“And how are youliking...?”
I held up my hand. “Hold it, Gray. We are not talking aboutwork.”
“What would you like to talk aboutthen?”
I let out a sigh and scooted an inch closer so I could hear better over the music and the other patrons. He must have taken it as permission and did the same, so only a few inches separated us on the black vinyl. “I want to talk about thatkiss.”
He let out a soft snort that even I had to strain to hear. “You really do like to jump right in, don’tyou?”
“Do you prefer women with more guile andgames?”
He raked his eyes across my features and leaned back so his shoulder pressed into the backrest of the booth. “No, I have no enjoyment for games when it comes toromance.”
I moved closer, my knee touching his now, feeling bolder between the darkness and the beer. “I hope you have some room in your life forgames.”
His face changed. It wasn’t exactly the playboy mask I was used to seeing, but his lips and eyes were definitely squarely in the mischief column. “I am open to any suggestions you might have,Izzy.”
I took another sip of my beer and let the condensation from the frozen glass run down my fingers. He watched me, his eyes hooded, lips half turned in a smile. Once my fingers were chilled, I put them on his full bottom lip, tracing it with my fingertip. He opened his mouth and took it inside. His tongue swiped against my fingerprint and created a direct line to my panties. I let go and tried to mask the arousal no doubt written all over myface.
“I’m sorry,” hewhispered.
I shook my head. “No, you have nothing to apologizefor.”
He reached out and pulled me in so we sat side by side, hip to hip, and he wrapped his arm around me. The world looked different inside the curve of his embrace. Like I’d been peering at the universe through a porthole in a submarine that had just surfaced for the firsttime.
Something had shifted, and I couldn’t figure out when. Was it the moment he kissed me, and I decided I’d have him? Even if it ended badly. Evenwhenit ended badly. Even when he’d likely demolish myheart.
I felt the need to break the tension, to shine some light on the shadows that were slowly creeping in. “You do know I plan on using you for sex,right?”
My mouth did that sometimes, ran away without mybrain.
He jerked against me and turned my head with his fingers to look up at his face. I couldn’t read the expression there now. Not another mask, but not the same look as before. This one was as inscrutable as his playboy mask, but there was an edge of vulnerability toit.
“Is that all you’re offering?” he asked so quietly I could barely hearhim.
“Fornow.”
He shrugged and lifted his arm away from my shoulders. “Then I’ll take what I can get. I’m hopeful I can change your mind. As you noticed earlier, my powers of persuasion areunmatched.”
“Was that a joke, Gray?” I laughed despite the absurdity of the entire situation. “We are on the same page, though, right? I don’t want you thinking you own me oranything.”
He leaned in, and that spicy scent wrapped me up in heat. When his lips stopped—licking distance from my own—I could see the match waiting to strike against the roughened edges of my need for him. “I’d never presume to own you. That would be like trying to own the sun. An easy way to getscorched.”
There was a question there that he wasn’t asking. “But?” I said, shifting to get closer. He reached up and gripped my chin, keeping me too close and too far at the sametime.
Fucking hell, this man knew how to tease awoman.
“But, we should discuss somethings.”
I couldn’t help it. I squirmed in his hands. Worse yet, I felt no shame init.
He leaned past my face to press his lips almost fully against my ear, leaving only a breath’s worth of space between us. His exhale heated my skin and tickled the fine hairs on my face before his words struck that hovering match. Each syllable a fan to the buildingflame.
“I will never allow you to be at the mercy of your emotions. I will use them, you will enjoy them, and we will dominatethem.”
5
Dorian
