First, Jack took off the jacket of his suit, exposing his gun harness. He quickly removed that as well and set it on the desk. His hands moved to his tie. He loosened the knot and pulled it off, and Cameron had to fight the urge to storm over and yank the rest of his clothes off him.
There was a glint in his eyes as he made no move to undress further. “Sorry, but this is the twenty-first century version.”
“What happens in the twenty-first century version?”
“You lose the dress.”
Well, then.
“There’s not much underneath,” she said. She’d had little choice with the way the dress was cut.
“I’m counting on that.”
Cameron reached for the zipper that ran along one side and inched it down. Without dropping Jack’s gaze, she then untied the halter around her neck. The dress fell in a pool at her feet. She faced him wearing nothing but her black silk thong panties.
And of course, her high heels.
Her nipples tightened in the cool air of the hotel room. Or maybe it was just Jack’s look.
Lust clouded his eyes as he took in every inch of her, and she had never felt more sexy—and bold—than she did right then.
“Your turn,” she said.
He undid the buttons on his shirt and peeled it off, revealing a tight white T-shirt that showed off his firm chest muscles.
Cameron was aching to get her hands on him. As if sensing this, he crossed the room. Her pulse skyrocketed as he approached, yet he still didn’t touch her.
“Now you,” he said.
She reached up and removed the antique-silver chandelier earrings Amy had picked for her, dropping them to the floor beside the dress.
“That’s cheating,” Jack said.
“You have four times the clothing on that I do.”
With one swift tug, he yanked his T-shirt over his head. “Better?”
Hell . . . yes.
Cameron took her time, savoring the sight. The hard muscles . . . the tight, six-pack abs . . . the light scattering of dark hair on his chest. . . . She wanted to taste every inch of him.
Then, briefly coming out of her daze, she noticed something else. Of course.
She had forgotten about the scars.
Three years ago she had read the files that contained a very detailed report of the hell that Martino’s men had put Jack through during the two days they’d held him captive. But she hadn’t thought about the physical scars that kind of hell would’ve left behind.
Her eyes took in the cigarette and electrical burns by his right shoulder, moved to the knife wounds along his side and under his ribs, then came to a stop on the quarter-sized circular scar high on the left side of his chest—from the bullet he had taken when making his escape.
Cameron raised her eyes to Jack’s. He was watching her carefully, to see her reaction.
She stepped forward and rested her hands on his chest. She gently kissed the scars on his shoulder. She did the same to the one on his chest, and after that bent down to run her lips over the scars under his ribs and along his side. Then, unable to help herself, she ran her tongue along the soft trail of hair that started at his navel and disappeared behind his belt buckle.
Jack pulled her up and stared into her eyes with a ferocity that would’ve scared her under any other circumstance. He guided her backward, and when she felt the edge of the bed against the back of her knees she needed no encouragement to lie down on top of it.
“You still have a lot more clothing on than I do,” Cameron said, rising onto her elbows.
“I can fix that.”
She watched as Jack undid his belt buckle, then the button on his pants. His eyes feasted on the sight of her lying on the bed before him as he unzipped his fly. She caught a brief glimpse of gray boxer-briefs just before he slid them off with his pants, socks, and shoes. Then he stood before her in all his glory.
She would never, ever compare him to a molten lava cake again. After seeing Jack’s naked body, all other delicacies were henceforth ruined for her.
Of course, her eyes were drawn to that part of him, the part that was big and hard and raring to go. All for her.
Jack climbed onto the bed, and she lay back. His dark, fiery gaze made her shiver with anticipation, yet he still didn’t touch her.