Page 48 of Just Trouble

“Maybe it is.” Her gaze dances over me, something in her eyes that encourages me to take a chance.

I lean so close that our noses almost touch. I smell her skin and hear her gasp, and suddenly there is only Daphne Bradshaw in my world. “She really signed?”

“She really signed.” She reaches into her pocket and offers me five wrinkled twenties. “Down payment. She said she’ll be here tomorrow.”

“You are amazing!” I kiss her before she can even think about arguing, because it’s the only possible way to celebrate such a victory. I kiss her, intending that it will be short and sweet, not that her lips will be soft and seductive, realizing too late that I’ll end up wanting to scoop her up and carry her off, spending all night seducing her.

But she puts her hand on my chest, flat, and gives me a nudge. “You don’t have to do this, Luke” she says, her eyes dark. “You don’t have to pretend.”

“What exactly am I pretending?”

“That you want this. That you want me. Remember about honesty? It’s okay…” she starts, but I lean in and steal another quick kiss. I feel her melt toward me and I know that she needs this as much as I do. She’s delicious, welcoming…

I break the kiss reluctantly, then kiss her ear, grazing her skin with my teeth. “I want this,” I whisper. “We’re consenting adults, so if you want this half as much as I do, it’s your move.”

“But yesterday…”

“I was trying—and failing, it should be noted—to be a gentleman.”

“You didn’t fail. You walked away.”

“Only possible way to manage it.”

She smiles a witchy little smile, one that lights her eyes and is all glorious mischief. “Maybe gentlemanly restraint just isn’t your style,” she says. Her hand slides down my chest at the same time and I catch my breath when she reaches the front of my jeans. She hesitates then, and it’s fair to want a little reassurance.

“No one but you Daph,” I murmur. “Not now.”

Maybe not ever, but given her skepticism about the long game, I don’t say that part.

Her eyes glow with pleasure and she lifts her chin a little, inviting me to kiss her again. I’m not going to decline. I bend down and capture her lips, the taste of her almost making me dizzy. I’m not expecting that she’ll open her mouth a little, much less that I’ll feel the tip of her tongue.

It destroys me completely.

And then there’s no chance of anything short and sweet. I spear my fingers into her hair and hold her captive as I deepen my kiss, loving how Daph makes a little sound of capitulation, how she drops her bag and wraps her arms around my neck in surrender.

She doesn’t drop the money. She jams it into the pocket of my jacket, then locks her hands in my hair, kissing me back as if her life depends upon it. I swing her up into my arms and head for the door, bending to scoop up her briefcase on the way. I turn around so she can get the door unlocked, even hung over my shoulder, and that makes her laugh. I carry her inside and she shuts the door, turning the deadbolt before I let her slide down into my arms.

She looks disheveled and wonderful, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks flushed. “I need a shower,” she says but I crush her into the wall, almost devouring her. It’s a great hungry kiss, one that goes on for half of forever and isn’t nearly enough, one that lights my blood on fire.

“You need an orgasm, not a shower,” I growl against her throat and kiss her again.

“Can’t I have both?” she demands, breathless, when she has a chance. I don’t have time to agree because she slides her hands under my jacket, then beneath my shirt, the feel of her fingers on my skin enough to make me spontaneously combust.

I pull her toward the stairs and we start stripping each other, kissing all the while. Daph kicks off her shoes and I shed my boots and jacket. Her jacket is flung over the couch and I tug the pins from her hair as she wriggles out of her blouse. Her hands are on my belt buckle and I’m unfastening her skirt, then I stop cold to admire her lingerie.

Black lace. Her skin is as pale as alabaster and almost glows in the partial light. Her hair is a loose tumble of auburn over her shoulders and her lips are swollen a little from our kisses.

“Irresistible,” I murmur then trap her against the wall with my hips. She feels so good. She smiles as she slides her hands under my T-shirt again and pushes it up, hands spread flat against my chest. She tosses it away, bending to kiss my nipple, eyes dancing with mischief. She’s wearing that pink lipstick again and her eye make-up is all smoky—just like the sultry expression in her eyes. She’s a temptress, a siren, a pin-up girl, a fantasy come to life and I want everything she has to share.

“Me first,” I growl, holding her gaze as I lower my head and flick my tongue across her nipple through the lace. It tightens immediately, as if in welcome, and I smile as I cup that breast in my hand, loving how perfectly her curve fills my hand. I kiss it and worry it, teasing it until she moans in my ear. I love howshe’s gripping my hair, how she’s squirming between me and the wall, how I can smell her arousal. My hands slide around her and I find the clasp of her bra, flicking it open and watching as her breasts spill into my palms.

I catch my breath at their perfection. She’s watching me, her eyes dark, her satisfaction clear. “I’m going to eat you until you scream,” I threaten and Daph grins. “And then I’m going to do it again, until you come and come and come.”

“Promises, promises,” she says playfully. She flicks my nipple with a fingertip. “I can be very hard to please.”

She’s teasing and I know it, but I’ll take that challenge. I pick her up so quickly that she gasps in surprise and toss her over my shoulder, heading up the stairs in my jeans. She’s wearing her panties and stockings and one shoe, but it’ll take me seconds to strip her bare.

She laughs at me when I toss her on the bed, then picks up a brown paper bag tossed on the floor. She reaches into it and tosses a colourful collection of small packages at me. Condoms in every size and colour, ribbed and not, lubricated and not. All the options are present and accounted for.

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