A moan escaped her, and I pressed her against the elevator wall, letting her feel how much being here with her like this turned me on. My hands slid down her ribs to her hips, and I sank my fingers into her ass. She made a sound I interpreted as something good, and I thought about what it would be like to take my hands lower, feel her soft skin against my palms as I pushed up her dress and…the elevator dinged, and Lumen jerked away.
As much as I didn’t want to, I let her go. We barely had time to smooth down our clothes – and me to turn enough to hide my current condition – before the doors slid open. An elderly couple stood on the other side, and I smiled at them. Lumen cleared her throat, and the moment the old man brushed his finger against his mouth, I knew they’d both seen the same thing. As Lumen and I stepped off the elevator, I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, then looked at it. A streak of lipstick showed up against my skin.
“Sorry,” Lumen said, cheeks blazing.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her against my side, lowering my mouth to her ear. “I’m not.”
She shivered, but I saw her pupils dilate and her teeth scrape over her bottom lip. She was as turned on as I was. It was going to be difficult to take my time. Not because I didn’t want to taste every inch of her gorgeous body, but because I wanted to be buried deep inside her as soon as possible.
But we were only having fun tonight, not dating. Maybe we’d run into each other again, but I couldn’t count on having another night with her. Which meant I wasn’t going to rush things.
Still, I was grateful when we reached our room because the things I wanted to do to her weren’t appropriate for public places. She went in first, but I caught her around the waist again and pulled her back against me even as I kicked the door closed behind me.
She turned in my arms, and her mouth crashed into mine. My shoes and jacket dropped to the floor as Lumen and I stumbled toward the bed. I vaguely understood that her shoes were gone too when our height different increased, but I simply tightened my hold and ruined my posture to gain access to her jaw. She moaned, tipping her head back, and I trailed kisses down her elegant neck.
She was as sweet and smooth as honey, just like I remembered. Her lips, her neck, the supple flesh of her back as my fingertips explored it – every inch of her was delectable. I sent a silent prayer of gratitude to whoever had given me another chance to have her.
The back of her legs hit the edge of the bed, and her eyes flew open in surprise. The mood between us shifted, and I could see a hint of anxiety in her eyes. I didn’t push her, straightening as I started to undo the buttons on my shirt. I only made it through three before she covered my hands with hers.
Something inside me twisted as I tried to brace myself for rejection. Maybe this time she wouldn’t run out without any real explanation, but I couldn’t do this again, not when all this was supposed to be was fun.
“I want this. I wantyou.”
I didn’t fully register her words until her fingers moved mine aside and resumed the work of unbuttoning my shirt. She’d sounded sure of herself, but her hands shook, and I was struck with the desire to soothe her.
I wasn’t an unfeeling person. I had family members I had taken care of, comforted, in various moments of distress. I’d just never had a woman with whom I didn’t share blood stir such a response.
The heat and hunger on her face as she pushed my shirt off my shoulders moved everything that wasn’twant/need/haveto the back of my mind. Even though she’d seen me nearly naked before, she looked at me with wonder, her fingers tracing over my chest and then down my abdomen. I sucked in a breath when she reached the thin trail of hair that began just under my belly button.
“I’m thinkin’ yer a wee bit overdressed.” The Scot in my words was thick and rough.
She looked up at me from under long, thick lashes. “Do you want to help me with that?”
How could someone be so sensual and still seem so innocent?
“Aye,” I said, my voice low.
I kept my eyes on her face as I slid my hands up her back and just under the straps of her dress, casually inching them to the ends of her shoulders, keeping them on the edge of falling. I waited there, intuitively understanding that if I rushed, she might bolt again.
When she nodded, I slipped the straps of her dress over her shoulders, letting it fall forward to reveal her black silk bra. Fuck it all. Her breasts were perfect, and I was struck with the urge to mark that creamy skin.
Tearing my eyes away from her chest, I focused on her face again. I needed to read what she wrote there, not only to gain permission but to see what she liked. I reached behind her for the strap of her bra, and her nails dug softly into my back.
“Alec,” she breathed.
Without taking my eyes from her face, I pressed my mouth against the top of one swell, then the other. My fingers lingered on the hooks of her bra, waiting to hear the word.
“Yes,” she whispered, head falling back so that her hair brushed against the hand I had splayed in the middle of her back to keep her in place.
It took all of my restraint not to bury my hand in her hair and yank her head back, pulling until it hurt in the best way. Something told me that she’d like the rush that came with a little edge of pain, but not now. I could feel the tension humming under her skin and knew that she wasn’t really in the mood to play.
I eased off her bra, and she breathed out a moan. My free hand ran up her ribcage and cupped her breast.
“Oh…”
“Yer a bonnie lass to be sure,” I murmured the words against her collarbone.
I brushed my thumb across her nipple, and it tightened into a hard, little nub. Lumen’s nails dug into my arm, giving me that hint of pain that I’d been looking to give her. She trembled as I kissed my way lower down, bending uncomfortably until I could run the tip of my tongue across her breast.
