A Prince of a Guy (Red Hot Royals #1)(28)

“I know.” His hands were very busy, molding her hips, her spine, her bottom. “Oh, yeah,” he murmured. “This is helping, believe me. Now tell me why you were hiding.”

Capturing his hands, she let out a nervous laugh. “Somehow I lost my touch with this socializing thing. I’m no help to you here tonight. I’m sorry.”

“It’s easy, remember?” Sean’s mouth followed the curve of her jaw. “Just carry a drink and smile.”

He was mocking her. And kissing the corner of her mouth. His hands broke free from hers. One big, warm one skimmed up her cheek, and his fingers gripped the earpiece of her glasses.

He was going to take them off. Putting her hand over his, she waited until he lifted his head. “Sean…” The way he was looking at her was intoxicating, with all the dazed heat. “Not here.”

“You feel it, too.”

“I always have.”

He went very still, then skimmed a slow hand up and down her spine. “I’m not sure what to do with all this wanting, Carly.”

For the first time, the name Carly wasn’t a heart stopper. It didn’t make her sad, because suddenly she no longer yearned to hear him call her Carlyne. She liked Carly.

She wanted to be her.

Maybe, after she told him the truth tonight, she could find a way to make that happen, could find a way to meld both her lives together into one she could live with. In his embrace, she could almost imagine everything would be okay.

He bent his head and kissed her again, softly. “I can feel you,” he whispered. “Your skin, your curves, your heat. Why are you hiding all that from me? Don’t you know how beautiful you are?”

Tears stung her eyes. Had a man ever been so attracted to her? Never. And it was now, when she was looking about as bad as she could look, that it really hit home.

He wanted her no matter what she looked like. He was attracted to what she was on the inside. That simple. “Sean, we…need to talk.”

“Hmm.” He occupied himself with kissing her neck, then tugged away the sweater to expose more skin.

“Really. Talk first.” But her voice was weak.

He found her collarbone, and she let out a helpless hum. He had one hand at the small of her back, urging her closer, his other slipping down, down, cupping her bottom while he slowly rocked his erection against her.

A hungry, desperate groan escaped each of them, interrupted by a knock at the door.

Slowly, very slowly, Sean lifted his head, his breathing rough and ragged. “Coming,” he called, his voice a bit hoarse. “Let’s go home,” he whispered to Carly. “Now.”

“To talk.”

“To everything.”





9




SEAN OPENED the bathroom door and stared into the startled faces of Sam and his wife, Helena. His hosts.

“Sean,” Sam said with amusement.

Helena looked Carly over with interest and lifted a brow. She’d been trying to set Sean up with one girlfriend after another for the better part of a year. “Well, hello.”

“Having fun, are we?” Sam asked with a wide grin.

“Sorry for the holdup. We…need to go.”

“I see.” Helena kissed his cheek. “Nice seeing you.”

“Thanks.” Sean took Carly’s hand and led her through the crowded house toward the door.

They were stopped time after time by clients, friends of clients, would-be clients. Frustrated, he abruptly changed tactics and took them through the living room, which had been cleared to allow dancing. There, he headed toward the sliding glass door, which led to the open yard.

“Slow down,” Carly whispered breathlessly.

On the patio, he turned, reached for her. Their bodies brushed together, then again, deliberately. He ran a hand down her back, urging her even closer. “I can’t get you out of my head, Carly. How you taste, how you feel. The sounds you make when I touch you.”

He was gratified to see her eyes glaze over. “Still want me to slow down?” he teased.

“No.”

From the yard they could walk to the front, get in his car and get home. To his bed.

But the night was so lovely. Warm yet breezy, the air carried the scent of the ocean, which was just beyond the property past the bluffs. The sky was littered with stars, like diamonds on a blanket of black velvet. And the music, soft now, drifted over them. He pulled her into his arms.

“What are we doing?”

“Dancing.” No hurry, he realized, because here, right here in the moment, was very nice, too. He took her hand, leading her off the lit deck into the shadows, where the grass was thick and luxurious beneath their feet, where the night shaded them from view. Her breath caught when he pulled her close, and at the sound, his entire body tightened.

“Sean—”

“Relax,” he said softly in her ear.

“I’m going to have a little trouble with that,” she said on a little laugh. “When I’m in your arms like this, I can’t seem to think. Your body… Well,” she said, sounding embarrassed.

“Don’t stop there.”

She gave a self-conscious smile that lit his heart. “My face feels hot, and the fire is spreading.”

He hoped to put that fire out by the end of the evening. “Ease up against me.” He let out a rough groan when she did. “Yeah. Like that.” He’d never thought of her as a particularly petite woman. How could he when she’d always covered herself in so many layers? But here, now, with his hands roaming her body, she felt so slender, so feminine. His attraction to her hadn’t had anything to do with her body, but now that it touched his like this, he changed his mind.