“Okay.” He inclines his head in acknowledgment, but clearly not in surrender. Reaching into the pocket of his blazer, he pulls out his cell phone. “Tell me where you work. I’ll make the call for you.”
“You will not!”
He doesn’t know that my self-described “public relations” job is performed behind a bar six nights a week, but that doesn’t stop me from gasping when he acts as if he really means to make the call. I lunge for him, repeatedly grabbing for his hand, which he holds just high enough to be comfortably out of my reach. I’m tall at five-foot-six, but he’s easily six inches taller, and my effort to stop him only draws our bodies flush against each other.
“Are you going to call in, or am I?”
He’s playing with me, and there’s a part of me that’s all too eager to go along with him. It doesn’t escape my notice that he’s somehow managed to move inside the foyer with me, when I had good intentions of keeping him on the other side of the threshold. Now, we’re standing together on the marble tiles, less than a hand’s breadth between us.
The air feels electrified, crackling with energy. With mutual awareness.
With his eyes locked on mine, Nick reaches out and quietly closes the door behind us.
I groan, sensing my imminent defeat. “I can’t miss a day of work just because you want me to, Nick. My boss would probably fire me for it.”
“Then quit.” The quirk of his mouth suggests he’s joking, but the dark glint in his gaze tells me that he’s absolutely serious. His fingers cup the side of my face, the pad of his thumb gently stroking my lower lip. “I want to spend the day with you. And the night.”
I stare at him, unspeaking, captivated by the pleasure of his touch and the power of those compelling blue eyes. My breath leaks out of me on a sigh. “Is this what life is like all the time for you? Issuing commands and expecting the whole world to follow them simply because it’s what you want?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
I smirk in spite of myself. “I guess if you’re Dominic Baine it probably isn’t.”
“Is that a yes, Avery?”
I tilt my head at him. “To breakfast, or something else?”
“To everything I want to do with you right now.” He smiles as he says it, but it’s not humor I see blazing in his eyes. His large hand is still curved against my cheek, his fingers still coaxing me into submission.
It doesn’t take much for all of my arguments to wither under his touch. Then he bends his head and kisses me, and every last bit of my control abandons me.
I want him, and all of my reasons for why it’s a mistake to let him in—to crave this man the way I do—scatter away as his tongue sweeps past my lips to tangle with mine.
Chapter 19
In the two weeks since he’s been away in London, I’ve almost managed to convince myself that my memory of sex with Nick has somehow expanded and evolved into a bigger than life fantasy—one that can’t possibly resemble reality. As Nick kisses me, I realize just how wrong I’ve been to think that. If what we’ve already had together was intense, the spark has only grown hotter in the time we’ve been apart.
My body ignites on contact, as if my nerve endings are already trained to recognize their master and awaken in eager response. His mouth dominates mine in a deep, possessive kiss that leaves my heart racing, my limbs boneless. I’m already melting into a desperate state of arousal, but each stroke of his tongue past my parted lips makes my sex pulse in answer, already wet and yearning with the need to be filled.
I recall how he was the one who set our pace that first time. I remember how he controlled our progress—how he almost demanded I give him the reins to my pleasure. But he’s stirred something greedy in me and I have no patience to wait for his cues right now. I reach down and press my palm against the massive ridge of his erection. He groans coarsely, almost a growl. But he doesn’t stop me. Not even when I grab for the buckle of his belt and tug it loose.
He’s as consumed as I am.
I see it in his heavy-lidded eyes, in the sharp flare of his nostrils as he draws back from our fevered kiss to hold my gaze while I unzip his pants just enough to take his hard flesh in my hand. I wrap my fingers around his thick shaft and stroke the length of him, watching the azure blue of his irises turn stormy and dark, filled with so much desire it staggers me.
When he comes back at me for another kiss, this time his mouth is savage. The sheer force of his sensual assault knocks me back on my heels. Only the wall of the foyer behind me holds me steady as Nick’s body crashes up against mine.
His tongue invades my mouth as his hands slide under my T-shirt and close around my naked breasts in a firm, almost bruising grasp. I moan, trapped between pleasure and pain as he kneads the mounds and rolls the aching peaks of my nipples between his
fingers. I feel his cock wedged at my hip, the rigid line of it grinding against my pelvis as he rolls his spine in a hard thrust while he kisses me breathless.
I’m beyond wet for him already, and the rhythmic friction of our bodies is nearly enough to make me come despite the fact that we’re both fully clothed. Shameless, I straddle his strong thigh, clamping around him as he moves against me and continues to kiss and caress me into a state of frenzied need.
He pulls away from me on a harsh curse, his gaze locked on mine. “Fuck, Avery. What have you done to me? I’ve been wanting you like this since the day I left New York.”
“I know.” My words are little more than a gasp. “Me too.”
The instant I confirm it, he reaches down and tugs my sweatpants off my hips. The loose fabric sags around my ankles, leaving me bare from the waist down. Nick’s fingers slip between my thighs, into the warm slickness that’s gathered there. I drop my head back on a moan as he strokes my swollen clit with his thumb. His fingers delve deeper into the wet heat of my cleft, making me cry out as his touch penetrates and teases.