Laughing, he shook his head and released my hand long enough to turn on the radio. When he took my hand back in his again, he lifted our linked fingers and brushed a kiss over the back of my knuckles, his tongue lingering on the abused skin from where I’d punched that douchebag the night before. I shivered, and from what little I could see of his eyes, they darkened. “Whatever you say, Lu.”
By the time we got to the restaurant he was back to being my same old Harris. Pulling up in front of a place we’d never been to before, a valet opened my door while another one took the keys from Harris. I stepped out of the Maserati and he was beside me in a flash. Having his hand at the small of my back wasn’t something new, he always did that when we were out together, as if he were daring the world to mess with me. Yet now, it felt different. Now it felt as if he wasn’t daring the world, he was simply staking his claim.
I liked it.
There was a small crowd already waiting to be seated when we entered the restaurant. I’d never heard of the place, but then again I didn’t keep up with new eateries. This one was fairly new, though, and still had a waitlist out the ass. I also knew, just from the looks of the place, that it was an outrageously expensive kind of place. Harris approached the hostess and gave his name. When the beautiful woman in her late forties gave him a beaming smile and told us to follow her, six different couples gave us ugly glares.
I rolled my eyes as I met Harris’s amused gaze. “Nat?”
He shrugged and I knew that his stepmother had used her mojo to get him a table. I snickered as I turned back to follow the hostess. The snicker faded when I got a better look at the dining room. This place was…Whoa. Each table offered privacy since they were all booths and boxed in to the point that someone had to be looking really hard to find out who was sitting where.
When we reached our table, all the way in the back of the restaurant away from everyone else, I realized that this place was also extremely romantic. There was dim lighting, with two little lanterns on the table offering the kind of atmosphere that screamed seduction. My heart started pounding when the hostess stepped away from our little opening and Harris slid into the booth right beside me. His thigh brushed against mine and he turned to face me.
“What do you think? If the food is good we could come here every week.” He lifted a hand to tuck a few locks of hair behind my ear, as if he couldn’t help himself. As if he couldn’t keep from touching me. “We don’t have to worry about paps bothering us, or the rest of the world messing up our meal.”
“I-it seems really nice,” I murmured and reached for the menu with fingers that trembled. I wasn’t going to be able to eat tonight. No way. Not when all I could think about was tastingHarris’s lips again. Or what it would feel like if he touched me—really,truly touched me—in all the places that were aching to be touched.
His hand on top of my thigh had me jerking in a mixture of surprise and need and I lifted my head to find him smiling at me, but his eyes were full of concern. “What’s wrong, Lu? Are you not comfortable with me like this?”
I swallowed hard and shook my head. “It’s not that. I would be comfortable with you anywhere. You know that. Its just that now…” I blew out a long breath and shook my head again. “I guess I’m feeling shy. We’re together now, and I want to do things—”
Anything else I might have said was cut off when he caught my hair in his hands and lowered his head to seal his lips against mine. This kiss was different than our other kisses. It wasn’t fast and didn’t feel desperate. Our first few kisses had seemed to feel that way, as if we were afraid that at any second we would lose the connection we had if we didn’t get our fill as quickly as possible.
No, this kiss was definitely not like that. Harris took his time. He was patient with me as he slowly increased the pressure of his lips against mine. When I opened my mouth for him and his tongue dived in to play with my own, we both moaned as we got the full taste of each other. His hand dropped from my hair to cup my neck, his thumb caressing over the pulse pounding away at the base of my throat.
I was burning. Melting. Aching.
I felt his other hand grasp my waist, urging me closer and I shifted until we were pressed against each other from thigh to chest. My heart was going crazy in my chest and all I could hear was the blood rushing in my ears and our heavy breathing as he continued to slowly deepen the kiss.
His thumb moved under the hem of my shirt. When I felt his hot flesh against my bare skin, I whimpered softly in pleasure. How could something so innocent as touching my side like that feel so damn good?
Harris lifted his head, breaking our kiss, and pressed his damp lips to my forehead. “Don’t ever feel shy with me, Lu. You want to touch me, then you touch me. You want a kiss, then kiss me. I’m yours, baby. Take what you fucking want.”
That thumb was still touching me. Rubbing slow, soft little circles on my flesh. I leaned into him, wanting closer, wondering if we would ever get close enough to assuage the ache I had burning deep inside of me. “Don’t call me baby,” I whispered.
When he chuckled I felt the rumble in his chest. “I’ll work on that, I swear.” His lips pressed into my hair, brushing a butterfly kiss over my temple. “What can I call you, then?”
“How about Lucy?” I stole a quick kiss before pulling back.
Aquamarine eyes darkened. “You won’t let me call you anything else?” His hand dropped from my side, but didn’t go far when it landed on my thigh, keeping me in place. “Come on, Lu. Give me something. I want something that is mine and only mine.”
I lowered my eyes to the table, biting the inside of my cheek. Could he be any more swoon-worthy tonight? I didn’t like endearments from guys. Sure, my parents had cute little names for each other. Hell, everyone in my family seemed to have something sweet to call their significant other. Baby girl. Angel. Beautiful. It was adorable when it came from one of them. But I didn’t want a guy using them with me. Guys overused them when they weren’t in a committed relationship. Everyone they wanted to have sex with became baby, or some other cutesy name that made me want to vomit every time I heard it.
This thing with Harris was different, though. We were different. I knew him and I knew that to him this wasn’t just him looking for a hookup. Using an endearment that was ours alone would be nothing short of…perfect.
“Okay, then.” I lifted my eyes back to him, smiling. “What would you prefer?”
“I prefer baby, but you seem hell bent on that not happening.” He leaned in as he spoke, his eyes lowering to my lips. “If I called you sweet lips, your dad would probably bury me in the middle of the desert.” His hold tightened on my thigh. “Kitten is overused, and seriously I couldn’t call you that without thinking of that beautiful pussy between your amazing thighs.”
My breath hitched when his nose skimmed down my throat. “I think we will go with something simple, yet fitting. Sweetness. Your lips, the feel of your skin under my hand, having your soft little hands on me—those are the sweetest things on Earth. Now kiss me, sweetness. Kiss me just one more time before that fucking waiter comes and I have to be good.”
Chapter 6
Harris
I was a walking hard-on.
There was no other way to describe it. I was walking around First Bass, trying to do all the shit that