Wanting It All: A Naked Men Novel Read Online Free

side again, whipping her long blond hair into a halo effect that mesmerized Knox with its golden sheen. God, he wanted to feel that draped across his naked chest. “This place is amazing.”
    “No, Madison. I mean they’re staring at
you.
” This time when he pushed on her back she actually moved her feet. It didn’t stop her from peeking over her shoulder no less than four times before they hit the elevator. “I don’t usually lead with the obvious, but I’ve gotta ask—where are you from?”
    The doors slid shut. Those tawny eyes slid sideways, as if trying to pre-gauge his reaction. She looked over at the two guys—in cheap suits and crazy hair that labeled them as part of the flock of D.C. summer interns—giving her a slack-jawed once-over. Yeah, Madison was at least five years too old and five hundred percent too much woman for them. Which yet again landed her at the top of Knox’s must-do list.
    Then Madison squared her shoulders. Lifted her chin. “I’m from the great state of Alaska. The Alaskan Bush, to be precise. Remote. Isolated. As far from civilization as you can get.”
    Well, that explained a lot.
    It also intrigued him. Knox kept two maps on his phone at all times—world and U.S. He liked to shade in home states and countries of every hookup. The total stood at nineteen countries (despite the fact Riley insisted he should count England and Scotland for just one, as the United Kingdom; Ry was such a damn stickler). And he needed only four states to complete the U.S. stats. Alaska was one of those missing four.
    Knox elbowed back her giant bag to intertwine their fingers. He’d learned layering verbal and physical foreplay got women into bed quicker. Increased the attraction on both sides. Like a package that wrapped up Wi-Fi, phone, and cable. The more that got offered, the more that got taken.
    “You didn’t just hike out of the bush yesterday, right? You’ve been in a city before?”
    That netted him an eye roll. “Of course. I did my undergrad at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.”
    “Nobody says undergrad unless they’ve got an advanced degree, too.” That bumped up his interest still another notch.
    Knox appreciated all women. He had yet to find a single one, no matter her age or relative standing on the hotness scale, who didn’t have something remarkable going for her. A laugh smokier than twenty-year-old whiskey. Eyes that sparkled like the Chesapeake Bay in the morning. A sense of humor, or a great pair of legs, or the ability to bake a killer sweet roll.
    But smart women? They hardened his dick twice as fast. Knox enjoyed the seduction. He wasn’t big on letting women stick around after the main event. Smarties, though, were another story. A woman whose eyes didn’t glaze over when he described his job didn’t just get pancakes the morning after—she earned a rare-for-him second date.
    As the doors opened, Madison gave him a hip bump. “Well, aren’t you just Sherlock Holmes–ing this whole date?”
    “I recognize fellow sufferers from the trenches of grad school. We share the traumatized wince at the mention of college that says we still haven’t caught up from the all-nighters.”
    Knox knew exactly when she registered the view. This time she didn’t stop and gawk. But her knees bobbled and her breath caught. To her credit, it didn’t just happen to tourists. The balcony on the eleventh-floor bar of the W Hotel opened up practically on top of the White House. Front and center speared the Washington Monument, a third guest at every table.
    “I’m definitely going to need the drink you promised me. My mouth’s gone dry,” she murmured.
    “I can fix that without waiting for a drink.” Knox never,
ever
passed up an opportunity as obvious as this one. He bracketed her chin with his thumb and forefinger. Tilted her head up. Covered her mouth in a kiss that surprised even him with its passion. It must’ve been that talk about graduate degrees that got his