The man sitting across from her was a different story. Evan looked impossibly tempting, his hair slightly mussed, the muscles in his arms and chest rippling every time he moved.
All she’d need to do was lean forward and lick every inch of his exposed skin, then she could . . .
Stop. This is about Evan. I want to teach him to relax! I can keep my hormones under control for an hour. Okay . . . maybe thirty minutes.
Randi slammed her eyes closed and swallowed, unable to stop her reaction to the hot look he was giving her, like he wanted to devour her as another helping of dessert. “Close your eyes,” she demanded. “I told you this wasn’t going to be all about sex.”
It was the last evening she had to spend with him other than the ball. Tomorrow night she had a tutoring session. She and Evan would attend Hope’s party together and then he’d be gone.
I can do this. I can spend one night with Evan without wanting him to do me.
She felt his heated breath on her ear before he spoke huskily. “It isn’t all about sex, Randi. With you, it never has been and it never will be.”
She shivered as she felt his lips nuzzle her ear, but she didn’t open her eyes. “Then what is it?” she whispered shakily.
“I don’t have to explain it to you. You already know. You want this as much as I do,” he said with a low growl as he wrapped a strong hand behind her neck. “I need to do everything in my power to make sure you never forget how this feels, to make you remember that you’re mine. Everything about just being with you makes me happy.”
It was all about the connection, the addictive euphoria of having him claim her like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like she could ever forget Evan? She knew that would never happen.
“The man who tried to assault you is dead,” Evan told her unhappily, as though he was disappointed he couldn’t make Randi’s tormenter suffer. “He died of a heart attack several years ago.”
“You tried to find him?” Randi asked, her eyes opening wide in disbelief.
“Of course. If the asshole wasn’t already dead, he was going to wish he was when I found him,” Evan answered, his voice vibrating with anger.
“You tracked him down for me?” She had no doubt Evan had been seeking revenge for an incident that happened years ago. Randi knew he wasn’t capable of cold-blooded murder, but there were plenty of other ways for a billionaire to completely destroy somebody’s life.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” Evan answered in a grave voice. “If the bastard was still molesting children, he needed to be stopped.”
Randi was relieved the man was dead. “How did you find out?”
“There are very few things I can’t do,” Evan answered cockily.
She squealed as her back hit the floor with Evan looming over her, his expression fierce. She asked breathlessly, “So this is what really makes you happy?”
“It makes me fucking ecstatic,” he grumbled as his head swooped down to capture her mouth with his.
Randi wrapped her arms around his neck, trembling as their heated skin made contact.
Screw the meditation. I need this more. Evan makes me crazy, and I can’t concentrate.
Randi separated her mouth from Evan’s with a determined turn of her head and pushed against his shoulders. “Up,” she grunted as she found herself pushing against what felt like a rock wall. Evan was heavy and muscular, definitely strong enough that she couldn’t move unless he let her.
He did.
Immediately.
Helping her move to a sitting position, he looked at her, confused. “Are you okay?”
Desire still simmered in the pool of his gorgeous blue eyes, but it was mixed with concern.
Randi reached for the bottom of his tank top and yanked, causing him to raise his arms to remove it. She tossed it over her shoulder as she told him sternly, “I promised myself I’d teach you to loosen the reins on your control when you aren’t working.” Reaching for the hem of her own T-shirt, she whipped it over her head and sent it in the same direction as Evan’s garment.
She was braless, and her nipples were pebbled and sensitive, which was probably the reason Evan’s eyes kept returning to her chest.
“Are we going to meditate naked?” Evan asked calmly, his gaze questioning as his eyes scanned her naked breasts hungrily. “If so, I’m definitely doomed to fail.”
“Nope,” Randi answered firmly. “We’re just going to do it differently.”