“No,” I said, not wanting her to think I’d been embarrassed at her footwear. “I mean, that had nothing to do with it. I wanted to get you a welcome gift and…” I shrugged, reaching out to still the shoes’ movement. “I know dancers go through several pair a year.”
“Thank you, Alek. I’ve never had someone be so thoughtful. You really shouldn’t have. I don’t deserve—”
“Stop,” I interrupted. “I — we — brought you into this theater to help build up other people. Not to beat up yourself.”
I watched as she released the satin ties and lifted her arms to throw them around my neck for a hug, and I could feel myself going into shock. I didn’t know how I could be wrapped up in those arms, pressed up against those amazing breasts and flat stomach, knowing what her body was truly like beneath her clothing, without exploding. I was already filled with a buzzing lust that threatened to unman me. I couldn’t make it worse.
But it was too late to back out now. She was coming at me.
The moment seemed to fall into slow motion. She touched me, filling me with a bolt of electricity unlike any I’d ever experienced before. I looked down, my lips opening to inform her no thanks were necessary when I noticed her lips were pursed and she was coming in to kiss my cheek.
I couldn’t stop it if I wanted to, and I certainly didn’t want to stop. I’d already proven I was a complete ass, so why stop now? I had just enough time to cup the back of her head and tilt it, taking control. Instead of a quick buss to my cheek, my lips crashed none too gently against hers. I increased the pressure, my tongue running along the seal of her lips, demanding they part enough to let my tongue slip inside her mouth.
Forget the rules.
Rules were for others — not for me.
Not when that first taste had me craving more. Passion conquered any hint of resisting the forbidden. I was no match to this beauty. My tongue dueled with hers as I pulled her closer.
A soft whimper had me drawing away enough to allow her to whisper, “I shouldn’t.”
“I shouldn’t. We shouldn’t,” I said in agreement, but wrapped my free arm around her waist, lifting her onto her toes as my other hand drew her mouth back to mine.
Passion multiplied, and I lost full control. The powerful lust took over, and all rational thought vanished as we kissed like I had never kissed before.
I didn’t know if anyone was still in the theater. I didn’t know if Yuri would walk in at any moment. I didn’t care. I couldn’t focus on reality when I had my tongue inside Clara’s mouth.
Reason screamed inside my head, but I fought against it as I pulled Clara hard against my chest. If it weren’t for the way she clung to me, I was positive she’d crumple to the ground. Her breath became mine until our hearts beat with the same rhythm. We were slowly merging as one with this all-encompassing kiss until we had to come up for air.
We shared another long frozen moment in time looking at each other. Her clothes might now be hiding her nakedness, but that didn’t change the fact I wanted her with every fiber of my being.
“Alek…”
“I know. I know,” I said as I abruptly released her and stalked out of the room before I made the biggest mistake of my life. It was only when my office door slammed behind me that I realized my fingers were tangled in long satin ribbons the exact color of Clara’s skin, flushed from her shower.
“God damn it!” I snarled, ripping the shoes free and throwing them against the wall.
I’d said “I know,” but that had been a fucking lie. I was lost and drowning in the waves of emotion that kiss had caused. I didn’t know a fucking thing.8Alek“You kissed her? Are you out of your mind?” Baker snarled into the phone before his tone changed into one far less accusatory, “How was it?”
Mind blowing.
Heart stopping.
Fireworks inducing.
“I don’t know.” I decided to act blasé, to not allow my feelings to show too much for the moment. After all, this was more of a fact-finding conversation now.
I shouldn’t have kissed Clara. I was pretty damn sure the moment shouldn’t have lasted as long as it did, and her arms certainly shouldn’t have snaked around my neck as mine pulled her so close I felt every rise and fall of her breasts, could feel the heat of her… fuck it! I was not going there!
But now that all those things had happened, I felt like I had to know more about this woman. I knew a little from my research, and I knew some from our conversations, but Baker had actually sat down with her and had interviewed her face to face. If anyone could tell me a little more about what sort of woman she was, it was this man.