Night Heat (Forged of Steele 2)

Her senses were jolted with the sudden feel of his mouth on hers. Hot and quick. His tongue captured hers before she could take her next breath and then just as quickly, he pulled away.

“There’s a nightclub in the hotel. Do you want to go dancing?”

Jocelyn suddenly felt light-headed, dazed. The air surrounding them flickered softly across her skin, adding to the odd feeling she was experiencing. And at that moment she knew she too wasn’t ready for the night to end. Trembling with a mixture of sensuality and excitement, she met his gaze, smiled and whispered, “Yes, I want to go dancing.”

A deep tremor passed through Bas the moment he took Jocelyn into his arms on the dance floor. The air surrounding them was thick. The jazzy music encircling them was rich and smooth, and she was soft.

If she had been any other woman he would have suggested that they go up to his room instead of going dancing. Holding her against him, moving his body with hers to the sway of the music only intensified the temptation he was trying like hell to fight. He had been feeling something practically all day, but it had become more prevalent when night had set in. He wanted her to feel it, as well. He wanted her to acknowledge its existence as he had. From the first, this heat between them had been there. That was the reason he couldn’t forget her kisses and the reason he wanted to hold her here now, sliding his body intimately against hers, wanting her to feel his desire, his longing, his want. He wanted to touch her all over and had to steady his hands, force them to remain at her back, stroking, caressing, although they were desperate to do more.

But he couldn’t stop his lips from wanting to taste her, so he brushed them against hers, lightly, building passion one degree at a time. He doubted that he would ever get tired of kissing her, whether the kisses were light and breezy or deep and demanding. As he continued to delight her mouth with slow, easy kisses, he felt her body become almost weightless in his arms. He wanted to sweep her off her feet, into his embrace and take her to his room or hers to give her pleasure so intense she would remember this night for the rest of her life.

Damn. Something was happening to him. Emotions he was known to keep bottled up inside of him were fighting to seep out. In the past he’d been too busy plowing himself with work, but lately he’d had a lot of undemanding time to think and appreciate, to begin to enjoy life. And he was beginning to like having free time on his hands. He was enjoying having fun, leaving work on time and going to the gym and going fishing with Reese and his brothers. He couldn’t recall the last time he had allowed himself the time to indulge in such simple pleasures.

After that summer with Jim, when he had returned home to finish college and work in the family business, he had placed himself on a rigid schedule that he’d gotten addicted to over the years. But now it seemed that Jocelyn Mason intended him to incorporate some fun into his life, and he was actually looking forward to it. He was even eager to settle down and start working on that paint-by-number kit she had talked him into purchasing today from one of the sidewalk vendors. It was a picture of a woodland chalet with snowcapped mountains in the background, a scene that reminded him of Newton Grove. He was excited to get started on it. More than anything, he’d enjoyed taking the time off this weekend to spend with Jocelyn.

The breath rushed out of him when he realized he was beginning to feel something for the woman he held so close to him. She had the ability to fire a need within him that he hadn’t felt in years, if ever. And it wasn’t all sexual, although he did have this vivid mental image in his mind of how wonderful it would be to have her in his bed to play out all those fantasies and dreams he’d had of her lately. Thinking about them only made him want her more. Being here with her, dancing with her, holding her in his arms while her cheek rested on his chest, seemed as natural as breathing, and a satisfying sensation skittered all the way down his belly.

“Bas?”

He barely heard her whisper his name. “Yes?”

“Can we go somewhere else?”

Her request heated the desire he felt through his entire body. “Where do you want to go?”

“You decide.”