"I get to kiss it," he said.
"Why would you want to?"
"So it's some place naughty?"
She just shook her head. "No."
"Ah, okay. And I can kiss it if I guess correctly?"
"Sure," she said. There was no way he'd guess it.
"Stand up," he said.
"Why?"
"So I can make a thorough examination of you. How am I going to make an informed decision without all the evidence?"
She rolled her eyes and realized that Dec wanted to keep things light between them tonight. So different from his usual serious and brooding manner. And so she pirouetted for him. That took a little of her joy from the evening. He was letting her see the parts of himself he deemed okay and keeping the real man hidden from her still.
And she was being her usual open book. She knew she had to change, but how? She wondered if there was a way she could learn from Dec. Maybe stop letting her heart be so open … .
"The back of your knee," he said.
Her eyes widened and furrowed her brow as she looked at him. "Yes. How did you know that?"
"It was a guess."
"No way," she said, glancing down at her legs covered in trousers. "Confess."
"I'm guessing you're going to renege on the kiss," he said.
"No. We made a deal. I just want to know how you knew."
"I saw you naked, Cari," he said. "And I've revisited that night many times in my mind. Don't think for a minute that I didn't memorize every inch of your lovely body, from that scar on the back of your knee to that strawberry birthmark at the base of your spine."
She melted. That he'd remembered those details … it meant nothing. All it meant was that he was a thorough lover, which she already knew. But it felt like it meant something more to her tonight.
She looked at him and felt that sinking feeling in her stomach as she fought against doing something she shouldn't. Instead she lifted her hand and beckoned him to her with one crook of her finger.
He stood up and walked over to her slowly. She stopped him when he was a few inches from her with her hand on his chest. "I can't decide if you are a big flirt, a serious lover or the biggest mistake of my life."
"I am a big flirt and will always be serious about loving you. As for the other, this doesn't feel like a mistake to me," he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
* * *
There was nothing light or tentative in the way that Dec's mouth moved over hers. His hand on the back of her neck was strong and he held her where he wanted her as he ravished her mouth. He was aggressive and strong, taking what he needed from her, giving her what she hadn't known she craved until this very second. Every move of his body seduced her into letting go of her own reservations and giving in to her need, as well. His tongue teased hers with a parry and retreat until he thrust it deeply into her mouth. His hands soothed their way down her back to her waist as he drew her in closer to him.
She felt the muscled strength of his chest and his pecs under the crispness of his dress shirt. She felt the tension in his fingers as he squeezed her waist and drew her up off her feet and against his body. She felt his hardening erection and knew that for tonight the games had ended.
There was no playing around with this kind of lust, and she didn't want to. She'd told him about his son, they were slowly working out how to deal with their companies and it had been a long eighteen months for her without sex. Without a man's hands on her body. Not just any man-this one.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and toyed with the hair at the back of his neck. He angled his head to the left to deepen their kiss and she knew she wanted more. She sucked on his tongue as he tried to withdraw it from her mouth. He smelled of man and musk and Dec. It was a scent she'd thought she'd never smell again and though she'd been trying so hard to pretend this was no big deal, she was so glad he was back in her life.
She tore her mouth from his, looking up to meet his dark brown gaze. His skin was flushed with arousal and the look in his eyes was so intense she shivered from it. He lowered his mouth again and this time the hungry kiss was slower, more sensual, deeper.
She stopped thinking, just let herself give in to the passion that he drew so easily from her. He lifted her again, his hands cupping her buttocks as he shifted his hips to grind his manhood against the apex of her thighs. He hit her in the perfect spot and she let her head fall back as his mouth moved down her neck.
"Wrap your legs around my waist," he said against her skin, his voice a gruff, husky sound that made her quiver.
She did as he asked and he carried her across the room to her walnut desk. He set her on the top of it. She kept her legs wrapped around his waist and lifted her hips against his erection, rubbing herself against him.
He put his hands on either side of the desk next to her hips. "Lean back."
She hesitated.
"Do it," he said.
She did, propping herself up on her elbows. He started to undo the tiny black buttons that lined the front of her blouse. Slowly he undid the first one and then leaned in and dropped a kiss on her exposed flesh. Then he moved to the next one and then the next. He stopped when her blouse fell open enough to reveal her bra.
"I seem to remember lace the last time," he said.
"My breasts are a lot bigger now."
"Yes, they are," he said, cupping the left one and stroking her nipple with the side of his forefinger.
Her breasts felt full and her nipple tightened and she felt a bit of wetness as a little milk came out. He rubbed his finger over it and then reached beneath the fabric of the bra to rub her naked flesh.
She wondered if that would shatter the mood. It didn't for her because she was on fire for him. And she needed him now. He lifted one hand to touch her almost reverently and she glanced up at his face. He still had that intense look of desire, but it was teamed with the softest expression she'd ever seen on his face.
"Not sexy at all," she said.
"Maybe not to another man, but it's a reminder to me of what we share," he said.
She wanted to ask him more about that but he leaned down and kissed her. This time wasn't as fierce as it had been earlier but it was just as intense. She was overwhelmed by an upsurge of tenderness from him as he drew her closer to him and continued to deepen the kiss.
"Sorry," she said, not sure how to stop her breast from doing that.
"Don't apologize," he said, continuing to unbutton her shirt.
She reached for his shoulders and drew him closer to her, wanting to embrace him so she wouldn't feel so vulnerable, but he kept the distance between them.
He looked deep into her eyes and asked, "Do you still want me?"
"Yes," she said, knowing she could hide nothing from this man. "Yes."
Nine
That was the response he'd been waiting for.
Growling her name, Dec reached between them for the fastening of her pants, undoing the button and then lowering the zipper. She shifted her hips as he pushed one hand into the opening. Then his mouth came back to hers.
Everything about Cari was more tonight. Her perfume lingered in his senses with each breath he inhaled. Her skin felt softer than before, and the new weight from carrying DJ filled out her curves. He loved every new thing he discovered about her.
He realized that no matter what it was he thought he knew about her, he hadn't really known her at all. The way he felt right now, like he was going to explode if he didn't get inside of her, made him regret that he'd put his business first. He should have stayed in her arms. He pushed should-haves out of his mind and concentrated on the way she tasted on his tongue.
He pushed his hand farther into her panties, letting one finger trace the humid warmth at the opening of her body. She said his name on a breathless sigh and he smiled down at her. She shifted against him, her hand finding first his thigh and then the hard length of his erection. She stroked him up and down through the fabric of his pants, holding on to him and rubbing her finger over the tip.
She fumbled for his zipper and he reached down and opened his pants, freeing his length. She gripped him and drew him closer to her, reaching lower between his legs to cup him.
He parted her with his fingers and she closed her hand tightly on his erection as her hips canted up toward him. This was a remembered pleasure. The way she responded to his touch. As lovers, they both heated up together, and he felt at this moment they were completely in sync.