“Not until you finish your dinner. All of it,” I warn. “You’re going to need your strength.”
She whimpers, and I pull away, enough to let her eat without choking. Sex and the rest of our foreplay have to wait. I watch her attentively as she scarfs down her meal, and then we leave. There’s no check to deal with or tip to leave. I pay my staff handsomely already.
“Where to?” Cali asks as she steps out of the booth with her crutches.
“A room,” I say, and sweep her off her feet. “Leave your crutches. I’ll have someone bring them up to your room later.” I carry her out of the restaurant and to the elevator.
“Your place or mine?”
“Yours. My daughter is upstairs, and I don’t need her hearing you scream my name all night.”
“Oh, but the guests next door get to listen to it?”
“At least they’re not related,” I say. I press the button with my elbow to go up. “What floor?”
“Twelve.”
I hit the button for the twelfth floor and wait for the double doors to close.
“Were you playing me back there with the potatoes?” I ask. At this point, I no longer care, but I want to know the truth.
She shakes her head, her arms around my neck as she’s cuddled against me. “You can put me down,” Cali says.
“And take the chance that another man might sweep you off your feet? I think not.”
Her fingers trail along my chest, and I growl, trying like hell to keep my concentration and focus on getting Cali to her room.
“Room number?” I need to know which way to go down the hallway.
“Twelve Twenty-Two.”
I head to the right, and she’s only four rooms down the hallway.
“Room key?” I ask, and put her down, leaning her against the back of the door so she can dig out her room card.
Her eyes widen, and she grimaces.
“Let me guess. It’s buried in the snow with your phone.”
“Probably.”
There’s a master key in my office, but it’ll be quicker to go downstairs and have the staff register a new key to the room.
“Stay here,” I grumble, and hurry down to the lobby to get two room cards registered and grab a condom from the front desk drawer.
In record time, I’m back up to the twelfth floor. “It took you long enough,” Cali jokes. I’m just glad she hasn’t changed her mind.
I hand her the room keys and let her unlock the door, inviting me inside. “Come on in, although I’m sure you know what the place looks like.” She laughs and hobbles two steps before I sweep her off her feet.
“You’re not going to reinjure your ankle or your knee,” I say, carrying her to the bed. Gently, I place her down on the mattress, and she stares up at me with a wry grin. “What?”
“You’re chivalrous. I thought that only happened in movies and books.”
My fingers work her boots free. They’re the ones that she borrowed and will have to return tomorrow to the lodge.
She undoes the button on her jeans and lifts her hips. I help her out of her clothes, eager to undress her. I want to ravish her, kiss over every inch of her perfect skin.
Cali grimaces when her jeans move down her knees. She has a fresh bruise from the fall, but the doctor already looked at her injuries.