Read After Midnight for Free Online

drinks she’d had and the sex.
    God, she’d had no idea sex could be like that. Could be that good. She understood now why so many people were tempted to miss their training schedules for it.
    “Was it a surprise for you?” she asked a bit tentatively. Maybe this was the way it always was for him.
    He fully opened his eyes, turning his blue-gray gaze on her. “What?”
    “The sex. Or is it always like that for you?”
    “Damn, gorgeous, the things you ask,” he said. Scrubbing a hand over his eyes, he grabbing a pillow from the head of the bed and bunched it up under his head.
    “If I don’t ask I’ll never know. And you
are
a player,” she reminded him.
    He arched one dark eyebrow at her.
    “Not going to try to deny it, are you? I heard about many of your hook-ups over the years.”
    “Why would I when you wouldn’t believe me anyway?”
    “I don’t know. Actually, I really don’t know you,” she admitted. She traced the tattoo of Nagano on his hip. She’d skied there at a world-cup competition twice. She traced the path down his hip and noticed that he let her, just kept still while she ran her finger over his skin.
    She didn’t know what to do next. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d said this wasn’t her kind of situation. And let’s face it, most etiquette books didn’t cover what to do when a woman ended up in bed with a bad-boy snowboarder. In fact, her mom would have probably said don’t end up there. She was practical like that.
    He sat up and caught her hand in his, bringing it ever so slowly to his lips. He kissed her palm and then looked her straight in the eye. She saw the sincerity his gaze and something else. Something she couldn’t really define.
    He leaned closer. She closed her eyes because it felt too intense. The room smelled of sex and Carter. That spicy aftershave she’d noticed that lingered in the air after they’d had a conversation.
    “It was special for me, too.”
    “Why do you think that is?” she asked, opening her eyes and almost smiling. She wanted to hear that she was different from the other women. Carter had exceeded her wildest expectations and made her realize that the safe dates and bed partners she’d had in the past weren’t the norm.
    He laughed again. “Give me a minute to wash up, and then we can continue this conversation.”
    He got out of the bed and padded naked to the bathroom, returning a moment later with a warm washcloth for her to use. He took it back into the bathroom, and while she was alone, she glanced around the room and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror over the desk. She notice her tiara with the year on it on its side near the bed.
    She placed it on the nightstand before scooting up and getting under the covers. As she leaned back against the headboard, she realized he might not want her to stay.
    This would have been easier if she’d taken him to her place. Then she maybe she wouldn’t feel so awkward.
    He strode back into the room with all the grace and elegance of a tiger.
    She forced a smile and what she liked to think of as her game face. The expression she used in the press room after a bad run, or when she’d had to go in front of the media and act as though it hadn’t mattered that her career in skiing was over after her fall.
    Watching his muscles moving with each step he took, she realized he was a perfect specimen. Not like her body, which was broken and bore fresh scars. She envied him his healthy body. Tamping down her roiling emotions, she shook her head. She wasn’t going down that path tonight.
    Instead, the sheet falling to her waist, she drank him in.
    “Dammit.”
    “What’s wrong?” she asked in alarm.
    “You make me want to start all over again.”
    “Start what?” She wasn’t following him.
    “Sex,” he said. “I’ve just had you but I want you again. Want to take my time and make sure that I haven’t missed one glorious spot on your body.”
    She arched one eyebrow at him. “I