“I won’t. You will rescue yourself. I’ll just watch you kick ass.”
“Let me think about it,” she said. How incredibly sweet and terrifying that he would offer to come home with her. She’d love to have him as a distraction from the tension that had been persistent ever since her divorce. It would be her way of showing her family she had moved on.
However, when Devon went his own way, she’d have to deal with all the questions from her mother. Why the CIA and the FBI hadn’t discovered her mother’s talent as Master Interrogator she would never know.
“Not now. Don’t think about it now. What do I have to do to keep your mind off other things while you’re with me?” he asked, and tipped up her chin.
Did he really have to ask? Her stomach clenched. “I never knew you were the possessive type.”
“I wasn’t.” He traced her lips with his index finger, and on cue, her lips parted. He gazed at her intently, and a rush of blood blasted straight from her pounding heart all the way down the back of her knees. She blinked, as if his nearness was an illegal drug about to give her a high. And she wanted that high. Wanted…him.
For once, her desire was more suffocating than her fear.
She stood on her tiptoes, and pulled him into a kiss. Their teeth clashed, and she stroked his chest. His hot length pulsated against her, and she lowered one hand to caress the bulge over the jeans. “I want you, Devon. So much.”
“Me too, baby. Where is your bedroom?” He scooped her up in his arms, and she laughed.
She stretched her finger in the direction of her bedroom, and realized it trembled a bit. Like the rest of her. “Second door to the left.”
He stopped in his tracks for a moment, a smile filled with bad intentions forming on his full lips. “How about dinner?”
“Screw the food,” she said, stung by an amazing sense of empowerment. This was about to happen. And she was the one calling the shots. What could go wrong?
Holding her tighter against him, he picked up his pace. “You’re sounding a lot like me.”
“I’m a fast learner.”
“That’s what worries me.”
He walked into the room, and she squeaked. Even though she had set the atmosphere thinking they would visit this area much, much later, she sighed with relief. Besides the dim light of a nightstand lamp, there was a welcoming serenity in the room. Clean sheets were on the Tempurpedic mattress, and she had sprayed enough air freshener in the place that it smelled like they just walked into a freaking body lotion store.
He sneezed. Okay. So maybe she had been too generous with the spray. Next time,take it down a notch, girl.
The moment he put her feet down on the carpet, she bit the inside of her cheek. She smoothed her hands over her cobalt dress, and noticed her palms were clammy. Of course they were.
He stroked her jaw line. “Are you okay?”
“Can you take your clothes off first?” she asked, her voice wavering.
“Absolutely. If that will get me closer to seeing you in your birthday suit,” he delivered playfully, but she detected uneasiness too.
Interesting.
Was she such an oddball? Most women he slept with were certainly far more experienced and liberated. He pulled his shirt over his head, and tossed it to the foot of the bed. She rubbed the corner of her mouth to wipe her imaginary drool. Or was it real?
His skin was dark marble ridged and chiseled, with enough tangents to drive any woman crazy. A man that hot belonged in an underwear ad, or a Madonna music video. He undid his zipper and pulled down his jeans. She trailed her gaze up his long, muscular legs, then eyed the black brief underwear, and the erection straining against the fabric.
Elena flushed and fanned herself. Unless underwear companies made male boxers with special padding, she was in for a special treat. Teasing her, his fingers played with the hem of the boxers.
“All of it. No cheating,” she said. “Go big or go home.” A tremor rippled through her. From the looks of it, she was definitely going big.
“Tit for tat, Elena.” He smiled. “It’s time you show me your goods.”
She licked her lips, and started to unbutton the front of her dress. Looking him straight in the eye was hard, so she focused on the wall behind him, coward that she was.
“Eyes on me. Otherwise I’m walking. I need to know you’re with me.”
Where else would I be?Nodding, she lifted her gaze to his, and a frisson zapped down her spine. Damn. Silver specks gleamed around his dark irises. She had fought for three years to be there, emotionally and physically, and she wouldn’t fail. Didn’t want to.
