But she couldn’t. She wanted to be with Brady. He had this pull on her, and their connection was like nothing she had ever experienced before. It might be wrong, but she wanted this to happen.

After a few minutes, the limo door opened and her heart rate accelerated.

For a brief second, a part of her thought that it was all going to be some ill-conceived practical joke. Hayden was going to be on the other side of the door with Calleigh Hollingsworth and the other reporters. They would be laughing at her for committing so thoroughly to their prank on the new girl. Because why else would Brady Maxwell ask her to get into his limo?

But then Brady’s handsome face came into view. He looked at her, smiled that gorgeous, charming, incomparable smile, and she was lost once more.

“You stayed,” he said, sitting down next to her.

“Are you surprised?” Liz asked, déjà vu washing over her. How often did this man get turned down that he would seem so surprised that she was near him? Didn’t seem likely that it would be very often.

“This time, no,” Brady told her confidently. The door slammed shut, casting them back into darkness.

“Do you often take limos out?” She broke his intense gaze and focused on her surroundings.

“Sometimes. I was an honored guest tonight, so the gala provided one.”

“My lucky night, I guess,” she said with a smile in his direction.

He chuckled. “I actually think it’s mine. How else could I have impressed you?”

Liz tried not to gawk as she considered the question. She was pretty sure everything about him was impressive.

Watching his mouth quirk up at the side, she realized he was teasing her. That look of pure confidence did inappropriate things to her. She had the sudden urge to jump him right there in the limo. Normally that much cocky self-importance would have been a turnoff, but Brady was breaking every rule in her book.

The limo started moving then, taking them to their unknown destination. Liz didn’t even want to know or else she might chicken out. She would rather step out of the limo with him at some unfamiliar place and simply follow his lead.

“You didn’t have any champagne,” Brady said, pulling the bottle from the ice and pouring them each a flute. The dim light fell across the label. Dom Pérignon. She shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was.

“I wasn’t sure I could,” she admitted. Also, she was nervous as hell.

“Well, here you go.” He handed her a drink. They clinked their glasses together, and she drank the champagne faster than she anticipated. It tasted like pure, bubbly bliss, way smoother than anything she had ever tasted before. He took a sip from his own glass and placed it by the ice bucket while she finished hers off.

“Want another?” he asked with a soft chuckle.

“Yes, please,” Liz said, handing the glass back. Brady refilled it, and she took her time sipping the champagne. His eyes were watching her, and she wondered what he was thinking. Was he going to make a move? Was he waiting for her to make a move? What did he want from her? She had too many thoughts coursing through her head, and she was wishing she’d had more to drink at the party to calm herself down.

Liz finished her second glass and handed it back to Brady. Instead of refilling it, he placed the empty glass next to his own and pulled her close to him. He draped an arm around the back of the seat and he laced their fingers together.

Her heart was pitter-pattering in her chest at his nearness. He was so warm and comfortable, and God, did she love the way his hands felt connected with hers. He sent chills up her spine as the pads of his fingertips traced soft lines into her skin. Their hips touched on the leather seat, and she could feel his muscular leg pressing against her own thigh. She crossed her legs at the knee as warm tingling sensations swept through her body.

He wasn’t doing anything more than holding her hand, and her body was already molten lava. His breath was hot on her neck as he stared down at her. He seemed to be waiting for her to look at him, but she wasn’t sure she could control her body at the moment.

“Liz?” he whispered into her ear. His forehead rested on her head as he breathed softly, waiting for her reply. She didn’t think she trusted her voice to answer.

When she didn’t respond, his mouth moved to her ear, nipping at it softly. He trailed his tongue down the side, causing her entire body to shiver in response. Nothing in her entire life had ever been so seductive, and she pressed her legs together in response. He must have known exactly what he was doing to her, because his grip on her hand tightened, and his other arm slid down to grasp her shoulder and pull her in closer.

“Liz?” he repeated, his voice a soft growl of desperation. Liz was sure that she would never want to hear her name uttered another way.

His tongue swirled around her earlobe, and her eyes fluttered closed, her head dropping back onto his arm in response. He tugged softly on the delicate skin, and she released a soft moan.

“Don’t make me ask again,” he groaned, his hand moving down her arm to circle her waist, grasping her tightly.

“Ye-yes,” Liz finally muttered breathily. She was surprised she was coherent at all.

“Look at me.”

She did what she was told without a second thought. Her head moved to the side and she stared up into his brown eyes. All she saw there was desire. He wanted her. Brady Maxwell, a sitting State Senator, wanted her.

Her world felt completely and totally upside down. Here was this incredibly handsome, unbelievably sexy man all but throwing himself at her. Yet, she had called him out in front of a roomful of people and written a negative article about him. Her mind was conflicted, but her body certainly wasn’t. Her body was telling her mind to shut the fuck up and just enjoy herself, because she knew that she definitely would.

But what about her career? Could this damage her career? Liz tried not to think about it. She didn’t want to think about it. She just wanted Brady.

As if he could tell that she was finished arguing with herself, his head lowered and his lips captured hers. His lips were soft and tender, but eager and demanding…just like him. As soon as he touched her, she wanted more.

Her hands ran up his suit and into his thick, dark hair, pulling on the strands. Brady groaned into her mouth, and Liz smiled, knowing she had found a weak spot. His arms reached all the way around her, yanking her against him and into his lap. Her dress fell askew as she pressed her warm body against him. Their tongues volleyed while Liz kissed him back with a ferocity that rivaled his own heightened desire.

How she had ever lived without his kisses in her life prior to this moment was an utter mystery. The raw intensity of their longing for each other surprised her. She had never felt so wanton before.

Yet, at the same time, she couldn’t seem to control or stop it. Not that she wanted to.

They kissed feverishly for the remainder of the ride, coming up for air sparingly. Her lips were swollen and her breath was coming in spurts. She could feel every single place where her body was touching his like flames scorching through her skin.

The limo came to a stop all too soon. They slowly disentangled their limbs and separated. Brady refused to let go of her hand even as she attempted to straighten out her dress.

“I could stay like this with you…” he murmured softly, trailing off as he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her there.

Liz wondered if he had meant to say forever at the end of that sentence.

The door clicked open behind her, and Brady broke away, cutting off whatever he had meant to say afterward. Liz reached for her purse and exited the limo with Brady close behind.

She realized that, unsurprisingly, they were at an upscale hotel in downtown Charlotte. It had an all-glass front and an imposing exterior, and Brady walked right into the hotel as if he owned the place. Liz tried to give off half the amount of confidence he had. She was sure that she failed, but it didn’t matter. No one would spare two seconds to glance at her compared to him.

They walked right through the black-and-gray marble-tiled lobby with its dark mahogany walls, glass tables topped with strange, expensive-looking, ornamental glass decorations, and dark slate countertops. Brady didn’t check in, and Liz wondered how long he had been in Charlotte or if he had checked in to the hotel earlier today. He punched the elevator for the top floor and it lifted them up immediately.

Brady smiled at her reassuringly as the elevator took its time taking them up. All she could think about was having his lips on her once more. Those beautiful lips smiling down at her and only her.

Liz had liked plenty of guys before, but it had never felt like this. Maybe it was because he was completely unattainable. Maybe it was because there was no way this could go anywhere at all. Maybe it was just because she wanted him. Simple lust that she was giving in to. She didn’t even like him…not really. How could she like him if she didn’t even know him and the only things that she did know about him, she disagreed with?

For some reason that didn’t bother her as she thought it might.

Brady took her hand again when they stepped out of the elevator and showed her the way down the hallway. He chuckled softly to himself as he slid the keycard into the door.

“What’s so funny?” Liz asked. He had such a great laugh.

“This is the presidential suite,” he told her with a shrug.

“You’re not the president,” she said, arching an eyebrow.

“Not yet,” he stated confidently, pulling her through the open doorway.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “A little ahead of yourself, aren’t you? Not even sitting in Congress and you’re putting yourself in the White House.”

“I didn’t come here to talk politics with you, baby,” Brady said, pushing the door closed behind them. “Lecture me after I’m done with you.”

Before she had a chance to retort, Brady slammed her backward into the doorframe, her body colliding with the hard wooden door. She heard a dull thud echo around the room and wondered if the sound was as loud on the outside. Would people know what they were doing in the dark hotel room? Did she care?

She stared from under thick, black lashes at the man before her, seized with her growing desire. His hands came down hard and fast on either side of her head, rapping against the wood. She felt the vibrations ring in her ears, and her heart sped up double time. She stared up at him, trapped in his deep chocolaty eyes, lost to the world she lived in. His eyes consumed her, devoured her, absorbed her—and she was fully clothed.

Fuck! She wanted him. She wanted him badly enough that she all but begged him to continue. She could feel the heat radiating off of their bodies, the electrifying atmosphere, and the ever-present tension from the minimal space between them. He was so close, so damn close. His lips were hovering only inches above her, tempting her, teasing her. She swallowed hard, her chest heaving with the exertion it took to not throw herself at him.

“Brady,” she groaned as his hand moved from the doorframe to trail gingerly across her cheek, flutter down the curve of her neck, brush against her exposed collarbone, and continue to her breast and waist. She thought she might combust.

“No talking,” he growled, circling his arm around her waist and pulling her hips away from the wall. Her feet slid forward against the carpeted floor as he pushed himself against her, his lower half covering her body. Her breath caught at the feel of him through his suit pants. Damn!

Liz tried to hold her focus, but she was having trouble thinking about anything but what he was pressing up against her. She was burning with desire, and any thought of stopping had flown out the window when she had been thrown up against the door. Not that she had ever given any real thought to it to begin with.

Brady leaned forward, pressing against her harder, and kissed the same trail he had made with his hand. She whimpered, trying to keep from squirming at his slow progression. His grip on her waist tightened as he kissed across her breast and down her stomach. She could hardly keep her eyes open, but she had to watch him as he knelt before her.