Your Alluring Love (The Bennett Family 6)

Alice is smiling from ear to ear when we leave the building. I love seeing her happy, and it gives me pleasure that I played a part in putting that smile on her face.

“It went fantastic,” she exclaims.

“They absolutely loved you.”

“Only after you cast some of your magic charisma over me. They were starting to look right through me two minutes into my pitch. Thank you.”

We walk side by side toward the coffee shop three blocks down where Blake is meeting us so we can report how the meeting went. Even though the Delicious Dining show focuses mostly on the food, the bar is an added bonus, and they’ll showcase it properly.

“Yeah, you sometimes come off as….”

“Ice queen? Stiff? Don’t spare punches. I’ve heard it all before. No idea how to fix it.”

“It’s a matter of trust. When you first meet people, you’re not comfortable enough being yourself. After you warm up to them, they fall under your charm.”

I invited myself to this meeting precisely for this reason. It doesn’t always happen, but I figured if it does, I’d rather be next to her and help out. She’s not exaggerating about my charisma. It has helped my career a lot. No one likes someone who has no problem calling them out on their shit, but they might accept him if he makes them laugh too.

“What was your first impression about me?”

“Are you kidding? I was shell-shocked when I saw the lot of you. I mean, Sebastian did tell me he had eight siblings, but hearing about it still didn’t prepare me for seeing all of you.”

“So I didn’t stand out?” she asks with a pout, and damn if I don’t want to kiss it away from her pretty face.

“I remember thinking you were the most annoying.”

“Wow, talk about a low blow. And I thought the sun shone out of your butthole from the moment I saw you.”

I come to a halt as we turn right into the narrow side street leading to the cafe and she stops too, half turning to me. “Really?”

“Yeah, but I used to get a kick out of making you smile. Took it as a personal victory. My affliction only got worse with time, especially after the hormones kicked in.”

“So much appreciation for me and you’re still torturing me with the rule of five?”

She shrugs. “That was puppy love. It faded. Now we’re adults. Totally different game. I’m older now, and wiser.”

I know what she’s doing: protecting herself. But she shouldn’t bother because I will not hurt her. I’ll make mistakes because I’m out of my depth when it comes to seriously pursuing a woman, but I’ll make an honest effort to not screw up often. But if there is one thing I know, it’s that trust must be earned.

“And I like busting your balls.”

Alice is one hell of a woman! I never know what might come out of her pretty mouth, but right now, her words travel straight to my groin, and we’re out on a street.

Lifting one hand to her face, I place the pad of my thumb on the center of her lower lip. “Careful, Alice. I don’t want to hear that word from your pretty mouth unless we’re alone, and you’re about to do something other than ‘busting’ them.”

She exhales sharply, and I have a crystal-clear vision of us getting down and dirty. She licks her lower lip, but since I haven’t lowered my hand, she inadvertently licks the tip of my thumb too.

My control snaps. The next seconds pass in a blur. I hook an arm around her waist, lifting her off her feet. Blindly, I back her up against the nearest wall, crushing my mouth to hers. Nothing else matters in this moment except Alice. I slide my hand to the back of her head, my thumb resting at the base of her hairline. I slip my other fingers under the fabric of her dress, splaying them on her back. She moans like I’ve touched her intimately. And the thought of her sweet, wet pussy is enough to make me groan too.

“You drive me crazy,” I inform her after I pull back, resting my forehead against hers.

Something feels off, and it takes me a few seconds to realize why. She’s barefoot, standing on her toes on top of my shoes. We seem to realize this at the same time. She bursts out laughing, and the sound is so contagious that I join her instantly. Her shoes lie a few feet to our right, in the spot where I lifted her minutes ago. We attract stares as we clumsily make our way to her shoes. She stands on her toes on top of my feet the entire way. A few passersby snicker as I help her into her heels again.

“Well, I’ll give you this. No one’s made me forget my shoes before.” Just then, Blake turns onto the side street too, waving at us. “Let’s give my brother the news and tell him what a great team we made during the meeting.”

While Blake is still out of earshot, I whisper, “We’ll make a good team somewhere else too, Alice.”

“Oh yeah? Where?”

“In a bed. Against a wall. On the hood of my car. I promise I can make you forget more than your shoes anywhere. When I’m deep inside you, when you’re full of me, you’ll even forget your name.”