Easy This Time - JH Croix Page 0,34

bad?” he murmured. He kept his hand on my hip as he angled to face me.

My pulse leapt, and I felt a bead of sweat roll down between my breasts. “I mean, not necessarily. But—”

My words were cut off abruptly when Nash leaned down and brushed his lips across mine. He lingered for a moment before nipping lightly on my bottom lip and straightening. “It’s hot. Let’s go.”

Oh, it was hot all right, but it wasn’t just the Louisiana heat. Nash had personally incinerated my defenses and lit hundreds of tiny fires inside me.

It was easier to go along than to try to make sense of any of this. As he turned, his hand slid off my waist to catch mine.

I asked, “What now?”

“I thought I would take you for a drive so you can see the countryside, and then take you to dinner in the French Quarter.”

Chapter 15

Nash

Mari sat beside me, laughing at something Johnny said. The jazz band served as our background music. The noises from the crowd filling the small restaurant and bar hummed around us.

All the while, I was just trying to get a grip. Today had been a unique form of torture for me. Playing tour guide for Mari was testing my willpower and discipline.

When I told her I wanted to bring her down for dinner at Johnny’s Bar, she’d insisted she needed to change first. It didn’t seem to matter what Mari wore as far as my body was concerned. Yet, she’d taken things up a notch tonight.

An unsuspecting fool, I’d stopped in at the office to check in with Lydia while Mari went upstairs to change. When Mari came back downstairs, I choked on a swallow of coffee, which got me a sly grin from Lydia. She wore a flirty skirt that twirled at her knees and a silky blouse with low-heeled sandals.

Johnny was drawn away to help another customer, and Mari spun on her stool to face me. She was still smiling, and her cheeks were flushed. “I’m so glad I stayed,” she announced.

“Yeah?”

“Yes, and thanks to you, I’m getting the best of New Orleans. Brunch this morning was divine. Even though I’m still a little mortified about your parents, that spot by the river was beautiful and made it worth the embarrassment. Everywhere else you took me today was spectaular, and now we’re here for dinner.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “If you didn’t notice, I do love good food.”

“I might’ve noticed that,” I murmured. “Glad to be of service.”

Mari’s blouse wasn’t fitted, but the slip and slide of the silk when she moved to lift her margarita gave me a tease of her cleavage. I’d been hard for most of the night since we’d arrived. The place was crowded, so we’d eaten right here at the bar, sharing oysters.

My eyes tracked her motion when she tilted her chin back. I wanted to lean forward and drag my tongue along the side of her neck. Tearing my gaze away, my eyes landed on the silky skin of her thigh. Fuck me. There was nowhere safe to look. Her skirt had ridden up to rest halfway up her thighs where she sat on the stool.

Before I thought about it, I was reaching to tug her stool a little closer to mine. She lowered her drink, setting the glass on the bar. When her eyes met mine, her pupils were dilated—the blue was dark in the dim lighting of the bar.

It was crowded here, yet we were tucked in the corner, right against the wall. I watched her with my heart drumming hard and fast, and my cock swelling. I wanted her. Hell, I was near to desperation from the fierce need.

In a hot second, Mari’s plush lips were inches from mine, and her tongue swiped out to dab in one corner. Not thinking had me dipping my head and brushing my lips across hers before dusting kisses down her neck. The sound of her breath catching in her throat and a soft little gasp escaping was like a sharp spur driving in the flanks of my desire.

“Nash!” she gasped again when I nipped lightly at her ear lobe.

“Hmm?” I murmured against her skin as I slid a palm up her silky thigh.

“There are people everywhere,” she whispered when I lifted my head to look into her eyes.

“We’re just kissing.”

When I teased my fingers over the silk between her thighs, she bit her lip and shook her head slightly. “It’s not