He winked, then picked up his duffel and hefted it over his shoulder. “I’m ready when you are.”
“No luggage?”
“This is it.”
She shrugged. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”
They walked through the airport and out to the parking lot where she’d left her car. She beeped the remote and the trunk popped open.
“Nice wheels,” he said of the Audi she’d purchased when Brad had threatened to sell the old clunker car she’d had since college.
She smiled. “Thanks.”
They climbed into her car, and she started up the engine. Decklan watched her in silence. He didn’t know what he’d expected when he arrived in D.C., but Amanda’s warm welcome was a solid start. That he’d managed to get her to let him come visit was a feat in and of itself, and he planned to take advantage of every minute they had together.
He glanced over at her. She wore a fitted skirt and short-sleeve blouse, with killer heels. As he’d come down the escalator and through the gate, he’d been unable to take his eyes off her long legs, and the way the skirt hugged her ass, it’d taken all his restraint not to cop a feel in public.
“Did you come straight from work?” he asked.
She nodded. “It was easy enough to leave to get you by three. Brad had someplace to be, and I’d already wrapped things up for the weekend.”
“Well, you look amazing.” He reached over and tugged at a strand of hair that had fallen out of her messy bun.
Her cheeks flushed a hot shade of pink. He was glad she reacted to him each and every time.
“How far are we from your place?”
“Not far.”
Sure enough, in a few minutes, she pulled into an apartment complex of low-rise units. A key card got them beyond a guardhouse.
“Good security,” he noted.
She nodded. “It makes me feel safe. I’m more used to this kind of living than Manhattan.”
“That’s why I like where I live. It’s not the city. I don’t know how Gabe and Isabelle do it.” He preferred grass and trees to sidewalks and crowds.
“To each his own, I guess.”
She parked in a numbered spot, then popped the trunk so he could retrieve his bag. In silence, they walked inside. Up till now, the conversation had been benign, but he sensed her wariness. He understood that her allowing him to visit was a big deal. He respected it. But he didn’t want distance between them. Not when just watching her made him hard. And as they walked up two flights instead of taking the elevator, he couldn’t tear his gaze from her curvy hips, her lush ass, or her sexy sway as she moved.
By the time he stepped into her place, he caught a light floral scent, saw the sunlight bounce off her hair from a row of windows, and he was done.
But when she turned to face him, her brown eyes were wide with a hint of uncertainty, something he didn’t want between them. They’d fallen into the dangerous waters of a relationship, and that scared her. She needed to feel safe with him again, and he knew just how to get her in the right frame of mind.
He dropped his bag and crooked a finger. A demand, not a question. She walked toward him in silence. Submission in the bedroom was something she understood. And craved. And that was what he could give her, at least until she dropped the rest of her walls and let him in completely.
His being here was progress. He needed to make more.
He toed off his sneakers and stepped toward her.
“Undress me,” he said.
Her eyes flashed with understanding and desire. A small grin lifting her lips, she raised his shirt, letting her soft hands touch his sides as she pulled the fabric up and over his head. Instead of tossing it to the floor, she folded it carefully and laid the tee shirt on a nearby table.
She glanced at his chest and met his gaze, a question in the chocolate depths. He nodded, and she placed both palms against the bared skin on his shoulders, searing him with her touch. Something he’d needed and denied himself for too long.
Slowly, she caressed him, making her way south. She outlined muscles he didn’t know he had. Then she paused to let her fingers play with his ni**les, teasing and tormenting him until his c**k was rigid against his jeans and he sucked in a sharp breath.