The other man merely nodded and stepped back, but not before kissing Kate’s hand. “It was truly my pleasure.”
Then he disappeared in the crowd of dancers, most likely heading to find another partner. Kate jerked around, clenching her teeth.
“Watch what you say,” Luc warned as he took her arm and led her away. “I’ve got plenty to tell you, too, so save it until we’re alone.”
“What makes you think I’m going anywhere with you?” she said through gritted teeth. “You can’t tell me who to spend time with.”
Luc’s fingers tightened around her arm as he leaned in closer to her side. “Oh, we’re going to be alone, and I’m going to explain to you exactly why that little scene will never happen again.”
Fifteen
Luc was seething. He hated like hell that his emotions had overridden common sense, but the second he’d seen Kate dancing with Lars, all rational thoughts had vanished.
The palace was big enough to house the special guests of the bride and groom, so Luc was glad he didn’t have to drag Kate too far before he lit into her.
He’d purposely avoided her as much as he could because of her body-hugging dress. That damn gown nearly had him babbling like some horny teen, but he’d somehow managed to keep his tongue in his mouth when he first saw her. Luc knew if he’d stayed too close to Kate this evening, there would be no way to hide his obvious attraction.
And he couldn’t let the attraction show, because Kate might try to use that...for what? Wasn’t he set on using her?
Only now that he’d seen her in the arms of another man, the game had just changed. Luc wanted her. Right now.
He reached the second floor and headed down the hall to his suite. He had no clue if Kate was deliberately toying with him, but she had him tied in knots he’d never be able to untangle thanks to that little stunt with Lars...a man Luc despised.
“I want to go to my room,” she demanded, yanking from his hold as soon as he stopped in front of a set of double doors. “I’m not going in there with you.”
Resting his hand on the knob, Luc threw a smirk over his shoulder. “You are.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed. “No, my room is down the hall.”
Before he realized his intentions, he’d pulled her around, wedging her body between his and the door. “Your room is right here until I’m done with you.”
“Well, I’m already done talking. You were completely rude down there. You can’t just—”
His mouth covered hers. If she was done talking, then he’d find better use for that mouth and ignore all the damn red flags waving around in his mind. He didn’t care about all the reasons this was wrong, didn’t care that moments ago she’d been in another man’s arms. Right now she was in his arms, and he was taking full advantage of that lush, curvy body.
Kate’s hands came up to his shoulders to push at him, but Luc settled his palms on her hips and pressed against her. Suddenly, her fingertips were curling into his tuxedo jacket.
The feel of her rounded hips beneath her killer dress was just as potent as this steamy kiss. Kate tipped her head slightly, but the silent invitation was all he needed to trace a path with his tongue down the column of her throat.
“Luc,” she panted in a whisper. “We’re in the hallway.”
Gripping her hips, Luc rested his forehead against her collarbone. “You make me crazy, Kate. Out of my mind crazy.”
Reaching around her, he opened the door. As soon as they were inside, he closed it, flicked the lock and leaned back against it.
“Did you bring me to your suite to talk or to have sex?” she asked, her arms folded across her beautifully displayed chest. “Because I know what you said, but that episode in the hall has me confused.”
Luc remained where he was as he raked a hand down his face. “Lars isn’t a good idea.” He ignored her narrowed gaze. “Seeing you in his arms... He’s a player, Kate.”
She held Luc’s eyes for a moment before she burst out laughing. “You’re kidding me. You interrupt my dance, you manhandle me out of the ballroom and up the steps, and then you attempt to make out with me in the hallway because you’re jealous? And you’re calling someone else a player?”
“First of all, I’m not jealous.” Wow, that almost sounded convincing. “Second, I never manhandled you, and third, you were completely on board with what was going on in the hallway. You moaned.”
Kate rolled her eyes and turned to stalk across the open suite. “I did not moan.”
Luc didn’t know which view was better, the front of Kate’s gown with the glimpse of her breasts or the back, where he could fully focus on the perfection of her shape. She stood at the desk, her hands resting on it, her head dropped forward.
“I don’t know what you want from me.” Her voice was so low he had to move closer to hear. “I won’t allow you to pull me all these directions because of your out-of-control emotions, Luc. You know how strongly I feel for you, and yet you continue to torture me.”
He was counting on those feelings to get him what he wanted. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed Kate in every way.
Before Luc realized it, he’d completely closed the distance between them. Sliding his hands around her waist, he pressed his palms against her still-flat stomach and jerked her body against his.
“You think you don’t torture me?” he asked, his lips brushing the side of her ear. She shivered against him. “You think seeing you dressed like this, moving your body against another man’s, isn’t pure hell?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because just the thought of you turns me inside out. Because knowing how sexy you are wearing only a smile that I put on your lips turns me on faster than anything.”
Luc eased her around and framed her face with his hands. “Because I’m so torn up over what to do about you, all I can think of is getting you out of this damn dress and seeing if this chemistry is real or if it only existed when I thought we were engaged.”
Kate’s breath caught in her throat as she stared back at him. “I can’t sleep with you as an experiment, Luc. I love you.” Her voice cracked and her eyes filled with tears. “I’m not hiding how I feel. I can’t. But I also can’t be used on a whim, whenever you get an itch you need to scratch.”
“You’re more than an itch.”
“What am I?” she whispered.
Luc couldn’t put a label to this madness that had become his life. He’d planned on seduction, but he hadn’t planned on the jealousy that had speared through him moments ago. Kate was his.
“You’re the woman I’m about to put on this desk and strip until she’s wearing nothing but that pendant. You’re the woman who is going to forget everything else but what’s happening right here, right now.”
“Sex won’t solve anything.”
“No, but it will take the edge off for both of us.”
Luc leaned closer, rubbing his lips across hers, so slowly. He reached around, found the zipper and eased it down. When the material parted in the back, he splayed his hand across her bare skin, relishing the way she trembled against him.
“Tell me you don’t want this,” he murmured against her mouth. “Tell me you don’t want to see what happens right now between us, and you can walk out that door before we get too far to turn back.”
Luc started to peel her dress away from her body. He stepped back just enough for the gown to ease down and puddle at her feet, leaving her standing in a strapless bra and matching panties, and that purple stone that rested against her flawless skin. Trailing his fingertips over the swell of her breasts, Luc smiled when she arched against his touch.
“Say the word, Kate, and I’ll stop.”
Her eyes closed as she dipped her head back. “You don’t play fair.”
“Oh, baby, I haven’t even begun to play.”
* * *
She was going to put a stop to this...then Luc had to go and say those words dripping in seduction while he tempted her with just the tips of his fingers. The man was potent. He knew exactly what to do to get her aroused, to get her wanting more.
Why was she letting this happen? He had no intention of professing his love. He wouldn’t even give her a straight answer earlier when she’d asked who she was to him.
Yet here she stood, in her heels, her underwear and goose bumps from his touch.
How could she deny him? How could she deny herself? All she wanted was this man, and here he was. If she had even a glimmer of a chance to get him to see how good they were together, she’d take it. Her heart couldn’t break any more...could it?
Luc’s mouth followed the trail of his fingertips along the tops of her breasts, just over the lacy bra cups. “I’ll take your silence as a go-ahead.”
Kate slid her fingers into his inky-black hair as she looked down at him. “I can’t say no to you.”
“I didn’t intend to let you.”
He crushed her body to his as his mouth claimed hers. Kate shoved his tux jacket off and to the floor. Without breaking contact, she started unbuttoning his shirt. The need to feel his skin next to hers was all-consuming.