Chapter Ten

EVAN looked down at Kendall, completely passed out in his lap in the cab, and fought the urge to run his fingers through her enormous hair. She looked so young and sweet and vulnerable, her cheek on his thigh, her fingers clasped into praying hands on his knee. If anyone should be praying at the moment it was him.

Looking at her, seeing her eyelashes flutter in her sleep, her lips slightly open as she breathed deeply in and out, Evan was feeling emotions he shouldn’t. She looked eighteen again. Back then, she had lain in his lap like this when they watched TV together and he had felt so strong, masculine, so protective of her. Kendall could take care of herself, then and now, but he liked the idea of being there for her. Of having her back.

Very, very dangerous feelings.

His hand reached out when he couldn’t resist the impulse any longer.

“Don’t touch her,” Kendall’s assistant said next to him.

Evan froze with his hand out, feeling like a kid caught reaching to swipe his finger through the icing on a cake. “Excuse me?”

“Seriously. Don’t touch her. This day is disastrous enough.”

Trained to consider where his words might end up, Evan glanced towards the cabdriver, but the driver was talking on his wireless headset in a foreign language. “How is my brushing her hair off her face disastrous?” And why was it any of this woman’s business?

“Look. I know who you are, who your family is. I’ve been in this business a long time. I may be just a personal assistant but I’ve seen everything. I mean, everything.” She pushed up her glasses and held out her hand. “Frankie Halliday. I used to work for Martin Fairfax before he retired.”

“Evan Monroe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Evan shook her hand, impressed with the firm grip. “Fairfax was a legend.”

“And a horn dog. I can’t tell you how many indiscretions I had to cover up for him. But owners, fans, the media, they forgive a man . . . they’re harder on a woman. It’s just a fact. And Kendall is special. She’s breaking

the glass ceiling here. A whole generation of little girls will be watching her and dreaming of the day they can drive their own race car.”

Elec’s seven-year-old stepdaughter, Hunter, popped into Evan’s head.

There was a girl who was itching to grow up and drive. “I agree. Kendall is special.”

“She’s showing the industry you can be feminine and still kick ass on the track. And I’m not going to have her career compromised by rumors and a bunch of white noise bullshit.”

Frankie was pretty damn smart, and more than a little scary. “I would never do anything to hurt Kendall.”

“Which is why, if you want to spend time alone with her in her hotel room, you will not carry her up there yourself, or walk up there with her yourself. You will enter the hotel separately, wait an appropriate amount of time, then go to her room.”

He liked the way Frankie thought. “She’ll be asleep. She’ll never hear me knocking.”

“But I can give you a key.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious? Why would you do that?”

“Because Kendall deserves to have a little fun.” She opened her handbag and pulled out a condom.

Evan hadn’t blushed since the sixth grade, but he came dangerously close to doing it with that foil packet thrust at him by this total stranger.

“Kendall’s on the pill,” he told her. Then realized he shouldn’t know that.

But Frankie still gave him the condom. “That I know. What I don’t know is where your disco stick has been.”

Now he was really embarrassed. “Nowhere.”

“Uh-huh.”

When feeling uncertain, turn it around and make the other person feel uncertain, too. That was his theory. “Aren’t you worried you could get fired for this? I mean, what if Kendall really doesn’t want me in her room?” Evan gave her a grin. “I know, it’s hard to believe a woman wouldn’t want me around, but Kendall can be stubborn.”

“I know she does, because before she passed out she told me if she had a little more sleep she would jump your bones.”

Speaking of bones. Evan’s cock shot up at attention at those words.

“Really? She mentioned me?”

“Not something she would normally have done, but she’s at the end of her tether. So no, I’m not worried I’m going to get fired. Just don’t suck in bed.”

With that, she opened the door as they pulled up to the hotel. Patting Kendall on the leg, she said, “Come on, up and at ’em!”

“Huh?” Kendall’s eyes opened and she shot up. “Oh, my God, where am I?”

“In the cab. We just got to the hotel,” Evan told her. “Time for you to go in and take a real nap.”

She rubbed her eyes in a way that was so freaking adorable Evan wanted to kiss her. Repeatedly. But Frankie reached out and took Kendall’s hand.

“Come on,” she said. “Bed is calling.”

“I feel like ass” was Kendall’s response as she shuffled out of the cab.

She turned back to Evan. “See you later?”

Evan smiled, slow and easily. “Oh, yeah. Definitely.”

And he couldn’t wait.

KENDALL felt warm and relaxed as she dozed in and out sleep. She had no idea what time it was, nor was she really even aware of where she was. It just felt fabulous to float in semiconsciousness.

Part of her registered that something was off, but she ignored that niggling thought and snuggled deeper under the covers. When lips brushed over her shoulder, it seemed somehow normal, as if she were dreaming.

Rolling over, she started to move into the curve of the body next to hers.

Then her eyes flew open.

Wait a minute.

No one should be in bed with her.

Yet Evan was curled up next to her, looking like he belonged there. “I’m sorry, did the TV wake you up? I can turn it off.”

Kendall frowned, glancing around the room. It was dark outside, or at least the drapes were snuggly shut. She wasn’t sure which. The glow of the TV bounced light around the dim room. She didn’t even remember getting into bed. Patting herself under the covers, she was reassured that she was

wearing a T-shirt and panties at least. Then again, she didn’t remember changing.

“Did I overdose on Red Bull?” she asked him, aware of a sticky sweet taste lingering in her mouth.

“I don’t think that’s possible. But you did crash. Hard. You fell asleep in the cab.”

She vaguely remembered waking up briefly in the elevator, but honestly, that was it. Scary. “Maybe I haven’t been getting enough sleep.”

“You think?” He rolled his eyes at her.

Evan wasn’t under the covers with her. He was sitting on them in his jeans and T-shirt, barefoot, propped against the headboard.

“Why are you in my room?” If she was dressed, mostly, and he was dressed, entirely, then she doubted somehow they had had sex while she was half-asleep. Besides, she was damn certain that no matter how tired she was, she would remember if that man’s penis had penetrated her.

The thought of which made her grow a little warm under the heavy blanket.

“You were so out of it, it actually worried me a little. I’m just checking on you.”

“How did you get in here?” Kendall felt like she was missing a whole vat of information. Like why Evan had appointed himself her keeper.

“Frankie gave me a key.”

Kendall stopped mid-yawn, outraged at her staff member. “She can’t do that!”

“Don’t blame her. I bullied her into doing it. And don’t worry. No one saw me come in here, so there won’t be any gossip.”

That hadn’t even occurred to her. Now that he’d brought it up, though, she suddenly felt worried. Along with irritated over Frankie betraying her.

Frustrated with her inability to process sugar without blacking out. And stressed over the fact that she was clearly running on empty these days.

Not to mention the little question of what the hell she was doing with Evan Monroe. She had flirted with him at the commercial shoot.

“Hey. Stop worrying. Everything is cool.”

“How do you know I’m worrying?”

“Your pretty little face is squinching up.”

“Squinching?”

“Yeah. Like this.” Evan made a face, his mouth and nose lifting, eyebrows drifting together. It wasn’t a good look.

Kendall laughed. “Shut up. I don’t look like that.”

“Yes, you do.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s eight.”

“P.M.?” Kendall looked to her wrist, like a watch was suddenly going to materialize there. “Are you serious? Oh, my God, I slept for . . .”

“Over eight hours.”

“Wow.” Kendall stretched a little, feeling very lazy and content under the covers. “Of course now I probably won’t be able to sleep the rest of the night.”

Then she realized immediately the opening she had just given him. She put her hand out in front of his already opening mouth. “Don’t even say it.

I’m not sleeping with you. In fact, you should probably go. I’m clearly fine.”

Evan eyeballed her. “You are most definitely fine.”

“Be quiet.” It was a knee-jerk reaction, but the truth was, she appreciated the naked desire on his face.

“Do you really want me to leave for real?” Evan sat up on the bed, his expression very sincere. “I will if you do.”

Kendall hedged. There was something nice about having his body heat and goofy grin next to her. Not only was she burning the candle at both ends, she was spending the vast majority of her time with paid employees.

Other than an occasional chat with Tuesday, she was work, work, work.

Except for the night she’d spent with Evan, she hadn’t been having a whole lot of fun.

“You don’t have to.”

“That’s just a begrudging concession to politeness.” Swinging his legs around, Evan stood up.

Kendall thought about trying to fall back asleep alone. Thought about watching TV alone. Thought about showering alone.

And she blurted out, “Stay. Please. For the night.”

Evan stopped cold. He turned around, and when she thought he would have teased her, he simply said, “Okay.”

As he settled back onto the bed, she asked, “Don’t you need your bags?”

“Nah.” Evan actually pulled the covers back and slipped under them. “I can sleep in my boxers. I can strip my jeans off in a bit.”

Or he could strip naked. Kendall was very aware of the fact that she wasn’t wearing any pants as Evan settled into bed next to her, and she found herself craving a cuddle.

God, she was seriously stressed out if she needed arms around her to stave off the loneliness.

“Do you want some room service?” he asked, reaching over for the book on the nightstand. “You must be starving.”

She was. For all manner of things. Lying on her side, Kendall wondered if she had the guts to go after him a second time. She had initiated sex the week before. Well, he had kissed her. But it was her who had jumped him on her car at the track. Then she had turned him down both times he had suggested sex after that.

At the moment, he didn’t look like he was going to offer a third time. He looked perfectly content staying clothed, watching the Discovery Channel, and eating a burger and fries with her.

But she wanted more than that. Crazy or not, stupid or not, she knew what she wanted, and it was Evan.

Again.

“Sure, I could eat.” Kendall shifted closer to him, leaning against his side and his chest on the pretense of looking at the menu in his hands.

Evan cleared his throat. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Something hot.”

Evan paused at Kendall’s words. She could mean soup. Or she could mean sex. He seriously hoped it was not that she was having a hankering for lentil soup. “I can see what kind of soup they have,” he said, trying to sound casual.

He wasn’t feeling it, though. Ever since he had come into Kendall’s room and seen her sleeping, her face somehow worried even in her sleep, he had been feeling an odd assortment of emotions. Tenderness. Compassion.

And good old-fashioned lust.

He could admit he’d lifted those covers earlier and discovered Kendall was only wearing a T-shirt and panties.

“Mm,” she said in a noncommittal voice, propping her head up with her hand. “How long does it take for room service to arrive?”

“Usually thirty minutes.”

Her foot slid along his leg, her thigh making contact with his. “Just order me a cheeseburger and some chocolate cake if they have it.”

“Okay. Do you want a drink, too?”

“Just water is fine.”

“Probably a good idea for you, Miss Red Bull.”

He expected her to stick out her tongue at him. Roll her eyes at the very least. Or make a smart remark. But instead she just made a contented sound in the back of her throat, a sexy, sleepy sigh that was like fingers sliding down his cock. Kendall looked beautiful lying in bed, her hair still fuller than normal, an endorsement for the hair spray Trevor had used given that it had held through a marathon sleep session. There were still smudges of eyeliner above and under her lids, giving her a smoldering tousled bedroom look.

She looked so lazy and content it did seem as if she had just spent the afternoon being made love to.

“That was the best nap I’ve ever had in my entire life,” she said, sighing again.

God, it was seriously like she was talking about sex. Everything about her was screaming sex, and Evan remembered what Frankie had told him.

Kendall wanted to jump his bones. Just because she wasn’t actually making a move didn’t make that any less true. Kendall had made the move last time. It was his turn.

Okay, and so technically he had asked her twice after that to have sex with him and she’d shot him down, but what was a little rejection? Given the state of his career, by all accounts he should have no ego left whatsoever, but he did. He could handle it if Kendall said no. In fact, he totally expected her to say no, but hey, you never got anything if you didn’t ask for it.

Evan picked up the phone and tossed the room service book onto the nightstand. “Is there anything else you want? On or off the menu?”

Her eyes widened, but it was a mock innocence. “What do you mean?”

“We have thirty minutes until the food gets here.”

The room service operator picked up. Evan said hello and placed an order for a turkey club sandwich and fries for himself, using his free thumb to reach over and stroke across Kendall’s bottom lip. Now her wide-eyed stare

was genuine. Trailing down her jaw, to her shoulder and beyond, Evan found her nipple through the cotton of her T-shirt.

“Yes, and a cheeseburger with fries please.” Listening to the operator, he made circles over her nipple as Kendall’s eyes darkened. “What kind of cheese, Jay? American okay?”

She nodded. “Sure.” Her voice was breathy.

“American, yes, thanks. And a slice of chocolate cake for dessert.” Evan pinched Kendall’s nipple hard, enjoying the gasp she gave. He loved her breasts, their fullness, perfect shape, very responsive nipples.

“Just a water and a Coke please.” Evan was running on empty himself, and unlike Kendall he hadn’t napped, knowing he would then be up all night. A beer would just put him straight to sleep, and it was a few hours before he wanted to crash. There were some things he intended to do before he passed out.

Trailing his thumb down from her nipple over her abdomen, Evan slid it across the silkiness of her panties, up and down over her mound, lightly, teasingly, enjoying the hitch in her breath, and the way she seemed to be holding her whole body very still, like she was afraid he’d stop if she moved.

Which was what he did as soon as he thanked the room service person and hung up the phone. Lazily pulling his finger back, he told her, “Yep.

Thirty minutes.”

She didn’t say anything, just stared at him with hooded eyes for a second.

Then she said what he’d been hoping to hear. “We can each have an orgasm in that time.”

Evan sat up and stripped off his shirt. “I’ll save mine for after dinner.

Which means you get two now.”

It was clear Kendall was still sleepy, because instead of him smart-ass response, she just said, “Oh. Okay.”

Her eyes were enormous, her hair equally so, her cheeks flushed pink from sleep, and Evan had never seen a woman look so gorgeous. Ever.

“Roll on your stomach. I’ll massage you.”

She made a sigh of pleasure as she started to roll. Then she stopped abruptly. “If you rub my back, I’ll probably fall asleep again.”

The naïveté. “No, you won’t. I promise.”

Evan helped her finish her roll by taking her hips and forcing the turn.

Her face fell into the pillow with a soft thump, hair a fluffy cloud around her. She turned her head so she was looking to the right, crossing her arms up above.

“Mmm. This feels good already.”

It did. As he ran his hands up either side of her spine, giving a slow, deep rub to the muscles, Evan appreciated the softness of her skin under his callused fingers. On his knees, he stroked up under her shirt, over her shoulders, and down her arms as far as he could reach, before getting entangled in her sleeves. He wanted to take her T-shirt off, but room service was on its way, and truthfully there was something very sexy about touching her under her shirt . . . like he was being granted access to somewhere private.

She had beautiful skin, paler than it had been in their younger years. It was clear she wasn’t lying out in the sun the way she did then, which had probably helped preserve the softness he felt beneath his fingers. Kendall gave soft moans of encouragement as he dug in and rubbed with a fair amount of pressure. She stiffened slightly when he crossed over her panty line and cupped her backside, but once he started to massage her rounded cheeks, she relaxed again.

“I should be weirded out by that, but it feels too good to object.”

“Why would it be weird? It’s just another muscle, and I’ve touched it before. Many times.” Evan ran his hands over her panties, kneading very lightly. “Remember those skirts you used to wear? The little short denim ones? I loved those. It was so easy to just sneak my hand under there and touch your ass. And then I got cocky and started fingering you every chance I got . . . in the car, at the park, in the movies.”

He was getting hard just remembering it. He had gotten off on getting Kendall off.

“That’s why I wore them all the time,” she said, her voice slumberous yet sexy. “After the first time you got me off that way, I ran out and spent my whole savings buying four more of them.”

Evan paused. “Are you serious?” That was seriously, seriously hot, and he suddenly had a full-fledged erection to prove it.

“I’m totally serious. I was a horny little thing.” She twisted her head a little to look back at him. “I never thought to question why you were always

so willing to do that for me when I never gave it back. That really wasn’t fair of me.”

Running his hands inside her panties, he drifted to the center and low with his index finger, turned on by the idea of turning her on the way he used to. “I enjoyed it. And I was a horny thing, too. I think it was still always a little shocking to me that you were willing to let me have sex with you. I would have done anything to express gratitude.”

“Gratitude, huh? I think there was plenty of mutual pleasure going around. It always amazed me that you could barely touch me and I was going crazy.”

He liked the sound of that. Slipping his finger between her cheeks, he rounded the curve and teased at her entrance, not touching her so much as hinting that he might. Her hips rose slightly off the bed in invitation.

But instead of giving her what she wanted, Evan pulled back and removed her panties, taking them all the way down her legs, bending over so his mouth was close to her flesh, but not touching. He drank in the scent of her skin, still warm from her nap, free of lotions and other mysterious products. She just smelled like . . . Kendall.

She sighed again.

And again her hips lifted slightly off the bed.

Evan ignored the invitation. He returned to her back, massaging right above her pert backside, wanting to touch her, but wanting to tease more.

Her shoulders had tensed and her teeth were worrying her bottom lip. Evan moved farther away from her ass, up to those clenched muscles. She didn’t relax one bit, so he skipped right over her midsection and went down to her feet. Starting at the heel, he pushed his thumb up to her toes, repeating the action until she did manage to release her lip and relax her head back down.

But when he moved to her other foot, he lifted it in a way that pulled her legs a little apart, and Kendall drew in a sharp breath. But Evan ignored her reaction and repeated his movements on the second foot, shifting his knee in between her legs, forcing her leg up against his erection as he massaged.

Then he leaned forward and sucked her toe, the cute one next to her big toe.

Kendall jumped. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Just playing.” He pulled it in his mouth again, getting it nice and slick.

He’d never really done that before, but it had been right in front of him and it had seemed like yet another way to tease, to stroke up and down, get her

wet, while her legs were spread and her clit was pressing into the bed, her inner thighs aching.

She didn’t resist, which he took as a good sign. Pulling back, he trailed his tongue down the back of her calf, up and down, leaving a damp path that he used to follow with his finger, going up and down to the back of her knee until she shivered. When her hips wiggled a little, Evan gave in to her silent request and moved his thumbs to inner thighs. But instead of pushing inside her, he just massaged up and down, up and down, on either side of her glistening opening. The sight of her damp desire had his mouth thick and salivating, but he was intent on making this last all night, long after room service showed up. Way into the dark, quiet hours of the night, when Kendall was so hot and ready and turned on, she was insensible. Crazy with want.

That’s what he wanted. To take her to a place where she would agree to anything, a place she would never forget, with him, the man who had been her first, and should have been her last.

“Evan,” she said, her voice a warning.

“What?”

“You’re being cruel.”

But her breathless excitement told him she didn’t really mind.

“Don’t always be in such a hurry. Just enjoy it.”

“I like speed. So do you.”

“On the track.” Evan slipped the tip of his index finger inside her and hooked it, just giving a small back-and-forth tickle inside her. “But not in bed. Not with you.”

“There’s slow, and then there’s just torture. This is in the torture category.”

When she used her elbows to leverage herself and raise her hips to try and drive his finger deeper inside her, Evan took his palm and pushed her ass flat onto the bed and held her in place. “I don’t think so.”

She was growing wetter by the second, even as she let out a sound of frustration, and Evan was rock hard watching her, feeling her, enticing her.

He wanted out of his jeans but he wasn’t about to stop and take the time for that. This was about her.

Finally giving her what they both wanted, he moved his finger fully inside her and stroked. While he still held her down, it made for a tight, hot

passage, and Evan added a second finger to the first, enjoying the reaction she gave him. Her hands snaked up to the headboard and she gripped it tightly. Her shirt was bunched up at her shoulders, her hair covering her upper back and sliding across her cheek. Her eyes were closed, teeth on her lip again, and she was still trying to move, still trying to buck her hips and force a faster rhythm between them, but he held her firm. She was sexy and amazing and so damn dripping wet.

Backing out, he trailed her own moisture all over her inner thighs and her perfect little tight ass.

“Oh, my God, you’re just a horrible man . . .”

Any further protests she was about to give were lost in a moan when he lifted her hips and buried his face between her thighs, flicking his tongue across her slowly and with a great deal of exploration.

“You taste delicious,” he told her.

“Oh, damn” was her response, before she buried her face in the pillow.

Evan tugged her clit into his mouth and pulled it, enjoying the way she jerked, her thighs squeezing around him. Then he went back in with his tongue, licking and tasting and pleasing both of them with every long stroke.

“I’m going to come,” she told him, panting heavily.

He pulled back. “No, baby, not yet.”

“Yes. Now.”

She was wiggling in front of him so enticingly that Evan almost gave in, but the knock on the door stopped him.

“Room service.” He ran his hand across her ass, then pushed her back down onto the bed. He yanked the covers out from under her and pulled them over her up to her shoulders.

As he climbed off the bed, adjusting his erection to somewhat hide it, Kendall smacked the pillow in frustration. “Just send them away. Who cares about the food?”

He didn’t really care about it either at the moment, but they might regret it later. “It’s already here. Just lie there and look cute. I’ll get it.”

Her answer was to flip him her middle finger. Evan laughed as he wiped her sweetness off his lips. “Charming.”

By handing him a twenty, Evan managed to convince the waiter to just pass the cart over to him instead of coming into the room. “I got it, thanks.”

There was a moment’s hesitation in which the older man glanced into the room, but then he seemed to figure out the score. “Sure, no problem.

Enjoy.” The took the cash, winked at Evan, and left.

“Are you hungry?” He maneuvered the rolling cart into the room and pulled the top off of a tray. “Looks good.” Picking up a fry he was about to pop into his mouth, he glanced up.

And promptly forgot all about the fry. Kendall had kicked off the covers and turned onto her back. Which gave him a perfect view of her legs apart and her fingers between them, stroking herself, a finger deep inside her wetness.

“Holy shit.”

“You’d better get over here,” she told her, her back arching, making the display even more erotic. “Or I’ll come without you.”

“You are so fucking hot.” Evan tossed down the French fry and strode to the bed, undoing his jeans as he went.

She had totally turned the tables on him, and damn, he had to respect and appreciate that.

“Let me help you with that.” Putting a knee on either side of her thighs, Evan slipped his finger in alongside her own.

“Oh, damn.” Her eyes rolled back.

He knew the feeling. Having her finger alongside his, in all that tight slickness, had him gritting his teeth. He followed her rhythm. When she sped up, her breath getting more and more frantic, he sped up with her.

When she got too excited and slowed it down, he followed.

And when she used her other hand to push on the swollen button above, Evan did the same, so that when she came, hard, her body exploding, they were both in her and on her, sharing the hot, hurtling outcome.

“You’re a dirty bastard for doing that to me,” she said, her eyes glassy, her words breathy and soft.

Evan grinned. “A dirty bastard for making you come? That seems a little paradoxical.”

“Five-dollar word. Impressive. I have no brain left.” Kendall closed her eyes, her chest rising and falling with her breathing, her breasts half-covered with her bunched shirt.

“Just enough to still be a smart-ass.” Evan stroked over her clitoris again.

“And you have big hair. Can’t expect to have brains, too.”

She slapped at his hand. “Now who’s being charming? Get off me, you’ll kill me.”

“Killed with kindness. Here lies Kendall Holbrook.”

“Speaking of ass.”

“Were we speaking of ass?” Evan debated bending over and sucking one of her nipples, just to see her reaction. Besides, they were firm and clearly begging for his attention.

“Show me yours. Take off your jeans.”

“I’ll take off my jeans, but I’m not some boy toy. Just so you know.”

Her eyes popped open, her mouth pulling up at the corner. “For tonight, you’ll be whatever I say you are.”

What he wanted to be was her boyfriend, which was so lame and stupid and high school that he almost threw up in his own mouth at his schmaltziness. There was no way in hell he was sharing that little sentiment with her.

“Use me and abuse me, baby.”

“Oh, I intend to.”

Which totally one hundred percent turned him on.

Evan reached for his zipper.

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