Vision in White (Bride Quartet #1)(56)

"Oh."

"We wouldn't want to disappoint Bob."

"He is an awfully good friend." He rested his cheek on the top of her head as everything settled back into place. "I'm not a very good dancer. My feet are too big. If I step on yours just-"

She tipped her face up to his. "Shut up and kiss me, Carter."

"I can do that."

Swaying, he covered her mouth with his. Soft and quiet, to fit the moment. He circled, cautiously, while her fingers slid into his hair, and her sigh filled his mind with mists.

She turned her head to skim her lips along his jaw. "Carter?"

"Mmm?"

"If you're paying attention you should sense that I'm amenable." She kept her eyes open and on his when their lips met again. "Why don't you take me upstairs?"

She stepped back, held out her hand. "If you want me."

He took her hand, brought it to his lips. "It feels as if I've spent my whole life wanting you."

He drew her out of the kitchen. At the base of the steps he had to stop, had to kiss her again. He wondered if the wine, the needs, the images swam in her head as they did his.

He led her up, his pulse thumping with every step.

"I thought about flowers and candles, in case," he said as they walked into his bedroom. "Then I thought-and I'm not normally superstitious-that would be the way to jinx it. And I wanted you here, too much, to risk it. I wanted you in my bed."

"Having you say that to me is better than candles and flowers, believe me." Like the house, she thought, the room suited him. Simple lines, quiet colors, ordered space.

"I wanted to be here. I wanted to be in your bed."

Walking toward it, she saw the photograph of the cardinal on the facing wall. Touched, she turned to look at him, and wanted him more than she'd imagined she could.

She reached up to undo the buttons of her shirt.

"Don't. Please. I want to undress you. If you don't mind."

She dropped her hands. "No. I don't mind."

He reached over, turned the lamp beside the bed on low. "And I want to see you while I do." 

He stroked a hand down her cheek, ran both hands down her body as he drew her against him.

Then his mouth took hers.





CHAPTER ELEVEN



HAD SHE BEEN KISSED LIKE THIS BEFORE? SO THAT THE MEETING of lips, of tongues vibrated through her entire body? Had she ever been seduced so completely, as much by words as by that single, dazzling kiss?

How had the tables turned on her? She'd thought to seduce him, to tease him upstairs, and into bed. She'd thought to keep it light and easy, as the evening had been-for the simple and basic purpose of releasing the ball of lust that gathered inside her when she was around him.

It should be simple, basic.

But it wasn't.

He touched his lips to her cheeks, her brow, then those quiet blue eyes watched her as he unbuttoned her shirt. He barely touched her, and still the breath backed up in her lungs. He barely touched her, and still the control passed from her hands to his.

Standing in that quiet light, his eyes on hers, she didn't care.

With the shirt open, he trailed a fingertip along her collar-bone, then down over the swell of her breasts. Just a whisper, barely a graze. But it set her skin to humming.

"Are you cold?" he asked when she trembled.

"No."

And he smiled. "Then . . ." Slowly he nudged the shirt off her shoulders, let it slide to the floor. "Pretty," he murmured, skimming his thumbs over the lacy cups of her bra.

Her breath released, hitched, caught again. "Carter, you make me weak."

"I love your eyes. Magic seas." He traced his fingers down her torso, up again, down, leaving little paths of shimmering sensation in their wake. "I've wanted to watch them when I touch you. Like this."

Patient, steady, he explored. Swells and dips, curves and angles. While her body quivered in response, he flipped open the button at her waistband, eased down the zipper.

Once again he ran his hands down the sides of her body, inch by inch. Her pants slipped down her hips, her legs.

"Here." He took her hand. "Step out."

She obeyed like a woman in a trance, and felt her pulse scramble as he ran his gaze down her as he had his hands. Slowly. His lips curved. "I like your boots."

She looked down, saw the thin-heeled ankle boots she now wore with only her bra and panties. "It's a look."

Smiling, he hooked his fingertip in the waist of the panties. She managed an "Oh, God" as he tugged to bring her body to his again.

This time, his mouth met hers like a fever, a flashpoint of heat. Even as she melted in it, he turned her, drawing her back against him. His teeth nibbled at the curve of her throat as her head fell back.