Run for Covers

Though she issued her invitation casually, Adam recognized this maneuver for what it was—another move toward personal.

If she could get him inside the Wedding Knight Suite, they’d be a step closer to the bed. And with her looking the way she did, she’d keep him awake all night.

The memory of her in that robe would keep him awake tonight anyway, but he wouldn’t tip his hand to Tori. Not when he’d declined to participate in her contest of wills. Regardless of how much his body urged him otherwise.

“I’ll wait out here for you.”

“In the hallway?”

He inclined his head, not offering further explanation. He’d already established where he stood on this issue, and wouldn’t play her game by rationalizing his decision. To do so would only imply she might sway him the other way. She couldn’t.

Leaving the door open wide, she turned and walked away, treating him to a remarkable view of her backside. The see-through robe made it impossible not to notice how the T-back panties disappeared between her shapely cheeks, and combined with those nicely toned thighs… His body heat went on the rise again.

Letting his eyes drift shut, Adam inhaled deeply and willed his body to behave, implementing a cleansing technique he used before working out. Karate was his sport of choice and at the moment, he appreciated the strict discipline it demanded. Another deep breath tempered the memory of a half-naked Tori Ford. Slowly the tension receded, and his body came firmly back into his grasp.

Opening his eyes, Adam straightened his tie and waited, as prepared for her next move as he’d ever be. Reformulating his game plan proved more difficult. He simply didn’t understand this woman. Why she thought he needed rescuing from a dreary existence was a mystery. True, work had taken up most of his time since he’d made the move to Niagara Falls, but that was normal when establishing a new career path.

And he’d done nothing to encourage her interest. In fact, he’d resisted her every attempt to engage him—and she’d made many. Since they’d met, she’d been teasing him and trying to provoke a reaction. Yes, they had chemistry, but that didn’t mean they had to act on it.

Unfortunately, the not acting kept getting tougher. He couldn’t help wondering what Tori’s next move would be, and they were only a couple of days into this grand opening. Naughty Nuptials comprised three weeks of events. When Wild, Wild Weddings concluded after tonight’s reception, he still had to survive Risqué Receptions and Hottest Honeymoons.

Somehow, Adam would manage. Tori Ford might be determined to get her scoop on the inn, but he was equally determined to prove this establishment, despite its status as a romance resort, conducted business on the level. Promoting romance between couples wasn’t synonymous with orgies in the main lobby, and Adam would make sure she understood the difference.

Of course, he wasn’t always clear on the difference himself…especially since the focus of the Naughty Nuptials was sex, which likely explained why he reacted to this woman with a need testing his restraint.

And almost as if she wanted to prove the point, Tori reappeared, looking sultry in a beaded green gown that clung lazily to her curves. Spangles flashed with every step, and he inhaled another cleansing breath to shore up his defenses.

Even with her clothes on, this woman looked like sex.

“Will you give me a hand?” She turned and presented her back with its open zipper. Lifting her hair, she moved close enough to bombard him with her subtly spicy fragrance. “Do you mind?”

Yes.

Clearly this was another power play—one he wouldn’t let her win. Not when he came face-to-face with all that bare skin. Not when he knew she’d managed to get her zipper down without assistance in the first place. He wouldn’t let her see how that one touch made his every thought zero in on his fingertips.

Chemistry practically crackled between them. Every sense honed in on the texture of her skin. Every nerve kicked into hyperalert and only his skill at self-discipline saved him from a reaction that otherwise would have leveled him.

He dragged the zipper up, an action that felt like an intimacy they shouldn’t be sharing. But not according to Tori, who clearly enjoyed liquefying professional boundaries with her suggestive smiles and constant innuendo.

Adam knew better than to show this woman weakness. One slip and she’d move in for the kill. He didn’t care to test his ability to resist her under extreme conditions.

More extreme than these, anyway.

Tugging the zipper into place, he put a much-needed step between them and felt a lot more relief than he should have for a man who’d decided not to play her seduction game.

“Did you fasten the eye hook?” she asked, her voice a hushed whisper between them.

If Adam hadn’t been struggling so hard to rein back, he might have enjoyed knowing he wasn’t the only one feeling the effects of her little game.

He was working hard to keep his expression neutral when she peeked a sultry gaze from beneath the fall of wild hair.

“If you don’t fasten the eye hook, the zipper will creep down. I might wind up flashing everyone at the reception.”

Now there was another vision to haunt him. This beautiful woman swaying to the music on the dance floor. The heavily beaded gown slithering into a puddle at her feet. Those filmy undergarments and all that skin…and two hundred surprised guests enjoying the show.

As Adam wasn’t partial to exhibition fetishes—or any fetishes at all, for that matter—he reached for the eye hook.

The fastener proved a test for his supersize fingers. What should have been a fast fix became a series of awkward efforts that brought more skin against skin until his careful expression melted into a scowl.

Tori pulled her hair higher and leaned into the light to assist his efforts, but all she did was flood his senses with the scent of her hair and that underlying spicy fragrance.

She distracted him and, in the process, undermined his efforts to finish this task and make his getaway. By the time he forced the microscopic hook through the metal loop, his fingers had grown stiff with frustration.

“There you go.” Not even his usual rock-steady discipline could keep the triumph, and relief, from his voice.

If Adam expected Tori to gloat, he miscalculated her response. She leaped on her advantage by firing again.

Shaking her hair out, she tumbled cloudlike waves over her shoulders and sent another blast of enticing fragrance his way. “Thank you.”

He only nodded and stepped farther into the hallway, as much to clear his senses of her provocative scent as to prompt her to action. Right now, he needed two hundred reception guests to remind him he should be working. He made a mental note to avoid being alone with this woman again.

“What’s on the agenda this afternoon?” He steered the conversation where it belonged. “And more importantly, how can I facilitate your work?”

“Helping me dress was a big help.”

She issued that with such a straight face he felt the urge to smile. Pulling the suite door closed, Tori sidled close and slipped her arm through his.

“We’re going to have fun today, Adam. You have heard that word before, haven’t you?”

She gazed up into his face with those big blue eyes but never gave him a chance to reply. “We’re going to drink champagne and dance and watch other people drink champagne and dance. We’re going to toast your honorary couple, and, with any luck, I’ll catch the bouquet and you’ll catch the garter. Will you slide it up my leg with your teeth, if you do?”

“Work fits in where exactly? I was under the impression you had a scoop to find and daily deadlines to keep.”

“I do, but my job is to report on your grand opening functions. To do that, I have to interact with your guests. Didn’t you read my article in this morning’s paper?”

“I did. You reported on last night’s rehearsal dinner. You played up the excitement of the event and the romance of how our featured bridal couple became engaged while they built the Wedding Wing.” Directing her toward the elevator, he disentangled his arm to press the button, then clasped his hands behind his back to wait.

Tori frowned, assuring him that she hadn’t missed his getaway. “I also explained that today’s wedding would conclude the first week of your grand opening and officially start the second. Since I’ll have the feature in tomorrow’s paper, I left my readership hanging to find out what happens.”

“Is that why you mentioned our unexpected guests?” he asked, referring to her parents’ last-minute addition to the rehearsal dinner guest list.

“My parents weren’t the only gate-crashers. Your bedding consultant’s parents showed up, too, which meant I had area news of interest to report.” She must have seen something in his expression because she asked, “You don’t agree?”

“No, I don’t.”

She gave a slight shrug that made those red waves shimmer in the overhead light. “That might explain why you’re a hotel manager and not a reporter.”

He didn’t get a chance to respond before the elevator beeped and the door slid open. They entered beside another couple Adam recognized as wedding guests.