Abruptly, he raised his hand, and with one index finger he traced the contour of my cheek. My breath caught at the motion.
He had broken his promise, but I wasn’t mad about it.
Neil drew a trail down my throat, moving into the space between my breasts, and slowly descended to my abdomen, stopping just below the waistband of my panties. I tightened my abdominal muscles slightly at the seductive brush of his hand and shivered when he circled my navel with a finger.
“I know all your erogenous zones, Babygirl. Every time I’ve fucked you, I’ve paid close attention to what you like…” He drew his index finger back up to the place between my breasts and, this time, ventured further out to circle my nipple, which stiffened against the white fabric. Neil was good with his hands; he knew how to seduce a woman and make her want him. I had to hold myself back from begging him to continue touching me.
He leaned in close to my ear and breathed in my scent. “And how you like it…,” he whispered, dragging his hand away from my breast.
He stared deep into my eyes, his blown pupils betraying the arousal that coursed through him, the same kind he had kindled in me.
The urge to fall upon each other was palpable as we stood there trading breaths. We just stared at each other’s lips, tempted to kiss.
“Now I get to see another side of you, Tinkerbell,” he told me with an insolent smile. “My favorite side,” he went on wickedly, and finally it dawned on me what he was talking about.
It would be embarrassing to turn around to leave now, and Neil had realized that because he stepped around until he stood behind me. I couldn’t see him looking, but I could feel his eyes burning a hole into my back and further down. He let out a small, guttural noise of satisfaction, and I blushed.
Fortunately, he wasn’t in a position to see it.
“Your ass, Babygirl…” His voice deepened my arousal. “Is absolutely my weakness,” he noted with approval before moving back to face me, scrutinizing me with those golden eyes as though he were a god prepared to judge some poor human subject.
“If you like it so much, I don’t see why you go looking for other people’s,” I taunted him with a self-assurance that surprised me. He raised one eyebrow, and then he laughed cheerfully.
What was so funny about what I said?
“You’ve just made me a dangerous proposition…” He bit his lip and moved closer to me until he could actually put his hands on my ass. He cupped my cheeks and pulled me forward until I was plastered against him. The warm material of his sweater against my bare skin thrilled me, and I gasped when I felt his erection pressing into my lower abdomen. “Do you even know what you offered?” he asked me, and I blinked in confusion.
What was he talking about? By now, I had completely lost my train of thought due to his fingers kneading my buttocks.
I was telling him that if he liked my body, he should pick me and not anyone else, and then…
“Oh God, no!” I exclaimed. In a moment of clarity, I realized just what the hell he was thinking. “No… No, I didn’t mean that… I mean… I…” I descended into total panic. I put my trembling hands against his pectorals and grabbed hold of his sweater in agitation. I flushed violently, and all my confidence vanished in the face of the knowledge that Neil was still using my naivete to mess with me.
“When you’re ready, I’ll take this too,” he whispered against my lips, tightening his hold on my butt. “But not tonight…” He gave me a chaste kiss and released me. I gave him a disapproving look and smiled smugly back, perfectly aware that he’d one day coax me into even more indecent acts, things I’d never even thought about. Though maybe it was especially important for a man—a way to reach a greater level of intimacy with his woman.
With his woman…
I pondered this.
Neil did not think of me as his; he’d never said that he did. Therefore, I was not required to satisfy his every wish, even if it went against my own wants. If he’d been willing to give me exclusivity, he’d be able to take even more from me than I’d already given him.
“I want to go to sleep now. Preferably alone,” I told him in a tone that brooked no argument. Neil watched me, unreadable as always, and I scooped up my dress from the floor. “Goodnight,” I added seriously.
I turned and strode elegantly away on the high heels I couldn’t wait to remove.
I knew that his eyes were locked on my backside. He might have been hurt by my refusal, but even if he was, his pride would never allow him to show it.
But I didn’t care.
I left him there, alone and aroused.
And achieved, for once, a small victory.
* * *
I couldn’t figure out why, when the night came, my mind felt the need to turn over everything that had happened during the day. But, as it did so, I saw things differently and came to conclusions I hadn’t understood before. Neil had talked to me; he had explained his fixation on blond women, and I, like a sulky child, had held on to the Jennifer and Alexia issue and refused to touch him.
He had given me something of himself, and I had given him nothing in return.
