To Have and to Hold (The Wedding Belles #1)(50)

He slid his hands to her waist, dipping his knees slightly so he could move his mouth along the underside of her jaw before fusing their lips once more. As hungry as her kiss was, there was a shyness there, too—the faintest taste of hesitancy as though her brain hadn’t quite caught up to her body.

Seth gentled the kiss, giving her time. He brushed his lips back and forth against hers in a soft coaxing motion, using his tongue only to flick teasingly at the corner of her mouth before taking it away again.

Again and again he kissed her gently, teased her, making them both wait as his hands roamed her sides, her back, until she gave a quiet desperate moan and said his name.

“Seth.”

Yes.

His hands moved upward until they cupped her face, and he expertly nudged her lips apart, sliding his tongue forward so that it tangled hotly with hers.

He heard another moan, and he wasn’t entirely sure which of them made the noise. Sweet. She tasted so damn sweet.

“Off,” she said, shoving at his suit jacket. “Get this off.”

He pulled back slightly, breathing hard as he searched her face. “What changed your mind?”

“Hmm?” Her blue eyes were cloudy with desire as she ran her palms over his chest.

He caught her palms, held them flat against his chest, and waited for her to meet his eyes. She did, shyly, and Seth felt something tighten inside him.

“The other day, when I tried—you didn’t want me.”

“Please don’t think that,” she said, licking her lips. “I did want you. You know that I did.”

He did know that. He’d seen it. And yet . . . she’d walked away.

Brooke pulled her hands away as she stepped back. “Oh. God. You’ve changed your mind.”

“Wait. What?”

She knelt to pick up her coat, her cheeks turning pink. “All of the reasons I said no before . . . the complications, the fact that I work for you . . . I should have left it at that, I should have left it alone. I just thought . . . God, I am so stupid.”

He knelt down in front of her, capturing her wrist in his hand and pressing a thumb to her damp palm, stroking softly as he searched her face. “Don’t run, Brooke.”

She swallowed. “You haven’t changed your mind?”

“About wanting you?” he said with a smile, pulling her to her feet. “Not even close.”

“And you’re okay that I don’t want . . . more?”

His smile grew. “You do realize that a woman offering no-strings-attached sex is every bachelor’s dream?”

“Yes, but is it your dream?” she asked directly. “And if we do this”—she gestured between them—“it won’t impact my relationship with your sister? You won’t think less of me for potentially having a conflict of interest?”

Seth reached forward, wrapping his palms around her hips and pulling her forward before resting his forehead against hers, needing to make her understand. “The only interest I care about right now is the interest I have in getting you out of that dress.”





Chapter Nineteen





BROOKE HAD SPENT THE entire cab ride over to Seth’s place trying to tell herself not to chicken out. Reminding herself that she was a modern twenty-something woman who was allowed to have a one-night stand with a man who she was attracted to.

As it turned out, chickening out wasn’t the problem.

The second she’d gathered her courage and set her mouth against his, Brooke had realized the problem wouldn’t be running away. It would be stopping at one night.

Now his large hands still rested on her hips, his thumbs pressing enticingly against her hip bones, and still he waited.

Of course he was waiting for her green light. Even though he was cocky and a bit stingy with his emotions, Seth Tyler had a thick layer of gentleman beneath all that swagger.

Tonight, though, Brooke didn’t want gentle.

She wanted rough.

Her hands were resting on the hard planes of his chest, and she crept one hand up until her finger hooked under his tie as she tugged his face all the way down to hers, bringing his lips within millimeters of her own.

“Take me,” she whispered.

This time when Seth’s mouth crashed against hers, she knew there was no going back, and she relished it. Relished the need in his kiss, knowing that she echoed it with her own.

Brooke’s hands tore at the knot in his tie as his slid beneath the hem of her dress and back up so that he cupped her backside. Leggings were a crucial, if not necessarily sexy, part of living through an East Coast winter, but Seth didn’t seem to mind as he palmed her ass through the thin material with warm hands.

“I knew you would feel this good,” he said against her mouth, his teeth nipping lightly against her upper lip as he squeezed her flesh.

“Skin on skin would feel better,” she said, her head falling to the side so he could nuzzle her neck.

“Yeah?” he whispered against her throat. “You want my hands on you?”

He sucked at her skin, and Brooke whimpered.

Seth continued to knead her flesh through her leggings as she slid her hands down, tugging his shirt out of the waistband of his pants, sliding up under his undershirt until her palms met his bare skin.

He groaned softly, and Brooke smiled in victory. “You see? Better.”