When he’d assumed that I was a hooker, he’d also assumed that I was a birthday present from his brother. I didn’t even want to start thinking about how strange that was. “Look,” I start, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but you had no right to get me to your lounge under false pretenses just so you could… How did you even find out who I was?”
He shrugs, not bothering to reply. Of course, with the depths of his pockets, he probably has access to ways I can’t even imagine. “You had every chance to tell me that you weren’t who I thought you were,” he continues. “Why didn’t you?”
I stay quiet. There’s no way I’m going to admit that I wanted him so much I was willing to pretend to be a hooker. “Why are you here, Landon?”
He moves towards me, and in a few steps, he’s right in front of me. I try to step back, shaken by the surge of desire I feel, but my back is against the door. He closes in on me, enveloping me with his body and his presence, making me feel as if I’m losing control of myself.
His voice is hard. “I’m here because you owe me an explanation. That night at the hotel. Why did you stay? Did you know who I was?”
I shake my head, trying to dispel the effect of his body being so close to mine. “I didn’t, and I don’t owe you anything. I wanted a one-night stand, and you wanted a hooker. We both got what we wanted. Why can’t you leave it at that?”
He leans downward, one hand resting on the door beside my head, as he brings his face close to mine. I lose my train of thought, my eyes locking on his sensual lips. They are so close. I wet my lips, nervous and aroused, and as if he knows, he smiles. “I didn’t get what I thought I was getting,” he murmurs, “and in any case, my hooker didn’t get paid, did she? That’s unacceptable to me Rachel. I always pay my debts.”
“Maybe your ‘hooker’ decided to make it a charity case,” I snap.
He laughs. The sound is rich, sexy, and it warms me to my toes. “I’m sure I don’t strike you as someone who needs charity.”
No, he does not. I take a shaky breath. “Well then,” I say with a calmness I don't feel. “Back to my original question. Why are you here?”
“Maybe,” he says slowly, moving his body closer still, so that between the door at my back and him so close to me in front, I can hardly breathe, “Maybe I want to fuck you again.”
Raw heat floods between my thighs, making my knees go weak. My lips part as I drag in a ragged breath. He’s not even touching me, and yet, I feel as turned on as if he was. Desperate, I turn my face to the side, so that I can’t see his perfect face, his mesmerizing eyes, or the perfect curve of his lower lip. His breath fans against my ear, and I close my eyes, trying to find the words to tell him to leave me alone, when all I want is for him to fulfill the wild desire coursing through me.
“If that’s why you’re here,” I say slowly, my even tone belying the fact that my body is already his, from my straining nipples to my aching sex, “you’re wasting your time.” I swallow. “Jessica could walk into this hallway any moment. So if you don’t want her to come in and find us like this, I think you’d better let me go.”
He smiles, his eyes communicating exactly what he thinks of my dismissal. He knows that I want him. How could he not, when my whole body is straining towards him as if drawn by a magnet. His eyes hold mine for a long moment, until I’m sure I’m going to lose the ability to breathe.
“I couldn’t care less about Jessica finding us,” he says, “and I never waste my time.” He places a hand on my waist, and at the contact, I let out a gasp. But he only lifts me from the door, molding me to his hard body just for a second before he sets me back on my shaky legs. “I always get what I want, Rachel,” he says softly. Then he reaches behind me and opens the door, walking past me, and leaving me standing there with my heart racing, and blood pounding in my ears as I try to get my traitorous body under control again.
“I STILL can’t believe he actually said that,” Laurie says without taking her eyes off Adam Levine being super-sexy on The Voice.
“Me neither.” I frown into my box of Chinese take-out. “I mean who even says stuff like that?”
“What exactly do you have a problem with?” Brett asks. He’s sitting beside Laurie on the couch feeding her from his own take-out. “Is it the wording, or the intention conveyed?”
I scowl at him. “I have a problem with everything. Getting me to go his lounge under false pretenses, then pretending that he didn’t know who I was. Just who does he think he is anyway?
“Hush,” Laurie complains, as some teenage girl with knee high suede boots starts to sing a country number.
“I think you should fuck him,” Brett whispers, “You obviously want to, and you already did before, so…” he shrugs.
“I agree,” Laurie adds, looking away from the screen long enough to give me an encouraging smile.
“Definitely not,” I reply, getting up. “I’m going to bed. Apparently, you two have no idea what a one-night-stand means.”
“There’s no law that says you can’t have a repeat,” Laurie calls after me. I ignore her and dump my takeout box in the trash, then go to my room to get ready for bed. When I finally lie down and close my eyes, all I can think of is Landon, and those words repeating in my ear like an erotic refrain.
I want to fuck you again.
In a shameless part of me, I admit that I want the same thing. I’ve wanted it since I set my eyes on him at the Insomnia Lounge. Thankfully, there’s another part of me that’s sensible enough to be infuriated at him. Just who does he think he is anyway?
I always get what I want.
Well, good luck with that, I mutter, tossing on the bed. I’m most definitely not going to sleep with him again. I’m not interested in a guy who thinks he can own the world just by wanting it. It doesn’t even matter how sexy he is. I won’t be adding myself to the list of women he can get into bed just by saying something as raw as ‘I want to fuck you again.’
Out of curiosity, I open the browser on my phone and run a search on him, with ‘girlfriends’ as one of the keywords. The articles that come up in the results are mostly from the New York gossip sites, with pictures of him with various women, including a few famous ones. The articles allude to romantic connections between him and some of his dates, but most of the allusions seem to have been based only on rumors. I wonder if he approached all the other women as directly as he approached me.
I want to fuck you again.