‘I told him I had drawn up a business plan for you, the one I showed you the other night.’
Poppy bit her lip. She hadn’t actually got around to looking at it too closely and she was pretty sure Rafe knew it.
‘You have to learn to say no, ma petite,’ he said. ‘You’ll go under if you don’t learn to stand up for yourself. People will respect you for it.’
‘I’ll try.’
He looped an arm around her shoulders and, drawing her towards him, kissed the top of her head. ‘Good girl.’
* * *
Back at his apartment, Rafe came out of the bathroom and found Poppy busily taking pictures of the art deco furnishings with her mobile phone. ‘If you like them so much I’ll buy you some,’ he said.
She swung around guiltily, blushing like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. ‘It’s a lovely apartment. You have wonderful taste.’
Rafe came over, took the phone out of her hand and tossed it on the bed. ‘I want your hands free for the next little while.’
‘Oh really?’ She gave him a sparkling smile. ‘What did you have in mind?’
He unclipped her hair and watched as it tumbled around her shoulders. The honeysuckle fragrance of it wafted towards him. He threaded his fingers through its thick, silky tresses, loving the feel of it against his fingers. He brought his mouth to hers, tasting her sweetness, losing himself in the lush softness of her lips and the shy response of her tongue as he summoned it into play with his.
Her body moved against him in that delightfully instinctive feminine way, fitting against the hard planes of his frame as if she had been tailor-made for him. He put a hand at the base of her spine and pushed her against his erection. His need for her was a throbbing pulse that drove every other thought out of his head. The desire to ravish her was almost overwhelming, but the gentleman in him would not rush her or push her beyond her comfort zone.
She gave a little whimper as he skated a hand over the globe of her breast. He loved the shape of her, the way her breast fit so neatly into his hand, how soft her skin was, how sensitive to his touch.
‘You’re wearing too many clothes,’ he murmured against her mouth.
‘So are you.’ She tugged his shirt out of his trousers and moved her soft little palm over his chest.
A surge of lust almost knocked him off his feet. He found the zip at the back of her dress and lowered it. Her dress slipped to the floor and she stepped out of the circle of fabric, still with her mouth clamped on his and her slim arms looped around his neck.
Rafe smoothed his hands over her back, deftly unhooking her bra in the process. He slipped off her lacy knickers, running his hands over her neat bottom, teasing her with a feather-light touch on her feminine folds. He felt for her slickness, his insides coiling with desire when he found her ready for him.
She undid his belt and unzipped him with ruthless purpose. He sucked in a breath when she finally uncovered him. Her touch was mind-blowing. The blood roared through his veins, his desire at fever pitch. When she started caressing him in bolder and bolder strokes he thought he was going to disgrace himself.
He pulled her hand away and took a steadying breath. ‘Not so fast, ma belle.’
‘I want y
ou.’ Her toffee-brown eyes held his in a sultry little lock that made his heart race. She walked into him until he had nowhere to go but lie on the bed, taking her down with him.
Her body was draped temptingly over him as she took both of his hands and put them above his head. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘I’m tying you up.’
Rafe laughed as she wrapped his tie around his wrists and anchored it to the bedpost. Did she really think that flimsy piece of silk was going to restrain him? He’d let her play her little game, but he would be free before she could say ‘cupcake’. He was the one in control here, not her. But it would be fun to let her think she was on top, so to speak.
She slithered back down his body, her thighs trapping his between hers, the look in her eyes making his blood heat to boiling. She picked up the fullness of her hair and flung it over her shoulder so she could get down to business.
Rafe’s insides quivered as she put her lips around him. No condom. He tested the hold on the tie but it was surprisingly—terrifyingly—firm.
Her first tongue stroke was long, hot, wet and nearly sent him over the edge.
He struggled against the bonds. ‘What the hell?’
She looked up from beneath her lashes from where she was poised over his painfully thick erection. ‘That’s what you get for insisting on a designer brand. You should have settled for a cheap chain-store one.’
Rafe sucked in another breath as she teased him some more with her tongue. He tried to count backwards; he thought of all the distracting things he could, like the mounds of paperwork that needed to be dealt with, but none of it worked. She began to draw on him as if she was going to turn him inside out with the hot, wet suction of her mouth. He felt himself lift off and soar. He lost all sense of himself as he pumped himself into a mindless oblivion that surpassed anything he had felt before.