Craving You

38

She choked on a sob. Squeezed her eyes shut. Then opened them and imploringly said, “Just tell me. Just call me before it happens and tell me that’s your choice. Please. Don’t let me find out any other way.”

Her heart constricted. The torment of that phone call would rip her apart, no doubt. But to learn of it any other way… L.L. wasn’t sure she could endure it. Because it’d be a million times worse than with Corey. What she felt for Tague was so much more powerful than her teenaged love.

“Hey,” Tague said as he cupped her face with his hands. Brushed away the dampness with his thumbs. “It’s not going to happen, Loralai. Not while I have you.” He gave her one of his sizzling kisses and L.L. felt his love and desire for her to the depths of her soul.

But Corey’s surprise visit this morning had unlocked a horrific insecurity.

And reminded her of the very honest fact that absence didn’t always make the heart grow fonder…

The week flew by for Tague. An unfortunate reality, because every day that passed brought him that much closer to achieving his dream—at the cost of leaving L.L.

He asked her to spend the evenings with him and made love to her before they slept and then again when they woke. He truly hadn’t realized when his father had given the official thumbs-up for the Tokyo office exactly what he’d be missing out on—L.L. in his bed every night. Though chances were good that was exactly the reason his father had finally acquiesced.

Yet Tague had apparently been too consumed with the need to break free of the New York constraints and establish his own legacy to really consider what he’d be giving up, let alone what his father’s true motives were.

But the more time Tague spent with L.L., the more he knew how difficult it would be to get on that plane on Friday.

Thursday evening, they met up with Chip, Helena, Meg and Jace at the club. The group took over a collection of sofas in a cozy corner and Meg supplied the bottomless glasses of champagne.

The conversation was lively—and safe. Good for keeping Tague on a work high, rather than obsessing over the fact that, come tomorrow night, L.L. would not be in his arms when he drifted off to sleep. Now a nearly impossible notion to reconcile.

As she sat next to him on a plush sofa sipping her champagne and looking drop-dead gorgeous in a clingy red minidress, her cinnamon hair a wild, voluminous mess of plump curls and her glossy lips beckoning him, he once again considered all that he was losing in an attempt to gain the future he wanted.

Not that he wasn’t certain they could make the relationship work, despite being on different continents. The problem was that L.L. was still apprehensive. Still off-kilter from her ex’s unexpected appearance and having the betrayal amplified because Tague was now leaving her, as Corey had done. But unlike the rocker, Tague was thoroughly committed to her. He did not want any other woman.

Ever.

Which made him insanely conflicted on his last night in New York. Especially as she glanced at him over the rim of her crystal flute, consternation swirling in her emerald eyes. He smiled reassuringly. And let Jace chat him

up, keeping the pressure off of Tague and L.L.—and his impending departure.

Tague liked her friends. He liked being a part of their social network. Though, the urge to get L.L. alone and naked warred with his enjoyment of simply chilling out.

As the hour approached midnight, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Ready to get out of that dress and let me have my way with you?”

She gave him a seductive grin, her eyes now glowing provocatively. “From the moment I slipped into it, I was thinking of you peeling it off me.”

He let out a low groan. “Then we need to get out of here, because it’s all I can think of.”

They said their goodnights and Tague’s driver took them to his apartment overlooking Central Park. He dropped his keys in the bowl on the foyer table, left his overcoat and L.L.’s on the floor and scooped her up in his arms. The mini she wore with six-inch heels drove him wild. But her naked beneath him was a much more enticing thought.

He set her on her feet alongside his bed and stripped her bare, his cock pulsating behind the zipper of his dress pants.

Gazing down at her, with her sexy hair and smoky-accented eyes, he said, “Every single second with you is burned into my brain, Loralai.”

One corner of her mouth lifted in her usual quirky smile, but that corner quivered. Mist covered her eyes. “From our first coffee shop date, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Or wanting you.”

Tague was out of his clothes in a heartbeat. He guided her down onto the bed, his body covering hers. His hand swept over her silky skin. He palmed her breast and caressed, his thumb whisking over her pebbled nipple.

His head dipped and he drew the taut peak into his mouth, suckling deep.

L.L. moaned. Her fingers threaded through his hair. Her spine arched, so she was melded to him, offering herself to him. His hand slipped around to her back and he pressed her even tighter against his body. His tongue fluttered over her nipple and she let out a lusty sigh.

“Want your pearls?” he asked.

“Not tonight.” A dreamy smile graced her plump, glossy lips. “I just want you,” she told him. “I don’t need anything else.”