Natalie’s breath caught, at his words and at his hand still clenching hers.
“I don’t understand,” she admitted, trying to make sense of what he was saying.
“What I’ve wanted from the moment you stepped off this elevator before dinner was to put you right back on it, go to one of our rooms and not come out for hours.”
He watched her as if he half expected her to pull her hand free and slap him.
As if.
“You’re not married?”
His look of shock gave answer before his words.
“There’s no other woman in my life, Natalie. It’s just that my life is complicated, and letting you think there could be anything beyond the next three days would be wrong. Whatever happens between us this weekend ends when we leave Miami on Sunday. When deciding what floor this elevator stops on, keep that in mind.”
So neither of them wanted anything beyond the next three days, and time was too precious to waste. She wanted him. He wanted her. They didn’t need to know anything more about each other.
Well, almost nothing more.
“Are you...?” How did she ask this? She’d been a virgin with Jonathan and was screened annually at the hospital, so she hadn’t had to do blood tests or anything of the sort. Trying to convince her it was time for them to take that next step, he’d gone on his own and given her a copy of his lab tests prior to their becoming physically involved. As time and their busy schedules had allowed, they’d fallen into a mutually satisfying relationship.
Or maybe it hadn’t been so mutually satisfying, since he’d been having sex with another woman.
Ugh. No. She was not going to let thoughts of Jonathan’s infidelity creep into this moment. All she needed to know was—how did couples usually bring up a clean bill of health? Or did they? No matter what other couples did. She would ask.
“I mean, do you have...?” She struggled to find the right words.
“I’m clean, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Relief filled her at his answer and at how easily he’d known what she was asking.
“Me, too,” Natalie assured, excitement coursing through her. Excitement and heat. White-hot heat that burned at her very core. She wanted Matthew. More than she’d ever wanted any man. Mentally and physically. She. Wanted. Him.
She reached for his hand. “We both know what we want, and it isn’t a relationship.” There. She’d said it. There could be no confusion. “So, truly, your comments, while gentlemanly, are a waste of valuable time when you could be impressing me in ways I’d appreciate much more.” Her boldness surprised her, but good grief, he seemed intent on being a gentleman when what she wanted was a rogue lover setting her body on fire. “My room is on the eleventh floor.” She reached over and pressed the button. “Are you getting off with me or not?”
* * *
Despite her brave invitation, Natalie’s hands trembled as she slid her card into the key slot. Her heart pounded as the little green lights flashed and she twisted the handle, opening the door to let Matthew into her hotel room.
Even as her feet moved, carrying her inside, she asked herself how this worked. Did she go to the bathroom and freshen up? Did he? Did she just take off her clothes and get into bed, as Jonathan had always preferred?
Once they were inside the room and she heard him secure the lock, she turned to him, hoping to break the silence that had enveloped them on their ascent to her room.
Before she could get a word out, Matthew p
ushed her back a couple of steps to sandwich her between the wall and his hard body, his mouth covering hers. There was nothing slow, indecisive or gentlemanly in his touch.
Finally, she thought.
His mouth was ravenous. His hands roaming over her body voracious. His lean hips pressing against her belly giving proclamation of just how much he wanted her.
She kissed him, touched him with equal intensity, running her hands over his arms, his shoulders, cupping his face in her hands as his kiss deepened.
One little kiss and they’d gone straight to fast and furious.
Ha. There was nothing little about how Matthew was kissing her. Big. Huge. Gigantic. That was how his kisses felt.
That was how his body felt grinding against her.