One Night Only (10 page)

“For what?” The sincere curiosity in his voice startled her into looking him directly in the face, something she knew was forbidden. He wasn't the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, or the ugliest either. He looked like every other tired sales rep who stayed at the Suite Spot, passing through on his way to the next small town in his route, the next sales call. His eyes were different, though. They sparkled with the same curiosity that she'd noticed in his voice.

“I'm sorry about being here in your room,” she said.

“You shouldn't be,” he said. “It saves me from having to call housekeeping.”

“What do you need?”

“I haven't decided.” He dropped his sample case on the small desk in the corner. “What's available?”

“I've got spare towels and toiletries and coffee supplies on my cart,” she said. “That's about it. Except for the suite sweets, of course. I could get you another one.”

“I've never had much of a sweet tooth.” He glanced at the pillow where the exquisitely handmade, dark-chocolate rose lay. “What about you?”

“I adore chocolate.” And the custom-made roses were a particular favorite: extra-dark, extra-premium, extra-decadent. She'd received one—a damaged one, not good enough for a guest, but too good to throw out—on the day she'd been hired. It was probably the one and only perk she'd ever get from this job, but that was okay, since she wasn't planning to be here for long. A couple months, at the most. Just until she found something better. Or maybe she could go back to school and get another degree.

“You can have mine, if you want.”

“No, thank you,” she said automatically, but she couldn't help glancing at the rose. The management didn't care if the staff took home the occasional shampoo bottle, but they had
strict rules about the roses, and taking one without permission, even an imperfect or damaged one, was grounds for immediate dismissal. She might not be planning to stay for long, but she needed this job until she found a better one.

“I wasn't thinking properly,” he said. “You've probably had a hundred of them and would prefer something different for a change.”

She took another step away from him, toward the exit, like the good little maid she'd been hired to be. His curiosity about her was too appealing, though, and she couldn't make herself avert her eyes from his. He didn't try to prevent her from leaving, but she got the distinct impression that he was disappointed almost as much as she was, at the thought that she'd never get to know anything about him. Anything that mattered, at least. He would remain a stranger, just one among the dozens of guests she would run across every week. She doubted she'd even remember him by tomorrow when another tired sales rep checked into this room.

“I'm…” She hesitated. Management had another rule, even stricter than the one about the roses, and it prohibited fraternizing with guests. “I'm Cheri.” The lie probably wouldn't save her job if he reported her, but it did give her plausible deniability.

“Jeremy.” He crossed the room to pick up the chocolate rose by its lollipop stem and hold it out to her.

She shook her head.

“Oh, come on,” he said. “It's just a fancy sucker. It's not like I'm propositioning you.”

“I can't touch it or I'll be fired.”

He tossed it back onto the bed. “Damn. I was hoping you'd stick around and we could talk for a while, maybe share something from room service.”

She would have liked that too, but she had to be careful.
“
I
can't touch the rose. The rule, and I quote, is ‘chocolate is for the guests' use only.' It doesn't say anything about how you use it. Or with whom.”

Jeremy blinked, but it didn't take more than a fraction of a second for him to catch on, and he lunged for the king-sized bed to retrieve the chocolate. Once he had it, though, he paused, turning the rose's stem thoughtfully.

Finally, he flopped on the bed, propping himself against the headrest, messing up the pillows she'd so recently fluffed. He tore off a small strip of the decorative red foil from the tip of the rose and bent his head slightly to smell the chocolate. “Good stuff. Not that I'm an expert, of course.”

He licked the exposed tip, and she felt it as if he'd licked her nipples. “Really good stuff.”

She swallowed.

“Want some?” he said.

She nodded.

“I've always wondered why people were so fascinated with chocolate,” he said, watching her intently.

“The scientists say it's because of hormones,” she said. “Chocolate causes the body to release serotonin into the bloodstream.”

“I suppose that could be it,” he said. “But there are other hormones. Other releases that are pleasurable.”

She shrugged, as if she hadn't noticed the reference to orgasm. She'd been warned that guests might proposition her. It was a natural consequence of the guests being away from home, lonely and bored. She was supposed to ignore any such innuendos and retreat as quickly as possible. There was even an official form for reporting such behavior, as if the proposition were some sort of work-related accident. What they hadn't warned her about was the possibility that she
might be inclined to proposition the guest.

He licked the chocolate rose again. “I just don't get it. Why choose chocolate instead of some other pleasure?”

She knew what she was supposed to say—something noncommittal, and then steer him back to the things that the hotel offered: extra pillows, blankets or chocolate. Except that wasn't what either of them wanted.

She took a step closer to the bed. “It doesn't have to be a choice. A person could have both.”

His eyes lit up. “I don't want both. I want you.”

Her pussy clenched in response. She wanted both, but only on her own terms. She'd been a formidable negotiator in her previous career. “I still want the chocolate.”

“One taste,” he said. “And then I get to taste you.”

She leaned down and licked the rose he was holding, moaning just a little at the extraordinary quality.

He pulled the chocolate away, out of her lips' reach. “My turn.”

She pulled the hotel-logo sport shirt over her head and removed her bra, a little self-conscious about how plain it was, compared to the shiny red foil encasing the chocolate rose.

He didn't seem to care. He licked her breasts exactly as she'd done to the rose, complete with an appreciative moan for each nipple. She could see him struggle with the urge to keep on licking, but after a moment, he leaned back against the pillows.

“Do you have sex with all the male guests?”

“No.” He didn't need to know he was the first guest she'd even talked to. For the moment, she wasn't Allison, the temporary housekeeper; she was Cheri, the adventurous maid. “Just the ones who know what a woman wants.”

He raised the rose to her mouth, pressing it between her lips. As soon as her tongue touched the chocolate, his mouth was on
her nipple. She sucked the candy, and he sucked her. She licked greedily, but without taking an actual bite, hoping to prolong the pleasure for both of them. Still, the chocolate melted down to the edge of the foil wrapper, and she couldn't get to the rest of the treat without his assistance. She pulled away from him a little, and he copied her action.

“The wrapper,” she said, nodding toward the rose. “I can't eat the rest until the foil is gone.”

He ran the rose down the side of her neck, between her breasts and toward the waistband of her khaki pants, leaving a trail of chocolate behind. “There's too much covering you too. I want to see the rest of you.”

She immediately tugged down the bottom half of her uniform. He unwrapped the rose slowly, pausing as her panties were revealed, and then again when her panties were gone. She gestured impatiently at the last scrap of foil at the base of the rose, and he absently removed it without taking his gaze off her.

He reached toward her pussy, apparently unaware that he was holding the rose until it brushed against her thigh. He looked up, following the trail of chocolate that started at the spot where her waistband had been, all the way to her mouth, which was salivating for more—of the candy and of him.

“Is this what you want?” He waved the chocolate in front of her face.

She caught the scent of it and started to reach for it with her lips. He moved it away then, slowly, tantalizingly just out of reach, until she was bent over him, while he lay sprawled across the bed. Her hands were locked behind her back so she wouldn't forget and reach for the forbidden treat. Her breasts dangled directly over his face as she tried to capture the elusive chocolate.

“Luscious,” he said, and began sucking her breasts again.

She managed to get her mouth on the chocolate, despite her precarious position over him. This time she gave in to the greed and bit the remaining chocolate off its stem.

He released his lips' hold on her breast and said, “Hey, no fair. You got the whole thing before I finished my treat.”

She closed her eyes and savored the still-melting chocolate, unable to speak with her mouth full.

“You aren't finished, though, are you?” he said.

She shook her head.

He took her hand to pull her down onto the bed beside him, but she resisted.

“You aren't allowed to lie down on the job, I bet.”

She nodded.

“No problem.” He maneuvered her into a kneeling position, straddling his chest, with her pussy directly in front of his face. He stuck a pillow behind his head and began to lick her pussy with as much determination as she'd shown in capturing the rose.

She moaned.

“Was the chocolate as good as that felt?”

She could still taste the lingering remnants of the dark, decadent chocolate. “Yes.”

“I'll have to try harder then.” His tongue found its way to her clit and began a flicking motion that weakened her muscles. She sank onto his chest, and he stopped.

“You're not allowed to sit on the job,” he said. “I can't suck you from this angle.”

With an effort, she rose above him again, giving him full access. Her muscles quivered along the inside of her thighs and inside her pussy. “I can't wait much longer.”

“You promised me,” he said. “You had your treat, and now it's my turn. I don't eat anything all in one gulp like you.” He
closed his mouth on her clit and sucked once. “I like to savor everything. Make it last and last and last.”

“I can't.”

“Yes, you can.” He placed his hands on her hips and then slid them down beneath her ass, supporting her, holding her in place. “Tell me what you like.”

“I like chocolate.”

He gave her clit a lick.

“I like this.”

“Me too.” He resumed sucking, slowly, persistently and eagerly.

She squirmed, she wiggled, she clenched, responding to his implicit curiosity about what felt best to her. He held her in place as he pursued his gastronomic experiments, adjusting his speed and pressure and then waiting to see how she responded.

And she did respond. He would soon have all the answers he could ever want.

He paused to ask, “How much time do we have?”

“Not long,” she said. “Another few seconds, and I'm going to come.”

“And after that?” While he waited for her answer, he fingered her clit.

She gasped, but managed to say, “All night. My shift just ended, but I don't need to leave. You can have me until checkout.”

“The chocolate was that good?”

“No,” she said. “You're that good. I need more of you.”

“Me too.” He found her clit again with his mouth and sucked until she was shaking with the effort to remain upright.

Finally, either he realized she couldn't last any longer, or his own curiosity about her orgasm won out over his self-control. She shuddered with the pleasure of breaking just about every rule in the management's handbook, including the unwritten
one about never, ever, ever fucking the guests.

Some time later, after they'd broken a few more rules, and his curiosity, along with his cock, was finally satisfied, he said, “I'll be sure to let your supervisor know that you gave me the best maid service I've ever had.” He rolled her beneath him and pillowed his face on her breasts.

She suspected there would be additional rule-breaking before the night was over, and if she weren't already so drained, she would have shivered in anticipation. For the moment, she simply enjoyed his closeness and contemplated the benefits of her job. Sure, the housekeeping work itself was pretty dull. But tonight had been exciting. Tonight's interlude with a stranger, someone she knew virtually nothing about, someone she'd never see again, had been better than anything she'd felt with her more long-term lovers.

It dawned on her that with the number of guests passing through the Suite Spot, she could have this same kind of intense excitement whenever she wanted it, whenever she let herself be caught inside an appealing guest's room.

Allison hugged Jeremy closer, grateful not just for the pleasure they'd shared, but also for the way he'd helped her see the truth about her job. Until now, she'd been as shortsighted as everyone else, never even considering a career as a maid. For too many years, she'd been working her way up the traditional corporate ladder, fighting for job perks she hadn't even cared about. Here at the Suite Spot, there was no ladder to climb, and the only job perks were the ones she created for herself.

Jeremy started licking her breasts again, and Allison sighed with the pleasure. She didn't want to be a doctor or a lawyer or a CEO. She wanted to be a maid. With benefits.