I’d thought about asking how he felt, if he was feeling the same things I was, but I’d decided not to. If he didn’t have feelings for me, I didn’t want to know. What I did know was that he cared. Whether it was as a friend or a future husband didn’t matter so much as the fact that he did, and he’d proven it again tonight when he’d known what I needed without a single word from me.
We kissed hard, greedy and desperate, stumbling down the hall, half-laughing, half-undressing, and all the way turned on. We bumped into sharp corners and fumbled over rugs, my fingers tugging at his shirt, his teeth grazing my jaw.
He swept me off my feet for a moment, his arms strong and his movements effortless, setting me down on my feet again when we reached the stairs. I was breathless, dizzy with want, and clutching fistfuls of his shirt like I would drown without him.
We raced up the stairs without ever fully breaking our sloppy kisses, laughter ringing out every time one of us stumbled and had to grab the other for balance. When we finally reached his bedroom, my heart was pounding in every part of my body.
It was like the very air was pulsing with electricity, alive with all the things we’d had to hold back all night. Harrison’s lips trailed down my throat, my hands pulling him closer, and the whole world seemed to shrink until there was only him and me, alone with the whole night ahead of us.
Right now, I wasn’t thinking about our deal, the ball, the wedding, or our parents and their issues. I wasn’t thinking at all. In fact, as he kissed me, I let myself forget everything but the way he made me feel.
“Fucking dress,” he muttered into my mouth between kisses, roughly guiding me to his dresser by my hips.
I giggled, but our mouths never parted for long, crashing together again and again until he wrenched away. His bedroom was dark, but I heard a drawer opening and his hand rummaging around in it.
As my eyes adjusted, my chest still pressed tight to his, I glanced up at him, tracing the lines of his strong profile with my eyes. Without even looking at me, he groaned. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve got scissors in here somewhere and I just need to find them, but I don’t stand a chance if you keep staring at me.”
“You’re seriously planning on cutting it off?”
He finally glanced at me, one of his eyebrows arching as a grin tugged at just one corner of his lips. “Do you have a better idea?”
I thought about it for approximately half a second before I shook my head. “No. Fuck it. Let’s cut it off.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl.”
My heart skipped.His girl? Is that what I am?
Still rummaging in the drawer, he lowered his mouth back to mine and his free hand swept some of my hair behind my ear.Of course, I’m his girl. We’re getting married. Anything else he might’ve implied or not doesn’t matter.
My lips parted and I leaned into him, bringing my hands up to the buttons of his shirt and starting to undo them. I felt his heart pounding as my palm brushed over his chest, heat racing through me at the sensation.
Whatever was between us, Harrison felt the physical attraction just as intensely as I did. I knew that for a fact.
Finally, he let out a short sigh of relief and broke the kiss, those hazel eyes lost to the shadows in his room, but I felt his gaze on me all the same. “Turn around.”
I did as I was told without hesitating, strangely affected by the way he took control and issued commands whenever we were together like this. Sparks exploded across my skin when I felt his knuckles at the small of my back, followed by the cool metal of a blade.
My eyelids fluttered shut, my breaths coming in sharp pants when he pushed the blade up and I felt the metal ascend along my spine. Soft snips of fabric met my ears, the tension on my ribs easing as he sliced the straps and buttons away.
A few seconds later, he hooked his fingers under the straps at my shoulders and slowly pushed them off. His lips brushed against my throat as the fabric slid down, exposing my bare chest to the warm air in the room.
I dropped my head against his shoulder, relishing the sensation of his bare skin against my back as he pushed the skirt off next, leaving me in only my panties and my heels. Harrison groaned, his hands sliding around my hips before grazing up my sides.
My chest arched, my nipples aching for his attention. Mercifully, he didn’t disappoint, fingertips grazing across mybreasts before he pinched my nipples between his thumbs and index fingers. I moaned loudly, pushing my butt out a little bit to grind against his crotch.
He was as hard as the tiles beneath my feet and he pinched my nipples again in response, his voice a low growl right underneath my ear. “Careful, Aurelia. It’s been a long night.”
My breath caught as he nipped my throat, sending another jolt of desire through me that landed right between my legs. I couldn’t resist teasing him just a little bit. I swayed against him, feeling his cock twitch as another low groan rumbled through him.
“Okay, then,” he whispered against my ear, hot breath brushing against my skin. “I was going to take this slow, but that’s clearly not your speed tonight.”
“Nope.”
One of his hands drifted away from my breast, his palm flat against my stomach as he ran it to the waistband of my panties. “You’re not going to change your mind about marrying me if I fuck you like we’re not about to get married, right?”
I shivered in the circle of his arms. “Nope.”
My eyes opened just as he pushed his hand into my panties, and for just a moment, I remembered exactly where I was. Harrison’s bedroom was every bit as classy with just the right touch as messy as its owner, his bedding a crisp white and his furniture heavy, dark wood.
