“Not you?”
“No, not me,” he answered firmly. “I already know how I feel and what I want.”
Ellie doubted that any woman had ever had cause to regret being intimate with Knox. He had an air about him, a confidence not arrogance, that told her he was completely comfortable in his own skin. A confidence that would ensure no lover of his ever left his bed, or theirs, unsatisfied.
Andrew had been Ellie’s only lover, and although sex with him had been enjoyable—until the last couple of years, when it had become very sporadic and had seemed more like a chore—she believed now that it had only been exciting in the beginning because she had thought she was in love with him.
But in the nine years they were together, she had never experienced a single climax with Andrew. Waves of pleasure and a feeling of connection, yes, of physical closeness, but it had never resulted in an actual orgasm.
She instinctively knew that wouldn’t be the case with Knox.
There was an inborn sensuality to Knox, an appreciation in the warmth of his eyes when he looked at her, telling her that when he made love to a woman, her pleasure would be the only thing in that given moment important to him.
His wife had not only been cruel in abandoning her husband and daughter when they had needed her the most, but also stupid for leaving a man as gorgeous and considerate as Knox.
Just as Ellie knew she would be stupid if she were to walk away completely from the warm promise she could see in the dark depths of his eyes. “Raincheck,” she finally agreed huskily.
Knox leaned forward to kiss her lightly on the lips, appearing to savor the moment, before pulling back slightly to rest his forehead against hers. “I meant it when I said I’m going to be a part of your life for the foreseeable future.” His breath was a warm caress against her cheeks.
Ellie felt a returning warmth starting to fill some of the hollows inside her.
Damn Andrew and his adulterous ways for even briefly having the power to make her think of distrusting Knox!
She would not, really should not, put Knox in the same category as her cheating ex-boyfriend.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow evening?” Knox now coaxed.
Renewed excitement fizzed up inside her, her cheeks warming. “That would be lovely, thank you.”
“Believe me, it’s going to be my pleasure.” He kissed her lightly on the lips again before drawing back as the cab came to a halt outside Ellie’s apartment building.
“What are you doing?” Ellie prompted when Knox opened the door beside him.
He gave her a quizzical glance. “Walking you to your door.”
She smiled to take the sting out of her words. “That’s a really gentlemanly thing to do, but I believe I’m capable of walking unescorted across the pavement, going up in the elevator, and then down the hallway to my apartment.”
“I’m sure you are too.” He nodded. “But my dad, who was very old-fashioned in his ways, taught me it’s polite to always walk a lady to her door.”
“He sounds charming.”
“He was,” Knox confirmed affectionately.
Telling Ellie that his father was no longer alive. She had no idea about his mother. But she would have plenty of time tomorrow evening, when they met up again for dinner, to ask him those questions.
“A compromise,” she decided with a smile. “You can walk me as far as the elevator.”
“Wait there,” he instructed as he got out of the cab before coming round to her side of the vehicle and opening the door for her to step out onto the sidewalk. “I’ll be two minutes,” he informed the driver.
The other man shrugged. “Whatever, it’s your dollars, not mine,” he dismissed disinterestedly.
Knox chuckled as he placed his hand beneath Ellie’s elbow and walked with her into her apartment building. “New York cab drivers!” He gave a shake of his head, his expression amused.
Ellie turned to face him after they reached the elevator and she’d pressed the button for it to return to the ground floor. “Thank you for a lovely lunch, and I’m looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow evening.”
His eyes held hers captive as he assured her, “So am I.”
They stared at each other for several long and intimate moments before Ellie moved up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his.
