Perfect, Delaney thought to herself. This was really how her day was continuing to go.

She looked out the window and saw the city had been plunged into darkness.

The storm had cut the power.

This couldn’t get any worse.

She wrapped the blanket around her more tightly and pulled her legs up to her chest, hoping to stem off the chill. Looking over at Ivan, she saw he already watched her.

“Looks like it’s a blackout. Whole city has gone dark.” Ivan sounded amused.

“This isn’t the least bit funny. It fucking sucks, to be honest.”

“It could be worse,” he replied and leaned back on the couch, as if just making himself comfortable like he was at home.

She licked her lips, looking back out the window. “No, it really couldn’t get any worse.”

Standing, Delaney kept the blanket wrapped tightly around herself as she moved over toward the window. She could feel the cold seeping through the glass, which shocked her, seeing how thick it was.

Delaney placed her hand on the window and felt the chill go right into her bones. She curled her fingers into her palms and tucked her hand back underneath the blanket.

She felt Ivan move in behind her, his body heat instantly covering her, seeping into her. Closing her eyes for a moment, she just absorbed it, wanting nothing more than to lean into him to take in all that warmth.

But she wouldn’t do that.

She couldn’t.

Turning and facing him, she craned her head back to look into his face. He was such a tall, big man, clearly having a toned, hard body, no doubt working out to keep up his impressive physique.

“If we could have actually left, going to the hotel sounds pretty good right about now.”

He smirked and leaned against the window, as if the coldness didn’t affect him. He crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles bunching underneath the material of his shirt.

“Truthfully, there probably wouldn’t have been a room open. Everyone most likely anticipated the storm getting worse and buckled down.”

“No room even with your status?” She lifted her eyebrow and smirked.

He chuckled. “Even with my connections I probably would have been shit out of luck, Delaney.”

Odd, the way he said her name had chills moving through her, chills that had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with her arousal.

“Besides, doubt we could make it to the hotel safely in this weather. Probably freeze our nuts off.” He smirked again and she rolled her eyes.

She felt her annoyance rise.

For such an elite man with a prestigious background, he had the attitude and mouth of a frat boy.

Turning away from him and walking back over toward the couch, she sat down and felt her teeth start to chatter. She wasn’t built for the cold, and it had been stupid of her to move to a city where the winters got frigid.

But it had been a good opportunity, so she’d deal with the cold.

“You hate me,” he said softly, sitting beside her.

She glanced over at him, the darkness making it nearly impossible to distinguish his expression.

With the lights off, the full moon coming through the windows seemed intense.

“I don’t hate you,” she finally said, leaning back on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. “To be honest, I’m kind of jealous of you.” She heard him snort and looked over at him.

“Jealous of me? Not sure why you would be. If anything, I’m jealous of you.”

She felt her eyes widen at that.

“Me?” she asked, sitting up straighter, keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around her. “But why? You have everything you could ever want.”

He wasn’t looking at her, but had his focus straight ahead. She could see him shake his head slowly, answering her without actually saying a word.

“I’m jealous of your ambition, the fact you work so damn hard to get what you want. You don’t let anyone get in your way.” They were silent for a moment, but she didn’t know what to say.

Finally, she exhaled but kept her focus on him.

“You are hard working as well,” she admitted. Almost hating that she was feeding into his ego.

Although it was true. He worked really damn hard.

He might have wealth and money, but he didn’t use it to his advantage, even if she liked to bitch about it.

As Delaney stared at him, her vision adjusting to the darkness, she felt the heat move between them. Despite the chill in the air, knowing it would get even colder, she felt beads of perspiration dot the valley between her breasts.

Her heart started beating a little harder, the feel of her nipples pressing against her shirt becoming stronger.

She was wet, her arousal for Ivan something she couldn’t deny, couldn’t ignore.

And as he looked at her, Delaney could feel the electricity moving between them.

“So, you don’t loathe me,” he said gruffly, his voice so deep, the pitch changing the longer they stared at each other.

“I didn’t say that,” she whispered and smiled. He chuckled softly and shifted so he was facing her.

The longer they stayed silent, the more she felt the chemistry grow.

This was a bad idea, she knew that, but as she licked her lips, she could see him glance down to watch the act, and Delaney knew that stopping what could happen would be impossible.

Besides, in this moment, being pressed up against Ivan didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.