Where else am I going to find someone to worship and adore this ass?” She flashed him a cheeky grin and then sobered. She held her hand out to him, palm up. “I’m standing here emotionally naked, Simon. Climb out on this ledge with me.”
She was wearing him down, making him believe. There really was something akin to magic about her, because he found himself believing. Teetering on the brink of being convinced that she just might love him, warts and all. She’d gone into the dark with him, only needing him to hold her hand. And now she offered the same in return. He felt the dark emptiness inside him, that always seemed to hover at the periphery of his soul, slip away.
He placed his hand in hers and brought their clasped hands to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her hand. “You really do love me, don’t you?” He didn’t attempt to mask the wonderment in his voice.
She smiled as if he’d handed her the moon, and he was humbled that he had the capability to do so. “Hello. That’s what I’ve been saying. You know, you have an attention problem.”
He eased onto the sofa and she scooted onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Simon clasped her head in his hand.
“I love you,” he said and kissed her, a tender promise. “I love you,” he said again. It had a nice ring and it didn’t sound nearly as frightening as he’d anticipated. He kissed her again, liking the pattern he had going. Except this time he kissed her longer, harder, deeper, mating his tongue with hers.
They came up for air and she wiggled her delightful bottom against his erection. She had him hot and hard with just a kiss. And before he totally abandoned himself to pleasure, he wanted an answer to something that had earlier seemed unimportant.
“Luv, I’ve got a question.”
“Just for the record, I like that luv business. It makes me hot. Now ask away.”
“Where did you get the photograph?”
“Elliott gave it to me.” She nuzzled his neck. “You should check out my undies—I think you’ll find them...interesting.”
He slid his hand beneath her dress—“Elliott took that photo?”—past her thighs, anticipating a thong or sexy lace. Instead his fingers encountered hot, slick flesh surrounded by lace. Heat surged through him. “Oh, luv, these are very interesting.” He traced the outline of her wet lips, bared by the lacy opening, with one finger.
“Crotchless. I came armed for heavy-duty battle.” She smiled and teased the tip of her tongue against her lower lip. “It’s Richard’s picture.”
He tugged her dress up past her thighs, exposing a pair of black crotchless panties and her wet folds. “So Elliott ratted me out.”
She laughed and spread her legs. “Yes. It was Elliott.”
Simon slid a finger into her silky channel and she moaned deep in her throat, turning him on even more.
“I love it when you make those sounds. It makes my cock hard.”
“And I love it when you talk like that and touch me that way. It makes me wet. But you know that firsthand.”
Yes. He knew that intimately, arousingly. “Remind me to thank Elliott later. Much later. Next week perhaps. Right now I’ve got a promise to keep.”
Epilogue
A year later
“NERVOUS?” SIMON ASKED, taking her hand in his.
Tawny looked out from their vantage point in Elliott’s office at the guests milling about the gallery. Everything was in place. Music. Caterer. Guests.
“A little. I’ve never planned a wedding before. Even an unofficial one. Why? Are you nervous?”
He rimmed his finger beneath the neck of his tuxedo shirt. “I’m not so fond of the bloody monkey suit and I’d prefer not to stand in front of a crowd, but overall I’m fine.”
She eyed him from head to toe, flirting with him. “You clean up very nicely.” And that was a gross understatement. He was mouthwateringly yummy in the formal black tie and tails. “I might have to get you into a tux more often.”
His look sizzled over her, setting her hormones into a frenzy. Of course, with Simon it didn’t take much to stir her up. “I’d rather you concentrate on getting me out of the tux.”
“That can be arranged later. Do you think your parents will come?” she asked.
Simon shrugged with studied nonchalance. “I expect they might.”
He still tensed, still had a stiffness about him whenever Letitia or Charles was mentioned. But he and they had made progress, albeit baby steps, in the past year.
“I think they genuinely regret your