hard length of his erection press against her lower belly.
“I can’t believe how good you feel,” he murmured against her lips, his fingers rolling her nipples, sending shock waves of pleasure between her legs. “I’d forgotten what you taste like.”
She struggled against him, finally freed her arms and yanked the shirt from the waistband of his slacks. She needed to touch, wanted that sizzle of skin against skin.
“More,” she said against his lips, kissing him again and again. Common sense fled. Fire raced along her skin when he lifted her leg around his hip, when his hands hiked up her skirt, when his fingers brushed her mound.
Not enough. She had to have skin, needed heat.
He was wearing too many clothes. Dammit, she couldn’t get at him fast enough. She fumbled with his belt, then the button on his slacks while his mouth ravaged hers again. He stroked his fingers across her panties. His hips pressed into hers, his cock hard and pulsing against her. A promise of everything she wanted and needed and hadn’t realized she’d craved.
An irritating pounding sounded somewhere close.
She lifted her leg higher, rubbed against him. Moaned when tingles spread through her lower body.
“Kate?” Simone’s muffled voice echoed through the room. “Mitch is here with your parents. Is everything okay?”
No, dammit. Definitely not okay. Go away.
“Ignore her,” Ryan mumbled, kissing her jaw, her ear, her throat as he slid his fingers beneath the edge of her panties, so close to her heat.
“Kate?” Simone knocked again.
Dammit.
Kate’s head rolled back and hit the wall. Ryan’s hand stilled and his lips hovered against her neck. Long seconds passed in silence, then he dropped his face against her shoulder and let go of her leg, bracing his hands on the wall behind her.
She didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to face reality. She trailed her fingers through his silky hair, trying to hang on to the moment.
“Kate?” Simone knocked once more.
“Answer her,” Ryan murmured.
Kate swallowed, struggling to breathe. “Yeah, I…I’ll be right out.”
“Okay,” Simone said.
“Jesus,” Ryan said. “I feel like I’m twenty-two again and your parents just walked in on us.”
“Did that happen?”
“More than once.”
“Oh, great. Now I’m going to have that in my mind when I meet them.”
His lips were but a breath from her skin, and as she felt his chest vibrate, she realized he was chuckling. It was a good feeling. A warm feeling. An I-didn’t-expect-this-but-I-only-want-more-of-it feeling.
But he pushed himself away before she could have more. And in his absence, her skin chilled with the reality of what they’d just done.
“Ryan.”
He stopped halfway to the bathroom, held his hands out to show her he wasn’t nearly as under control as he needed to be either. “I don’t think your parents need to see me like this.”
If his features hadn’t been cool and guarded once more, she might have laughed. Instead, her eyes slid shut as he closed the bathroom door. The room was suddenly too big, her skin too cold, and he’d just pulled up those damn walls again.
Had she really almost slept with Ryan Harrison after the way he’d just treated her? She cringed. No, sleeping with him implied something a bit more tender, a tad more intimate. What she’d almost done was let him screw her against the wall while his employees waited for him in the other room.
Way to go, Kate. So much for that resolve not to get sucked into combustible chemistry.
Considering her purse was out in the living room, she did the best she could with her appearance. She finger-combed her hair and wiped away her streaked makeup, then re-buttoned her shirt. Smoothing out her skirt, she checked her reflection one last time.
Her hair was one big tangled mess. Her lipstick was gone, and she had a sinking suspicion Simone would take one look at her and know exactly what had been going on in the bedroom while she and the other lawyers waited on the opposite side of the door.
Was she a complete moron?
Oh, yeah. It appeared so.
She ran her hands across her face, wished it would wipe away her stupidity. Unfortunately for her, it did nothing but remind her how sensitive her skin still was from Ryan’s mouth. She was fully aware of his reputation as a womanizer and a heartless bastard. And hadn’t he just proved it to her?
She smoothed out her hair one last time and lifted her chin. The key word in all of that was almost. Now that she was in control again, she could