“Hmm?”
“It’s nothing.” He shook his head quickly, and took it from my hands. “Here, let me.”
Before I could stop him, he lifted it from my hands—circling around behind me as he draped the gem over my chest. A soft gasp escaped my lips as the cold diamond came to rest against my skin. But it wasn’t the diamond that was making me shiver.
“Hold still,” Nick murmured, leaning down so far that his warm breath tickled the back of my neck, “I’ve almost got it.”
I tried, but it wasn’t easy. Quite the contrary. It was like every nerve ending in my body had suddenly sprung to life. My eyes were dancing with it. My skin was jumping with it. My heart was pounding away with it inside my chest.
Based on the sound of shallow breathing behind me, I wasn’t the only one having trouble.
Nick took a step closer, then another step after that. He was pressed right up against me now—I could feel the heat from his body seeping through my tiny dress into my skin. The muscles in his chest contracted, and without thinking, I leaned back into him, bowing my head so that he could have a better angle of my neck.
“Abby...can I try something?” My body stiffened, and I felt him smile against the back of my hair. “It’s strictly work related—I swear.”
When I was finally able to speak, it was hardly more than a whisper.
“...okay.”
With no more preamble than that, he finished the necklace and started trailing his hands lightly down the sides of my arms. My breath caught in my chest as he moved with excruciating slowness—his fingers leaving little trails of goosebumps on my bare skin. Once his hands reached mine, they paused there for a moment—wrapping around them in a gesture so sweet and tender, I found myself closing my eyes.
But just touching had never been enough for Nick. The man knew no boundaries, and his need to experience everything to the fullest extent had gotten him in trouble more than once.
His hands were soon replaced with his lips.
I bowed my head with another gasp as his mouth grazed along the top of my shoulder, pausing at the base of my neck to give me the softest kiss. My entire body was flushed now, alive and hot and wanting. But still, Nick took his time. Exploring me in a way that was sweet, rather than anxious. In a way that some might even call chaste.
A little smile crept up the side of my face just thinking about it.
Nick. Chaste.
Two words that had never before been used in the same sentence.
But even as I was thinking it, all those feelings of innocent affection flew right out the window as his hands circled around to the front of my dress.
My teeth clamped down on my lip, as my eyes shot wide open. In a way, I was grateful that he was standing behind me. That way, he couldn’t see whatever lusty expression had completely taken over my face.
But from the looks of things, Nick was feeling pretty damn lusty himself.
I felt his cheek against the side of my head, as he ran his fingers up the soft silk. They lingered on all the right parts, hovering for just a moment, just long enough to start my blood boiling over, before moving on. By the time they got to the bare skin above my navel, I was about ready to explode.
“Abby?” His hands lingered, but for the first time, he sounded a bit uncertain. “No line you don’t want me to cross.”
My eyes closed again, and I leaned back into his chest.
“There’s no line I don’t want you to cross.”
His teeth bit into my shoulder, at the same time that his hands slid into my dress.
And just like that, we left professionalism behind us. Just like that, we took a step into a world where neither one of us had ever ventured. Where neither one of us had the answers.
A world of the unknown.
Chapter 9
AT LEAST...WE TRIED to.
There was a sudden banging on the door, and the two of us sprang apart. Panting as if we’d sprinted all the way from Brooklyn. Flushing as we tried desperately to avert our eyes.