about day in and day out? Why should I care about keeping my life on a perfectly straight course when it kept throwing wild curves at me?
Instead of giving him an answer, I stepped closer, wrapped my hands around his neck, and kissed him. Hard. I tilted my head and bit down on his bottom lip. He wrapped his arms around my biceps and held me against him. His tongue slipped into my mouth and I moaned, pressing even closer to him. I could feel his heart beating in time with mine. This was it. I was getting in that cab and I’d find out if Julian Lefray was worth the days and days of agonizing over him.
“Are you two getting in or what?” the cabbie asked.
I pulled back, out of Julian’s reach, and pressed the back of my hand to my lips. Julian smiled apologetically at the driver as he ushered me into the back seat. He held my hand, assisting me as I slid to the opposite side and watched him slide in after me. The scent of his cologne swept in alongside him and I had to grip my hands together in my lap to keep from mauling him.
My dress rode high on my thighs, just inches away from revealing too much. Julian directed the driver toward his hotel and I skimmed my finger along the hem, wondering just how long we were going to have to contain ourselves in the back of the cab.
Then again, why did we have to contain ourselves?
I didn’t want to stop. Who knew how long it’d take us to get to his hotel. I’d just had the best kiss of my life and I wanted more. I knew we couldn’t have sex in the back of the cab, but the driver was more than occupied with his eyes on the road. Short of slipping off my dress, I knew he wouldn’t notice what we were doing. I could tease Julian a bit, just enough to drive him mad.
As soon as we pulled out into traffic, I dropped my hand to Julian’s knee.
He shifted an inch closer and met my eye. He didn’t speak, but the question lay in his eyes all the same.
What do you think you’re doing?
I smirked and let my hand drift higher.
He gripped my wrist to stop me, but I pushed on, dragging my nails along the inseam of his suit pants.
“Have a fun night?” the cabbie asked.
Julian cleared his throat and nodded.
I smiled and inched farther up his leg. I couldn’t unzip his pants—it’d be too loud—but I could drive him crazy through the thin material just fine.
“What was your favorite part?” I asked, wanting to hear the lust in his voice again.
He slid his gaze to me and narrowed his eyes. His grip on my wrist lessened, but I could still feel my pulse against the pads of his fingers. It was my tell. Each thump let him know just how much I was craving him. My heart rate was frenzied because of him.
“I don’t think it’s happened yet actually,” Julian replied, watching me with interest.
“Oh, is there another party or something?” the cabbie asked.
I laughed and skimmed my hand an inch higher.
“Something like that,” Julian said, clamping down on my wrist as soon as I met my goal. I smiled. He was just as hard as I’d been anticipating, but I couldn’t move my hand with him gripping my wrist as tightly as he was. I jutted out my bottom lip. Bastard.
“Is this all right?” the cabbie asked.
I glanced outside and realized we were already at Julian’s hotel. I wasn’t ready for the cab ride to be over; I wanted to keep teasing him. I wanted to drive him crazy with my hand so that he could repay the favor later.
Julian reached for his wallet to pay the cab fare, but he never loosened his grip on my wrist. Whether it was conscious or not, it felt like he was doing it so that I wouldn’t bolt at the last minute. We’d come to these crossroads before, but this time there’d be a different outcome.
There was no turning back now.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Julian
We were civilized as we walked through the lobby. I held her hand and we walked fast, keeping eye contact with the bank of elevators at the end of the lobby. The woman behind the front desk greeted us and I threw her a wave before picking up the pace.
I pressed the call button as