Once again, he held out his hand to help her, and she gracefully sank onto the leather seat.Then he hurried around and slid behind the wheel.As she went to click her seatbelt, he took over, clicking it into place.
Kleya stared at his bent head and breathed in his masculine scent.Sandalwood, with a hint of spice.He glanced up at her and her breath caught.Long, thick lashes framed his intense chocolate eyes.Her heart pounded as her gaze dropped to his lips and all she thought about was kissing him again.James Roarke was not only dangerous to a woman’s libido, but her panties as well.Then he eased back and clicked his own seatbelt before taking off.She kept staring at him and a grin eventually teased one corner of his mouth.
“You do like staring, don’t you?”he asked.
“You do like being in control, don’t you?”she countered.
“Touché.”
“If you stare long enough, usually what you’re trying to see is eventually revealed,” she said softly.“However, most people don’t possess the patience to wait.”
When he stopped at a traffic light, he looked over at her.
“When I was ten, I was traveling with my parents back to Kanerra City from the ski lodge in the mountain.My father loved to ski and my mother loved being a snow bunny, and he was mad at her for flirting with other men.It meant nothing, but my father let his emotions get the better of him, so he wasn’t paying attention.The car hit a patch of black ice and he skidded out of control.We spun around and around until the car broke through a guardrail and plummeted down a ravine, killing both of them instantly.I had nothing but a scratch on my forehead and some bruising.”
A car beeped behind them, and James focused back on the road, easing off the break.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she murmured.
“David took over raising me, and that’s when I decided that I would have a wife based on trustworthiness and allegiance, and not on emotions.”
Rigid control, she thought.“I think I’m beginning to understand you.”
“Oh?What’s to understand?I’m an open book.”
“Maybe, but I’m going to need the Rosetta Stone to translate.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re a very complex man.”
“And you’re not a complex woman?”
“No, I’m not.I’m a very boring, very uninteresting person.I wear my emotions on my sleeve because the people I see every day need compassion.”
“And you don’t think I’m compassionate.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I think you’re a logical man, and there’s nothing wrong with that.I just need to know what boundaries you don’t want me to cross.”
Suddenly, he turned off the main street onto the dark lot of the Kaneera City Park.He pulled under a tree, where no streetlight could penetrate and turned off the engine before turning to face her.
“What are you doing?”
James gently cupped her face.“Nothing about you is uninteresting.My parents’ arranged marriage wasn’t a happy one, as you probably gathered.And although you are beautiful, your radiance is more than skin deep.That compassion you mentioned, I find incredibly sexy.That is what I want for our marriage, and that is how I want to rule the Coalition.I see the people you help.I see your heart in all you do, and I will need your empathy to soften my edges.To remind me that I am not made of ice.From this moment on, it isusleading the Coalition together.”
This was more than she could ever have wished for.More than she hoped to have in her marriage.
As soon as his lips landed on hers, a thousand butterflies erupted in her stomach, and lightning streaked along her nerve endings.He traced a path across her bottom lip, tasting her, as if he wanted to memorize the shape and texture of her mouth.The glide of his lips over hers was sinful, seductive, and she opened for him.Their tongues met and danced together, bringing them even closer together.He tried to maneuver closer together, but the steering wheel and center console prevented too much closeness.
With a curse he pulled his mouth from hers.He opened his door and exited the car, slamming his door shut with force.Kleya watched as he stalked around to her side, her mouth falling open as he opened her door and grabbed her hand, pulling her up to his body.
There was no light, not even moonlight, as he leaned her against the car and took her mouth again in a kiss that curled her toes.He groaned and cupped the back of her head, deepening the kiss, tasting and devouring any protest she might utter.But she didn’t plan on stopping him.Much to her surprise, she craved his touch, like a thirsty man finding an oasis.
Tearing his mouth from hers, he rained a trail of hot kisses down her throat as his fingers worked nimbly at the buttons.As each one was released, he’d plant a kiss on the flesh exposed.After her blouse hung open, his hands then slid to the back clasp of her bra and unhooked it.She was now bare to his hot gaze, exposed in a raw, primitive state in the cool night air.Her nipples puckered, and she shivered.He bent his head and fastened his mouth over one pebble, drawing it deep within the wet recess of his mouth.Her body came alive as fire ignited her passion, and she buried her hands in his raven hair, pulling him as close as she could.Time melted away as he lavished attention on her nipples, first one, rolling his tongue over it and nipping the turgid peak between his teeth, and then the other.She became a mass of quivering flesh, putty in his hands, as reason and good sense disappeared.
He worked his way up as his hand slid around her ass to grasp her thigh and pull her leg up and around his hip.The position made him nestle snugly against her aching core, right where she needed him most.
