Billy trailed hot, wet kisses down my neck. My hands curled around his broad shoulders.
“Fuck, baby. You taste sweet.” The voice didn’t match my ornery employer’s. It wasn’t deep enough, didn’t have the rusty curve of a British accent. Instead it had a distinct southern drawl. Colin, my Navy SEAL, groaned and licked my collarbone.
After a short Thanksgiving meal with the Colonel, I’d met Colin at a bar. We’d had a drink. We caught up. I had another drink for bravery then I whispered in his ear, “Show me your room.” Kind of cliché, but it did the trick. Once we passed the threshold, Colin’s mouth fell on mine. His hands crept under my shirt, pulling it up and over my head.
I wore a lacy red bra underneath, fully expecting to get lucky. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Billy pressed against me. His blond hair between my fingers, his green eyes focused on my body. Lust blossomed in my belly thinking of my boss. I’d never been so attracted to someone I hated so much. But hate and love were twin emotions. Yikes, that was a scary thought. I pushed it away. Far, far away into the deepest recesses of my brain.
“Your tits are fantastic,” Colin said, cupping one of my breasts.
Yes. Yes. Yes. This is what I needed. What I craved. Every nerve ending in my body sparked and came alive. His thigh thrust between my legs and I rubbed against him. I was so hard up—I could’ve come this way.
“I can feel how wet you are through my jeans,” Colin groaned. It was true, I’d left a wet spot on Colin’s thigh. Whoops.
“Take off your shirt,” I demanded.
Colin released me. My eyes had adjusted to the dark. He smiled. He had curly hair but kept it closely cropped, a military requirement. His jaw was strong and wide, square and covered with the perfect amount of scruff. He reached behind him and shrugged out of his shirt. His body made me want to weep, broad shouldered, flat stomach and with a little hair on his chest. I was back on him, lips pressed against him. Our mouths opened and tongues slid against each other. He shifted, forcing my legs to wrap around his waist. His palms traveled down my back and squeezed my ass.
“My hand is vibrating,” he said against my ear.
What a strange thing to say. Maybe Colin wasn’t good at dirty talk. I decided to go with it. I didn’t want to embarrass him. “Yeah,” I managed to say. “I’m vibrating too. It feels so good.”
He chuckled. “No baby, I think your phone is ringing.”
“What?”
“Your phone, it’s ringing.” He dug into my back pocket and produced my phone. It was indeed vibrating, flashing with Billy’s number.
“Oh,” I grabbed the phone and silenced it. This was Billy’s eighth call of the day. Last call he’d wanted his favorite guitar pick FedExed overnight from his L.A. house to his hotel in New York. He simply could not be without it.
“Now, where were we?” I wrapped my arms around Colin’s neck, urging him down for a kiss.
The phone vibrated again. Colin paused his descent.
“I’m just going to turn it off,” I said. When I went to shut it down, a text message flashed from Billy. EMERGENCY, it read in all caps. The bottom of my stomach dropped out. Images of Addy being loaded into an ambulance or in the hospital flashed before my eyes—my worst nightmare. “Give me one second,” I said.
Colin shrugged. “Sure, I’ll check the game score.”
He flicked on the light and lay down on the bed, one thick arm propped behind his head. Using the remote, he clicked on the television. I wandered to a corner. It was your standard economy hotel room, so there wasn’t much privacy, save for the bathroom.
I dialed Billy. The phone connected half way through the first ring.
“Flower, where the fuck have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.” Billy sounded unusually flustered.
“What’s going on? Did something happen to Addy? Oh my god, did she choke or something?” I’d nearly choked on a Lifesaver at age eight. The experience was horrifying. My mom had just died and the Colonel called 911. Since I was still partially breathing, the operator advised letting the Lifesaver melt. Ten minutes it took for my partially blocked airway to fully clear. The Colonel was calm, almost icy. After, I accused him of not loving me because he hadn’t even cried. Later on, he explained he’d been frozen with fear. It was one of the few times he shared his feelings with me. And it made me uncomfortable, trying to reconcile the indifferent Colonel with human emotions. I wanted him to feel, but I didn’t know how to handle it.
“What? No,” Billy said, drawing me from the memory. “You sound out of breath. Are you all right?”
My hand gripped the phone tighter. “I’m fine. What’s the emergency Billy?”
“Addy’s crying and I can’t get her to stop. I knew this would happen. Didn’t I tell you she has separation anxiety? You’ve really done it now, flower. She may never forgive you.”
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “Put Addy on the phone.”
Some shuffling and then, “D-daisy when are you coming back?” Addy’s little voice was thick with tears.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart?”
“I can’t find my favorite pillowcase.” Addy had this ratty pillowcase she liked to sleep with, the only thing left over from her days in foster care. “And the rooms in this hotel are too dark, I’m scared. I need you to sleep with me.”
“Maybe you can sleep with your father?” I suggested, hoping the solution would ease her tears, getting me off the phone and back in Colin’s arms. “You two can have a slumber party. Wouldn’t that be fun?” I put all the enthusiasm I had into my voice.
Muffled noises, it sounded like someone was covering the mouthpiece. Suspicion skirted a finger along my spine. If this was one of Billy’s tricks … Addy came back to the phone. “No, we—I need you to come now.”
I didn’t miss her slip up. She’d said we. Billy had put her up to this. I bit my lip, trying to gauge whether her tears were real or fake. “Put Billy back on the phone.”
A second ticked by. “Flower?”
“Addy’s scared of the dark, see if she’ll go to sleep if you leave the light on in the bathroom.”
“That’s all?” Billy sounded cranky. A sure sign he wasn’t getting what he wanted.
I breathed in and out, in and out. My gaze landed on Colin, reclining on the bed, hard-on still evident under his jeans. I licked my lips. He cocked a “what are you thinking” eyebrow at me. “No, that’s not all. I’ll be there as soon as I can. I need to find a flight.”
“No need, flower.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ve got an airplane waiting for you.”
I hung up without saying another word. Son of a bitch had played me. I bet he wanted me back to iron his underwear or lotion his chest. Okay, I’d kind of be into that. But then I remembered the sound of Addy’s voice, her fear, her sweet plea. Whether or not she was faking, I couldn’t let her down. Better to be safe than sorry.
I looked at my Navy SEAL and nearly cried. “I’m sorry, can I take a rain check?”