“So I did.” And I’d do it again just to keep her in my arms for the rest of the night.
I placed the hand I held on my right shoulder, and moved my hand down her forearm, up her arm, feeling the softness of her skin. My other hand went around to her lower back, pulling her in even more. Her head lifted abruptly and she gasped, looking at me.
“It’s what you do to me, sugar,” I stated coolly of the hard-on she’d obviously felt. “Every night for the last month, I’ve awakened with this problem because of you,” I confessed, taking her chin in my hand. Her mouth was slightly ajar, just begging to be taken. So that’s what I did. She inhaled at the initial intrusion of my tongue, but upon my insistence, relaxed and followed my lead into the best first kiss I’d ever experienced. I swore fireworks were going off in the background and my world tilted on its axis a little bit. I knew from the first kiss alone our first time together would be flammable.
I continued to take her mouth, relishing the feel of her lips as they moved against mine. When she moaned into my mouth, I stooped down to pick her up and carry her to the nearest bed, if we could make it that far. Unfortunately, we could not because the most annoying sound I’d heard that evening beckoned me in the distance.
“Carter!”
I growled in the back of my throat, reluctantly pulling away from Michelle’s hungry mouth, and turning to glance over my shoulder. In predictable fashion there stood Aaron at the top of the walkway, frown in place, hands in his pocket, looking on angrily.
“Oh no!” Michelle gasped, pulled away, and began to straighten out her dress.
“I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“I need to get back to work.” Michelle attempted to rush past me but was thwarted when my arm caught her around the waist. “Carter, I have to go!”
“Meet me tonight.”
She stopped struggling to look up at me, frowning.
“Tonight, after the gala, after you’re done working. Meet me here.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
Smiling, I released her from my hold. She gave me one last glance before turning and heading up the walkway.
“Hey, sugar.”
She stopped to look back at me.
“Do yourself a favor, don’t try to run. I have no trouble coming to find you.” It wasn’t a threat. I didn’t make threats. More like a promise. I eased my hands into my pockets and silently watched as she pivoted and traveled up the walkway back to where the gala attendees were having fun. I even watched as Aaron shot her a look when she passed him, then turned back to me. We both stared at one another for a few heartbeats until he finally turned and walked away. Eventually, I picked up my feet to follow along where they both had disappeared to, the only thing keeping me there was the knowledge that, that night I would be spending it with the woman who kept me wanting more.
****
Michelle
What the hell is it with me and pushy men?I thought not for the first time that night, making my way past the hanging lanterns that formed the line of demarcation between where the gala was held and the rest of the Townsend property. The estate was truly massive. I didn’t even know there was a private lake out back, until I’d stumbled upon it, while I was on a short fifteen minute break. I’d needed a moment to myself, especially after seeing Diego’s father there, cheerily dancing with his wife of twenty years. A woman who appeared to be none the wiser about what a complete jackass her husband was.
“You came.”
“Shit!” I jumped, startled. “Are you always so quiet? I had no idea you were out here,” I hissed. That was the second time I was completely caught off guard by his presence.
“Force of habit.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Drink?” He held out a glass of champagne as if we were celebrating something.
“Look, I just came to tell you that I can’t stay.”
Those blue eyes shone as he grinned. “You stayed late to tell me you couldn’t stay?”
Well, when you put it like that …
