A Private Affair - A.C. Arthur Page 0,25
house.” He had to shake his head because the memory of Veronica’s redecoration of King Towers, as it would always be known to Chaz, was almost horrific.
“For the record, I’m not totally against fur,” she said after a quick drink.
“I’m not, either. But she definitely missed the ‘less is more’ lesson.”
Ahh, there was that smile.
“You are not wrong about that,” she replied with a chuckle.
The server brought their food and conversation died for a few minutes. The steak was phenomenal, and when he looked up in between bites, he realized the company was exactly what he needed.
“I’ve been inundated with meetings,” he said between bites. “Juggling the design work with the new app I’m launching is more tiring than I thought it would be.”
She dabbed the napkin to her lips. “An app? I thought you owned a social network site.”
“That’s where I started but Conversation Media’s sort of morphed into a few other directions. ChatMe is our new subscription-based platform and it’s launching in three weeks.”
“Is this one for singles, too? How many dating sites does the world need?”
Chaz could have taken offense but he was growing accustomed to Riley’s biting candor. There seemed to be absolutely no animosity in her words, just simple statements that meant what they meant.
“This project is geared toward millennials, and no, it’s not specifically for dating. But let’s not talk about that.” He knew the moment the words were out she detested them.
“Let’s not.” She picked up her knife and fork, cut a piece of steak and slowly put it into her mouth.
He watched her lips moving and instantly thought of when they’d been wrapped around his dick. He dropped his hands to his lap and kept his gaze focused on her.
“What?” she asked when she finished chewing.
He shrugged. “Never thought the sight of a woman eating could be so sexy until now.”
She looked like she was going to discontinue the meal but then shrugged just as he had, before cutting another piece of steak and putting it into her mouth. She liked him watching her. Her fingers shook slightly as she held the fork and guided it to her mouth. At the same time, color darker than the blush she wore fused her cheeks. He hadn’t planned on this but he couldn’t help it—his dick had grown so hard in the last few seconds, pressing firmly against his zipper, Chaz had no choice but to move his hand to cup the bulge.
She finished that bite and licked her lips. He resisted the urge to groan. He desperately wanted to release his painfully hard erection and beckon her to wrap her mouth around him one more time.
“Your food is going to get cold.” She lifted her glass to her lips and treated him to another peek of her tongue just before the deep red wine slid smoothly into her mouth.
“I’m no longer hungry for food.” It was an honest reply, one that was hitting him with more force than he’d considered. Each time he’d thought of her this past week he’d recalled their time together in Milan, the sex and the talking. Tonight he’d craved both but had no idea the physical could be so jolting or encompassing.
“But wasn’t that what this was about?” She cut a strip of asparagus into three pieces and speared one piece with her fork.
Chaz’s gaze had gone to her plate, anticipation beating with his heart as he waited to watch the food go into the warm cavern he wanted so desperately to slip his dick inside.
“This is about so much more,” he admitted.
* * *
This was insane.
And empowering.
Riley walked into her penthouse with Chaz a few steps behind. She dropped her keys and purse on the table a couple feet inside the foyer and reached for the buttons of her coat. His hands were there immediately, coming around her to pull the coat from her shoulders.
“The closet is over there,” she said with a nod to the left.
She moved deeper into the apartment, hearing him opening the closet door and envisioning him hanging her coat and then his own. Her heels clicked on the glossed wood floors and she went to her pale gray sectional to take a seat at the far end. She picked up the remote from the glass end table beside the couch and touched the button that would activate the window blinds. A low hum echoed off the twenty-foot ceilings as black custom-fit blinds came down over the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“You buy the penthouse with