flowers he’d bought on the way over weren’t too much. He’d seen the dark pink calla lilies, and for some reason they reminded him of Jodie—the color of her lips—and he couldn’t resist the romantic gesture.
When the door opened, he almost dropped them.
She wasn’t dressed for dinner. She was dressed for sex.
“Hey,” she said with a smile. “I thought we might stay in tonight. Order something from takeout.”
He didn’t have words to reply, his brain fried as he took in the sleek swath of scarlet satin that hung over her slim form from two thin spaghetti straps, one fallen loose over her arm.
She’d put her dark hair up in a haphazard fashion that begged someone to pull out the pin and let it loose.
“These are for you,” he said, his eyes finding their way back up to meet hers after noting the way the satin clung to her hips and teased the tips of what could only be bare breasts underneath the material.
“They’re pretty,” she commented, though she didn’t look anywhere but at him. “Come on in. If you still want to go out, I could put something on.”
“No,” he said, maybe a tad too quickly, pulling at his collar. He was overly warm, and he kept his eyes on her face so that he could try to control what was happening in his pants. She was so beautiful, wearing a slight bit of cosmetics that made her blue eyes smoky and her lips shine.
“You look incredible,” he said.
She smiled, looking him over, appreciation shining in her eyes. “You, too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dressed up before. You clean up good, Ellison. I like the new hair, too. How long have you worn contacts?”
He smiled. “It’s Donna’s influence. She’s been nagging me for a long time to change my image, and I guess it was just…time.”
For you, he added silently.
“She has great taste.”
He laughed. “Yeah, she did a good job spending my money.”
Jodie laughed, and he knew he’d heard her laugh a million times before, but this time it was like a touch, and his cock jerked in response.
He took off his jacket, warm and feeling overdressed, considering she was next to nude in that gown.
“So…what do you feel like?”
She quirked an eyebrow at him, her lips parting suggestively.
“I mean, for dinner. I can call in an order,” Dan clarified.
His mouth was dry and in one gulp he downed the glass of wine she gave him. Now that she was closer, he saw the pink tint in her skin, the telltale flush around her throat and the darkening of her eyes that only meant one thing—the cologne’s effect had not yet diminished.
“I’m not too hungry just yet. Maybe…later.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Later?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She smiled, stepping up close. “You know. After.”
Her scent overcame him and he was now fully hard, his heart slamming in his chest. His brain was at the mercy of his body. He knew he was supposed to be resisting, taking control and making sure nothing happened, since it was simply the cologne she was responding to.
He’d forgotten about the strength of his own needs, his own response to her. That was harder to control, seemingly impossible at the moment, though he tried.
“That’s not what I came here for, Jodie. I wanted to have dinner with you, and…”
“And?” she asked, leaning in to brush her lips over his.
Hot damn.
“I don’t know. There’s something we should do, or talk about, or something, but I can’t seem to remember,” he said roughly. Feeling like an actor from an old movie, he pulled her up close to him and crushed his mouth to hers in a kiss that let loose all the pent-up feelings, fantasies and desires he’d kept tightly contained for so long.
“You feel so good,” he muttered against her mouth, his mind a haze of lust, his body leading the way. Sliding his hands over the silky slope of her back, he closed his palms gently over the curves of her backside and pressed her in against him, swallowing her gasp in another kiss.
He could feel the points of her breasts poking into his shirt. He broke the kiss to bend and suck one delicate nub through the material, rewarded as she shuddered, her hands digging into his shoulders.
“Dan,” she breathed, then moaned, as he sucked a little harder.
Down on his knees now, he brought his hands to her delicate ankles, looking up at her.
“You’re perfect, you know that?”
She shook her head and tried to step