Excerpt of Love is the Drug by K.E. Saxon

Three hours later, nearing seven-forty five Vegas time,
Jason held a still-tipsy Julie
up as he jammed the card key into the slot of their hotel
room. The one-bedroom
suite had been a last-minute decision: a) because the hotel
was booked solid due to
some eighties hair band’s 20-year-reunion tour kicking off
there the night before and
this was all that was available; and b) because he thought
he’d better keep an eye
on his travel mate, at least until she’d sobered up. He
figured he’d worry about the
sleeping arrangements when and if he had to. Hell, it wasn't
unusual for him to stay
out all night gambling when he came here, anyway.

He walked through the door with her leaning heavily into his
side and holding him
tight around the waist. She was still a little too unstable
to walk on her own. She’d
had two more whiskey & 7s on the plane, and he hadn’t
stopped her. Because with
each drink, she’d relaxed even more, made him feel like he
hadn’t caused as much
damage to her as he’d begun to believe. And, yeah, his
conscience was riding him
for that, too.

“That burger I bought you at the airport doesn’t seem to be
sobering you up,” he
said. Stopping in the entryway, he dropped his carry-on to
the floor and looked down
at her. “Maybe you should lie down for awhile—take a
nap—before we go down to
the casino.”

Julie’s gaze was pretty bleary when she turned it up to him.
She blinked and stuck
out her lower lip. “No. I wanna have some fun! Live on the
edge! You promised.” She
put her face closer to his. “Hey, has anyone ever told you
how pretty your eyes are?”

“Pretty? No. That’s—”

“--Well, they are.”

“—not a description a guy usually wants to hear about
himself, if you know what I
mean.” He grinned down at her. “But thanks. I think.”

“I like your lips, too. Keanu Reeves lips. Mmm. Sexy.”

“Keanu Reeves? You mean that dude from the Matrix? You like
him?” The flash of
jealousy took him by surprise.

She plopped her other arm over his shoulder and said, “Yeah.
I always wondered
what it’d be like to kiss those lips.” Then she planted one
on him. Tongue and all.

And he returned it. In a flash, he had her up against the
wall, her legs wrapped
around his waist and his hands on one of his three favorite
places: her sexy, hot little
ass. And this time, when he pressed the ridge of his
erection against her center, it
answered that pressure with the fire, the answering motion,
that should have been
there earlier, but wasn’t. Thank you, God.

But. She was three sheets to the wind. Probably wouldn’t
even remember this later.

And if she did—he'd be in the doghouse again, for sure.
Shit! Jason broke the kiss.

He rested his forehead against hers. They were both
struggling for air. After about
the fifth intake of breath, he could finally speak. “You
still want to go down to the
casino?” He was weak, he knew it. But, he swore to God, if
she said no, he’d take
her to bed right now. Doghouse, be damned.

Unfortunately—or fortunately, he couldn’t say which at this
moment—the burger
must’ve finally kicked in, because she nodded and said,
“Yeah, sounds great.”

“Okay.” Even to his own ears, there was a distinct lack of
enthusiasm in his voice.

He stepped back and slowly dropped her legs until she was
standing on her feet
again—this time, with no support. “I’ll take you to one of
the stores, too, so we can
get you something to wear to dinner tonight.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.”

He strode over to the door and opened it. “Ready?”

“You bet.”