‘Well, I’m the one offended,’ he muttered. ‘You don’t think I’m human?’
Hmm, unfortunately she had said that. ‘I also said you have great teeth.’ Which was even more mortifying, but she smiled at him anyway.
‘All the better to bite you with,’ he answered severely, but she saw the sparkle in those amber-lit eyes of his. No, he wasn’t anywhere near as serious as she’d first thought. He was guarded. So guarded he’d been wary of letting her see him relax. Why was he so defensive when he had everything?
‘Perhaps I deserve a bite,’ she acknowledged with a chuckle. ‘But you were laughing at me.’
His expression turned sly. ‘So are you offended?’
‘I’m not that precious. You suit a smile. You should do it more often. If I lived in Cavendish House I’d be smiling all the time.’ And if she owned the place, she’d be doing back-flips.
‘It’s not bricks and mortar that make people happy.’
‘Oh, they help.’ She laughed openly at that. ‘Here, taste this. It’ll help too.’
‘Oh, am I allowed some now?’ Sending her a speaking look, he picked up his fork.
* * *
Ettie’s pulse skidded all over the place as Leon escorted her out of the restaurant. She shrugged on her coat just for something to do and turned, ready to walk to the train station. She refused to let her spirits lower now the night was over.
He caught her hand in his. Electricity surged at the firm clasp of his fingers over hers and a new level of intimacy seared. She knew it had been building between them, yet she was suddenly shy, but overwhelmingly she wanted everything she probably shouldn’t.
He turned her to face him.
‘So, clubbing?’ he asked.
She couldn’t seem to speak, so she just shook her head.
‘You don’t want to dance with me?’ he asked quietly.
Oh, she wanted to dance with him. Just the two of them. Intuitively she knew he was asking for just that—an intimate dance. It was fantastical. But ever since he’d walked into the stationery shop, it was as though she’d stepped into another dimension—an alternative reality where the truths of tomorrow really didn’t matter and where the past was irrelevant and where for one crazy night this way-out-of-her-league guy was paying her attention.
He stepped closer, his expression intensifying—even more serious, and hungry.
‘This is a very bad idea,’ he said softly.
‘Yes,’ she agreed softly. She couldn’t quite believe he even wanted to get closer to her, but here he was, leaning in with so much intent.
She’d been working so hard for so long. She’d been let down too many times. She’d been alone for what felt like for ever. What did it matter if there was no future in this? She’d pinned her hopes on a future with a man before, only to be heartbroken. With no hopes, no expectations...there would be no heartbreak, right?
‘Terrible.’ He lifted his hand and gently framed her face.
She quivered at that lightest of touches. ‘Yes.’
She read the sultry promise in his eyes as those pros and cons swirled in her head. What was the worst that could happen? She’d have an amazing experience with a god-like man. And whether he enjoyed it as much as she...well, that was up to him, wasn’t it? Couldn’t she let that fear go?
‘But I want to do it anyway.’
He did? He really did? She smiled and her tummy swarmed with butterflies...but below that, molten heat swirled. ‘Yes.’
There was only now. Only this sensation. Only this one chance. And she wanted it.
‘And so do you?’ His gaze searched hers intently.
‘Yes.’ Of course.
She might be inexperienced, but she wasn’t stupid.
‘And that’s all you’re going to say tonight?’ His lips twitched.
She stared at him, willing him to smile. ‘Yes.’
‘To anything I ask?’
She’d not taken a moment purely for herself in such a long time. ‘Um...yes.’
His mouth didn’t curve into a smile; instead it moved closer. He brushed a light kiss on her lips. Ettie remained still, her face upturned to his, not quite sure this was actually happening. He too was immobile, watching her with that ultra-serious, inscrutable intensity. She didn’t want him to watch, she wanted him to act.
And then he did.
He cupped her head, threading his fingers through her hair to draw her closer so he could kiss her properly. Not a gentle brush of the lips, but a devastating, can’t-get-enough kiss that mirrored the desire clawing deep in her body. That deliciousness in the restaurant was nothing on the sensations shivering through her body now. He devoured her as if she were the best of all those award-winning desserts. She lost track of time and place, there was no more thought, no more doubt as sensation transcended—and overwhelmed—everything. There was only one destination for her tonight and that was right here in his arms, with his mouth sealed on hers and his lips, hands, tongue and heat all working that dizzying magic. He made her tremble, made her want more than she’d ever wanted anything.
She moaned, totally overcome. ‘Leon—’
He stepped back so suddenly she nearly stumbled. He quickly clamped an arm about her but somehow walked her forward at the same time. He waved and hailed a taxi. Of course one pulled over immediately—he had that way about him. People instantly recognised power, influence, money, and moved the minute he asked.
He thrust a couple of large notes to the driver through the window. ‘Just drive.’
He hustled her into the cab ahead of him, then joined her on the back seat and pulled her in as if he’d been starved of kisses for aeons and was now making up for it. A famished, demanding man now feasting. She was okay with that. So okay. Because she’d discovered her own hunger—her own pleasure in exploring him too. She ran light fingers along his jaw, feeling that hot, sexy stubble—still unable to believe that she was really touching him and he was touching her. She was suddenly super-hot, although neediness made her shiver.
His hand skated over the hem of her dress. His teasing fingers circled, finding bare skin, seeking out more. Ettie quivered but he kept kissing her, and excitement thrummed throughout her body. Who knew kissing could be this erotic? This intense? This incredibly awesome?
She never wanted it to end. Time needed to stop. Because this was it. This was her moment—just for her. And he knew—he kept kissing her, increasing the dizzying intensity and turning up the heat with every luscious lick and slide. His teasing fingers skimmed her thigh so lightly it was only a slight tickle. Yet powerful waves of heat rolled over her. Her mouth parted more as she moaned and lifted her hips to quicker meet the delicious, unpredictable stroke of his fingertips. The tease was intolerable. She wanted a firmer touch. She wanted more.
He deepened the kiss further still, his tongue wickedly caressing inside her mouth until she was dizzy on the delight of it. He’d unleashed a hunger, a driving need she’d never known. She soared on the sensation, strung higher with that exquisite tension he drew her along with. She couldn’t stop the rock of her hips now, instinctively enticing him to touch further, touch harder. His teeth nipped her lower lip just as he skimmed his fingertips higher—all the way to her soft, simple cotton panties. She gasped at the caress. He stilled and lifted his lips a mere millimetre from hers. Then those trespassing fingers stroked once more—so intimately that she violently squirmed, unable to hold back a moan as her fingers curled into fists. Yes. That was what she wanted. But he suddenly broke the kiss. Breathlessly she stared up at him. His gaze ensnared hers—his eyes were dark with promise, with satisfaction, with hunger.
He growled the address for Cavendish House to the taxi driver, their gazes still locked. Dazed, she read the determination in his eyes, felt the possessiveness of his hand cupping her so intimately, and understood exactly. He wanted everythin
g.
If she was going to stop this, to say no, the time to do it was now. But it was also the time to say yes. Was she really going to be another of Leon Kariakis’s conquests? His challenge for the night?
Yes.
Now she was in this other world of touch and light and scorching sensation, nothing could stop her from having this. Having him.
Just once.
She’d worked hard to rein in her natural impulsiveness. She’d had too much responsibility to be reckless...but this was only one night.
‘Yes?’ he prompted in a gruff undertone.
She nodded. She wanted the experience she knew he could give her. He swooped and kissed her again—pure reward, pure promise, invoking that breathless restlessness all over again. But he slipped his hand from beneath her dress and rested it on her breast instead, almost holding her captive. She acquiesced to everything, to the kiss, to the utterly foregone conclusion of this night—and simply drowned in the flood of pleasure his exquisite passion pulled from her.
But as they neared the building she suddenly clutched his wrist and whispered with panic, ‘No one can see me.’