“Don’t . . . what?”
“Don’t stop. Touch your breast for me.”
For a moment, she considered lying on the chaise, stroking herself to orgasm for Heath as she did for Grey, but rather than act on the tantalizing thought, she just gazed at him, her hand unmoving on her breast. He was blunt. He was rough. He wasn’t supposed to affect her this way.
“Tell me how you and Grey met,” he said. Almost every word he spoke seemed to crackle with authority. But then he smiled, and those smiles softened everything. Her legs, her insides . . .
She smiled warmly as her memories surfaced, dropping her hand to her lap.“I wanted to sell him a new image.A kick-ass design and a sharp new logo for RS. He actually came looking for me—can you believe it? He saw a logo and business card I did for a client.”
Heath was quietly attentive, so she settled back comfortably and continued. “So I met with him in his office. And when I saw him . . .” She remembered the jolt she felt, being the sole focus of those sharp amber eyes. She remembered thinking, Wow. What a man, what a presence, what a god. “When I saw him,” she said, her voice cottony, “I’d never wanted anything so much in my life.”
And I still can’t really believe he could be mine, she thought privately, and then waved a hand to disperse the thought.
“We were having dinner to continue discussing my ideas. I wanted to land RS so badly. Imagine what it would do for my reputation, to create an image for a company like that. But we didn’t even get to dinner.” She remembered Grey on her door-step, remembered rushing back inside to get her briefcase, and she remembered Grey’s hands on her, his hot, sweet- scented mouth against her skin, whispering, What I want is right here.
And what she wanted was there. In his eyes, in all of him, in the entire intimidating male package of Grey Richards.
“Love at first sight?”
Yes. It was love. Wild, complete, beautiful, vulnerable love.
She thought her voice sounded bizarre, airless, full of longing. “It’s impossible not to love him. He’s . . .” There were no words in the dictionary to describe him. “He’s Grey.”
And I desperately want him to love me.
She shrugged with a little smile to hide her insecurities, then held her breath, noting Heath was staring down at his hands. She had the distinct impression she’d made him uncomfortable.
“Are they wrinkled?” she teased as she rose to her feet, drawn to him by some unearthly pull she couldn’t resist. “You’ve been in there for quite a while.”
“They’re soft,” he said, rubbing them together, his damp, sooty lashes lifting up to reveal his eyes. The chilly air caused gooseflesh to rise along her skin as she walked to the edge of the pool.
The water glistened, its color the dark, rich blue of sapphires. As she walked down the steps, the shock of the cooling water on her skin made her suck in her breath. Dragging in more air, she impulsively plunged beneath the surface to get her body accustomed, then surged up and slicked her hair back, gasping. Heath had turned around to prop his elbows on the ledge and watch her. She smiled at him. Maybe because she was so susceptible to his charm, it was impossible for her smiles to affect him as deeply as his affected her. But still, she let it play on her lips and admitted, “I was getting lonely.”
And somehow, suddenly, he looked very big and very lonely, too, standing there in the same pool but too far away to touch. And she thought perhaps she and Grey should set him up with someone, one of her single friends. Maybe Heath would like Louisa or Francine . . . and maybe they would like Heath.Toni certainly liked him, and this way he wouldn’t be entirely alone in the world, and someone would get to enjoy him. . . .
For an electrifying moment, they stared, and all her matchmak ing thoughts fled under the sheer flaming intimacy in his eyes.
The water sloshed against her, a sensual caress against her breasts, and she said the first thing that came to mind. “I’m cold.”
He waded toward her, his muscled torso
cutting the water around him. “I’ll keep you warm.”
Before their bodies met, his hands grasped her shoulders and drew her up along his body. Her nipples ended up flattened against his chest. Her pelvis flared up like a match when he thrust his erection against her in a bold move that unequivocably said, Feel how hard I am for you.
Lust radiated off him, scorching her skin, searing her nerves. Her upturned face was inches from his neck, and she impulsively inhaled his scent, the pungent and savory aroma of earth. Then she realized he was staring down at her in silence, inspecting her features one by one. His eyes traveled across her forehead, her eyebrows, her nose, her chin, back up to her eyes. The look in those black pools of wanting was gentle and admiring.
“Did you enjoy coming with my arms around you?”
Enthralled, she watched his lips move as he spoke; the pink tissue had such a provocative plumpness, she craved to feel them on hers. She wished on any of one of those blinking stars above, Kiss me . . .
“I enjoyed it very much. . . ,” she admitted, a cozy whisper. “I was wondering when you were going to do that again.”
Kiss me . . .
“Now.” He buried his head at her throat the next second, and she purred feebly as those plump, wet lips dragged against her neck tendons.
“Daddy Gonzalez thought we might like some towels.”