Ian pressed the Up arrow at the elevators, then stepped behind her, circling his arms at her waist and pressing his lips to her neck. With her head light from the wine, Tessa closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder, absorbing the delicious sensations. Enjoying the moment of escape. And thinking maybe she should drink more often.
His big, warm hands stroked up her arms, over her shoulders. He lifted his head and murmured, “Do you have a picture of her?”
She turned her head and looked up at him. “What?”
Ian’s grin sparkled in his blue eyes. “Does she look like you?”
She smiled, but her heart tugged a little. “No, she doesn’t.”
“Let me see.”
That one little request turned her stomach into Fourth of July sparklers. The only man who ever wanted to see pictures of Sophia was Gordon. The elevator doors opened. Ian guided her inside, tapped the number 10, then leaned against the elevator wall and drew her between his legs. With his arms locked low on her waist, she was pressed intimately against him. And every time she felt him, she grew hungrier.
He lowered his forehead to hers and closed his eyes with an exhaled “Man, you feel good.”
She was thinking the exact same thing. He was one giant wall of muscle. Hot, strong, sexy muscle.
“Is that her?” he asked, his gaze on her phone.
She lifted her screen and turned it toward him, flashing the image she used as a screensaver—Sophia and her latest baby-toothed grin.
He laughed. “Wow, she’s cute.”
He turned his gaze on Tessa’s face again, scanning her. His hands lifted, skimming her back and shoulders to cradle her face as he sipped and sucked at her lips. He was both confident and sweet. Mystically in control while making her feel nothing but cherished. “Can I take your hair down?”
The whisper didn’t compute in her lust-swamped brain. But Ian didn’t wait for her answer. He lifted his hands to her bun, felt around, and pulled out the clips holding it up. Then he fingered her hair loose and combed his hands through it.
“So soft.” He released her hair, letting it fall in a mess around her face and shoulders.
The way his gaze raked over her, the heat and hunger reflected there, was something she’d only imagined. No one had ever looked at her like this. And Tessa couldn’t deny, she’d never felt as sexy as she did right this second, fully clothed, in an elevator with a total stranger.
“Christ…” The awe she’d seen in his eyes when he’d taken off her glasses at the bar flashed again. “You’re so… You’re beautiful.”
Her gaze flickered away from his as she tried not to buy into compliments tossed out in the heat of the moment.
“Hey.” He lifted her chin until she looked him in the eye again. “I wouldn’t say it unless I meant it.” He combed his fingers through her hair again. “Why do you hide this?”
Tessa was glad he didn’t wait for an answer, because she didn’t have one. And when he kissed her, she opened to him. His mouth devoured her with a hunger that stole her breath.
The elevator dinged, and Ian tore his mouth from hers, but when the doors slid open, he just looked down at her—and smiled. “You almost made me forget we were in an elevator.”
She laughed, and he kissed her again.
A shhh pulled her attention. “The doors…”
Ian slipped out from between her and the wall, stopping the doors with his foot. Then he turned and extended a hand toward her, wearing an utterly adorable grin. “Almost had to ride the elevator a few more floors. That would have been dangerous.”
Tessa laid her fingers in his. Something soft passed through his eyes before he closed his hand around hers and drew her from the elevator.
“Hey,” she said as they started down the hallway. “I um, this is probably a stupid thing to say, but is there, you know—”
He stopped in the middle of the hall and pushed her against the wall, stealing her breath. Then he cupped her face. “If you change your mind, say the word.”
“I…I don’t… I didn’t….”
He kissed her, and it helped clear the jumble in her head.
When he pulled back, he leaned his body into hers and ran his thumb across her cheek. A little grin tipped one side of his mouth, and her heart skipped. “Now, what did you want to say?”