3
Slade sat in the lobby and waited for his guest. It was ten of eight, and he was beginning to wonder if Mandisa would show up or not. The realization that he was actually concerned about being stood up rattledhim.
Slade didn’t have much use for women. They were a practicality in his life. He had open and honest liaisons with women who understood up front all he wanted was a little fun and noattachments.
He’d never been worried about being disappointed before. If one didn’t show up, there was always something else to do. He wasn’t a playboy by any stretch of the imagination, didn’t have a different woman hidden in every city. He simply had friends he occasionally slept with when the need or desirearose.
But from the moment he’d seen Mandisa step into that lounge he’d wanted to know her. He’d only been in that damn lounge because Lori, the New York rep for Venus Cosmetics, lived near Downtown Brooklyn. When she picked him up from the airport he’d told her to take him someplace he could drink in peace and get his mind off of the shittastic day he’d had. She’d taken him to Syn, and he’d done just as he said he’d wanted to—enjoyed his drinkquietly.
When he spotted Mandisa stepping into the lounge and making her way to the bar, suddenly a quiet night alone didn’t seem so inviting. Once he’d actually kissed Mandisa, had the opportunity to feel her smooth skin under his own, he knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until he had the opportunity to taste all ofher.
Last night she’d seemed like she might not be opposed to that idea. But since he hadn’t heard from her since he’d given her friend his number, he was beginning to question if she’d even bother accepting his dinnerinvitation.
He looked at the entrance once more and then at his watch. Five after eight. Maybe it was time to pack it in and head upstairs to hisroom.
“Slade.”
The sultry heaviness of her voice made him close his eyes as he savored the sweetness of the sound of his name on what he knew to be delectablelips.
He opened his eyes, searching for her in the hotel lobby. “Darlin,’ you made it.” He stood and tipped his hat for her, pouring on the Southern gentleman act rather thickly. He was in fact a Southern gentleman, but he didn’t go around tilting his hat and deepening the twang in his voice for just any little filly. No, this was simply to keep that satisfied look on her face, the sparkle in hereyes.
She found his charm endearing, and somehow knowing that made him want to be this person for her all the time. It was hokey, it was playing to a stereotype, yeah, but it was also bringing the most beautiful smile to the sexy woman standing before him. That alone made it worthit.
“Please forgive my lateness. I had to go home to get ready before I could meet you. I hope I’m dressed allright.”
He looked at her. She was adorned in an off-the-shoulder red fitted dress that hugged every form-fitting curve she had, accompanied by a pair of black leather knee-high stiletto boots. Her eyelids sparkled with shimmering shadow that accentuated the lovely dark brown eyes fanned by full midnight lashes. Her lips were covered in a matte red color that dared him to kiss her rightnow.
The combination of those boots, her curves, and the sexy red lips made his slacks tighten around the semi hard-on the vision of her wascreating.
Act right before you screw this up, Slade. Act like you’re more than a hornyteenager.
“You’re beautiful. Let me take you inside and get you fed right nice,darlin’.”
* * *
Mandisa smiled at him again, the same way she always seemed to when he used that pet name on her. She couldn’t stop it. The sound of it just made her face muscles bend her lips into a sappy littlegrin.
“Is that a Texas custom? You tipping your cowboy hat and calling the ladiesdarlin’?”
“Yup. We also have two more very important customs in Texas I need to show you.” She watched him stand to his full six-foot-whatever-the-hell-inch height and tip his hatagain.
He took a slow step toward her. When she didn’t back away, he continued until he was standing directly in front of her with hardly enough space between them for air topass.
He tilted her chin with his finger and bent slightly to bridge the difference in their heights. “The first custom is this. When a beautiful woman that you fancy enters a room, you greet her with akiss.”
He pressed his lips to hers. Soft and tentative at first, as if he were giving her the chance to decide if this was where she wanted to be. He didn’t have to worry about that. She had no plans of moving from thisspot.
When she met his kiss with a soft purr, he pulled her closer to him, surrounding her with his arms, tucking her into his chest. He deepened the kiss, nipping at the softness of her lips, sliding his tongue inside the heat of her mouth, allowing her to savor the cinnamon flavor of it as she opened wider forhim.
The feel of the hard planes of his large body pressed against her soft curves made every nerve she possessed tingle with electricity. She’d known this man less than twenty-four hours. Yet being near him, allowing herself to wallow in the luxurious feel of the broad pads of his fingers on the curve of her neck, stroking her with their hypnotic rhythm, seemed so familiar. As if it was usual,expected.
Kandi’s reprimand about Mandisa needing to take a break, to enjoy life, weighed on her. Maybe there was something to Kandi’s idea. Maybe she really did need to break loose, get back to her former wild ways, and live alittle.
“Mmm, I think I like this custom of yours,” she moaned in the brief breaks between their kisses. “What else you Texansgot?”
He pressed another quick peck to her lips and held his hand out with the palm side up. “You have acellphone?”
She reached inside her purse, pulled it out and handed it to him. When he went to wake it from its sleep mode, he smiled at the flashing demand for a password and retinascan.
