A Convenient Arrangement(32)

“We don’t have to…we can stop.” His voice sounded strained, as if it took all of his strength to make the offer.

Her muscles trembled with the heat passing between them now and the desire flooding through her. Gwen shook her head, smiling. “I don’t want to stop.” She’d waited for this moment for what felt like a lifetime. To be in Leo’s arms, both of them wanting the same thing. They had breached a boundary and there was no turning back. She was here, in his home, Leo ignoring his rule about convenient arrangements so that they could explore the feelings that existed between them.

“Me either.” His lips claimed hers again, but now with unleashed fire and passion. A greedy heat that demanded. She opened her mouth to his unbidden, needing to feel his tongue like velvet against hers. The man could kiss. He could kiss like a god, with a velvet smoothness that fed her inner need. His hand slid over the top of her sweater and cupped her breast.

“Mmmhmm,” Gwen moaned. Her nipples pebbled under his touch. The impulse to shed every thread of clothing and stand naked in front of him gripped her.

“We need a bed.” His statement was also an invitation.

A smile curved over her lips. Yes, they did need a bed. She wanted nothing more than to be in Leo’s arms again and to feel the heat of him against her body. She nodded.

His arms clasped around her like a vise and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around Leo’s hips, the tip of his hard sex pressed against her. His lips met hers. Was this happening? Was this really happening? Was she about to sleep with Leo again? Was she a fool, a complete and total fool to believe that this time would end differently?

He carried her toward the bedroom, where he pushed open a door and set her on her feet beside a giant bed in the center of the room. Windows looked out at New York and the lights of the skyline bathed them both.

Leo took a step back, focusing his dark-eyed gaze on her. His hands found the edge of her sweater and lifted it up and over her head. Chilled air hit her skin, raising goose bumps, but then the heat of his hands on her arms erased them. His hands moved around her and unclasped her bra. The lace fell from her flesh. He plucked the straps from her shoulder, letting the bra fall to the floor. No kissing, hardly any touch—only his eyes devouring her. She fought the desire to cross her arm over her breasts, to hide her nakedness from him.

“You’re beautiful.”

Her stomach contracted at his words. Normally she didn’t feel beautiful, certainly not compared to the polished, perfect women of New York’s A-list. But Leo’s words, Leo’s eyes, the look of want that shadowed his face, the truth of his tone made her feel beautiful.

His hands went to the waist of her jeans and quickly unfastened them, drawing them down over her hips and off. Now only her panties were between them. His finger traced over the center of the lace and her entire body flamed. Still no kiss. But his gaze, roaming over every exposed inch of her, was somehow more intimate than the press of his lips to hers or his tongue deep in her mouth.

“I want you.” His voice a low rumble, a caress. “I’ve wanted you for much longer than you know.” He pulled her panties down over her hips. Her entire body thrummed with desire and yet…

His fingertips tilted her chin upward, bringing her eyes to meet his. She couldn’t hide from his gaze, from the question in his eyes. Even with the heat and the darkness and the desire between them, she couldn’t hide from, or conceal, her own hesitation.

“Tell me.” Deep need shone in his eyes. She couldn’t help but answer, even as she stood naked before him. Completely naked, entirely exposed.

“That night, what happened, is sitting here in this space between us. It’s making this—even though this is totally hot and exactly what I want—it’s making the whole thing strange.”

He put his hands on her waist and gently drew her close, close enough to feel the warmth of his body. “Solution?”

“We acknowledge that we like each other, that this is more than just mutual lust. I mean, seriously, Leo, I could strip your clothes off you right now and be a-okay with that, if I knew that you’re not going to sneak out of the bed in the morning.”

“It’s my bed.”

Gwen twitched one corner of her mouth up into a wry smile. “You know what I mean.”

“I’m not leaving.” His voice rough. He stepped back and unbuttoned his shirt.

Her tongue chased over her lip as Leo’s clothes fell away, revealing his glorious body. Muscles rippled beneath skin. A dark trail of hair ran down his chest to his belly, disappearing into the waistline of his jeans. Her fingertips longed to trace it, to feel his sculpted chest and abs.