“Good night,” he called out to the employees still working.

“Good night,” the barista shouted back. “Go Sharks.”

He smiled. Maybe this was an unusually team-oriented coffee shop.

She opened the umbrella as much as she could while looping the plastic bookstore bag and her handbag around her other arm. He reached out for the umbrella, holding it over her head, and took her hand with his free one.

“Ready?”

“Always.”

THEY ARRIVED AT Kendall’s hotel soaked to the skin. The rain was falling in sheets, the wind was blowing, and she’d never been so thankful to see a hotel lobby. She hadn’t let go of Drew’s hand, either. He left the umbrella outside the hotel doors to dry. The doorman ushered them inside, and a hotel employee approached them promising to send more dry towels up to her room.

Drew pulled her toward the elevator banks. She was already shivering. He must be freezing too. He didn’t have a hood on his jacket, and the rain must have been pelting the back of his neck. They dripped all over the elevator while the car carried them to Kendall’s room on the twelfth floor.

He still held her hand, but now he rubbed it in both of his. She knew she should feel the cold, but at the moment, the sizzle she felt at his nearness was a pretty major distraction. He moved a little closer to her. She inched closer to him. The elevator stopped, and she pulled him through the open doors. “I’m in 1230,” she told him and they hurried down the hallway to her room as she yanked her card key out of her coat pocket. She was shivering so hard she missed the card slot the first time. He reached out for the credit-card sized key, slid it into the reader, and heard the lock click open.

She’d already made the decision while they ran through sheets of rain: She was inviting him in. She was a little nervous about it, but the fact she wanted to spend a little more time with an unimaginably hot guy won out over her hesitation. There was a coffee maker in the room stocked with tea and hot chocolate. If he didn’t want coffee, there were other options available. They could dry off with the extra towels at least.

“Come on in,” she said.

The room was dim. The only illumination spilled through sheers-covered windows from a streetlight floors below. Kendall heard the door click closed behind them, and she tossed her handbag toward the luggage stand in one corner of the room. She ran one hand over the wallpaper searching for the light switch. She felt Drew’s big hand over hers.

“Wait,” he said.

He reached out to pull her into his arms, and his mouth found hers, warm and gentle. She tasted rain. She also tasted the spicy-sweet of chai tea on his tongue as it slipped into her mouth. Water dripped off of his knit cap onto her nose, but she didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around his midsection. He backed her up against the wall she imagined the light switches were on, but she made no move to pull away from him or turn on a light. His body surrounded her. He pressed himself into her and leaned his forehead against hers.

“I had to kiss you,” he murmured.

She leaned her cheek against his wet coat, slid her hands up his chest, and wrapped her arms around his neck while she tried to catch her breath. Right now, breathing was overrated.

“Do you want to kiss me again?” she whispered.

“More than my next breath.”

It was dark, but his hands were sure on her. His mouth slanted over hers. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, moved around his, and she felt his hands unbuttoning her coat. “Good idea,” she tried to tell him, but she couldn’t talk right now. She was too busy kissing him. Plus, she was now searching for the zipper pull that would get his jacket off him in the shortest amount of time. Their wet clothes weren’t exactly comfortable, but even more, she wanted to touch him. Her shivering turned into trembling as he managed to pull her coat off and drop it onto the carpeting. His sweet, gentle kisses turned long and hungry. She was still trying to get the zipper on his jacket down as his hand moved over her abdomen and up her ribcage until he cupped her breast over the thin sweater she wore. His thumb did a slow back-and-forth across her nipple. She arched into his hand and temporarily forgot getting his jacket off as she reached out to drag her palm over his erection.

He let out a groan.

“I can’t get your coat off,” she said. “I have to touch you.”

He let go of her for a moment and pulled both the jacket and his long sleeved shirt off over his head. He reached out for her again, and he pulled her sweater off over her head\. Her bra was soaking wet. Her panties were wet too, but that had nothing to do with the rain. He unbuttoned her jeans, slid the zipper down, and shoved them off of her in one smooth movement.

She tried to get the pants off over her shoes. It wasn’t going to happen. He reached out to pick her up, stepped on the pants, and pulled both pants and shoes off as she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

The front placket of his jeans rubbed against her as he moved through the darkened room, sending jolts of sensation through her. This was a new record for her; a couple of hours between “Hi, my name is Kendall” and ending up in her underwear in a hotel room (crazed with lust) didn’t usually happen. She wasn’t into one-night stands, but she wanted Drew. He wanted her as well, if the erection straining against the zipper on his jeans was any indicator. They had to get warm anyway. Stripping to the skin was sounding better and better, especially when she remembered there were condoms in her handbag.

“I don’t do this without protection,” she said.

“I don’t either, Kendall.” He laid her down on the bed, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his wallet. She heard the soft sound of a wrapper hitting the nightstand. “I have a condom too.” He grabbed it off the nightstand and put it into her palm. “Would you like to put it on me?”

Would she? That would be a hell, yes. She tried to maintain some dignity. It wasn’t working. “I want you so badly.”

“That’s good, because I want you too,” he said.

The room was dim, but she heard two thuds as he kicked his shoes off. Next, she heard the zipper sliding on his jeans. She might not be able to see him clearly, but she couldn’t wait to run her hands all over those bulging muscles and that gorgeous golden skin.

“Hurry,” she said.

His laugh was low and sensual.

Seconds later, they both heard a loud knock at the door.

“Shit. Must be the towels,” he muttered. “We’ll be right with you,” he said.

She resisted the impulse to blurt out a particularly descriptive four-letter word and scrambled out of the bed.

“I’ll get it,” he said. “You lie down and warm up.”

He must have had the vision of a bat; he didn’t fall over anything on his way to the door. She heard the door open and an unfamiliar voice.

“Here are the items Ms. Tracy asked us for. I also took the liberty of adding a robe as well. There is another robe hanging in the coat closet to your right.”

“Thanks so much,” Drew said.

She felt slightly embarrassed that the hotel staff knew she was in here with a man she hadn’t checked in with. Hotel staffs were probably used to this kind of thing.

“If you’d like us to dry your clothing, please dial zero and we’ll send someone up from housekeeping to get it.”

“Please add a tip to my bill for this,” Kendall called out.

“That’s not necessary,” the employee said. “If there’s anything else we can do, let us know.”

“Thank you. Good night,” Drew said.

The door closed, and she heard the sounds of Drew locking the deadbolt. His shadowy form moved through the room again as he dropped the bundle in his arms on top of what must have been the computer desk in the corner. He shoved his pants off. Seconds later, he climbed into the bed and back underneath the blankets.