Page 126 of Say Yes to the Nemesis

The kiss startssoft and sweet, but it doesn’t stay that way. Ryan’s hands slide into my hair, tilting my head back as he deepens it. I feel that familiar flutter low in my stomach that only he can cause. We’re standing on this ridiculously romantic terrace with candles flickering around us and the ocean stretching endlessly in the background, but all I can focus on is the heat of his mouth and the way he’s holding me like I’m something he can’t live without.

“God, I missed this,” he murmurs against my lips.

I laugh, but it turns into a gasp when he trails kisses down my throat. The stubble on his jaw scrapes against my skin and I shiver, my hands fisting in his shirt to keep myself steady.

“We should go somewhere more private,” I whisper.

“Why? No one’s watching.”

“Because if you keep doing that, I’m going to forget we’re supposed to be acting professional.”

He pulls back to look at me, his eyes dark with heat. “Professional went out the window the moment I saw you in that dress.”

“This old thing?” I flick the dress out with my fingertips.

“That old thing is going to be the death of me.” His hands slide down to rest on my hips. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

The raw honesty in his voice makes my breath catch. “Show me.”

Something fierce flashes in his eyes. “Come with me.”

He takes my hand and leads me through the resort. Past the infinity pool with its underwater lighting, past a hot tub that’s definitely going to feature in tomorrow’s filming, past what looks like a spa area with massage tables set up under a pergola. Everything is beautiful and expensive and designed to make people fall in love on camera.

But I’m not thinking about cameras right now. I’m thinking about the way Ryan’s thumb is stroking across my knuckles, the way he keeps glancing back at me like he can’t quite believe I’m real.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“My room.”

“Ryan, we can’t. If Elena finds out…”

“Elena said we had two hours of private time. What we do with it is our business.”

We reach a set of stairs leading to the second floor. Ryan pauses at the bottom, still holding my hand but not pulling me forward.

“If you want to stop, we stop,” he says quietly. “No questions, no pressure. We can go sit by the pool and talk about the weather if that’s what you want.”

I look up at him, this man who’s been driving me crazy for weeks, who kissed me in a storage closet and made me feel things I didn’t know I was capable of feeling. His hair is mussed from my fingers, his shirt wrinkled from my hands. He’s looking at me like I’m the only person in the world.

“I don’t want to talk about the weather,” I say.

His smile is slow and devastating. “Good.”

His room is just as over-the-top as everything else about this place. Massive bed with white linens, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean, a balcony with what looks like a private hot tub. Rose petals are scattered across the comforter and there are more candles than a church.

“Subtle,” I mutter.

Ryan closes the door behind us and suddenly, the space feels different. Intimate. Real. We’re alone. Actually alone. No cameras, no crew, no one watching our every move.

“Second thoughts?” he asks.

I turn to face him, taking in the way he’s standing there so still, giving me space to change my mind if I need to. Not pushing, not assuming. Just waiting.

“No second thoughts,” I say. “Just… are you sure about this? About us?”

He’s on me in two strides, his mouth crashing into mine with desperate hunger. His hands are everywhere, sliding down my back to grip my ass, pulling me against him so I can feel exactly how hard he is.

“Fuck, I need you,” he growls against my lips.