“Bedroom?” I asked, and she nodded. Her lips were red with wine, and I bent down to place a kiss on them. Her eyes were still closed when I swept her up in my arms, and her giggles trailed us through the house and into my room.
CHAPTER18
Flora
I bounced onceas Ryan tossed me onto the bed like it was nothing. I knew from experience that his “dad bod” was one of firm abs, broad shoulders, strong arms… I’d been dreaming of it for weeks. My stomach was tied in knots already with how much I wanted it again.
Wantedhimagain.
“You look beautiful tonight,” he said, looking down at me. I wriggled into a better position, leaning back against my elbows. My legs dangled off the edge of the bed and I kicked off my heels. I’d wanted to dress up: I knew I was still the nanny, but I didn’t want to look like it. I didn’t want Ryan thinking of me like that.
“Just tonight?” I teased, and his eyes narrowed.
“No,” he said, “not just tonight. You look beautiful every damn day. You drive me crazy in those shorts you wear.”
“It’s hot out, and shorts are practical.”
“Sure they are. They also make your legs…” He nudged my legs wider and stepped between them before dropping to his knees at the edge of the bed. “...look incredible.” I stared down the length of my clothed body at him as he bent his head to kiss the inside of my knee. I let out a shaky breath.
“Tell me if you want to stop,” he murmured against my skin, and I shook my head.
“I don’t want to stop.”
His breath was warm as he kissed me, his hands sliding up the outside of my legs, past my knees, up my thighs, finally stopping at the hem of my dress.
“Please,” I said, and his eyes fluttered closed. “I don’t want to stop. I don’t want you to stop.”
The fabric was soft against my thighs as he pushed it upward, his lips never leaving my skin, and I let my head hang back as his kisses moved closer and closer to where I needed him, where I was burning hot and soaking wet for his touch.
“God, Flora,” he breathed just before he reached the apex. My body was strung tight, my breathing shallow, and he’d barely touched me. “God, you don’t know how much I’ve thought about this.”
I think I have a pretty good idea, I thought, but that never made it into words: his mouth landed where I needed it at last, moving over the lacy underwear I wore, and I lost the ability to speak.
His hands gripped my thighs, spreading them wider as he kissed and licked over the thin lace of my panties, the dull warmth of his tongue quickly going fromoh yestonot enough. I lifted my hips, grinding against him in a not-so-subtle suggestion to ditch the undies, and he kissed my inner thigh before appearing between my legs, smirking.
“The rule, sweetheart. You remember?”
My breath left me in a rush.Of course I remembered.It was all I had been thinking of for weeks.
“Yes,” I managed.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Please,” I said, “I want more.”
He waited.
“Take my underwear off,” I said. “I want to feel you.”
“That’s right,” he said. “You do remember.”
Tell me what you want,he’d said that night after the book launch.Anything,anythingyou want, sweetheart, but I want to hear you say it.
He raised my hips again, nudging my knees just close enough to skim my sodden panties down over them and around my ankles. He tugged them past my feet and spread my legs wide to him again. It was embarrassing to see him staring at my most intimate parts, but the greed in his eyes made my blood burn not with shame but with desire.
When he bent his head to me again, it was without any obstruction. I gasped out a “yes, there,” as he swirled his tongue around my clit, teasing me with the pointed tip before plunging it into me. He withdrew, laving over me in broad strokes, changing it up just as I was acclimating to one feeling, keeping me wanting, wanting,wanting–
“More,” I said, “please,” and one hand left my thigh, fingers sliding through the wetness of his mouth and my desire before sinking into me, fingertips quickly finding just the right spot, stroking over it until I thought I might–