attraction goes both ways. I could feel her response when I kissed her, could see the rapid beating of the pulse in her neck when I laid my hand on her knee.
She wants me.
She needs this as much as I do.
Holding her gaze, I cross the room and stop in front of her. My dick is painfully hard, but my movements are carefully restrained as I take the bowl from her shaking hands and set it on the nightstand next to our cups of coffee. Then I clasp her small hands and pull her toward me.
She stares up at me, her eyes wide and her breathing fast and shallow.
Beautiful.
She’s so fucking beautiful.
Her lightly freckled skin is so delicate it’s almost translucent, the flush of arousal painting her cheeks with a warm peachy glow. Her rosebud lips are parted, revealing small white teeth, and her curls are like spirals of fire around her pretty, softly rounded face.
Everything about her is soft and pretty, as delicious as that spoonful of ice cream I just had.
Placing one hand on her waist, I curve my other palm around the side of her face and dip my head, about to kiss her, when another loud meow interrupts the silence.
Oh, for fuck’s sake… I cut my eyes to the side and glower at the big cat, who’s emerged from under the bed and is sitting on his furry butt, bushy tail swishing from side to side as he stares up at me with slitted green eyes.
I turn my attention back to Emma, determined to ignore the cockblocking beast, but she’s already stepping out of my hold, looking uncomfortable.
This won’t do.
This won’t do at all.
I catch her hands before she can back away. “Come to my place.” It’s an order, not a request, but I can’t help it. I’ve never wanted a woman this much, have never felt as out of control as I do now. It’s impossible to be suave and seductive with the violent hunger beating at me, demanding that I take her, that I do whatever it takes to make her mine.
If these were more primitive times, I’d have already thrown her over my shoulder and carried her off to my cave.
Her gray eyes round with shock. “To… to your place?”
“Yes.” I hold her gaze, not bothering to hide the dark lust coiling within me. “To my place. Now.”
There’s a better way to do this, I know. I could take her out for a drink; then, once we’re both pleasantly buzzed, I could offer to show her the rare book collection in my penthouse. We’d both know what would really happen once we got there, but we wouldn’t need to discuss it. She could pretend that she’s just going to see some books, and it would all be nice and civilized, properly romantic.
Except I’m not capable of being civilized right now. All my social graces seem to have deserted me again, the veneer of civilization disappearing. For whatever reason, I can’t play these games with Emma, can’t be smooth and urbane like I am with other women.
With her, I’m driven by pure instinct, and that instinct demands I get her into my bed right fucking now.
Her little tongue darts out to wet her lips, and I almost groan at the temptation. “What about—” She swallows visibly. “What about Emmeline?”
Fuck. “What about her?” I growl, pulling her closer. “I told you there are no commitments between us.” And there won’t be—not until I get Emma out of my system.
I’m not the kind of man who cheats.
“But you still… want to date her, right?” Her voice is breathless as her lower body molds against mine, and my erection presses into her soft belly. “So you could maybe marry her?”
“That’s a big maybe,” I mutter, and unable to resist a second longer, I grip her face between my palms and bend my head to kiss her.
Her lips are as soft as the first time I tasted them, soft and plush and so fucking sweet that all blood leaves my brain and surges directly to my cock. Distantly, I hear another meow, but I no longer give a fuck about the cat—or Emmeline and my lifelong ambitions. All my senses are filled with Emma… with the wet, heated slide of her tongue against mine and the faint smell of caramel on her breath, with the way her soft curves feel against me and how her hands clutch at my sides as I maneuver her toward her bed.
Fuck going