all of us how to ride.”
Savannah paused, looking over at him. “Ride? Ride what?”
He winked at her. “Horses. We have a stable filled with horses. I’ll teach you.”
“Oh no! I’m perfectly fine using my own two feet to get around. I don’t need a horse! Thank you though.”
He looked at her curiously. “Have you ever ridden a horse?’
She shook her head, lifting her hands into the air. “Nope! And see how healthy I am?” she teased. “Turns out that not climbing on top of a massive animal didn’t hurt my progression from childhood to adulthood at all! So no, I won’t be learning to ride.”
“It’s an awesome experience,” he argued.
She stabbed another bite of her chicken. “I’m sure it is, but I’ll trust you on that subject. What about your siblings? What do they do?”
Gaelen was reluctant to share details about his family’s business – that of running Izara. For some reason, Savannah was painfully aware of the differences in their economic status, so he didn’t want to place another psychological obstacle in the path of their relationship. But he didn’t want to lie to her either.
“My older brother is a leader. He’s annoying as hell a lot of the time, but I take him out often enough on the mats to keep him humble. My younger brother, Tarin, is a sort of infrastructure architect. He oversees road construction and bridges, public buildings. My sister oversees public services and is invested in engaging kids in schools and activities. She’s pretty passionate about her efforts, nagging my older brother to help finance her efforts.”
Savannah smiled at the idea. “That sounds lovely. Your family seems pretty ambitious.” Her eyes lowered and she toyed with the food on her plate. Finally, she set her fork down and folded her hands under the table. “What do you see in me, Gaelen? I’m not that ambitious. I just want to decorate rooms and make them pretty.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then stood, offering her a hand. “Let’s go,” and he stood up, taking her hand.
Savannah resisted, glancing back at the table. “Don’t we need to pay the check?”
He shook his head. “It’s taken care of,” he promised her.
Ten minutes later, he pulled her into the penthouse suite of the hotel and spun her around, walking her backwards towards his bedroom.
“What are you doing?”
He glared at her. “You don’t believe you’re beautiful and that’s a shame, Savannah. And what’s worse, you don’t believe you’re worthy of a man’s attention. I’m going to change that. Tonight, I’m going to convince you that you’re beautiful and worthy. I’m going to show you just how damn beautiful and worthy you are.”
And with that statement hanging in the air between them, he kissed her, backing her up towards his bed.
For a long moment, Savannah was stunned, not by his kiss, but by his words and intentions. Show her she was worthy? Of course she knew that she was worthy. What was he talking about? And more importantly, what was he doing?
A moment later, the questions inside her head stopped. “Yes!” she hissed when his hands cupped her breasts. She could feel the heat of his hands even through her bra and her dress.
“I love kissing you, Savannah. You have an incredibly sexy mouth.”
She moaned as his thumb rubbed against her nipple, leaving her weak in the knees.
“And your breasts are the perfect size for my hands.”
She whimpered when his hands moved away from her breasts. She reached up, intending to pull his hands back, but she could only wrap her fingers around his wrists since his fingers were busy releasing the buttons of her dress. A moment later, her dress was gone, sliding to her feet with a whisper of sound. Then his hands moved back to her breasts, cupping their weight while his thumbs stroked over the taut tips, back and forth, back and forth and it felt so damn good!
“I want to see the color of your nipples,” he said, then his hands were gone. She arched her back at the feeling of his strong fingers releasing her bra clasp. It had been a really long time since any man had seen her breasts.
Suddenly, she was shy and her arms whipped up to hold her bra in place. Looking up into his eyes, she said, “I don’t want to be the only one naked in this situation.”
Immediately, while keeping his eyes on hers, he quickly released the buttons on his shirt. She had no idea