I curled my lips inward, the unapologetic strip-me-to-my-skin look he was giving me making my neck flush with heat.
He parked the car, then released my hand and cupped my chin, tilting my face toward him. “Punishment complete, angel. I think now it’s time for us both to reap the reward of surviving a very long evening.”
“That sounds like the best idea you’ve ever had, sir.”
Foster helped me out of the car, and I had to stop myself from racing up the steps in all my eagerness. Suddenly, even one second not in bed with this man seemed too long. Automatically, I headed toward my place, but he tugged me toward his instead. “This way.”
“But what about Pike?” I asked, a little breathless from my overzealous sprint up the stairs.
“Not home.” He dragged me against him and placed a long, lingering kiss on my lips.
“Mmm,” I said, as he eased away, my fingers curling around the lapels of his suit jacket. I’d been hoping we could stay at my place. I was still having my stupid hang-up about his room. Every time I stepped in there, I couldn’t help but think about the others who’d been there. But saying something would only make me look childish and petty. I needed to get over myself and move on. I smiled and threw my arms around his neck and with a dramatic flourish, said, “Then take me to bed or lose me forever.”
“Show me the way home, honey,” he whispered against my ear, nailing the line.
I pulled back, looking at him in surprise. “Did you just recite Top Gun back to me?”
His cocky grin was his answer.
“Well done, Ian Foster. Bonus points to you. And now I’m seriously tempted to rip off your clothes right here in the hallway for that.”
He laughed and unlocked his door. “Control yourself, woman.”
But when he pulled me inside, he did anything but control himself. He kicked the door shut behind us, and before I could take a step, he was lifting me off my feet and kissing me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he trapped me against the closed door, his lips moving over mine with hungry intent. I opened to him, and he stroked his tongue against mine, cajoling every cell inside me to stand up and swoon. Even in the simple act of a kiss, he bled dominance, commanding my body to surrender. I sighed into him and threaded my fingers in the thick, silky strands of his hair, relishing the chance to touch and explore freely.
When he finally broke away for us both to grab a breath, his wolfish grin spread wide. “I better take you to my room before I fuck you against the door again.”
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said on a panted breath.
He laughed and swung me away from the door, keeping ahold of me. “Not tonight, angel. Right now I don’t have patience for acrobats. Just need you. In my bed. Naked.”
“A man of simple taste.”
He shot me a dry look. “Smartass.”
I continued to tease him as he carried me down the hallway toward his room, by outlining all the “simple” things he’d done to me tonight, but when he set me down on my feet in the doorway, I went stone-cold silent.
He watched me, expression a little tentative, as I took in what lay before me. When I didn’t say anything, he tucked his hands in his pockets. “I was worried it wouldn’t fit, but it ended up working out okay.”
I turned to him, taking in his twitching jaw and the fact that he wouldn’t look at me. Was he actually worried I wouldn’t like it? I shook my head, awed at how this man continued to surprise me. One second I thought I had him figured out and the next, he was doing things like this. “You bought a new bed?”
“And mattress, comforter, and pillows.”
For some reason, I had the ridiculous urge to cry. “Why?”
He looked at me then and shrugged. “Because it bothered you, angel.”
I stepped forward and slid my hands around his waist, pressing my head to his chest. The man had completely gutted his room because I had some irrational hang-up, and I couldn’t even tell him about my family earlier tonight. “I don’t even know what to say. It’s too much.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Well, I’m into ‘too much,’ especially when it makes you get that look on your face.”
I lifted my face to him, meeting those intense blues of his. Something deep and scary stirred in my chest. “Thank you. Truly.”
“My pleasure,” he said, circling his arms around me. “Now strip and go kneel on that shiny, new bed. It’s time to sully its virtue.”
I laughed. “Seems to be a lot of that going around.”
“Have I sullied you, Ms. Medina?” he asked, his hands sliding down to cup my ass beneath my dress.