“You know what lines are like in there. Oh, wait, no you wouldn’t because you’re not a girl.” I sashayed past him, heading out to the Jeep and waited for him to follow me.
When I got there, I went to the driver’s side. “Give me the keys, Maddox.”
He joined me and gently shoved me aside. “No chance, babe. I’ll take the rest of the driving from here.”
“Do I need to remind you we nearly crashed on the way in here?” I folded my arms across my chest in mock disappointment. Truth be told, I preferred it when Maddox drove. It gave me every opportunity to watch him without him knowing.
“Lyla,” he said my name slowly, deliberately, as if rolling the syllables around on his tongue.
Oh God, what he could do with that tongue.
“We’re less than an hour away and you’ll be better navigating the last bit. You know where we’re going.”
He had a point. I couldn’t read the map on my phone and drive at the same time, and the Jeep didn’t have satnav.
“You’re right.”
“Oh, how I love it when you say that.”
“Only when I say that?”
“Lyla, stop it.” Without another word, Maddox jumped into the driver’s seat and fired up the engine.
It took us a little more than an hour to finally get to the hotel and by then, it was closing in on midnight. We checked in, the hotel porter not giving us a second glance and headed up to our room. It was a typical budget, chain hotel, which meant you could be in any city, in any state, such was the identikit nature of their styling. There was one queen-sized bed and an armchair.
Maddox dropped his bag to the floor. “I’ll sleep in the chair,” he declared. “You can take the bed.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Don’t be ridiculous, Maddox. I’m sure you can keep it in your pants for a few hours while we get some sleep. We can share the bed.”
He dropped his eyes, staring at the floor. “Easy for you to say, you won’t have a raging hard-on,” he mumbled, so quietly I almost couldn’t hear him.
“Do whatever you want.” I pretended not to care as I started to unbutton my shirt, my every move geared deliberately to upping his desire for me by several notches. Once I stood in front of him in only my underwear, I reached for my ponytail, yanking out the tie and shook my black hair loose, sending it tumbling over my shoulders. “Turn around,” I insisted. “I’m going to get ready for bed.”
His green eyes were practically black as he stared at me with intent. “I know what you’re doing, Lyla, and I hate you for it.” Maddox crossed the room and gathered me into his arms. “But I hate myself more,” he whispered in my ear.
I tried not to giggle. I knew he wasn’t prepared to give up on us.
