Surprise flew into her expression. “Exposure, of course.”
He grinned in spite of the strange tension between them. “I realize that. I mean, what are your goals? Fifteen percent increase in orders? By when? What’s the measure of your cost investment versus payoff? That sort of thing.”
“Why do you want to know?”
Her tone sounded the opposite of someone letting their guard down.
“Because I’m interested in you,” he blurted out. Too touchy-feely and now he felt as if he’d stepped in quicksand. Backpedal. “And on the off chance the expo is canceled, I’d like to know what your losses will be.”
Better. Keep it about work. That he understood.
“I don’t need you to cover them, if that’s where you’re headed.”
“No, that wasn’t my intent at all.” He downed half his wine in hopes it would get his brain and tongue in sync or at least dull his wits enough to not care how badly he was botching this.
Maybe he should shut up and kiss her. They’d never had problems communicating that way. But the vibe was so weird, he hesitated. Besides, he’d told her to stop assuming all he cared about was sex—and somehow they were at a place where that remained true, so he should practice what he preached.
After a deep breath, he tried again. “Businesses intrigue me. The flow of capital, margins, profit-loss statements. Spreadsheets are my crack. It’s why I like consulting, because I can dig into what makes a company live and breathe from a ten-thousand-foot view. When we dated before, our common interests were always other things. Now we have something new in common. I want to talk to you about it.”
The tension melted from her face. “Keith, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Uh...what?” He watched her as she set her glass down on the table, gaze squarely on him. And it was noticeably warmer. Then she rose and skirted the table to lean over and kiss him soundly on the lips.
He was too busy trying to not stare down her still-damp dress to kiss her back, but then she touched his cheek in a brief caress and thoroughly ensnared him with the expression on her face. He couldn’t look away.
“You basically said that you see me as an equal. That’s the best compliment you could have given me. Thank you.” She settled into the love seat instead of returning to her chair and swirled her fingertips across the next cushion in blatant invitation.
That was some magic wine he’d selected. He switched seats gladly, still clueless how his neurotic love of entrepreneurship had somehow shifted the mood.
“The truth is,” she drawled, “I don’t have good projections for this expo. I have enough of a marketing background to know that exposure is king, but difficult to quantify. I’d love to have some solid numbers, but it’s hard to be the CEO, CFO, chief marketing officer and actually get around to designing dresses at the same time.”
“I’ll help you,” he offered instantly, surreptitiously inhaling her exotic perfume. “It’ll be fun. Really.”
Exotic with enough of Cara laced through it to thoroughly intoxicate him. He couldn’t remember a blessed thing about what kind of perfume she’d worn before. Because he’d never noticed it. Not like this, as if it was part of the full, potent package of the woman.
She rolled her eyes without malice. “Only you would call that fun. It’s an interesting proposition. I’d kill for your expertise, but in lieu of that, I’d pay for it. Name your price.”
“No strings attached.” And he meant it. “I insist. It’ll be a thank-you for helping me out earlier.”
It was the least he could do, and it made him pathetically grateful to have a concrete way to repay her for organizing the mock wedding. And for helping with the room inventory. And for her freely given forgiveness, which he hadn’t realized would come to mean so much.
“Wow. If I’d have known that would be the reward, I’d have volunteered to clean the oven with my tongue.” She slid a glance down his torso. “But I can’t let you do it for free. I insist on tit for tat. If you won’t take money, what other form of barter could we possibly cook up?”
Instantly, the strange first-date, why-was-she-here vibe vanished and everything fell into place.
“I’m sure we could come up with something,” he murmured and reached up to finger a lock of her curling, damp hair. “But I owe you. Not the other way around. After all, you’re the one who had to dash through the rain to get here.”
“No problem.” She smiled. “It was worth it.”
“Yeah?” The thought warmed him enormously.
Placing a delicate palm against his thigh, she leaned in, peering up through lowered lashes. “Totally. You have air-conditioning.”
He bit back a snort. “Yes, among other luxuries. Let me show you.”
Before she could open her smart mouth again, he tipped her chin up and laid his lips on hers. Her soft sigh bled through him, energizing him.
The long, stressful day melted away as he fell into her. Her soft lips firmed and she came alive, hands in his hair, body snugged against his. Hot spikes of desire exploded in his groin and he groaned.
It had been a while. Even longer since he’d had a woman in his arms who intrigued him as much as this one. Their bodies knew each other intimately, but the nuances of this new Cara bled into the experience, heightening it. Heating it. What other new things would he uncover?
She pulled his shirt from his pants and her fingertips slid along his sensitized back, dipping lower. His lungs contracted and his brain went fuzzy.
“Wait.” He drew back but Cara’s kiss-stung lips and mussed hair called to him. He resisted diving back in. Barely.
I want to love you like you deserve. Like I should have the first time.
He dropped to his knees between her legs and eagerly she scooted forward, aiming for his mouth, as if to kiss him again. Oh no, not this time. He held up a palm to stop her and gently leaned her back, ensuring she rested comfortably against the couch cushions. He kissed her throat, working his way down until he hit fabric.
“Let me,” he murmured and drew down the shoulder straps of her sleeveless dress and bra, baring her breasts.
Gorgeous. Her nipples peaked under his gaze and he swallowed back the urge to spout poetry. As if he even knew any, especially a verse good enough to describe how magnificent the sight of half-dressed Cara was.
“I could look at you for hours.” But he wanted to touch, so he traced the lines of her uncovered torso a bit more reverently than he’d intended, but oh well. As he enjoyed himself, he worshipped her with his gaze.
She watched him, a hint of curiosity in her expression. As if she couldn’t quite figure out what he meant to accomplish, which unsettled him. Had he never made it all about her in the past? Their physical relationship had been satisfying for them both. Hadn’t it?
It didn’t matter. She’d come to him tonight and regardless of her motivation, he was going to make it cataclysmic for her. Mitchell the Missile would hit this target or die trying.
Eight
Rain beat against the window, melding with the jazz music to create a rhythmic, sensual tempo that seemed to infuse Cara’s blood. Or maybe that was the heat in Keith’s expression as he swept her with another gaze full of promise and wicked intent.
When she’d knocked on the door, she’d expected to have a nice evening with Keith that included a satisfying round of intimacy. In the past, he’d proved to be an energetic, generous bed partner. They got naked, it was hot, they both climaxed and that was it—why should it be any different this time? One island fling coming up.
And then he’d changed it all up by starting this couch seduction. Keith didn’t do slow, or at least he never had before. And that’s when she got the first inkling this evening wasn’t going to be anything like she’d expected.
Without warning, Keith lowered his head to her breast and swirled his tongue across her flesh, then latched on to suck with quick little pulls. Breath whooshed from her lungs, her back arching involuntarily to meet his lips. Her nipple drove deeper in his mouth, his teeth scraping at her sensitized breast, and she moaned.
Thick, dense heat gathered at her core and spun outward, enflaming her skin.
He switched to her other nipple, laving it sensuously as if he had all the time in the world, while she fought to keep from sliding to the floor in a puddle of sensation. His palms gripped her rib cage, jutting her breasts forward. He licked and sucked, alternating as he pleased, while she squirmed, head lolling back against the cushions until she could hardly breathe, hardly think.
Moans spurted from her lips, and nonsensical phrases floated through her mind. Shouldn’t she be reaching for him, to pleasure him in kind?
Her leaden arms refused to move and sensation swamped her. She had no idea her breasts were such an erogenous zone, but then no man had ever expended so much effort demonstrating it to her.
As often as Keith commented how much she’d changed in two years, he’d seemed pretty much like the same guy. Until tonight.
He raised his head, gaze hot with unfulfilled longing and mysterious intent. With a gentle lift of her bottom, he pulled off her dress in an impressive one-handed move and threw it over his shoulder. Rocking forward on his knees, he bent and aimed for the juncture of her thighs.