Down to You (The Bad Boys #1)(19)
Author: M. Leighton

I feel her hands latch onto my forearms. Her fingernails are biting into my skin through my shirt. All I can think about is how I want to feel them on the skin of my back instead.

Her breath is coming fast and shallow in my ear. “What else?” she pants.

I lean back and look down into her face. Her lids are heavy over her dazzling eyes and her cheeks are flushed with everything that’s happening between us. She doesn’t want to stop either. There’s no doubt in my mind.

“Taste.”

Her eyes flicker to my mouth and back again. “And what do you taste?”

“Everything. I want to taste everything.”

If I ever stood a chance of resisting her, it evaporates the instant she leans into me. So does every last ounce of finesse that I’m normally capable of. The kiss that should’ve started out slow starts out like a forest fire. The first taste of her tongue consumes me.

And I’m lost.

My hands are in her hair and my mouth is devouring hers. I give no thought to where I am or the girlfriend whose father I work for. I can’t think past how badly I want to be inside the tight, hot body of the girl in my arms.

But why? Why do I want her so bad?

No answer comes to mind. All thought seems to shut down when she wraps her arms around me and I feel those fingernails dig in.

I groan into her mouth and I hear her purr in response. I tug on her hair, maybe a little more roughly than I intend, and her kiss turns ravenous. She leans into me, like she can’t get close enough. I turn her around and press her back to the wall. My body is plastered to her length. I can feel every hard inch of me sinking into every soft inch of her. It’s the clothes between us that brings me up from the kiss.

I lean back to look at her. Her eyes are dark and her lips are swollen. I can hear sanity knocking at the door, but I ignore it when she leans slowly forward, stretching up on her tiptoes, to bite my lower lip.

“Oh my God,” I groan, diving back into the kiss. Olivia meets me right where we were. No reservations.

Without breaking contact with her lips, I bend to pick her up and carry her to one of the chaise lounges away from the elevator doors. I lay her on it, stretched out full length, and I straighten to look down at her.

Her knees are slightly bent, giving me a sneak peek of her slim ankles. My attention doesn’t stray from there. Dropping to my knees, I press my lips to the top of her foot, pushing the material of her dress up as I make my way to her calf.

My palm skates lightly over her smooth skin, pushing her dress along, as I lick and kiss a trail to her knee then to the inside of her thigh. She spreads her legs the tiniest bit.

An invitation.

I graze the tender skin with my teeth as the tips of my fingers ascend to brush her damp panties. I hear her gasp. I get hard in anticipation of hearing the noises she’ll make when I’m driving my body into hers.

It’s when she stiffens that I realize something’s wrong. I lift my head and my eyes meet her very alert ones.

I’m confused when I see them fill with tears.

“What’s wrong, Olivia? Did I hurt you?”

I didn’t think was rough…

She shakes her head. “No, it’s just…I just…we can’t do this.”

As much as I hate to admit it, I know she’s right. Marissa is too important in my plans to mess things up now. And Olivia is way too nice a girl for me to drag her into my crazy life.

With a sigh, I rest my forehead against her knee.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN – Olivia

“You’re right,” I hear Nash murmur. Then, when he picks up his head, he says more firmly, “You’re right. Please accept my apology.”

He seems stiff and…distant. And it’s making an already uncomfortable situation much, much worse. I sit up and reach for his arm before he can stand up and move away.

“No, wait. Don’t do that. It was my fault. I was flirting with you, knowing that you’re taken. Very taken. It’s as much my fault as yours. Can’t we just sort of forget about it? Not let things get weird?”

He watches me with those intense eyes for several seconds before he speaks. And when he does, I’m relieved. “Sure,” he says, standing to his feet and offering me his hand. I slip my fingers inside his and he squeezes them lightly and pulls me up.

I look down to make sure my dress has righted itself around my legs, which it has, and when I look back up, Nash’s eyes aren’t on my face; they’re on my chest. I look down to see what he’s staring at. Much to my embarrassment, all our…aggressive kissing caused my dress to shift a little. My boobs are practically spilling out. There’s no NippleGate or true wardrobe malfunction, but there is one hellacious amount of cle**age showing.

Nash is still holding my hand. I shake it loose and straighten my bodice. I can’t help but grin at him when he finally meets my eyes.

“So that’s how you charm the cobra,” I quip.

He smiles devilishly. “If you really want to see what effect you have on my snake, I’d be happy to show you.”

I feel blood rush to my cheeks and heat gush into my belly. Just like that, we’re almost back where we started.

We stare at each other for several seconds and then Nash sighs. “I guess I should apologize again. I really don’t act like this with most females. I swear.”

Casually, he takes my hand again and leads me to the elevator.

“Not only am I glad to hear that, but I believe you,” I assure him. And I do. Believe him, that is. He’s a good guy. I can tell.

“You do?” he asks. By his expression, it seems like he actually cares what I think.

Huh! Go figure!

“Yeah, I do. I know the kind of guy you are.”

“And what kind is that?” He ushers me onto the elevator.

“Smart, successful, driven, honorable.”

He laughs. “Wow! Although flattering, that makes it sound like I should either be carrying a sword or meeting someone at dawn for a duel.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, you’re all sorts of other things, but mostly you’re a good guy. I can tell.”

“And that’s a good thing?” he asks, his expression dubious.

I smile. “To me, that’s a very good thing.”

He returns my smile and I have to look away. I feel like I’ve said too much. And I shouldn’t have qualified my statement like I did.

Idiot.

“Well, as long as you think so…”

We fall into silence on the way to the parking garage. I can’t think past the flurry of my emotions and the feel of his thumb stroking the back of my hand. I know we shouldn’t be holding hands as though we’re on a date, but I can’t bring myself to pull my fingers free. This will be over all too soon; I’m going to enjoy every last second of it while I can. Tomorrow, reality returns. And, with it, Marissa.