He’d said that he found her sexy...
Just recalling the words wreaked havoc with her attempt at self-control.
The laughter tapered off at the smouldering heat in his eyes as he looked at her. Her body tingled all over and she was conscious of her nipples pushing against the velvet dress, because she wasn’t wearing a bra, conscious of a spreading wetness between her legs. She stumbled back a couple of inches, breathing jerkily but unable to tear her eyes away from his face.
‘We should go,’ she said roughly, and he nodded but he didn’t move for a few seconds and then, when he did, it was without his usual easy grace.
He looked so beautiful, so breathtaking, in formal attire, white shirt, black jacket, black trousers, a uniform that should have made him look average but somehow did the opposite.
His face was darkly flushed, and she could almost breathe in the heady scent of desire.
He’d been so much his usual self ever since he had kissed her that she had convinced herself that what he felt was very distant from what she did.
Now she knew that they were on the same page when it came towanting.
What did she do with that information...? Someone more experienced would not have hesitated to take advantage of it. She was crazy about the guy, for better or for worse. It was only natural that she might want to...have her first experience with him.
The mere thought of that, however, was enough to bring her out in a cold sweat because alongside that resided sheer panic and the horror of knowing that he would probably be either alarmed or amused or both by the fact that she was still a virgin.
But the dangerous thought tingled inside her as they made their way to the wedding venue.
The ceremony was moving, with only a handful of people to witness the exchange of vows in the small church. Then a battalion of white cars delivered everyone back to the chalet, which was a winter wonderland inside. Huge trailing garlands of white flowers formed lacy patterns from the ceilings, as delicate as spun silk, and urns of white orchids worked as partitions ensuring that the huge spaces were broken into smaller components.
There were lots more people attending the actual reception than had been there for the more intimate gathering where Jess had first laid eyes on Caitlin.
She should have been nervous because this was just the sort of event nothing in her entire life could have prepared her for, but she wasn’t.
Champagne flowed and the food was delicious. She drifted from group to group, keenly aware of Curtis, who never seemed to stray too far from her side.
In truth, she barely noticed the noise and the laughter and the stunning scenery outside, matched only by the stunning décor inside. At one point she drifted across to the vast bank of windows that gave out over a scene of limitless snowy mountains and behind her was Curtis’s reflection. He raised a glass to her and she smiled without turning around.
Her heart was pounding when, several hours later, they found themselves saying their goodbyes to the couple. She was so conscious of Curtis slightly behind her, his body so close that she could feel the heat radiating from him, that she could barely focus on what Philippa was saying. Something about being the only bride to have her honeymoon exactly where she happened to have married because they would be skiing for the next week. She was rolling her eyes and laughing and constantly looking at her new husband with love and tenderness while he reminded her that the Maldives awaited them in four weeks’ time.
Jess slipped off her shoes once in the back of the car. She wasn’t looking at him, instead choosing to stare at her fingers interlinked on her lap.
‘You were pretty amazing tonight.’ Curtis broke the silence, his lazy eyes clocking the way she was making a big effort not to look at him when he knew she badly wanted to.
God, he had never before spent an evening in a state of such heightened anticipation.
When he hadn’t been right there next to her, he’d been following her with his eyes, noting her every movement, the sexy swing of her hips as she moved through the room, her natural warmth as she chatted to various people and her endearing lack of awareness of the looks she was attracting from every guy at the reception.
He’d felt the sizzle of red-hot chemistry between them even when she wasn’t looking at him and now, sitting in the back of this car, he was wired.
‘Thank you,’ Jess murmured.
He shifted, then reached out and placed his finger on her chin, gently turning her to face him. Then he let that finger trail a devastating path to outline her lips. She sucked in a sharp, jagged breath but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face and, tellingly, she didn’t slap his hand away.
‘I couldn’t take my eyes off you.’
‘You...shouldn’t be saying these things,’ Jess whispered. ‘How much have you had to drink?’
‘Next to nothing, and why shouldn’t I be saying these things...?’ He knew. Of course he did. And she was right. But the devil was in the detail and he couldn’t help himself.
‘Because...’ Her voice trailed off.
‘Because we’ve always been friends?’
Jess nodded and breathed a silent sigh of relief as their hotel came into illuminated view because there was so much going on in her head that she couldn’t think straight.
