Jenna woke up sore. At first, she didn’t recognize what kind of sore and wondered if she’d miscalculated her period this month, with the dull ache between her hips. But then, as the room around her came into focus, and she spotted a pile of clothes on the floor that were definitely not her size and style, the memories of last night’s activities floated to the surface.

She froze and took stock of herself. Nude, with nothing but some tangled sheets covering the important bits. Sticky from her own lubrication, now largely dried on her thighs. And aching from Cade’s generous penis and what he’d done with it the night before. Oh boy, she thought, it’s time for that awkward morning after.

She was facing the wall of the bathroom, so carefully, she braced herself on her arms and turned her head to spy Cade. He was lying on his stomach about a foot away, also naked, his cheek pressed into the pillow, a serene expression on his face that made him look younger, more naïve—innocent even. Which was hilarious considering the absolute command of sex he’d demonstrated the night before. He was not at all an innocent man. He was experienced. He was skilled.

But she supposed everyone had an innocent side that shone through sometimes.

Tentatively, she reached out and brushed his stubble with the back of her hand. Cade let out a soft breath and buried his face farther into the pillow. Aw. How cute.

Jenna went to grab the phone from the nightstand, then realized she’d never taken it out of her purse. The only thing on the nightstand was her condom bag, now with one less condom in it. She snatched it up and slipped out of bed as quietly as possible, the old springs giving off the slightest squeak as she let off the pressure.

She crept across the room on her tiptoes, put the condom bag back in its usual place, and plucked out her phone. She’d set an alarm for eight, and found she’d woken up half an hour early. She switched off the alarm so it wouldn’t wake Cade, checked her messages—thankfully, Marvin had not called or texted today, yet—and satisfied that she hadn’t missed anything important, she headed for the bathroom to take another shower.

At the doorway, she paused and briefly considered shaking Cade awake and offering him a sexy dalliance in the shower; but then her vagina throbbed like a bitch, and she swore under her breath. Nope, no more poundings for me this week. It’s going to have to wait until I walk without a limp again.

As she closed the bathroom door, she felt a pang of regret. The time she had left to spend with Cade was rapidly dwindling, and though they’d both agreed this was to be a short-term tryst, since they had separate lives, different paths, and no time or inclination to work out an ongoing arrangement, Jenna still wished it wasn’t going to end so soon. Cade was an interesting guy, once you got past the brooding exterior. He clearly had some shit stewing in his past, but that didn’t make him hopeless. He was a considerate lover—very considerate, good lord—and he could match her in sarcasm, and when he smiled, really smiled, it was like a ray of sunshine lighting up a room. If they’d met under different circumstances, maybe they could have made something more of this. Maybe…

Jenna shook her thoughts away. She’d assured Cade she was okay with a one-night stand. If she went back on her word, it would make her look bad and probably upset him, make him think he’d tangled himself up in an emotional web he wasn’t ready to commit to. And he didn’t deserve that sort of treatment. So she had to stay firm.

She turned on the shower, remembering a second too late that it made loud noises when it started up. So much for letting Cade sleep in, she thought with a sigh. She lightly smacked the side of her head. You’re slipping, girl. Screw your head back on right before you mess up in front of Marvin. You don’t want to get roasted alive this weekend. You need to stay on the job just a bit longer.

The shower went quick, Jenna not wanting to spend one moment more than necessary in the grimy tub with the watery shampoo and scratchy soap. She stepped out and snatched one of the two remaining towels from the rack, dried off quickly, and then grabbed her discarded clothes from the night before, which she’d left on the back of the toilet. They weren’t clean, of course, but she couldn’t very well march out of the room in a towel. She would put on her old stuff for a little while, sneak back to her room, and change into her work outfit for the day. She could also do her makeup and hair while there.

Of course, that was assuming she could sneak back to her room. Were the bikers still watching the place? Surely they’d given up by now. Right?

Then again, they’d followed Cade all the way to LA because he threw one punch.

She grimaced at the implications of that.

Fully dressed, Jenna exited the bathroom to find Cade standing stark naked in the middle of the room, his penis on display. She did everything she could not to ogle it and start salivating, instead gluing her gaze to his amused face. He looked her up and down, scratched his stubble as he spoke, voice still heavy from sleep, “Thought you’d gone and pulled a walk of shame.”

She crossed her arms. “I don’t think one of those will be required. The ten steps to the door of my room doesn’t really count as much of a ‘walk.’” She strode forward and poked his finely muscled chest. “Plus, you’ll be going with me, as my bodyguard, in case your friends the angry bikers are still hanging around. So there will be no lonely, embarrassing shuffle back to ‘my place.’”

Cade chuckled. “Guess you have a point.”

“Yes, I do.” She poked his chest a second time. God, did he have incredible pecs. “Now go take your turn in the shower. You smell like sweat and…other things.”

“What other things?”

She frowned.

He winked.

“Go!” she said. “I need enough time to get ready for work. You know how it goes. Hair and makeup and fitted clothing that’s almost impossible to zip yourself? And then I also need some breakfast, because I doubt I’ll have time to stop for a good lunch. Marvin always has a ridiculous number of things to tick off his preparation checklist.” She rolled her eyes. “So hurry up. I can’t be late for my meeting.”

Cade snapped to attention, even going so far as to mock a salute. “Yes, ma’am.” He skirted around her, intentionally jutting out his shapely ass as he did so. It took everything in her power not to smack that ass, but she couldn’t stop herself from staring at it as he model-strutted his way to the bathroom door. Bastard even gave his ass a little shake—which also shook his cock—before he disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door.

“I’m going to die before this is over,” she muttered to herself. “That man is going to give me an aneurysm. What was I thinking, sleeping with some random hottie? Was it the motorcycle? The ‘bad boy’ vibes? The sexy baritone chuckle? The huge pecs? The six-pack? Where did I lose my mind? When did I sell my soul?” She continued to rant quietly as she plopped down into the chair by the table and started scrolling through the morning news articles. “And why, oh why,” she said last, in a harsh whisper, as another sore throb resonated through her abdomen, “did I let him plow me so hard? Feels like I shoved a damn football up there. Jesus Fucking Christ.”

* * *

Jenna was pretty sure she’d seen this spy movie once. She and Cade were crawling on their hands and knees to partially shield themselves behind the railing of the walkway as they headed to her room. They hadn’t spied any of the bikers in the area, but that didn’t mean they should be careless. If they got trapped in the motel with the bikers banging on the door, then Jenna’s entire day would be ruined, and there would likely be a call to the cops that resulted in a standoff in the motel parking lot between the bikers and the police. And Jenna did not want either of those things to come to pass. Because her life was not a crime show, thank you very much.

When they reached her door, Cade shoved the key into the lock and hurriedly opened it. They shimmied inside, secured the door again, and waited for a few minutes. The bikers didn’t charge up the steps and start screaming at Cade to come out and fight, so they figured they were safe for now.

Jenna then went about her routine as quickly as she could without messing up her look. She stripped off her dirty clothes, not caring that Cade was watching—though he did give her a wolf whistle that made her throw her balled-up shirt at his face—and dressed in her fresh suit. Thankfully, it was a pantsuit, so she didn’t have to worry about riding Cade’s motorcycle in the legs department. She did need to worry about her hair though, so instead of her usual loose bun, she used a more complex plait technique she’d practiced a couple times for a date style (that she’d never used because she never went on dates). It swept up all her hair and kept it close to her scalp, making it much harder to ruin with a helmet.

Hair finished, she applied her typical makeup, added a dash of lip balm because her lips were a little chapped from last night, and then stuffed her feet into her kitten heels. She did a little twirl in front of the bathroom mirror to make sure she looked reasonably well put-together, and satisfied that no one would think her a bum, she joined Cade where he was waiting near the door. “I can’t crawl in this suit, so you better hope and pray those bikers don’t have guns. I’m not getting sniped for you.”

He snorted. “Don’t worry. I’ll shield you with my abs of steel.”

“Ha!” She slid her purse over her shoulder. “You sure do have a high opinion of yourself.”

“That’s called self-confidence.” He leaned forward and pecked her lips. “You should try it sometime. You look lovely.”

She knew the red in her cheeks was hidden by her foundation, but Cade no doubt noticed the changing color of her neck and ears. “I’m okay looking.”

“No, you’re beautiful.” He opened the door a crack, peered out onto the street, and signaled for her to wait while he did another thorough scan of the alleys and other hiding places.

Jenna ground her heel into the carpet. Besides Marvin using her as a pretty bauble, with her breasts practically hanging out of rented cocktail dresses with ridiculously short hems, Jenna was rarely in a position where men would call her beautiful. And even more rarely did they call her that in a way that did not sound lecherous, like they were expecting her to act like a porn star for their pleasure. The way Cade called her beautiful was like…like he honestly meant to boost her confidence and not just stroke his own attention to the female form.

She liked that. She liked that a lot.

If only he lived in Chicago. Then they could see each other for more than a long weekend. Alas…

Cade gave the okay signal, and they slipped out of the motel room, then stole down the stairs to the parking lot at a half jog. They wove through the same maze of backstreets and alleys they had the night before, until they reached the parking garage where Cade had parked his bike. It was still there, in one piece, so they climbed on, exited the garage, and sped away through the LA streets.

Jenna had looked up on Google Maps how to get to the convention center from the garage, and it just so happened one of the best routes there passed by a well-reviewed diner. So that’s where they headed on this bright and sunny morning in the City of Angels, the sun already promising another scorcher of a day. Even with the helmet tinting her view of the buildings zipping past, Jenna still enjoyed the ride, tucked behind Cade’s strong body, the wind caressing her. She felt like an explorer discovering a new place—and new people.

The smile on her face remained until they reached the diner.