Your Alluring Love (The Bennett Family 6)

Ah, there it is, the elephant in the room. Until now, I’ve avoided questioning him about this directly, but I feel it’s time I did.

“Do you think they’ll ask you to take over the position there?”

Nate’s grip on me tightens, as if he wasn’t expecting the question. “Horowitz keeps saying Abbott will break under the pressure, but I give the guy more credit. He’s going to learn the ropes.”

That isn’t much of an answer, but I’m a coward and don’t press for more. I couldn’t handle a straight answer.

“Thank you for bringing me with you today. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Babette said something about how she thinks you didn’t have a happy family life and it might have impacted you. She thinks it was why you chose to have ‘meaningless liaisons’—her words, not mine—with women.”

“Funny, Clara said something similar once.”

“Do you think it’s true?”

Nate is quiet for a long while, and I wait with my stomach in knots.

“All experiences mark us in some way. But I think everything comes down to choices. For a long time, I chose not to get attached because it was easier.”

“And now?”

My heart is in my throat as I wait for him to reply. We’re right in front of the car but we stop before we reach it, under the shade of a tree with a beautiful crown full of blooms in shades of pink and white.

Nate is half turned to me, holding my gaze captive with his.

“Now I choose us.” Stepping closer to me, he kisses one corner of my mouth, then the other. Suddenly I feel like someone lit a match inside me, joy spreading throughout me to the very tips of my fingers. He keeps teasing me, his mouth moving from the corner of my lips to my cheek and then heading to my ear. His proximity makes me shiver and want more of him. I yearn to hear him say more sweet nothings.

“Say it again,” I whisper.

“I choose us, Alice, and I’ll say it as many times as you want.”

The shiver intensifies and he wraps his arms around me, his lips still to my ear. I want to feel closer to him still, climb inside him, as it were. I don’t remember fisting his shirt but here I am, tugging at it with one hand. My other hand has slipped under it, feeling him up shamelessly.

“Someone’s having dirty thoughts,” he whispers.

“I need to feel closer to you.”

“I aim to please.”

Before I can react, he hauls me into his arms, pushing me backward until he has me against the car. Then he lowers his head, kissing me like a man determined to get me to melt at his feet… or at least get me so turned on that I forget where we are. Nate swipes his tongue over my lips, then dips it inside my mouth, exploring me, driving me crazy. My blood spikes with adrenaline and desire within seconds, and for the hundredth time, I wonder how this man can awaken my craving for him so quickly.

A low growl reverberates deep in his throat just as he unhitches his lips from mine.

“Alice, what are you doing to me?”

“Nothing you’re not doing to me as well.”

When he pulls back enough that I can look at him properly, the glint of desire in his eyes is so overpowering it takes my breath away. He exudes masculinity and power, and the expression on his face is feral. He pushes his hips flush against me, and I lick my lips when I feel his hard-on against my belly, heat pooling between my thighs. I’m so turn

ed on I’d let him take me any way he wants right now. It scares me that I’m giving him such power over me.

“Sweet and wild Alice,” he murmurs. “I need to be inside you.”

I lick my lips. “Now? Here?”

In response, he cocks a brow. We’re in a small forest with thick trees surrounding us. The chances of anyone seeing us, or even passing by, are close to zero.