Looking Inside

He searched her face, but all he could see was the sexy flush of her cheeks and lips and the excited shine in her eyes. He was finally going to get to touch her, consume her, possess completely what had only been dangled so enticingly in front of him. Yeah, he was falling off the abstinence wagon.

But it was going to be the best fucking fall in the world.

“Then let’s go,” he said with an air of decided finality. He stood, grabbed his coat and reached for her hand.

SIX

They stepped out of Gold Coast into his building’s lobby.

“Is my place okay?” he asked her quietly.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Ralph,” Trey said as they passed the doorman’s station.

“Evening, Mr. Riordan.” There was an edge to Trey’s tone and an icy gleam in his blue eyes as he passed the desk and Ralph returned the greeting. He wasn’t pleased that the doorman had helped her to breach his privacy, and then had refused to supply him with her name. If she had to guess, Ralph would be hearing more about it from Trey when she wasn’t there to hear it. Ralph looked at her and blinked in surprised recognition. She ducked her head in fleeting embarrassment.

It only took a second for stunned excitement to take center stage in her awareness again.

I’m going to have Trey Riordan!

The idea was too unbelievable to absorb. He’d been such an untouchable fantasy for so long. And now, she was standing right next to him and he was taking her up to his penthouse. Incredible.

The elevator door dinged open. Trey got on and she followed, his gaze landing on her when he turned. He reached, and her heart jumped. But he wasn’t reaching for her, she realized. He had a card in his hand, which he swiped along the elevator button console before he pushed the eighteenth floor.

A billowing silence descended once the doors slid closed.

“What are you thinking?” he asked her quietly.

“I’m thinking it’s weird.”

His brows slanted. “Weird?”

“That I’m about to go to bed with you, and we’ve never even held hands . . . or kissed.”

His eyebrows arched. He grabbed her hand. He tugged firmly. The front of her thumped against him. Oh my. He was every bit as lean and hard as she’d imagined. More so. She inhaled his subtle scent: spice and fragrant wood and something indefinable . . . the essence of Trey. She stared up at him wide-eyed, her pulse hammering at her throat, her body coiling tighter by the second.

He lowered his head and brushed his mouth against hers, exploring her gently

at first. His lips sandwiched hers, first the lower, then the upper, his caresses firm, unhurried. Delicious. Taut anticipation coiled in her belly. She couldn’t breathe.

Then, ever so deliberately, he dipped his tongue between her lips, tasting her. A floodgate of sensation opened. She whimpered softly into his mouth. She clung on to his shoulders, feeling the hardness of his muscles through his shirt. She’d long admired all of his tall, beautiful body, but she was particularly drawn to his broad shoulders. To feel the rounded, dense muscles curving into her palm while his deft tongue explored her mouth struck her as surreal.

He laced his hands between her coat and her body and encircled her waist, fingers stroking her back, discovering her. They both turned their heads in unison. The kiss turned deep. Liquid. Electric.

The sound of the elevator opening barely penetrated her awareness. She blinked, bringing him into focus with effort, when they parted several inches.

Talk about a helluva first kiss.

He reached around her, and she realized he was catching the closing doors.

She couldn’t unglue her stare from his small, hovering smile.

“Now we’ve done both,” he said, squeezing her hand. She regarded him stupidly. His stare on her was sharp. Hungry. “Held hands and kissed,” he prompted her sluggish brain. His gaze narrowed on her. “This is going to be really good, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah,” she replied, unable to hide her eagerness from her tone.

His smile widened. Keeping a firm grip on her hand, he led her off the elevator. She gasped in surprise.