Forbidden Nights (Seductive Nights #5)(39)
Author: Lauren Blakely

Casey swallowed dryly. A swarm of butterflies flew in her chest. Things were changing with Nate, and she hardly understood what was happening, only how it felt inside her heart. Wild and free. “What does it for you?”

He locked eyes with her, and her insides flipped, a spark of desire swooping from head to toe. “What turns me on are two people who have to have each other. That’s what makes for great sex—when you need to be as close to a person as you possibly can. It’s about wild, sweat–slicked, hot desire and your pulse pounding in your ear. It’s about heat and need and want, and fucking in stairwells, and screwing standing up, and clawing off clothes to get at each other. It’s about kissing her while you make love to her, and fucking her senseless at the same damn time.”

Her skin sizzled. Her heart tried to fight its way out of her rib cage. Her fingers ached to touch him. The way he gazed at her made her feel as if all those words were meant for her. Maybe he was talking in general terms, or maybe he was talking about her. Her throat was dry, but she pushed past it. “Tonight? I have a request for tonight.”

“Anything.” His voice was raw.

“I want you to make me crazy. Drive me wild. I want to feel that abandon I’ve only felt with you. I want to be so wound up with desire that I practically beg for it,” she said, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He licked his lips, and blew out a long stream of air. “Would you do that for me?”

“Don’t you know by now? I’d do anything for you.”

“Then on that note, I need you to let me slip away from you to shower,” she said playfully, and he lifted his hands and she slid away. She grabbed her clothes for her meeting along with her makeup, then she rooted around in her bag for her toiletries, hunting for her Alba Botanica shampoo, but the search was fruitless. She cursed. “Crap. I did it again. I forgot my favorite shampoo.”

She headed into the bathroom and reached for the hotel shampoo on the vanity. It was a good brand. She really couldn’t complain about Aveda, even though it wasn’t her favorite. His hand wrapped around her wrist, and he gently removed the Aveda bottles, and turned her around. Her eyes widened and she grinned like a fool to see him brandishing two small bottles of Alba Botanica. They were in a Ziploc bag and he dangled them from his fingers high above her head.

“Oh my God! Did I put them in your bag?”

He shook his head, looking as pleased as a cat that had captured a mouse.

“How do you have them then? Don’t tell me it was in my bag and I didn’t even notice.”

He continued to shake his head. “Wrong again.”

“Well?”

“I brought it for you.”

“You did?” she said, her jaw going slack.

He nodded. “It’s your Achilles’ heel when you travel. You sometimes forget to bring your shampoo. And you’re kind of obsessed with your hair.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“So I brought some along just in case you forgot,” he said, handing her the bag.

It was only shampoo. But it was so much more than shampoo. Her heart started a stampede again, galloping closer to him. To this man she was having some kind of strange, friendly, temporary affair with. A man who knew so much about her, and who seemed to embrace all her quirks, her habits, her needs, and in the last few weeks, her desires.

Her lips parted, and she was about to say all these things, but the clock was ticking. She tipped her forehead to the shower. “Thank you,” she said, and then stripped to her birthday clothes, and stepped under the spray.

When she finished her shower, he handed her a towel, and as she started to dry off she knocked playfully on the shower door.

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” he asked.

“Dewey.”

“Dewey who?”

“Do we really have to use a condom?”

He blinked once, like she’d caught him off guard. “I’m clean. I was tested before you,” he said.

“Me too. And I’m on the pill,” she said, trying to keep the conversation casual as she toweled off water droplets on her legs. But standing naked before him, having just showered, discussing the sex they planned to have, and sharing a room with him? It hardly seemed that what had started as casual could be classified that way anymore.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

London, afternoon . . .

Sofia showed Casey the new display at the signature retail location in Hyde Park, gesturing proudly to the shelf of white boxes emblazoned with the silver J for Joy Delivered.

“Look at all my babies,” Casey said, pretending to grab at the boxes.

The tall and statuesque British woman flashed a bright smile. “And they’ve probably helped make a lot of babies too,” she said with a wink.

“Good one.”

“In any case, I wanted you to see our gorgeous new display. It’s increased our foot traffic too, and boosted word of mouth. We’re so excited to carry your products at the locations we’re opening soon. Can you just imagine how smashing it will be to have the LolaRing join all her friends here?” Sofia said, clasping her hand over her heart, as if she truly was enthralled about the addition of a new vibrator to the crew of high-end pleasure devices the fancy pharmacy sold.

“I’m sure Lola will be delighted to keep such good company,” Casey said, continuing the banter now that they’d finished the business details. The I’s had been dotted and the T’s had been crossed upstairs in Sofia’s office, and the boutique was on board as another one of the exclusive launch partners for Joy Delivered’s newest toy.

Sofia exuded class and sophistication from her understated black pumps, to her sleek navy dress, to her brown hair, twisted in a chignon. She was the head of the company named after her, and Casey wondered briefly if Sofia was a so-called alpha female too, and if she’d ever struggled in her social life because of it. Her gaze drifted briefly to Sofia’s left hand—no ring. But then, the presence or absence of rings proved nothing. Sofia could still be in a committed relationship. Perhaps someday, the two women would chat about love and the challenges of its pursuit as women in business. For now, the focus remained on the products they peddled.

Sofia’s voice turned more earnest. “I’m truly delighted to add the LolaRing to the lineup. I know you’re choosy with your retail partners when rolling out new products, and I’m glad to be on the short list.”