a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Like this?”
“More,” he growled, his hands spanning her waist.
With a whisper of contact, she moved her mouth from one corner to the other. “Like this?”
“More.” His fingers tensed around her waist.
“Show me,” she commanded into his ear.
He moved so fast that she gasped against his lips as they crushed against hers. His kiss wasn’t gentle or teasing. It was Colin’s desire bared raw. Their teeth clacked as his tongue danced with hers, demanding that she match his passion. She had zero problem with that. His hands traveled to her hair and made quick work of undoing her bun. When her hair was free, he tangled his fingers into the long strands and tilted her head to expose the column of her neck.
His hot breath and wet lips drew a line down to her collarbone and the hollow at her throat. He licked and blew into the sensitive spot, and she moaned helplessly.
“Colin.”
He hastily captured her lips again as though to swallow her small sounds of pleasure, his name on her lips. She scooted farther back into the sofa and lay down, pulling Colin on top of her. When all of him covered all of her, he groaned his approval.
She wanted him naked. She wanted him to fill her. She whimpered and writhed under him when his thumb brushed the tip of her aching breast. He pushed up her shirt and her bra, exposing the hard tip, and sucked it into his mouth. She nearly screamed and knew she was close to losing all control.
“Wait,” Jihae gasped, pushing against his shoulders.
“Wait?” Colin immediately raised his head and looked her in the eyes with heavily hooded lids. Gah. Sexiest bedroom eyes ever. She almost pulled him back against her breasts, but she took a deep breath instead. Or at least she tried.
“Yes, wait. Please,” she said, barely managing to get the words out.
She was so turned on, and so was he. Colin sat up on the couch and pulled her onto his lap as though he couldn’t quite break contact with her. He smoothed her hair out of her face and said, “Tell me. What is it?”
“You and I... We’re both doing this against our better judgment. True?”
“True,” he replied with a bemused curl of his lips. Then he kissed her temple with such tenderness she wanted to melt against him. “Continue.”
“To ensure we don’t regret this, I think we should set some ground rules.” When Colin nodded for her to continue, Jihae placed a kiss on his jaw. “Rule One, this—us... We have to be discreet. I don’t want this to affect our professional reputation in any way. And I absolutely don’t want my father to find out. This has to stay between us, and us alone. Okay?”
“Okay.”
His eyes had turned watchful at the mention of her father, and she cringed in embarrassment. Bringing up her father while warm and horny in Colin’s arms was not the sexiest of maneuvers.
“Rule Two, no matter where this leads, I want us to finish our project together. I won’t sacrifice Best Placed Bets for anything.”
“Agreed.”
“Rule Three, no promises. I want us to take this one day at a time. Let’s just be two adults, enjoying each other.”
Jihae knew herself. What she felt for Colin wasn’t commonplace. Not for her. If she slept with him, she might give too much of herself to him. She couldn’t allow that to happen. She wasn’t even in the States permanently. Once their project was finished and her father summoned her home, she would have no choice but to return to Korea. To return to her family and her duties.
“No promises,” Colin said solemnly while he quietly searched her face. Afraid of revealing her vulnerabilities to him—and how much she wanted promises—she buried her face against his neck. “May I add something?”
Surprised, she pulled away to look at him again. “Of course.”
“While we take this day by day, I want all of you for every day we have together. I don’t like to share.”
She sucked in a sharp breath at the possessive note in his voice and nodded rapidly. “Okay. And same goes for you.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. You will have my complete and undivided attention while we’re together. There won’t be room for anyone or anything else.”
Hot damn. She wanted to fan herself. He said “complete and undivided attention” with such intensity, she could only imagine what making love to him would be like. But ironing out the