‘Sorry?’ she murmured distractedly when he briefly raised his head. It took her a lot longer this time to recover after they’d kissed. Her eyes were closed as she spoke the single word and she seemed in no hurry to open them again.
‘My penthouse is being decorated,’ he explained. ‘I’d like you to see it when it’s finished –’
Libby’s eyes flashed open.
He’d spoiled the mood. No problem. He’d just have to start over. Great. That suited him.
Smiling against her mouth, he teased her lips with his tongue and with his teeth, just lightly until she moaned approval. Moving to cup her head, he loosed her hair and let it fall in gleaming waves of heavy silk around her shoulders. ‘You should always wear your hair down.’
‘Really?’
She searched his eyes in a way that touched him somewhere deep. It told him that Libby wasn’t used to compliments. She didn’t see herself as he saw her. She might be a girl he’d only known a short time, but he felt as if he’d known her forever, if only from a distance, and now he had the chance to get really close. Libby was a revelation to him. Most girls of his acquaintance were overly self-aware, but Libby was completely oblivious to her allure, which made her infinitely more attractive in his eyes. It also made him all the more determined to make her feel appreciated.
‘Why are you looking at me like that?” she murmured.
‘I was just thinking that ‘appreciated’ is far too tame a word to describe the way I want you to feel.’
‘I’m beginning to think you must be a little crazy.’
‘Not even a little bit.’ Sharing Libby’s rueful smile, he drew her into his arms.
She quivered beneath his hands as he teased her lips apart with
his tongue, and when he deepened the kiss, she melted against him. He pressed her against the wall, discovering the contours of her body fit his perfectly. She was driving him crazy.
‘I think you’re enjoying this chance to be the real you, Libby Lancaster,’ he remarked when she reached up to push the jacket from his shoulders.
‘And I think you’re enjoying the chance to lose that royal straightjacket.’
He wasn’t going to deny it.
Helping her, he shrugged out of the casual jacket and let it fall to the floor, then taking hold of her shoulders, he held Libby away from him so he could take a long, appreciative look at the only woman he could remember in a long time for whom he didn’t want to use the royal straightjacket as an excuse to ward her off.
‘Why the scowl, Lucaj?’ she demanded softly. ‘Do I look such a mess?’
‘You look beautiful.’ He frowned. ‘I just wish you were wearing more clothes.’
‘You do?’
‘Yeah.’ His mouth tugged up in a grin. ‘I could have more fun taking them off, then.’
‘How do you know I don’t have a bustle and pantaloons, whale-bone corset, and a chastity belt beneath this dress?’
He grinned as he admitted. ‘I can see that Lucinda’s underwear didn’t fit you, and that those luscious curves are all your own.’
‘You shouldn’t be looking, Lucaj.’
‘Am I wearing a blindfold? Do you expect me to ignore the outline of your body beneath a dress as clinging as this?’
‘Are you trying to tell me the dress is too tight?’
‘The dress is perfect. It moulds every soft, firm, contour –’
‘Soft and firm?’ Libby hummed as she arched a mocking brow.
‘And perfect,’ he insisted, ‘though I need a closer examination to confirm my thoughts.’
She gasped as his big hand cupped her breast. She had the most amazing breasts. They were big, beautiful breasts, and just as he’d suspected, she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her breasts were pert and full. Her breasts were perfect. He couldn’t wait to sink his face into them, and more besides, and all the time he was thinking this, Libby was sighing beneath his touch in a way that made him mad with desire for her.