He snapped his fingers in front of my face, and I looked up. “What?”
“What’s the matter with you?”
I put my hands on his chest and shoved. He didn’t budge. He smiled and leaned closer, his breath fanning out across my cheek and his lips grazing my temple. “I have ways of getting what I want, you know,” he whispered.
I swallowed, desire curling up from deep inside me and saturating every part of my body. I didn’t really know what to do with so much of it literally weighing me down. I was supposed to be the tease and here I was the one being taunted. By him. By my own body. By needs I’d never had before. “You do?”
“Oh yes. And if you aren’t careful, you’re going to find out all about my ways.”
He stroked my collarbone with his finger.
I bit down on my lower lip. “I’ll give it to you,” I whispered.
His chuckle was rich and warm against my ear. Then he pulled back and slid a pen out of his pocket and handed it to me.
I turned away, grabbing the first napkin I saw, and scrawled my address with shaking hands.
When I handed it to him, he slid it into his pants pocket and smiled. Then he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and peeked up at me with boyish charm written all over his face. “You know, part of me is disappointed that you gave in so easy.”
“Well, since my address is in your pocket, I still say you came out on top.”
Roxie appeared and lifted her eyebrows at how Cam and I stood so close. I glanced back at him. “See you tomorrow?”
“Wear your bathing suit.”
I nodded and slid away from him, grabbing up my bag and heading for the door with Roxie hot on my heels.
Out in the parking lot, she gave me a long look.
“What?” I asked her.
“You know what.” She grinned. “You and Cam?”
“We’re just friends.”
“Right. And I’m the Easter Bunny.”
“You are! Where do you keep your tail?”
She laughed. “Well, I don’t even care now what the apartment looks like.”
“No?”
“Nope. I’m moving in purely for the entertainment of watching you and Cam. I can’t wait to see what happens.”
I had to admit, I wanted to see too.
7
Pounding on the front door of my apartment made me groan and roll over to look at the clock. Bleary eyed, I squinted at the little red numbers.
Six a.m.
“It does exist,” I murmured to myself as the pounding continued.
I stumbled out of bed, pushing the hair off my forehead and trudging toward the door. I yanked it open and peered into the hallway.
“I changed my mind. I’m not going,” I said and then swung the door shut and went back to bed.
I heard the sound of the door opening and closing behind me, but I was too tired to care. I crawled back onto the mattress and curled up on my side, pulling the covers to my chin. Didn’t he know this hour of the morning/night was what was wrong with half of America today? Forcing people to get out of bed at ungodly hours only made them cranky.
I was slipping back into blissful sleep when I felt the bed dip with new weight. “Go away,” I murmured.
I felt the blankets being tugged away and I tried to grasp them back, but it was too late. The covers were gone and the cool air brushed over my skin.
“I. Will. Punch. You.” I growled.
He laughed. “Aren’t you a little ray of sunshine in the morning?”
I swung at him. But seeing as how my eyes were closed and I was lying down, my aim wasn’t good. Okay, my aim sucked.
He caught my fist and pulled it behind me. My body rolled and I found myself lying on my back with him looming over me.
He smelled really good. Like coffee and the sea.
I probably smelled like dragon breath.
“What’s it gonna take to get you out of this bed?”
“An act of God.”
Something large and very warm settled on my leg just above my knee. My eyes remained closed, but every cell in my body went on high alert.
Slowly, his hand slid higher, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake, until the pads of his fingers brushed over the inside of my thigh. I didn’t mean to moan.
But I did.
His touch was like my kryptonite. Even the faintest, most accidental contact with him made every single living, breathing cell in my entire body explode with desire.
“Do you like that?” he murmured. His hand hadn’t gone up any farther, but he continued to caress the sensitive flesh just inside my leg.
I felt him settle further onto the bed and then he lifted his hand. Sorrow oozed deep inside me at the loss of the contact I so desperately wanted.
But then his hand returned. His fingers dragged across the exposed skin of my belly between my boxers and the tank, which had ridden up.
My body was utterly relaxed, still from sleep and now from his gentle caress. I wouldn’t have been able to run if a bomb landed in the living room. And then his fingers grew braver, finding the hem of my shirt and slipping beneath it.
I forgot to breathe as he traced the outline of my rib cage and dragged his nails gently across my abdomen. My nipples hardened into ultra stiff pebbles, and my breasts began to ache in a way they never had before. Without thinking, I arched up a little, trying to give his hand some direction, trying to get him just a little bit higher.
He paused, just slightly, as if he were debating on how far he was willing to go. And then his hand started moving again, until he palmed my breast completely.
“Harlow.” My name on his tongue was like pollen to a bee. “Is this okay?”
“Mmmm,” was all I could manage.
“Look at me,” he commanded, his voice a little less seductive.
My eyes opened, looking into his deep, chocolate irises. “Is it okay to touch you here?”
“Yes.”
His hand started to move then, and my eyes fluttered closed. He moved his hand in a circular motion, kneading the tender tissue and flicking his thumb over my tingling nipple. When he was done with one, he moved to the other, doing the exact same thing—kneading and moving, playing with my nipple until it almost hurt with need.
And then he lifted the shirt, air brushing across my overheated skin, and I felt his stare. I felt his eyes taking in every inch of me. I knew I was likely swollen with the blood that had rushed to the point of contact, almost like even the red liquid wanted to be close to him as well.
And then his mouth closed over the nipple closest to it. He latched on and swirled his tongue around the peak and nipped at it with his teeth.