“Thanks,” she muttered, fiddling with the gold bangles on her wrists.
As he reached over her, easily grabbing the vase from the top shelf, she leaned into him momentarily, inhaling his crisp, spicy scent. This man drove her crazy.
“Put them in water and we’ll get out of here.”
As she settled the flowers in a vase, Lucas’s arms went around her, pulling her back against his chest. He bent his head. “I’m glad you went home to change. You look beautiful,” he said, his low, silky voice caressing her skin.
“You changed too,” she said, tilting her head up to look at him. Instead of his standard suit he was wearing charcoal pants and light blue dress shirt.
“Do you approve?” he asked as his hands wandered along her sides, over her bare shoulders, grazing the underside of her breasts.
“I do,” she said breathlessly.
“Did you tell Parker about us?” He nuzzled her neck.
“Yes.” She tried to pull out of his hold, but his arms tightened around her waist.
“Finally.” He hands started moving again, sucking her under his spell and dismantling her brain. “How’d it go?”
“Not good. He’s not very fond of you.” She tilted her head to the side to give him better access.
As he pressed his mouth against the side of her neck, she felt the curve of his smile. “I didn’t think you planned to tell him about me, just that you’re seeing someone.”
“I didn’t tell him. He guessed. I didn’t deny it.”
His hands dug into her hips as her turned her around to face him. “Really? I’m surprised. What tipped him off?”
She toyed with the top button of his shirt. “The way you looked at me.” She pushed the top button through its hole and moved to the next.
“Good. I’m glad he received my message.”
Her hands froze, and she cocked her head to the side. “What message?”
“The silent communication where I staked a claim on you.”
She dropped her hands to her sides. “At the bar?”
“Yes,” he said, grabbing her waist, holding her tight against him again. “Does that bother you?”
A wicked heat burned along her nerve endings, and she gave him a dark glance, not wanting to be swayed by the chemistry already sizzling between them. “You jerk…I can’t believe you thought you had the right. What were you thinking?” she fumed.
He actually had the nerve to smile at her. “I saw him put his hands on you, you let him, and I didn’t like it. I made sure he knew.”
“But I hated you then,” she sputtered, trying to ignore his sexy grin.
He cupped her face in his hands and angled it upward. “Maybe at that moment, but I planned to fix that.” He kissed her lightly once, twice, and then pulled back. “And I did. You’re with me, not him, and clearly you don’t hate me.”
Arrogant. That was the only word she could come up with to describe his actions. “There’s a fine line between love and hate,” she said, trying to be firm even though some deep, dark part of her that she’d never acknowledge in public secretly liked his cave-man behavior.
“I’m glad I’m firmly on the other side of that hate line.”
She frowned. “I’m not so sure how far you are over that line. I’m kind of pissed off right now. Your behavior was…adolescent.”
His lips twitched.
“Don’t laugh at me. You’re the one behaving like an animal marking your territory.”
Lucas eased her closer, his arms circling tightly around her waist and his eyes amber eyes drinking her in. Her heart never failed to give a little jolt when he looked at her like that.
“You can’t fault me for going after what I want,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her bare shoulder.
“And what is that?” she asked, the fog of his blatant sensuality closing in on her.
His hands slid over her hips and down her thighs scattering goose bumps along her skin. “Don’t you know?”
“Remind me,” she murmured, unable to concentrate.
“Didn’t we already go over this?” There was a sensual promise in the tone of his smoky voice.
She wrapped her hands around the broad slope of his shoulders, tangling her fingers in the back of his hair. “We did? Show me again…maybe I need a refresher.” Her voice emerged a breathless whisper. “I’m growing very fond of the reminders.”
“I’ll keep reminding you as many times as it takes.” His mouth descended on hers with a hot branding pressure, kissing her wildly until she couldn’t think about anything except his next kiss. Her arms dropped from his shoulders to his waist, pulling his shirt from his pants. She needed to feel every inch of his skin. It seemed like an eternity since she’d seen him and touched him. Her hands groped the muscles along the sides of his spine and then she moved to his chest, loving the feel of every contour and curve beneath her fevered fingertips.