Blaming it on exhaustion, I sigh in relief when a forceful knock echoes around the room. I wouldn’t put it past the woman to have rubbed the damn pillows in something nasty before bringing them to me.
I decide on taking the high road, painting a wide, grateful smile on my face as I open the door.
It falls immediately.
“No,” I snap, shoving the door closed, but Spade drops one of the pillows in his hand in the doorway, preventing it from shutting.
I step out of the way, not risking getting hit in the face with the door when he walks forward, his eyes dropping to the floor briefly as he bends to pick up the pillow.
His eyes feel like a branding iron on my skin as they rake up the length of me from my bare legs all the way up to my neck, pausing momentarily at the lace between my thighs.
Jesus, it’s the exact same way he looked at me that night when he demanded I get naked once we got to his room at the clubhouse.
His perusal, just as much now as it was then, is powerful and possessive, and my body responds the exact same way. A chill of anticipation sweeps the length of me, my skin peppering with gooseflesh.
Only this time, I don’t sweep my hand down to my panties and try to rub the ache away.
“Is that what you sleep in?”
“When it’s hot,” I snap, my body’s reaction the opposite to my words.
His duffel hits the floor with a thud as he walks over to the air conditioning unit in the window.
“What are you doing?” I hiss, crossing my arms over my chest because cold air rushes out, making my nipples peak even more.
“Cooling things off,” he mutters, his eyes drifting to the bed.
His lips form a flat line as if he didn’t believe me when I said it was only a queen. The bed looks more like a full-size now that he’s standing next to it.
I should stand my ground and argue, insist that he leave, but I just don’t have the energy, and I know how hard tomorrow is going to be.
Instead, I go back to the way I acted in the car. I completely ignore him and pretend he isn’t even there.
Reaching into my overnight bag, I pull out a nightgown and tug it over my head, finding Spade’s eyes locked on me when I turn back around to crawl into bed.
His lips are curled into a disbelieving grin, and not an endearing one.
“Problem?” I snap, putting my hands on my hips in irritation.
“You wear that to bed when it’s cold?”
I look down at my nightgown. “What’s wrong with my gown?”
Why am I even speaking to this man right now?
“You mean muumuu?” The words leave his lips on a laugh.
“You sure do have a lot of opinions for a man who isn’t even welcome in this room. What do you wear to bed?”
He shrugs, a wicked smile curling up both sides of his mouth. “I’ll show you.”
Spade proceeds to strip off his leather cut, hanging it like a prized possession over the back of the desk chair near him before pulling off his shirt then bending over to unlace his combat boots. His jeans are the next thing to disappear. The crisp hairs on his legs are even darker than the hair on his head.
“Not happening,” I hiss when his thumbs go into the waistband of his boxer briefs.
“You’re sure?” he asks in a teasing tone, his thumbs still hitched in his underwear.
I swallow, wondering when the questions got so damned difficult.