He’s sitting right in front of you. “Sometime soon.”

“So, never?” He smiled. “You should’ve invited him to come here this weekend. I think he would’ve enjoyed it.”

Tatiana choked on a piece of bread and signaled for the waiter.

“If Hayden likes him, he must be a good guy for you,” he said.

“Yes.” Hayden squeezed my thigh again. “He’s a really good guy for her.”

Travis looked as if he wanted to say something more, but the wait staff began serving the second course.

It was now time for the next part of his routine: Watching his most recent match one final time to inflate his ego.

It was good that he always encouraged everyone in the room to cheer and shout as if it was happening in real-time.

Otherwise, I’m pretty sure they would’ve noticed that my shouts weren’t for the sport at all. They were because Hayden used his fingers to bring me to back to back orgasms under the table.

Later that afternoon, I avoided Hayden’s request to meet at the aquarium.

When he asked me to join him for a late lunch at the Aria, I turned him down and regretted every moment of agreeing to go to a three-hour anime cosplay show with Tatiana instead.

By the time I returned to my suite, it was a little after midnight, and he was sitting on the sofa waiting for me.

“I don’t remember giving you my other room key.” I dropped my purse to the floor.

“I took it at brunch.” He smiled. “Are you having a good time in Vegas so far?”

“Yep. You?”

“Not particularly,” he said. “My best friend is avoiding me for some strange reason.”

“You think so? I’m not really getting that vibe at all. I think you’re misreading things.”

“I’m not.” He kept his eyes on mine as he walked toward me. “Do you plan on acting awkward with me this entire weekend?”

“I’m not acting awkward at all.”

“You haven’t come up to my room once,” he said. “And at brunch, I saw you drafting text messages of excuses and rain checks that you plan to give to me this week.”

“Is that why you finger-fucked me under the table?”

“I did that to help you stop being so jittery,” he said. “I also love the way you look whenever you come for me.”

“Well—” My cheeks heated. “I’m sorry you think that I’m acting awkward. We can go up to your room now, if you’d like.”

“No, that’s okay.” He stepped closer. “Yours is fine. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s nothing.”

“I know you, Penelope.” He looked into my eyes in the way that only he could. “Tell me.”

“It’s two things,” I said.

“Name the first one.”

“I think my brother really would kill you if he finds out we’re dating.”

“We’ve already established that.” He smirked. “Can I trust you to make sure that my funeral is a beautiful one?”

“Do you have a color scheme in mind?”

“Sky blue and white.”

“Noted.” I smiled.

“What’s the second thing?”

“It’s stupid,” I said. “Not even worth mentioning.”

“Tell me.”

“I haven’t gone up to your room because there are photogs watching the damn elevators, shouting rumors in hopes of getting the whiff of a comment, and snapping pictures of anyone who dares to take a ride up to the penthouse.”

“What does that have to do with us?”

“Before, their presence never bothered me, but now it does for some reason.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could think them through. “I mean, the rumors they’re mentioning are nothing that you haven’t already told me. I just hate when they shout about it.”

“I do, too.” He tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear. “It’s in the past though, Pen. And you know that the worst of it happened when we weren’t friends.”

“Yeah.”

“You do know that when we’re a public couple that they’ll continue to do that, right?”

I didn’t say anything.

“You’ll have to continue tuning them out like you did before you were mine.” He kissed me. “Nothing changes.”

“When we were here together last year, I hardly ever went up to your room and it wasn’t a problem,” I said. “Things have changed.”

“For the better.” He looked into my eyes. “At least, I think so. I think you need something far more entertaining to focus on while we’re here.”

“Something like what?”

He didn’t answer me.

He covered my mouth with his and kissed me deeply—making me forget my trivial worries the more his tongue tamed mine.

Briefly tearing away from me, he leaned back against the wall and unzipped his pants. With his eyes on mine, he smiled.

“Let’s see if you can take it all the way down your throat like you mentioned to me before.”

I swallowed as he grabbed a fistful of my hair and kissed me again, as he whispered, “Get on your knees.”

I obliged, sinking my knees into the hotel room’s plush red carpet.

He didn’t let his grip on my hair go, he tightened it. “Take out my cock.”

I reached up and unbuckled his belt. Then I pulled it through the loops of his pants and let it fall to the floor.

Unbuttoning his pants with my fingers, I leaned forward and bit his silver zipper with my teeth, pulling it down.

I took my time as he watched me, and I watched him.

“Fuck…” He looked impressed.

Sliding my hands into the top of his briefs, I pushed down the fabric until his thick cock was staring me in the face.

I kissed the tip of it, swirling my tongue around in circles. Using my hand to rub up and down his length, I stared at the veins that swelled with my touch.

“Keep your eyes on me,” he said. “I want to look at you as you take it down your throat.”

I looked up and opened my mouth as wide as it could go, taking him in inch by inch, holding back my tongue as I adjusted to his girth.

I sucked it hard and moved back, slowly pacing myself to take another inch.

Without warning, he gently guided my head forward and then back. Forward and then back.

“Like this,” he said, staring at me. “Like you know there’s no place better for my cock than your hot mouth.”

I couldn’t even nod.

My mouth was too full of him.

I pressed my hands against his thighs to balance myself, and then I slowly began establishing my own rhythm. And then he slowly stopped having to guide me.

“Fuck…” He groaned as I took him in deeper, faster.

In between taking him inside, I used my right hand to tease him.

His breathing slowed, and I felt his body stiffen against me.

While his eyes were still on mine, he whispered, “Let me come in your mouth.”

I said, “Yes,” with my gaze, and he grabbed a fistful of my hair again. I took him deep into my mouth—as far as I could go, and the next thing I felt was his warm cum shooting past my lips.