She wanted more kisses. More everything. As soon as possible.
That morning, on the tram going up to the castle, he’d looped his arm around her shoulders and bent low to rest his cheek on her hair. Over lunch at a café in Carmel, he’d scooted his chair so close, his thigh had pressed against hers the entire meal. When they’d stopped at Big Sur, even Alex had been stunned into silence by the sight of a roiling ocean pummeling the rugged shore, and he’d held her hand tightly as they watched in awe. At Half Moon Bay, he’d dramatically pouted at the attention she paid to the surfers and vowed to parade around in a wetsuit whenever possible, if that was what it took to gain her undivided focus. Then he’d yanked her close on a bench by the shore and claimed her mouth with ferocious intent.
By the time they crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, she was the one resting her hand on his knee and sliding it up his thigh. Not too far, but far enough to tell him what he needed to know.
She was all in. And when they finally reached their hotel room, she’d gladly show him.
The young woman behind the reception desk was friendly, although she didn’t seem to recognize Alex. Not even when he braced his hands on the countertop and leaned forward with that famously charming grin, his voice conspiratorially low. So low Lauren’s belly dropped, and she had to rub her thighs together just a bit.
“I know we made reservations for a standard king room, but do you have anything with a big, jetted bathtub? Doesn’t matter what it costs.” He winked at the woman, who appeared slightly dazed. “We’re celebrating.”
“There’s, uh—” The poor clerk swallowed hard. “There’s the honeymoon suite. The private balcony has a large whirlpool tub and a dining nook.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Sold.”
Oh, goodness, she’d seen that suite on the hotel’s website, and the expense.
“Alex—” she began.
He skated his knuckles over her cheek. “Trust me, Wren.”
She did. Heaven help them both.
The clerk changed their reservation, and she smiled at them as she handed over their keycards. “Third floor, all the way at the end of the hall. Please let me know if we can be of further assistance.”
“We will. Thank you so much for your help.” With one last dazzling smile, Alex straightened and grasped the handle of his suitcase. “Good night.”
Lauren offered a polite nod and took hold of her own luggage.
As they walked to the elevator, he reached for her free hand. “How do you feel about ordering room service and eating out on the balcony?”
Unaccountably nervous, she stared at the patterned carpet underfoot. “Sounds good.”
As soon as he pushed the call button, the elevator doors opened, and they stepped inside. When the doors slid closed again, he turned to face her, their fingers still intertwined.
“You know,” he said conversationally, “if you were to worry—even for one moment—that I’d pressure you to do anything you didn’t want, I’m just warning you now that I’d be hurt and angry, and I’d probably compose an epic poem about the wrong done to me. Or at least write a sulky limerick.”
She huffed out an amused breath. “You once tried to bully me into a sushi-eating contest, if I remember correctly.”
“I was concerned your diet was seaweed deficient.” Somehow, he kept a straight face. “That doesn’t count.”
“Bullshit,” she said, and he clutched his chest and gasped in faux shock at her language. “Alex, I know what you’re trying to tell me. It’s sweet, but it’s not necessary. I want to—” The elevator doors opened on their floor, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “I want to do things with you. It’s just … been a while.”
His firm grip on her hand led her out of the elevator and down the hall. “For me too, Wren. But we have all the time in the world.”
Anyone who called gray eyes chilly had never seen his.
Right now, she couldn’t imagine ever being cold again.
23
“SHIT, WREN,” ALEX SAID THROUGH A MOUTHFUL OF THE hotel’s signature gourmet pizza, and scrolled down his YouTube page. “I already have over two hundred thousand views and six thousand comments on my first clip, with more coming in all the time. Same with the other videos.”
From what he could tell, the views and comments had trickled in slowly at first … until Carah responded to his clips on her various social media accounts and threatened to nut-punch him—“Also my main sasquatch-hunting tactic”—the next time he encountered her geriatric ass.