Page 105 of Just Trouble

I want to have a thousand evenings like this one, a million dates. I want to come home like this all the time.

Over and over again.

It’s new, this desire for permanence, this urge for roots. The Odeon is the first piece of property I’ve owned, well, the first one that I’ve kept, and I feel a raging pride in that. I can’t wait to walk through it in the morning and strategize for its rebirth.

True to her request, Daph is taking her time. She turns on the lights and slides off her jacket. I’m glad she didn’t do that at the restaurant, because the sight of her bare skin would have been too much. Here and now, it feels right. The colour suits her and I smile when she turns to face me, completely confident that I’m snared in her spell. She reaches up to unfasten the necklace, that sparkling confection that looks so delicate against her skin.

“I saw you wondering,” Daph says when I’m hanging up

I try to play along, like we do this all the time, and take off my suit jacket, folding it over a chair. Daph turns before me, inviting my help with the zipper she can undo just fine on her own, and I slide the tab down from her waist slowly, very slowly. Meanwhile, I touch my lips to the back of her neck and inhale her scent, pure fire in my veins, then let my fingertip slide down her spine. I try to take forever to do it, but when the black lace is revealed, I move a little more quickly.

I’m only human.

She slides the dress down over her hips, revealing a fabulous merry widow, one with garters. I’ve noticed the sheer black stockings, and the seams up their backs, but the garters are unexpected and amazing.

She turns to face me at that delicious point of undressing, then balances on one foot while she takes off a satin pump. I could watch this woman all day and all night. And I will look.

The stockings mean she wants me to look.

That tells me that Daph was hoping this would happen, that she was plotting my seduction just the way she’s casting her spell over me now.

Could there be anything sexier? Not to me.

I’m all too willing to surrender.

I whistle softly, letting my admiration show. She tosses the shoe at me and I catch it, stretching out my hand for the mate. I put them in the box, liking that they’re still warm from her feet,then pull her closer to help with her garters. I nuzzle the back of her neck and her hair tumbles down. I close my eyes, savoring, and she squirms. “Admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“You were wondering about me and Rafe.”

“Of course, I was wondering about you and Rafe. You’re friends, you say. You’re both smart and attractive—although he’s not my type.” She laughs, peeling down a shimmering stocking and setting it aside. “Want help with that?”

“No. I don’t want them snagged.”

“I’m good for replacements.”

She laughs and I pull her into my lap on the edge of the bed, watching as she slips off the other one. She then reaches behind herself to unfasten the garter belt. It’s tossed toward the dresser, then she turns around, kneeling over me. I get a kiss that could launch a thousand ships, then she puts a finger under the knot of my tie and gives it a tug.

When she’s untied it and cast it over her shoulder, she saunters toward the washroom, hips swinging.

Slow might kill me.

“Go ahead,” she challenges. “Ask.”

Shirt and trousers are cast aside in a hurry, because I don’t care about being undressed slowly. I’m the enchanted one. I follow Daph and lean in the doorway, glad there’s a big mirror in her bathroom. I’m down to my briefs and they hide none of my enthusiasm for the sight of her. “How good is your friendship?”

“We’re friends, no more and no less. What did he say?”

“Same.”

She smiles and turns to face me. “But you don’t believe him.”

“He seemed sincere. I just can’t believe that any straight guy with a pulse wouldn’t want you at least half as much as I do.”

“What if I didn’t want him, and he’s gentleman enough to acknowledge that?”

“Really?”

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