He lies back down. When he speaks again, his mouth is closer to my ear than before.
‘You’re missingthis. Anticipation. The fun of wondering about all the magical possibilities that await you.’
His hand slides onto my stomach and I narrowly escape gasping, because the heat of it through my dress is nothing compared to the heat that pools inside me when I feel that hand, slowly, gently stroking my stomach back and forth.
‘Right now, you’ve got a lot of shit going down. Your Mum, all this stuff with your husband… you’re also a mother—an amazing mother, from what I can see—and you run a huge empire. I’m sure you have a very glamorous, exciting life, but a lot of it’s responsibility? Right? Duty?
‘What if that existence also included the certain knowledgethat you have a man—a very adoring man—on hand, who spends an unhealthy part of his time thinking about what to do for you? How to make sure you feel as beautiful and sexy as you truly are, all the time?’
His hand changes direction, starts stroking up and down. Up to my ribcage, down to the top of my thong. His mouth comes closer to my ear.
‘What if you had a man who was in danger of neglecting his job because he was too busy dreaming up new and wonderful ways to make you come?’
My eyes fly open as his fingers tighten on my stomach. His face is right next to mine, and he grins at my reaction, which must be absolutely priceless. Jackson talks dirty to me, but it’sJackson, and it’s all part of his never-ending banter.
This is different. This is Noah, the mild-mannered (until this evening), good-natured doctor who I’ve been pining for these past few weeks, and lusting after shamefully. This is a side of him I could never have predicted, and I’m so turned on just by his hand on my stomach and his voice in my ear that I can’t quite believe it.
He nods at me. ‘Close your eyes.’ His voice is soft. ‘I’m just getting started.’
Oh, God. I smirk at him and turn my head away and settle on my back. Closing my eyes. Inhaling him. Willing him to keep going. Loving the fact that I have no idea where he’s taking this. Loving even more the fact that presumably that’s precisely his plan: to demonstrate this. The wonder. The anticipation. Thedeliciousanticipation.
‘I’m sure my proposal needs more specifics for you to consider it. Well, let’s take this morning, when I came across you in the butler’s kitchen, making coffee. I was checking you out. I know you noticed. Damn right I was checking you out, in that little backless swimming costume and those tiny hot pants.’
‘I checked you out, too.’ I whisper it.
‘I know you did, gorgeous. But if we were involved, I wouldn’t have had to leave it there.’
His lips graze my ear; his voice gets quieter and deeper.
‘I would have come up behind you, and slipped those little straps down off your shoulders, and slid down the top of your swimming costume, and I would have pulled and sucked on those beautiful nipples of yours while the others were outside, waiting for you to bring their refills. Oblivious. And I think you like the idea of that, because they’re hardening right now.’
My head is spinning with the visual he’s given me. I can see it, clear as day: him, pressing up behind me in the pantry and pulling down my swimming costume and putting his hands and tongue on my breasts. His fingers fiddle with the shoestring strap of my dress, and for an endless, tortuous moment, I’m not sure if he’llshowme, like I’ve asked him to. I lie there, frozen.
Okay. He may be onto something with this anticipation business.
He slides the strap down my shoulder and runs a fingertip over the fabric covering my nipple.
I buck.
He does it again, rubbing in a circle. The fine metallic knit of the dress against my nipple adds to the heavenly friction, and I moan, softly.
‘Oh, God.’ His lips are still by my ear. ‘That sound. I can’t tell you what you do to me, Honor.’
He pulls the other shoulder strap down and tugs the neckline of the dress below my breasts. His sharp inhale matches mine. I can’t believe I’m letting him do this. I can’t believe how much I want it.
‘Jesus.’ He shifts beside me. ‘You are sofuckingbeautiful.’ And then his mouth is on the nipple nearest him and he’s licking and sucking and teasing it with the very edges of histeeth. I’m really moaning now, but I can’t help it, because not only is the sensation unbearably wonderful, but this is right up there with the hottest moments of my life. And he hasn’t even kissed me yet.
‘Noah.’ I put my hand on the back of his head. ‘Please. I need you.’
A little growl from him. ‘When you say my name like that…’
His mouth comes up to meet mine and I pull him in as close as I can, and there should really be a symphony playing right now to match the immense relief of our mouths clashing together. Lips against lips. The soft slide. Tongues testing and tasting and curling. Teeth nipping, breath hot. His hand in my hair, fingers splayed on the back of my head before they trace down my back. The linen of his shirt perfectly rough against my bare breasts. The hard ridge of his erection against my hip.
He pulls his mouth away and holds me, forehead to forehead, nose to nose, as we attempt to catch our breath. Then, his hand at the back of my head, he lowers me back down onto the cushion, hovers over me.
‘Impressive pitch.’ I try for casual, but the way he’s looking at me, with rapt, dreamy eyes, makes casual difficult. ‘I think I’m sold.’
‘Youthink?’
