But he’d noticed, and he grimaced, freezing in place. “I promise you I will not harm you. I was telling the truth, that I have three little sisters and I’d kill any guy who even thought about doing them a disservice. I won’t hold myself to a different standard. I wouldn’t even think of it.”
He looked so fierce in that moment, so intense, that she vaguely wondered if that’s what he looked like when he came inside of a woman. Her cheeks heated. She groped for something to say, to return her libido to something approximating normal. “Do you often have occasion to do that? To threaten the life of men who side-eye your sisters?”
He relaxed and chuckled. “No. Not anymore, anyway. There was a time, when they were in their twenties and not yet married, when I thought I was going to go crazy. I practically had to beat ’em off with a stick.”
Lily nodded. She could see how his sculpted features would look uncannily beautiful rendered more delicately on a feminine face. “I know the feeling. My sister is much younger than I am—she was a surprise baby—and just came into her good looks. I worry all the time about the guys she gets involved with.”
Said the pot to the kettle.
He grinned. “If she looks anything like you, I could see worrying being a full-time job.”
She snorted.
The elevator chimed and stopped, and she stepped out as the doors slid open. Did he just come on to her? She didn’t think so, since he’d said it so matter-of-factly, but it wasn’t something that someone said to a random acquaintance if it wasn’t a pickup line. On the other hand, they’d just finished talking about how he wasn’t a threat to her, so…Lily shrugged. He certainly hadn’t followed up his statement with any attempted kissing, groping, or inappropriate hand gestures, so she assumed he was just trying to be nice.
She pulled the card key from the little paper protector that Edgardo had given her and walked down the hall to their suite, checking the numbers as she passed. The room turned out to be at the very end of the hall. It was quiet. Secluded. Definitely a great place to come to on a romantic vacation.
Her shoulders tensed again. Don’t think about Jason!
“You okay?” he prompted. He was standing in the corridor behind her, and she realized she had just been standing in front of their door, not bothering to slide the keycard in.
An arm slid past her, brushing her ribs as he slid his key into the slot. The sibilant slide of his sleeve against her shirt was enough to make her brain shut down almost completely. The only thing she could think of was turning around, grabbing him by the collar, and pulling his lips to hers—
“After you,” he offered, pushing the door open and holding it with his fingertips to allow her to pass.
It was difficult to move out of his space. His arm was above her, his body bracketed hers, and she fought the desire to rub her back against his front. He would probably turn stone-faced on her again, like when she’d given him her magic smile. Plus, he was a stranger!
Way to add that in as an afterthought.
Even Jason hadn’t been a stranger when she’d started dating him. But then again, Jason had also been an asshole from the start, but she hadn’t seen it until years later. Lily was only passing one night with Komarov. She sighed and went into the suite. And gasped.
It was gorgeous.
Butter-colored upholstery combined with soft cream accents lent a clean, welcoming feel to the living room area, where a couple of chairs flanked a plush couch in front of a gleaming wood coffee table. There was a carved wood desk for working, a large, flat-screen TV, and what looked to be a half bathroom off one side, and a set of double doors leading to a room beyond, where a large, white-linen-covered bed beckoned to her.
“Wow, that looks so good.” It was impossible not to sigh in appreciation. She had awoken very early this morning to get from the ski resort to the airport, and the exhaustion of waiting in lines, then having to make arrangements for a hotel, and the unexpected—er, pleasure—of meeting Komarov had taken its toll. It was barely seven o’clock, but she was tired, famished, and in need of a long, hot shower.
She heard him chuckle behind her. “Now you definitely remind me of my sisters. They care more about the mattress and the water pressure in a room than the view.”
Lily turned and saw him standing near the far wall, pulling the drapes open as he spoke.
And when he slid them back, she gasped again and ran over to the windows. “Double wow!”
Since the hotel was located in a newer part of town, they could see most of Santiago before them, with the Andes looming in the distance. The intense rainstorm that had surprised everyone this past week seemed to have finally stopped while she and Komarov were wrangling a room. Dusk had fallen, and the twinkling lights of the city looked like their own small galaxy beneath the stars beginning to appear above the horizon.
A pang of sadness struck hard in her chest. “I can’t believe I’m only seeing this on the day I leave. Supposed to leave, anyway.”