with kind eyes and silver-streaked curls pinned loosely at the back of her head. Her expression shifted from polite welcome to mild concern the moment she saw us.
“Oh, dear,” she said, taking in our soaked clothes. “You two look like you just wrestled the storm and lost.”
Elise laughed softly, brushing water from her arms. “Something like that.”
I stepped forward. “Do you have two rooms available?”
Her mouth turned down in apology. “I’m afraid not, sweetheart. The storm’s got travelers stranded all over town. You’re in luck though. We have one room left.”
Elise glanced at me and smiled like this was the universe playing a joke on us. “Of course there’s only one room.”
“We’ll take it.” I told the woman, who smiled before she asked for my name and whether I was paying with cash or card.
I turned to Elise and let out a low sigh. “You can take the bed. I’ll figure something out.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You’re not sleeping on the floor.”
“I’ll get the room ready for you while you two find something dry to wear. There’s a small gift shop down the hall. It’s nothing fancy, but it’ll keep you from catching a cold.”
“Thank you,” Elise said with that bright, grateful tone that seemed to charm everyone she met.
We followed the signs down a narrow hallway to the gift shop. It was cozy and cluttered, the kind of place that smelled faintly of cedar and old postcards. Elise drifted toward a rack of T-shirts and pajama bottoms, her fingers brushing over the fabric.
“Not exactly my usual style,” she murmured, holding up a soft gray shirt that read New Orleans Vibes in faded lettering.
“It suits you,” I said without thinking.
She shot me a look, amused and a little shy, before turning to the rack again. “What about you? Going for something equally glamorous?”
I grabbed a black T-shirt and a pair of sweats, ignoring her grin. “Function over fashion.”
When we returned to the front desk, the innkeeper handed me a single key attached to a brass tag. “Room twelve. It’s small, but the heater works like a charm. You’ll be dry in no time.”
The room was exactly as promised. Small but warm, with one queen bed and a soft yellow glow from the bedside lamp. The sound of rain against the window filled the silence, steady and rhythmic.
Elise disappeared into the bathroom with her new clothes while I sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing a hand over my face.
For once I wasn’t thinking about strategy or outcomes. Just her.
That was new.
That wasn’t how this usually worked. With other women, everything was easy.
With anyone else, I would’ve already mapped this out. Known exactly how the night would go before it even started. But Elise made things unpredictable.And for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t entirely sure I had the upper hand.
When she came out in a T-shirt and shorts a few minutes later, nearly every ounce of restraint I’d been holding on to slipped a little.
She caught me looking, not that I was trying to pretend like I wasn’t. “You can’t keep looking at me like that.”
“Looking at you like what?” I pressed.
“This isn’t real,” she whispered after a moment. “You’re my boss. Whatever this is, it ends when we go back to California.”
Something inside me snapped. Boss? She was acting like I hadn’t had my tongue down her throat less than twenty-four hours ago.
Fuck that.
I stood up from the bed and stalked toward her until I was towering over her, forcing her to meet my gaze. “We’re way past all that boss and assistant crap, and you know it.”
“Are we?” she asked softly, but there wasn’t conviction behind it.
“We are.” I softened my tone, just enough to let her see the truth in my eyes, “I don’t make it a habit of repeating myself, but I will because I feel like you need to hear it.
“You’re mine.” Her playful defiance faltered for the tiniest fraction of a second, and I seized it.
I took another step closer, the space between us shrinking enough for her to feel the heat radiating off me.
Her breath hitched ever so slightly, and I could see the awareness in her eyes.
She knew the effect she had on me. “You hear me?” I murmured, letting my voice drop to a near whisper, rough and intimate.
“I mean it, Elise. No one else's. All mine.”
Elise laughed softly, that nervous, breathy sound that made my chest tighten. “You sound confident,” she whispered, though her eyes were glued to mine.
“I am,” I admitted, closing the gap until we were just inches apart. “Because it’s true.”
Her lips parted, and I felt her leaning in slightly, that tiny movement giving me permission, teasing me, daring me. I tilted my head, brushing my forehead against hers, letting the tension build, slow and electric.
“Are you sure about that?” she whispered, voice low and teasing.
“Never been more sure of anything in my life,” I murmured.
And then I claimed her, letting our lips meet in a kiss that started slow and questioning, then deepened as the heat between us ignited.
“You’ve been mine since the moment I laid eyes on you.
” I bent down, brushing my lips against the soft skin of her shoulder.
“You were mine then.” I kissed the pulse at her neck, feeling it stutter beneath my lips.
“You’re mine now.” I backed her up against the wall, caging her in.
“And you’ll be mine forever.” I hovered my lips just inches from hers.
Close enough to feel the hitch in her breath, the heat radiating between us.
“Say it,” I murmured. “Say you’re mine.” Her lips parted, a tremor running through her before she spoke.
“I’m yours.”
The words barely escaped her mouth before I crushed my lips to hers, claiming what had been mine all along.
And this time, I wasn’t stopping.