No, that wasn’t true. This was a more intimate Griffin Hart. There was a vulnerability in his eyes that was missing from the films, even the most emotional scenes. He was letting her into a secret that was hers alone.
He cupped her cheek and leaned in, touching his forehead to hers. “You said sexual techniques twice.”
“It’s a sub-category.”
“Did you say ‘technology’?” He touched his lips to hers, soft and testing. “Sex is under technology?”
“I don’t make the rules.”
Taking advantage of her open mouth, he swept her into a kiss that made her gasp, lifting her from the bar stool. She slid her hands up the sides of his torso, driving up his T-shirt. His skin was so smooth and so ripped and so hot.
“Are there ever arguments about where a book belongs?” He pulled back just long enough to whip his T-shirt over his head, one-handed.
She stared at his chest. It was one thing to admire it in theory, quite another to be presented with it knowing she had permission to touch. She didn’t know where to start, but she settled on the rift in the middle, kissing it, then darting her tongue out for a taste.
“Oh boy, yes,” she said. “And woe betide if you shelve one in the wrong place. That book might as well be lost forever.” Again, he kissed her, this time walking her back to the bed. The back of her legs touched it, and his arms tightened around her,lowering her onto the mattress. He lifted the hem of her T-shirt and kissed her stomach, turning the liquid in her body molten. “I have broken up fights between librarians about it.”
“Librarian fights? Plural?”
He nudged her T-shirt up and she sat so he could lift it over her head. The too-tight bra served up her breasts like they were dinner, and he took them in with a gratifyingly heavy-lidded gaze.Thank you, Evangeline.
“Okay, so only two fights, but still a plural.”
“Wild.”
“You have no idea.”
“I might be starting to get an idea.”
She expected he would come for her bra next—and she was very keen to take it off—but instead he pulled back. He wasn’t changing his mind, was he?
“Lana, I need to know that you’re as into this as I am.”
“What can possibly make you think I’m not into this?”
“Just checking that I have permission to touch.”
“No freaking kidding you have permission to touch. Thoroughly. Inside and out. Unequivocally.”
“Unequivocally? That’s quite a word.”
“I’m pretty impressed myself considering there’s no blood going to my brain right now.” His gaze grazed down her body, settling on the spot between her thighs where her blood indeed was rushing. She desperately needed to be naked.
As she reached around to undo her bra, he looked toward the pool. She flinched, covering herself. No one was there.
“You know what?” he said, getting up. “I’m going to shut the doors and lower the blinds.”
“That is an excellent idea.”
While he was at the tablet making the required adjustments, the oven pinged.
“Cannelloni’s ready,” he said, bounding to the oven and switching it off. “But it can wait.”
“Cannelloni?” Lana propped herself up on her elbows. “All thisandcannelloni?”
He leaned over her, smiling—and there was not a hint of reserve in it.
“Oh, I am so goddamn into you, Lana.”
