“And it upset you that much?” She looked at him quizzically.
“Yes.” He was surprised at his reaction, but it was the truth. He found he was also surprised she’d stuck around after Penny and Chuck’s antics.
Wren nodded and walked toward him, her gaze fixed on his, studying him like no woman ever had. God, she wasintense. She stopped inches from him. “Some other woman did that to you, I bet. Met the dogs, and poof! Out of your life.”
Elias’ head jerked back. “Did the acupuncture give you psychic powers?”
She grinned. “No. I’m just really good at reading people. I do it for a living.”
“Right. Photography.”
She nodded. “I have to get my subjects to open up. Show their true selves to the camera. Well, at least that’smygoal, but it wasn’t always what my subjects wanted. It was hard with actors. They put up a front like no one else. So, I had to be goodat reading their moods from the second they walked into the studio.”
Wren reached up and touched a spot just behind his left ear. Then slowly—achingly slowly—ran it down the side of his neck to just below his Adam’s apple. He heard someone groan and was pretty sure it was himself. “I had to figure out how to get them to relax and drop the front.”
“I wasn’t putting up a front,” Elias insisted.
“No, you weren’t,” Wren purred. “But, I misread you for a second. Kinda rare for me. You…throw me off my game.” Her cheeks flushed pink as she looked away for a moment.
“Well, as long as we’re being honest, you throw me off mine, too.” Elias covered Wren’s hand with his and pressed it against his chest.
“I do?”
“Absolutely.”
“But, you were so professional the other day.”
“I was trying my damnedest to stay professional and not sweep you off your feet and carry you to the back of the ambo for a thorough examination.”
Wren snickered, then her face went completely neutral. But her eyes continued to sparkle with humor and mischief and he felt his chest tighten.
“That’s not standard protocol?” she asked.
But Elias wasn’t trying to make Wren crack up, not this time, and he wasn’t expecting her to make him laugh either. He was being dead serious for once.
“It’s not standard protocol for me.” He glanced around the room. “Taking someone back to my home isn’t, either.”
Her eyes widened the tiniest bit with understanding. “Sorry some idiot didn’t like Penny and Chuck. I think they’re adorable.” Wren’s voice sounded throaty.
“I thinkyou’readorable.”
She gave him a wicked smile. “How adorable?”
“Let me show you.”
FOUR
Past the point of playful teasing now, Elias gave in to the need that had been simmering between them since the moment Wren walked into Cocks and Strippers. He wasted no time as he picked Wren up and carried her down the hall. Finally he had her in his bedroom. He set her down on the floor a few feet from the bed. He hooked his thumbs into her belt loops and tugged her forward. Elias tilted his head and went in for a kiss as his fingers splayed across her heart-shaped ass. The second their lips met, he felt liquid fire coursing through his veins.
Elias’ hands slipped under Wren's shirt and brushed along her ribcage, his fingers trailing a path that made her shiver. She watched him intently, dark lashes fluttering, their faces mere inches apart. Her breath hitched when his warm lips grazed her collarbone before they met hers once more. Elias followed each kiss with a gentle nip. He groaned against her lips while his hand slid down and pressed against the soft skin of her stomach, making her gasp.
Wren's hands found the hem of his shirt and pulled it up. She unbuttoned it, then ran her fingertips along the lines of his abs. Elias' tongue traced a line from Wren's collarbone down to her cleavage. Wren moaned, arching her head back, her fingersentwined in his hair as she guided his mouth where she needed him most.
They made their way towards the bed until the backs of Wren’s legs touched the edge.
“Do you want this?” he asked.
She nodded as she reached for his belt buckle, all her attention focused on undoing it.
