Page 182 of ClickBack

She plants both feet and tests the ankle she just turned. I watch her face.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. I stepped near it incorrectly.”

I look at her. She looks back, daring me to laugh.

I lose.

“That is an accurate description,” she says while I try to stop.

“Take them off. I’ll carry them.”

She uses my arm to balance and slips out of both shoes. I take them by the straps. She tries one careful step barefoot, then another, with her hand on the rail.

“Better?” I ask.

“Considerably. You can stop looking at my feet now.”

I bring my eyes back to hers. “Got plenty else to look at.”

“You made that clear upstairs.”

She comes toward me again. I set the shoes on the landing behind us so I can put both hands on her, and she smiles when she feels how much I want her.

“Giselle.”

“What?”

“You know what.”

Her hand moves down my stomach. I catch it before she gets to my waistband and bring it back between us.

She looks up. “Hotel?”

“Right fucking now.”

Her laugh gets me more worked up. I want to put her against the wall. I want to find out what she would say if I did. I also want her somewhere I can hear every word without waiting for a door to open over my shoulder.

She looks toward the next flight, then back at me. “Then stop kissing me and get me there.”

I pick up her shoes before she can give me another reason to stop.

Downstairs, the café is dark except for the lights behind the counter. Her shopping bags are beneath the coat hooks where Bellamy left them. I get those, too, while she puts her shoes back on for the walk outside.

“You used the card?” I ask.

“For earrings.”

“Let me see.”

She looks up from fastening the strap. “Now?”

“Later works.”

Graves is beside the SUV. He takes the bags and opens her door, then looks at me over the roof.

“Everything all right?”