“I mean, I packed. Everything. My stuff, and your stuff.” Running a flattened hand down her back, he nodded to the doorway.
She rose up on her elbows to look. All the suitcases were stacked by the door. “Makeup?”
“You had everything set on the counter.”
She could hardly believe it. Dragos was the least domesticated person she knew. Scanning the floor, she found that it was bare of all the clothes he had tossed the previous night. “Toiletries?”
“Yes, your toiletries too. Don’t look so skeptical. I watch what you do every day. I know what you use.” His voice had deepened again as he kept stroking her back.
He loved to touch her, but late as it was, they couldn’t afford to get lost in the mating frenzy again, or they would be two days late getting to D.C. and miss the White House thing altogether.
She reached for his hand, meaning to push him away, but somehow her fingers got tangled up with his instead.
Pulling his hand to her, she rested her cheek on it and mumbled, “Jewelry.”
Even as she said it, she knew it was the most stupid of all her questions. Knowing him, he had probably packed the jewelry first, and only after he had gone through the case thoroughly in order to admire the jewels inside.
“You had your travel jewelry case out and ready to go,” he said. “What do you think?”
The wide back of his strong hand had a sprinkle of black hair across the veins. She pressed a kiss to it. “I believe you.”
“Everything is taken care of. All you need to do is shower and eat some breakfast, and then we can leave,” he told her.
The thought of eating made her feel unexpectedly queasy. She pushed it aside as she sat up. “I’m not hungry, but I’d like a cup of coffee.”
He nodded over to the chaise. When she looked in that direction again, she saw the tray sitting on the side table.
“You thought of everything.” She smiled at him.
He didn’t smile back. His gaze had dropped to her bare breasts, and his expression had turned sharp and predatory. Cupping a breast, he stroked his thumb along a darkened suck bruise.
He said in a low voice, “You know, we can always change our minds and go a day later.”
The heat that shimmered between them felt volcanic and beat underneath her skin with a tribal tempo. Reaching hard for self-control, she covered his hand with hers. “And miss the kick off event for the summit at the White House tonight? Much as I would like to, you know we can’t.”
His black brows lowered. “We can.”
The thing about the mating frenzy was, it had no sense. She smiled at him sidelong. “Or we can make love again on the plane.”
His returning smile was quick and gleamed with anticipation. “Yes. Hurry up.”
Chapter Three
Pia showered quickly, and after wrapping the towel around her torso, she went into her closet to choose casual clothes for traveling—a comfortable pair of jeans, sandals, and a fitted, button-down shirt.
When she took the outfit to the bedroom, she found Dragos and their luggage already gone. While she had been in the shower, he had taken the news channel off mute and indulged in one of his bad habits by leaving the TV on.
It drove her crazy when he did that. She was congenitally incapable of leaving the room without turning off the TV first. As she shimmied into her jeans, she looked around the bedroom for the remote.