Something about the way he said it, his voice smooth and rich, melting through her like warm chocolate, made her shiver. Opened up a craving in her that shocked her with its strength.
“Well, that’s…that’s too bad since…since you think I’m in control. But you like to be.” She was botching the seduction. She should have known she would be lame at seduction.
And it sucked because she really did want him. Right now, she wanted him so bad that she ached with it. It was a new and terrifying experience. But it seemed…it seemed like she could do it, too.
With Ferro there would be no feelings, but there would be no games, either. There would be no demands, no force. He wouldn’t trust her, he wouldn’t ask her to trust him. They could give each other pleasure and then…and then go back to how things were.
“Could you…” She hesitated and then took a breath, plunging on. “Could you come out onto the balcony with me?”
“Looking for a repeat performance of our balcony visit in California?”
“If I was?”
“Are there reporters?”
“Probably.”
He held his arm up and she curved hers around it, allowing him to lead her through the room and out onto the wooden terrace. Lanterns hung low in even intervals, casting glowing orbs out onto the lake below.
She took a breath and released it, watching as it lingered in the air, her eyes on the stars. So many stars. More than she’d ever seen before. This place was different. Wild. And she felt different and wild in it.
She turned to Ferro and put her hand on his face, searching his expression for clues. There was nothing there. He was stone. Unreadable, unknowable.
But she wasn’t going to wait for his cue. She was going to give her own. And exercise that control thing he seemed to think she had.
She put her other hand on the back of his neck, lacing her fingers through his hair. And then she closed her eyes, because looking at him didn’t help, he was too handsome to be real, and leaned in, pressing her lips to his.
They were warm, firm. Immobile. So she changed the angle of her head, touched the seam of his mouth with the tip of her tongue.
And then he moved, his arm sliding slowly around her waist, drawing her in tight, crushing her breasts to his chest. He held her there, letting her kiss him, not returning it, not denying it.
“Kiss me,” she said, her lips still pressed to his.
And for a moment, a blinding, blistering moment, he obeyed. His mouth moved over hers, so expert, so incredibly skilled. A shiver went through her body, arousal skating over her skin. The damp slide of his tongue creating an answering wetness between her thighs.
Oh, yes, she wanted him. She wanted him to show her everything she’d been missing.
Then he pulled away suddenly and the air, hitting her where his body had been before, left her chilled.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing. But that’s quite enough of a public display, don’t you think?” He was breathing hard, she noticed, something he had not done after their kiss in California. And his face looked slightly flushed, hard to tell in the dim light, but she was sure she could see a faint slash of crimson across his sharp cheekbones.
Two things were suddenly apparent to her: he was aroused now. And the first time they kissed he hadn’t been.
She wasn’t totally sure what to feel about either thing.
“I suppose so,” she said. Her own breathing was totally erratic, her heart pounding unevenly. And her legs were shaking.
He turned away from her and walked to the edge of the balcony, leaning down against the railing, his forearms resting on the rough-hewn wood.
She followed him, coming to stand next to him. “I want you,” she said, the words coming out in a rush.
He didn’t react, didn’t move or look at her or anything. He simply stared out at the water.
“Ferro…I—I’m not asking for anything outside of this deal we have. I just want you. In bed. Until all of this is over, and then you walk away with what you want, and I walk away with what I want.”
“A business transaction,” he said, his tone hard and flat.
“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”
He straightened. “I find I have no taste for things like this.”