‘It’s really something,’ he says.
His eyes fall from the stars to meet mine and he gently turns me, pressing my back against the side of the car. He tucks a loose tendril back behind my ear. I absorb every line and curve of his face as it moves toward me. His lips meet mine with a full embrace. It’s like a blackout. All I can think and breathe is Gregory.
‘You’re amazing,’ he whispers.
‘Kiss me again.’
My soul ignites with the second touch of his lips. His mouth moves roughly against mine until my body is begging him to take me. My rise to him and I can feel his hard length against my stomach, the final confirmation I need that the attraction is not just mine.
‘I think we ought to step inside the car,’ he says.
‘Why? Has something come up?’ I cheekily bite my bottom lip.
He smirks – a break from wearing his impenetrable superpower – as he opens the car door and ushers me inside.
The privacy screen is up, shielding us from Jackson, or him from our furious kiss, but when we hear his voice over the speaker, Gregory pulls his fingers away from the lace garter of my stockings.
‘Ah, where would you like me to go?’
Gregory looks to me for confirmation then tells Jackson to take us to his place.
‘Naturally, you live in the Shard,’ I joke as the Mercedes drives into the underground car park of one of the tallest buildings in the world. Jackson holds open the door for me and tells Gregory he’s going to check on things in the basement – guy code for, I know exactly what your intentions are and I’ll leave you to it.
Gregory nods, then takes my hand and leads me into the lift vestibule.
When the lift doors eventually open, we step inside, where Gregory types a code then presses the button for floor sixty-four. I run my hand from his shoulder blade to the small of his back and down to his thickset thigh. He turns, pushing me up against the lift wall and attacks me with his kiss. I return the ferocity, showing him everything I’ve felt and suppressed since that first pitch in his boardroom. The looks, the touches, the sense of something in the air when we’re together that awakens a passion deep in my core. His hips flex into mine and he pulls my body into him.
It’s game over, Scarlett Heath.
I let go of my lines, my black-and-white world, and I savour the feel of our bodies welding together.
The lift announces we’ve reached our destination: the sky.
Dim mood lighting automatically turns on when Gregory opens the large, white double doors into the enormous main room. It’s a bachelor pad, no mistaking. There’s a lingering scent of hardwood floor polish and leather interiors. The brilliant-white walls contrast the black, leather furniture and the hanging art is abstract, emotionless. The lounge is a huge open space with a breakfast bar and kitchen to one end, two doors to adjoining rooms at the other and a spiral staircase in the middle, close to the door where I’m standing. One black, marble sculpture of a naked torso rests on a tall, coliseum-style podium, a feature piece almost central in the room.
The night’s stars are visible through the wall of windows that runs the periphery of the apartment, giving a panoramic view of the lights of London’s bridges and skyscrapers, a burnt-orange dot-to-dot over the city.
‘It feels like stepping into a dream,’ I say, walking to the vast glass panes, towering above the bustling city. ‘You really do love the high life.’
The rising hairs on my skin tell me he’s moved closer to me. I turn to him, primal lust whirring inside me.
‘It makes me feel closer to God,’ he says with a smirk.
‘Makes you feel closer to God or makes you feel like you are God? It’s an important distinction.’
His smirk dissipates and he’s staring at me, deadly serious. ‘Why’s that?’
‘Because you don’t look like you’re having very holy thoughts right now.’
‘Are you?’
‘I’m having the most ungodly thoughts I’ve ever had in my life.’
I turn back to the window to shield my blushes. He steps behind me, so close that I can feel his heated breath on my neck. He takes my bag from my hand and casts it onto the sofa. His firm pecs press against my back and he kisses the skin behind my ear, down to the hollow between my collarbones.
‘Tell me.’
I lean into his chest, reaching my arms back, dragging my fingers through his hair.
