It was time to leave. Time to woo his bride in private. He circled the room and found his mother, informing her of his intent to spirit Kelsey up to the honeymoon suite.
While his mother began calling the guests to form the confetti gauntlet, Jared crossed the room to where Kelsey stood.
She glanced up as he approached, weaving his way through the remaining guests. Something in his expression must have indicated his intent. Her gaze locked with his, her beautiful face going still. Awareness ran between them, crossing the ballroom like an arc of current.
She watched him approach, half turned away from the group around her, the intensity in her eyes making his heart pound.
When he reached her side, Jared stopped, his pulse hammering in his ears. All his life, without knowing it, he’d needed this woman. Now she was his, and he wanted everyone else to evaporate.
Without speaking, Kelsey took his hand.
As the chattering, excited guests gathered around them, clutching fistfuls of confetti, Jared led her toward the door.
Kelsey felt excitement drumming in her veins, thick and molten. The shrieks and laughter around them faded. All she was conscious of was Jared’s nearness, her hand secured in his.
From the moment they’d spoken their vows, the evening had taken on a certain enchantment. She’d tried to resist at first, but the fantasy felt like water after a drought.
She was a fairy princess claimed by the king. The firm clasp of his hand, the dark hunger in his eyes. How long had she waited to feel this way? To feel supremely, eternally important to one man?
How long had she waited to kiss him again?
Suddenly, they were running down the hotel hallway, a cloud of confetti whirling over their heads like a bride and groom in a snow globe.
The elevator door yawned open before them. Kelsey flung herself into the car, her breath coming hard and fast. Jared pushed the button for the penthouse and the doors closed.
He turned to face her, his eyes hot and dark.
“Do you trust me?” Jared said suddenly, the question urgent.
Her heart thudding in her chest, she heard herself say, “Yes.”
“Truly? Completely?”
“Yes.” Her voice was calm, but her body tightened in anticipation. They were alone…and married. Tonight, they’d make love.
There was a roaring in her ears, a pounding urgency. Everything felt so unreal, so magical. How often did a woman get to live out a fantasy? There was so much more she wanted…needed from him.
Without thought, she stepped toward him, her fingers jerking his tie loose before yanking free the
top button of his shirt.
Surprise flashed in his eyes.
She didn’t care. She’d waited too long, dreamed hot, hungry dreams too many nights. Who said fairy princesses had to be shy?
As the elevator car rose, her fingers dropped down his shirt, loosening each button with the speed of light till his chest shone bare. Kelsey lay her palms against his skin.
Instantly, he jerked her into his arms, groaning as he bent to her neck, his mouth hot and voracious. Desire shuddered through her. Pressed now against the back wall of the elevator, his taut body imprinted on her, Kelsey clutched at him, dragging at his coat. She needed him bare against her, needed to surround him.
Scattering fierce kisses along her neck and shoulder, Jared managed to wedge a hand behind her back while the other kneaded her breast in an exquisite torture. Her whole body flushed, the core of her being aching to be filled.
She felt the fabric of her dress fall away from her shoulder at the same instant the elevator came to a halt.
With hardly a pause, they tumbled out of the elevator into the penthouse foyer, their hands still tangled in each other’s clothes. Jared muttered something, groping in his pocket as he pushed her against the one door, his mouth dropping to graze the top of her breasts.
When he got the lock opened behind her, Jared lifted her, swinging Kelsey inside and slamming the door behind them.
Darkness and the ragged sound of their breathing filled the penthouse. In a tangle of seconds, he was free of his jacket and she found herself stripped to the waist, her skirt billowing up around her hips as he pressed her to the wall.
Cupping her naked breasts in his hands, Jared growled in his throat, the sound both satisfied and impatient. Straining against her, just her hose and panties between them, his eager searching hand found her damp center as his mouth closed on her nipple. Kelsey arched to him. God.
Her back still to the wall, she stared vacantly into the twilight room, sensations rippling over her. His mouth was hot and wet at her breast, drawing at her as his fingers delved beneath her panties. She moaned, dazed in the wash of response to his touch.
Thrusting her hands into his hair, she held him there, the laving of his tongue making her gasp. His scent filled her lungs.