Forbidden Nights (Seductive Nights #5)(30)
Author: Lauren Blakely

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi.”

“I’m glad you came back.”

“Me too. How was it?” he asked, gesturing from him to her.

“Are you really asking me?” She tilted her head to the side. “Wasn’t it obvious?”

He nodded and smiled broadly, a big satisfied grin on his gorgeous face. “It was obvious. I still want to hear it from you.”

She dropped a quick kiss on his lips. “It was amazing. You’re going to ruin me for anyone else.”

“Good.”

“No! It’s terrible,” she said jokingly. But she wasn’t entirely joking when she added, softly, “No one will compare to you.”

“Again, that is good.”

She laced her fingers through his hair, watching him as relaxed into the softness of her touch, and the sweet unwinding from the intensity of their coming together. “You were really good with the whole jealous lover act,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “I was?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I believed it.”

“You did?” He furrowed his brow at first, then understanding dawned and he slowly nodded.

“You seemed so jealous,” she said, trying her best to make it self-evident in her tone that they were talking around the truth without having to fully admit anything. She hoped he understood all that she meant.

“What if I really was that jealous?”

“I like that too. I liked that you felt that way.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I felt that way too. Last night I was convinced you were in a club in Miami and some beautiful woman was all over you.”

He laughed and threw his head back. “Nope. Nope. And nope. But I love that you hated the image.”

“I hated it so much,” she said like a hiss.

“Maybe then,” he said slowly, and seemed to be taking his time forming an idea.

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe it can be just us for now?”

“It better be just us,” she said pointedly and swatted his arm.

He pretended it hurt. “Ouch.”

“I mean it. I don’t want you with anyone else while we’re doing this. I suppose we should have set the ground rules already, but this is all new to me. There’s no way I’d sleep with anyone else. And you better not either.”

“I’m not. I wouldn’t. I swear.”

She held up her hand, her palm facing him. “Swear.”

He clasped her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “I swear, Casey, you’re the only one.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

New York, night . . .

As they rode home from the ballpark in his town car, she softly ran her fingers through his hair over and over, as if she regularly stroked his hair as they talked in the back of the cushy car. He loved every second of the contact from her, and especially loved that she felt comfortable enough to do it without thinking twice.

Whether she was touching him as friends or as lovers didn’t matter. He didn’t have the brain cells working at full-speed to decipher it. They’d all been put to pasture for the night in the wake of finally coming together with her.

As they rolled through Manhattan, the neon lights of Broadway guiding them on their way downtown, he said, “So, um, how was the game?”

She laughed. “The good guys won. And the crowd went wild.”

“Too bad I missed it,” he joked.

“I’d say you made it just in time for an epic finale. You’re like a closer.”

He laughed. “I’ll happily play that position.”

“Hey,” she said, as she now trailed her fingertip along his neck. He raised his eyes to look at her. “I told you I’m going to London soon, right? To meet with Sofia’s, one of our retailer partners. ”

“You mentioned it. You’re going to an auction too.”

Her eyes lit up, sparkling like a starry sky. “Good memory,” she said.

“To buy a kiss. From Miller Valentina,” he added, hoping to impress her with the real estate he’d reserved in his brain for remembering details of her.

“Now, you’re just showing off,” she said playfully. “So I was wondering—is there any chance you have a hotel in London?” There was a look of mischief now in her eyes.

He laughed. “You know I do. You angling for a free room, Miss Casey?”

“Maybe,” she said, taking her time with that word, lingering on it suggestively. “But I was also thinking a roommate might be nice. Do you happen to have any business in London you need to do?”

His heart sped up. “Are you inviting yourself to my hotel?”

She nodded. “I am inviting myself. I told you I was known for being direct. It bothers some men. But right now, I don’t care. I’m going to be direct and say what I want.”

He held up a hand like a stop sign. “I told you I’m not most men. I like your direct side and I like your . . . how shall we say, newly submissive one too.”

She flashed him a sweet, innocent smile that nailed him in the heart. He ran his finger across her lips, watching her draw a quick breath.

“What would you think about going with me? Because now that I’ve had you, I want more of you, and we still have a lot of ground to cover. You haven’t tied me up yet or spanked me for that matter,” she said, counting off his omissions on her fingers. “Or used handcuffs.”

“Damn,” he said, with a low whistle. “I’m falling down on the job.”

“I’ll let you make it up to me across the pond.”

“Though, let the record reflect, I have not engaged in any orgasm denial either. Per your request.”

“And I thank you very much for that.”

“Do you want me to have a spreader bar specially installed in one of the rooms for your trip?” he asked in as matter-of-fact a tone as he could muster.

Her eyes widened in shock and she shook her head vigorously. “No,” she said, forming an O with her lips to emphasize her complete lack of interest in that particular BDSM activity. Then she raised her fingers to his face, tracing a line down his jaw. “You’re very sexy when you don’t shave,” she whispered, and heat pulsed in his veins from the out-of-the-blue, unexpected compliment. It gave him hope that this thing between them was more than simply a means to an end for her.

But then, he shouldn’t feel any sort of hope. Hope was risky, and led to things he didn’t believe in. He didn’t possess any hope himself, so it made no sense why he’d want her to think in bigger terms that went beyond the here and now.