"What if I'm already hooked now?" he lowers his voice, and his smile disappears. I don't think we're talking about reality television anymore. My breath catches in my throat, and my heart starts humming in my chest.
I force myself to look away from his earnest eyes, frowning at my hands in silence. "What's wrong, Kendra?" He touches my arm lightly, and it sends a shiver of electricity up my arm. I want him to make my whole body feel like that.
"It's nothing," I mumble to the table. "You just shouldn't toy with people."
He scoops my chin up until my eyes are locked back on his, held captive in his gaze. "I don't say things that I don't mean." His tone is unwavering. He doesn't blink, it's like we're having a contest to see who will break eye contact first, and I lose when I search his face for some trace of dishonesty. I find none.
"I think we should probably get going, don't you? It's getting kind of late." My voice is full of waves of desire that I've held locked inside of me until Matthew showed up in my life with the key. He nods, finally looking away from me only to pull money out of his wallet which he leaves on the table in a pile. As we make our way out the door, he wraps his arm around me, and it feels like it was created for this very purpose. The night air is much cooler than it was when we walked into the bar a few hours back, and Matthew protectively rubs his hand down over my arm to fend off the cold. The electricity I feel shoot through me every time he touches my skin is enough to keep me from freezing.
He stops abruptly, pulling me in tight against his toned chest and leans over me. The heat of his breath caresses my lips for an instant before his soft lips meet mine in a kiss that tells the story of our longing. "I have a little apartment about five blocks from here. Would you like to come up for a nightcap?"
I'm torn. If I go to his place, I don't think I'll be able to walk out on his advances twice. What's more, I'm not sure that I'd want to. "Yes," I whisper.
The city blocks feel longer and harder to walk than ever before. With every step, my mind and body clash in a battle of wills, but as we reach his building, it's my heart that makes the final call. I glide across the lobby in the crook of his arm to the gold, shiny doors of the elevator. As soon as we're safely nestled inside the metal box, Matthew leans into me, gently pushing my back against the cool wall and kisses me hungrily. My body arches to meet the heat of his, begging him for attention.
When the doors open, it looks like we've walked out into another lobby, with a magnificent sparkling wall that appears to extend up three floors and polished marble floors. I blink looking for the hallway to the condos. As Matthew tugs my hand, leading me across the glossy floor into a sprawling den overlooking the twinkling cityscape it finally clicks that we're in his condo. I sit on the rather uncomfortable love seat while he mixes us a couple drinks. My eyes don't even know where to focus, the twisted metal sculptures and intricate oil paintings decorating the seemingly limitless walls, the adjacent kitchen that appears to be bigger than my entire apartment, or the stunning billionaire topping up our glasses with a half-cocked smile. My priorities come back into focus when my eyes rest upon him. Normally, I would never feel comfortable in such an extravagant space, but something about Matthew's easy nature makes me feel at home as soon as he sits with me.
"Thank you." I take the drink he's holding for me. "So, this is your little apartment, huh?" I say mockingly. "Do you stay here often?"
"More than I'd like, really. It just isn't always practical to fly to my house at the end of a long day, especially when we have a merger or the usual insanity of our quarter fiscal accountability to our major shareholders. I find it easier to stay in here when we're in the thick of it so I can get more done."
"That doesn't sound like a fun reason for a condo like this," I prod. I know I'm not the first woman to come up here with him. I guess part of me wants to hear him admit that this is a routine for him.
"I have some fun here too." I knew it. Bad-boy Blackwell strikes again. "I've used this place as a venue for quite a few galas and functions. It was even a temporary art gallery for a showing my friend put on once. Unfortunately, I think I ended up buying most of the pieces." He waves his hand around at the less identifiable sculptures placed around the room. His eyebrows knit together as he stares at one of the hunks of warped metal. "That should've counted as a charity event."
My drink tastes like spring sunshine on my tongue, warm and slightly floral, and it goes down a little too easily. "Well, it's a beautiful place. It would be a shame if you only used it as a place to flop at night when work is busy."
"I would spend a lot more time here if I had the right person to share it with," his voice deepens, making his rich baritone like velvet. He plucks the empty glass from my hand and places it on the table alongside his. My body rushes with blood in anticipation of his next move. My breathing grows shallow as he turns into me, sweeping me closer with his brawny arms and gently opens my lips with his kiss. As our tongues dance upon each other, my nipples turn to hard pebbles aching to be explored by his mouth. I arch my back, pushing myself into him, my body begging him to reward me with his touch.
"I want you, Kendra," he murmurs in my ear, sending a buzz through my nerves straight down to my toes.
"I want you too," I confess.
He quickly scoops me up, as if he's picking up a pillow, and carries me like a bride being taken over the threshold down the hall. My heart pounds in my chest wildly as he steps into his bedroom, and he lays me down on his ornate, four-poster bed. He looks at me differently, wilder and more focused, and my skin sears under his locked eyes. I gasp when I notice his bulging erection fighting against the fabric of his jeans.
He climbs onto the bed and kisses me, rougher than before, tugging my lip between his teeth and running them over the edge. Matthew lightly bites down, sending a shiver through me, and tugs my lip into his mouth releasing it only to nibble and kiss down the front of my neck to my blouse. He pauses for a second, and I arch my back up inviting him with my breasts. Quickly, he unbuttons my shirt, leaving it draped from my shoulders as he uses only his tongue now to mark a path down to the edge of my baby blue bra. Matthew's broad hand wraps around my back, unhooking the strap in one quick movement and then pulls me into him as he devours my breasts in kisses. I cry out at the unexpected pleasure his soft tongue sends through my body, my entire body aches for him. He twirls my hard nipple in his tongue, sucking on it lightly and then nibbles tiny bites around the outside, driving my body crazy with the alternating pain and pleasure.
I tug on his shirt feebly, trying to pull it toward his shoulders or to get him to take it off. He smiles up at me. "There's no rush, Kendra. I want to enjoy every part of you … slowly." He makes his way over to my other breast under deliberate control as my body screams with desire. He gives each breast, each nipple, each and every inch of them, equal and undivided attention until I think I might explode if he doesn't take me soon.
Sensing my impatience, he smiles against my brown sugar skin. "We're going to have to work on your control." I'm not sure what that means, and I stop trying to figure it out as he kisses down my stomach to the edge of my pants. He flicks open the button and tugs them over my hips and down my legs, dropping them to the floor. I lean up on my elbows and take my shirt and bra the rest of the way off, so I'm lying in front of him, shamelessly wearing nothing my blue lace panties. I start squirming a little as he stares between my legs like a starving wolf watching a caribou.
He leans over me, teasing me with his breath, and pushes his tongue deep into the fabric of my panties, pushing the sticky lace into my juicy dent. I moan at the overwhelming buzz his brief touch gives my clit and try to pull my panties off, but he grabs my hands tight. "In good time, Kendra." I groan, dear god I've waited longer than any girl I know! I think I've waited long enough. As if he's trying to make his point, he nips and nibbles the inside of my knee in a light path up toward my sex until he's hovering back over it. Then he continues his journey back down my inner thigh on my other leg, making me use all of my restraint to not scream at the top of my lungs in desperation.
Matthew kisses his way back up the tender skin of my inner thigh. I grit my teeth as he breathes humidity over my mound knowing that he's testing me. Satisfied with my compliance to his control, he finally rewards me by pulling my underwear off to my knees and buries his tongue into my slick fold.