She let out a deep breath, then turned to face me. Her arms went up and wrapped around my neck. Those beautiful blue eyes of her locked on mine. “I’ll forgive you on one condition,” she said softly.
“OK,” I said. I’d give her f**king anything.
“I want to be with you tonight. No more flirting. No more waiting.”
Not what I had been expecting, but yes. That was what I wanted. “Hell, yes,” I said, and pulled her up against me so I could soak her in. This was it for me.
Blaire was going to be mine after this. I would fight hell for her if I had to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Kissing had never been my thing. It was something I rarely did. But knowing how pure Blaire’s mouth was and how f**king amazing she tasted made me go a little crazy when my lips touched hers. I couldn’t get enough of her.
I cupped her face and devoured her. My head was screaming at me to slow down. Not to scare her or push her too fast, but God, I couldn’t make my mouth listen. The Corona on her tongue as I slid mine over hers made me hungrier. The taste of beer and lime on Blaire seemed wicked. When she felt the barbell in my tongue, she pulled at the hair at the back of my head and let out a moan.
Fuck, I had to slow this down. I couldn’t take her against the sink. She needed a bed and a lot of foreplay. I didn’t want to hurt her. Never wanted to hurt her. I pulled away from her lips a fraction. I liked feeling her warm breath on my face. “Come with me upstairs. I want to show you my room.” A grin tugged at my lips. “And my bed,” I added.
She nodded, and that’s all I needed. Letting go of her face, I reached for her hand. I was taking her upstairs. There were no rules where Blaire was concerned. She was on a higher plane, above any rules I had when it came to women. I just wanted her.
Pulling her by the hand in my excitement to get back to kissing those lips of hers, I led her up the stairs. Glancing back at her as we reached the second floor, I saw the flush in her cheeks, and I broke. Just one taste, I told myself, then pressed her up against the nearest wall and nibbled her bottom lip before licking it and claiming her mouth again.
She melted into me easily, and I was almost sure I could make it good for her right here. I could get on my knees and kiss between her legs until she screamed my name. But no. No. We were doing this in my bed.
I tore myself away from her and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. “One more flight of stairs,” I said, more for myself than for her. Then I took her hand and led her down the hall to the door leading up to my room. I pulled the key out of my pocket. I never left my room unlocked. I liked keeping it private. Knowing no one could go in there unless I wanted them there.
The door swung open, and I stepped back and motioned for Blaire to go on in. The desire to see her in my room around my things and to share it all with her was almost as powerful as my desire to see her on my bed. Naked.
She stopped when she reached the top step and gasped. The view over the water from the floor-to-ceiling windows was what I had fallen in love with as a child.
“This room is why I had my mom buy this house. Even at ten years old, I knew this room was special,” I told her, wrapping my arms around her. I loved that she could see this. That it affected her, too.
“It’s incredible,” she said, with awe in her voice. It was incredible. But having her here with me made it so much more amazing.
“I called my dad that day and told him I’d found a house I wanted to live in. He wired my mother the money, and she bought it. She loved the location, so this is the house we’ve spent our summers in. She has a house of her own in Atlanta, but she prefers it here.”
“I’d never want to leave,” she said.
Smiling, I kissed the soft skin of her ear then whispered, “Ah, but you haven’t seen my cabin in Vail or my flat in Manhattan.” But she would. I wanted to see her there, too.
Sharing my personal life and space with people was something I had always hated and refused to do. But with Blaire, I craved having her be a part of it. Even if all I could do was hold her, I wanted her here tonight.
I turned her toward the king-size bed that sat to the right and covered most of that far wall. “And that’s my bed,” I told her, as I held her hips and moved us toward the bed. I could feel Blaire tense. She was nervous. Talking about it and actually standing here in my room, looking at my bed, were two different things. I wanted her more than I wanted my next breath, but I wouldn’t force her. “Blaire, even if all we do is kiss or just lie here and talk, I’m OK with that. I just wanted you up here. Close to me.”
She turned back to look at me. “You don’t mean that. I’ve seen you in action, Rush Finlay. You don’t bring girls to your room and expect to just talk.” Her attempt to sound teasing failed. The uncertainty in her voice sliced through me. She had come up here with me thinking she was just another one of those girls I f**ked and sent home? Shit. How could I get it through to her that this thing with her was more? So much more. That she meant more.
“I don’t bring girls up here at all, Blaire.”
“The first night I came here, you said your bed was full,” she said, frowning at me as if she had caught me in a lie. Damn, she was cute.
“Yeah, because I was sleeping in it. I don’t bring girls to my bedroom. I don’t want meaningless sex tainting this space. I love it here,” I told her honestly. But I’d brought her here. Didn’t she understand what that meant?
“The next morning, a girl was still here. You’d left her in bed, and she came looking for you in her undies,” she said with a tight voice.
Crazy girl. She had no f**king idea what she did to me. Needing to touch her, I slipped my hand under her shirt and caressed the soft skin there. Her small shiver made me smile. “The first room to the right was Grant’s room until our parents divorced. I use it as my bachelor-pad room now. That’s where I take girls. Not here. Never here. You’re my first. Well, I let Henrietta come up here once a week to clean, but I promise there is no hanky-panky going on between us,” I explained, as I grinned down at her.
“Kiss me, please,” she said, then grabbed my shoulders and leaned up to press her mouth against mine without waiting for me to respond.
That had to be the sweetest thing I’d ever heard. Kiss me, please. Fuck, this girl was gonna ruin me. I wanted her to belong to me. Her body to know only me. Completely.