Fuck. My T-shirt skimmed the creamy skin just below her ass. I shifted against the doorway. My cock throbbed. What in the hell? I was staring at Elena like she had walked off the cover of a lingerie magazine.

My eyes trailed down her thighs.

“The hair,” I repeated. “Take it down.”

“Really, it’s not appropriate,” she argued.

“How do you expect to have game night with your hair pulled back like that? Can you even think?” I teased. My bear was pushing me to do and say more tonight.

I saw the flustered look in her eye.

“Of course I can think.” She worked the knot free until her hair fell loosely around her shoulders. With her hands up, the shirt rose even higher.

I don’t know how in the hell I kept my composure. She was fucking beautiful. The curls spilled around her in golden waves.

“There. Are you happy?” she fired.

I swallowed. “Yes.”

What she didn’t know was she looked like a damn goddess in my closet. And I had been locked away from women for fifty days. Dr. Garcia didn’t count.

There was a beast inside me ready to emerge. His was clawing at my chest. Begging to quench his thirst. But it wasn’t alcohol he wanted.

“The cufflink drawer,” I stated.

“What?” Her eyes darted back and forth.

“Airplane sized vodka bottles in the back of the cufflink drawer,” I reported.

“Oh.” She threaded one leg through the pajama pants and then the other. “I’ll get those.” She spun around, sliding the drawer open. I watched as she collected three bottles from the back of the drawer. I wished I had another view of her heart-shaped ass. I frowned.

“My sword case. Gin.”

Her eyes widened. But she stepped toward the cabinet that held my Royal Navy weapons and cracked the lid. She retrieved the scattered bottles at the back.

“Anywhere else?” she asked.

I rubbed my jaw. “I think that’s all that’s in here.”

The bottles were wedged in her arms and pressed tightly against her chest. “There are more somewhere else?”

“I’m sure your blood hounds didn’t find them all if they didn’t find these.” I paused. “Oh wait. The tequila.”

“There’s tequila in here? But I thought I searched…”

My arm grazed hers as I stretched behind the rows of leather belts. Her breath seized and I could feel the warmth of her skin against my cheek. The bottle was tucked underneath a shelf. No one would have discovered it.

“Last one.” I held it up.

I looked at Elena and then the honey-colored liquor. How many nights had I given in to tequila? To gin? To vodka? How many times had she rolled my drunk ass in bed and turned off the light?

“Is it hard?” she asked.

“Not to drink?”

She nodded slowly.

“This is day fifty-one. I’m ok. You can ask me again when I get through day fifty-two. One day at a time is my new motto.”

I didn’t move. I blocked Elena’s exit from the closet. The bottles clanked as she shuffled them in her arms. I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen her this way before. I wanted her to stay so I could study her.

She looked completely different with her hair down. Without the stuffy manager suit. There was a softness emanating from her.

I never knew behind her silk suits she had a killer body. Sure she was thin, but her tits were gorgeous and those hips had curves that lasted for miles. Something primal inside me was awake.

“Elena.”

“Sir?” Her eyes followed me.

I grumbled. “Never mind. You can throw those out.” I walked away from the closet.

I didn’t know why I was suddenly frustrated. Or why I thought about doing something with Elena I never thought about before. Everything inside me told me to smash the bottles on the floor and rip my clothes from her body. Spend the night buried inside her. Fucking her until we were both without breath.

I closed my eyes and walked to the table where she had stacked the games.

She appeared a few minutes later. “All gone,” she announced.

I pressed my palms into the surface. “Trivia first?”