Nameless Series Boxed Set (36 page)

“Don’t,” Seth
interrupted, his voice slightly gruff. Something had changed in his eyes. “You
don’t have to say it.”

Erin slumped
against him. “I’m sorry. I know how nice it would be if we could just jump into
some sort of happy ending. But I can’t force myself to lo—” This time, she cut
off the word herself. Realized that hearing her say it would hurt Seth.

And she really
didn’t want to do that.

They were
silent for a minute, until Erin felt the tension relax in Seth’s body. He
tilted up her chin until she was looking into his eyes. “Erin,” he began, the
heat flaring up in his eyes again. The momentary angst was entirely gone. “I
think you’re making this more complicated than it has to be. I’m not saying you
need to fall for me overnight, but you’re stressing so much about it that you
can’t even enjoy what we
do
have together.”

She opened her
mouth in an automatic objection, but he kept speaking before she could get any
words out.

“We’re good
together. I’ve never had better sex than the times I’ve been with you. And I
enjoy just being with you.”

“But...” she
began, a kind of panic now vying with the beginnings of her arousal.

Seth shook his
head. Looked calm, confident, handsome, charming—not remotely vulnerable or
hurt. “Why can’t we just enjoy what we
do
have together? And then see if
anything else happens to develop.”

This time, when
Erin opened her mouth, she didn’t have a word to say. She didn’t have an
answer.

She wanted him
physically—that much was clear—but she also didn’t want to hurt him.

He was a
mature, intelligent man, though. And he was asking for this. How was she
supposed to decide what would hurt him the least?

“Seth,” she
said at last, her hand fisting in his black shirt. “What if nothing develops?”

He leaned down.
Breathed his response just above her lips. “But what if it does?”

Her lips parted,
and she stared up at him. Felt heat coursing through her. Felt like her heart
might beat its way out of her chest.

For a moment,
she caught a glimpse of something in his eyes: something deep and molten and unspeakable.

Then she
couldn’t see anything at all. Because he was kissing her, and her eyes had
fallen closed. Her breasts pressed into the hard line of his chest, and her
hands wound around his neck before she could begin to stop them. Her tongue
darted out to meet his, and her mouth became urgent and hungry.

She breathed
desperately through her nose, taking in the familiar scent of him. His arms
moved around her tightly, one hand sliding down to her ass.

She moaned into
his mouth, flooded with waves of sensation. She felt like she was devouring
him. Felt like he was devouring her.

Then she heard
him make a sound in his throat—guttural, involuntary, deeply sexy.

And she wanted
him so much it terrified her.

She turned her
head to the side, abruptly pulling out of the kiss. She still clung to him,
however, afraid her knees might buckle otherwise.

“Erin?” Seth
asked. He was panting just as much as she was, and his whole body was burning
up.

“That was
really good, but I’m afraid of doing something on impulse that we’ll both
regret later.”

He was quiet
for a moment. Seemed to be distancing himself, although he didn’t move at all.
“I won’t regret it.”

“But maybe I
will,” she whispered, finally finding the courage to look up at his face again.
His expression was mild, but shuttered, and it made something ache in her
belly. “I just need to think about it a little more.”

He released
her, and she crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. He was tense and
silent for a moment until he relaxed. Then he almost smiled. “All right. Think
all you want.”

Erin felt a
little better when his irony and easy charm returned. She returned his smile.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re rather pompous?”

Seth chuckled
and put a companionable hand on her back as they moved toward the French doors.
“Actually, I think you’re the only person who’s ever told me that.”

“Well, then it
definitely bears repeating.” As she looked in through the glass panes on the
doors back into the lobby, Erin jerked to a stop. “Shit.”

Seth looked
down at her in concern. “What is it?”

“That’s Mary
Carlyle,” Erin hissed, keeping her voice low, as though it could be heard
through the doors. “She runs that blog. You know the one.”

Seth stiffened
slightly beside her. “I thought this place was supposed to be exclusive.”

“If we walk in there
now, then our picture might end up online tomorrow, along with a ridiculous
story about our hidden, torrid affair and our secret love child.” She darted a
look up at Seth. “She’d definitely recognize me and put some sort of
melodramatic story together. She was in the same journalism program as Liz, and
she hates her because Liz got the editor’s position instead of her.”

“Why don’t we
just stay out here until she clears the lobby?”

Relieved that
he agreed with her—and that he didn’t think she was overreacting—Erin stepped
back from the door, pulling him with her. “Good plan.”

From a vantage
point mostly out of sight, Erin peered into the lobby. “That’s her husband. She
must not be working—that’s a good sign.”

“Indeed.”

Something in
his voice sounded suspicious, and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw
that Seth’s lips had tightened. “Stop laughing at me. This is serious.”

“I know, but you
seem to be enjoying the subterfuge so much.”

Erin decided
the best response to this insolence would be disdainful silence—mostly because
she couldn’t think of an appropriate reply. But when she looked into the lobby
again, she leapt back, releasing an embarrassing little squeak. “She’s coming
this way.”

Seth’s face was
infinitely sober as he gestured toward the railing of the balcony. “Shall we hurl
ourselves over the side?”

Torn between
panic and ridiculous laughter, Erin grabbed him by fistfuls of his shirt. “Seth,
help me. Do you want a story about us and Mackenzie to be plastered on her blog
tomorrow?”

“Maybe we can
be so lost in a passionate embrace that she can't see who we are. She’ll think
we're just a random, horny couple.”

“People aren’t
really hidden when they kiss, you know.” Peeking into the lobby again, Erin
gasped. “I think they’re coming out to the balcony. Seth, stop joking and help.”

His face grew
serious, and his mouth softened. “Erin, there’s nowhere we can go. If she comes
out here, she’s going to see us. Maybe we could—”

With a flash of
inspiration, she put her hands on his chest and pushed him backwards,
maneuvering him into the cluster of potted plants. They were so tall and thick
that they should effectively hide two people from the casual observer.

“Really?” Seth
began, his face torn between disbelief and amusement. “Are we actually going to
hide behind the plants?”

“Shh,” she
hissed, pushing him back into the farthest corner, where there was some added
shelter from the architecture of the building. Then Erin backed into him,
fitting her body against his to achieve the best concealment. She was just
adjusting one of the plants in front of them when the French doors opened and
voices moved out onto the balcony.

One of the
voices belonged to Mary Carlyle, commenting on what a nice night it was. The
couple moved toward the railing but didn’t even glance in Erin and Seth’s
direction.

Her heart beat
so frantically that it took her a minute to truly assess her position. She was
pressed back against Seth’s front, trapping him against the wall. One of his
arms had slipped around her waist, but she hadn’t even noticed when that had
happened.

But now she
could feel him. All of him. His heat, his strength, the lean lines of his body
behind her, his breath when he said almost soundlessly into her ear, “You’re out
of your mind.”

Once again, she
was torn between anxiety and involuntary amusement. She really didn’t want to
become Atlanta’s latest gossip—truly, it was one of her nightmares. But this
particular situation
was
rather ridiculous.

As Seth had
noticed earlier, Erin was starting to enjoy the subterfuge, especially now that
she was becoming more and more confident that they weren’t going to be caught.

But then the
whole situation changed in an instant. Everything transformed. Nothing was
funny anymore.

Because Erin felt
something else behind her.

Seth was hot
and solid and hard behind her.
Hard
in more than one way.

His pelvis pushed
into the top of her ass, and she was suddenly aware that he was aroused.

Really aroused.

She could feel
his erection.

Pushing into
the top of her ass.

She sucked in a
sudden breath and clutched at the arm that was wrapped around her waist. Part
of her wanted to pull away, wanted to flee from this confusion, from Seth and
his irresistibility and his rampant masculinity.

But part of her
really, really didn’t want to flee.

She tensed,
holding her breath and trying to deal with the waves of heat flooding through
her.

It shouldn’t be
this unsettling. She’d fucked Seth before. She’d felt his cock before. She’d taken
his semen inside her body.

But, for some
reason, this felt entirely different.

He wasn’t
pushing into her, but he wasn’t pushing her away either. She just kept feeling
it, feeling
him
, as Mary Carlyle and her husband made mundane
conversation on the balcony.

Implausibly
soon, her body started to respond. She’d been aroused only a few minutes ago,
and his proximity to her now and the hard evidence of his desire pushed her
arousal into new life.

She flushed,
from her cheeks down to her neck and then even farther down. Her breathing
started coming out in urgent little pants, and she felt a deepening ache grow
at her center.

Seth must have
noticed the change in her responses because he pressed his pelvis against her
in a small, experimental thrust.

Erin bit her
lip over a gasp and couldn’t stop herself from pushing back into him.

His arm
tightened around her waist, and his hand somehow slipped under the bottom edge
of her sweater until his fingers were touching the bare skin of her side.

Erin arched her
neck to the left, and he bent his head forward until he was mouthing the side
of her throat. She could feel his lips, his tongue, his teeth. Could feel his
fingers on the sensitive skin of her belly. Could feel the bulge of his arousal
pushing into her from behind.

The last two
times they’d had sex, Seth had been spooning her from behind. And that’s what
it felt like right now. Like they were making love. Fully clothed, in the open
air, and hidden behind a cluster of potted plants.

Erin shook
helplessly, knew she was wet, felt like a lit fuse or a flame. One of her arms reached
up until her fingers dug into the back of his neck. And her intimate muscles
kept clenching every time he pushed into her from behind, as if some kind of
primitive instinct was trying to pull him back into her body.

She’d lost
track of the conversation between Mary Carlyle and her husband. She’d lost
track of everything except the feel, the touch, the scent of Seth behind her.

However, one
part of her mind realized when the voices on the balcony faded and the French doors
opened and closed again.

She and Seth
were once more alone on the balcony.

She stumbled
forward, barely missing one of the plants, but then she immediately turned
around and sank into his embrace again.

“Seth,” she
gasped, fumbling with one hand on his ass. She rubbed her pelvis against the
top of his thigh. Couldn't seem to stop.

His mouth was everywhere—all
over her face, her neck, her mouth. He spoke over her skin. “God, Erin. Please
don’t tell me you need to think about this some more.”

Thinking was an
impossibility. Erin couldn’t do anything but feel.

“I’ve thought
enough,” she mumbled, her hand moving from his ass to the front of his pants.
She palmed the hard bulge there. “Do you think you could get us a room?”

Seth didn’t
respond with words—just urged Erin over toward the French doors again. He
peered through the glass panes, searching for signs of Mary Carlyle. When he
saw no trace of her, he took her hand and pulled her through the lobby.

“Seth?” Erin
asked breathlessly, feeling rather overwhelmed with desire and disoriented by his
haste. “A room?”

He pulled her
toward the staircase at the far corner of the main hall. “We’re on our way.” His
hand tightened around hers as they started up the stairs.

Halfway up, Erin’s
lust-clouded mind finally closed around an explanation for his behavior. “You
already have a room?”

Seth met her
gaze, his own eyes hot and urgent, although his mouth tightened with suppressed
humor. “As a matter of fact...”

She sucked in
another indignant breath and stopped with her foot poised on the next stair. “Why
you smug, over-confident...” She narrowed her eyes and glared at his slightly
flushed face. “So you had this whole thing planned all along? Like I was just
some gullible, easily-seduced...” She almost sputtered as she searched for the
right word.

Seth froze for
a minute, a few steps above her, as if thinking through the best way to handle
the situation. Then he moved down to her level on the stairs. Closed the
distance between.

He backed her
into the wall with his body.

Leaning his
face toward hers, he captured her mouth again, his tongue sliding temptingly
along the inside of her lips. When he released her mouth, he didn't pull back
very far. “Erin, we haven’t had sex in six months. And we’ve had sex a grand total
of four times, despite my making it clear for at least a year that I’d be
willing any time you said the word. In what fantasy land would I be living if I
believed you were easy to seduce?”