“I think my toes will survive.” He glanced at my feet. “Especially given your choice of footwear.”
He stopped, pulling my body toward him and wrapping his hands around the small of my back. I settled mine around his broad shoulders and we moved slowly to the music.
“Amelia,” he rasped into my ear, sending warm tingles over my skin. “Has anyone told you yet how delectable you look tonight?”
I tilted my head up and looked into his eyes.
I could’ve been mistaken—perhaps it was just his choice of words—but his eyes were dark and . . . hungry, as if he wanted to devour me.
My heart skipped a beat. “Thank you. You look quite dashing yourself.” It was an automated, mundane response, but my brain had departed, and it was all I could think to say.
He leaned in closer, his chest inches from mine. Our hips were so close I could feel the current pulsing between us. His sweet scent filled my nose. His hands whispered ever so lightly over my back, and shivers of delight raced through my body.
“Are you cold?” he murmured, his lips brushing my ear. A lightning bolt fired from my stomach to my groin.
Oh my god, I’m wet.
“Oh, um . . . no, I’m okay.”
“I see you didn’t wear the red dress, but green suits you—it’s a good choice.”
I smiled, secretly pleased he liked what I wore. “Thank you.”
I risked a glance back up. His lips parted and curved up, revealing straight white teeth. He had the kind of smile that when it touched his eyes, it made me bask under the glory of it. When it faded, it left me yearning for more.
How many hearts had he broken with it?
I felt a strange, trembling excitement through my entire body. I wanted to press my breasts into him. To wrap my hands around the back of his neck and thread my fingers in his thick, luscious hair as I tilted my lips to his.
I did none of those things; instead, I pulled my body away a little and asked lightly, “Why do you call me Amelia, and not Amy like everyone else?”
“Amelia is a beautiful name for a beautiful woman. You are way too special to be called Amy.”
I snorted. “Please, that’s a little cheesy, don’t you think?!”
“Ahh. But, Amelia, how can it be cheesy if it’s the truth?”
I shook my head, a smile upon my lips as my body melted into him. The song “Take My Breath Away” floated across the room.
He leaned into my ear and whispered, “When I first saw you tonight from across the room,youtook my breath away.”
I was elated at the hope of what lay beyond the murmur of those words. Beyond the touch of his fingers on the small of my back. Beyond his breath on the side of my neck. I knew it was silly, but my heart raced like a girl with a massive crush on the hottest boy at school when he paid me attention. The nerves rolled, the champagne took hold, and I laughed.
“Too cheesy again?” he asked with a wry smile.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Tell me, Karson, do those kinds of lines work on all the girls?”
His smile broadened. He scanned a point over my shoulder. “It appears some are a little harder to please.” He looked back, his gaze capturing mine, and it was electrifying. His light tone shifted; it became husky . . . sensual. “So, tell me, what would please you, Amelia?”
I blushed under the heat of his words, under the connotations behind them. My brain cells went into meltdown, and any thought process that might herald words—witty, or reflective of any ounce of intellect—ended up in a soup-like state. To my dismay, nothing came out. If I could have kicked my own leg to jolt the words from my lips, I would have.
He pulled me closer, dipping his head so his nose nuzzled my hair, and his breath feathered the side of my face.
The electrifying feeling increased, heightening every inch of my body. My core tingled, then began to throb to be touched. “That will suffice,” I murmured.
It was a lie.
The ache to move even closer was unbearable. I didn’t know why I felt the way that I did. Maybe it was of how unbelievably attractive he was, maybe another man’s touch would help heal my broken heart, maybe it was because I felt sheltered in his arms.
