Wrong for You (Before You #3)(23)
Chapter Ten
When Alec finished eating, she gathered their plates, scraped off the food and dumped them in the kitchen sink. Now that Alec had hinted more than once that he wanted to take this thing between them beyond friends or acquaintances, she was having second thoughts. What did she know about him? Not much other than she liked it when he looked at her as though he wanted to devour her in one bite.
In fact, she didn’t get why he’d be interested in someone like her, except for wanting to change things up a little. He seemed like the type to have a glamorous woman on his arm, all made up in a flashy low cut dress at some music event for the agency where he worked. She, on the other hand, preferred jeans and hiking boots, and if she bothered to put on makeup, it consisted of lip-gloss and few swipes of mascara.
Just then, she felt his heavy hands come down on her shoulders, her back pressed against his chest.
“Little Violet,” he mumbled against her neck, both the endearment and his lips so close to her ear caused bolts of electricity to zip through her stomach.
“Wha-what?” she stuttered, clutching onto the edge of the sink as if her fingers were the only things keeping her from falling into an abyss, and maybe they were.
“Am I making you nervous?” His voice was dark and velvety like tangled sheets and sex.
Her heart raced in short painful bursts. “No,” she lied as his lips ghosted along the curve of her neck and she shivered, but it wasn’t a normal shiver. It felt like every muscle in her body conspired to convulse simultaneously.
He spun her around to face him and all she could do was stare at him, her eyes wide and not blinking as he pressed his body against hers, his thighs encasing hers. Breathless, she closed her eyes as his dark head bent toward hers. Holy shit. She was doing this. She was really going to explore this thing with Alec.
His warm mouth brushed over hers once and then he lingered there for an exaggerated moment, their breath mingling in the slim, almost nonexistent, space between their lips. She placed her hands on his narrow hips, pulling him closer, not ready for him to stop yet.
His lips curved up into a mocking smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not letting you go yet. Not even close,” he added as his lips collided against hers. She may have whimpered or said a hallelujah or two. She didn’t know, but damn, she loved the slide of his lips against hers. Nothing had ever been so delicious.
When her lips parted, his tongue caressed hers with an erotic rhythm that she swore she could feel in every cell of her body. Every time she thought he’d stop, the kiss continued, getting hotter and deeper with every stroke and nibble until she feared she might melt into nothingness.
His kisses gentled and then he pulled away. “I’ve wanted to taste you—I mean really taste you—since the minute I saw your disapproving look in the Foundation parking lot.”
“Then don’t stop now,” she said, shocking herself with her own words. She normally wasn’t so forward, but Alec made her want more because men like him who lit up the world, making everything seem bigger, brighter and more alive, didn’t walk into a woman’s life very often. And while it was only a matter of time before everything crashed and burned, she had every intention of seizing the moment before he slipped through her fingers and disappeared from her life, never to be seen again.
“Little Violet, I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered, the tone of his voice self-assured, like a man who normally owned his reality, shaping and controlling it. She just lived hers, taking the ups and downs as they came and trying to enjoy the ride.
He pried her fingers away from his hips and pulled her shirt over her head. His white-hot gaze seeped into her pores, making her tremble. She reached out to pull him against her, but he wrapped his hands around her wrists, pinning her hands next to her hips on the kitchen counter. “Don’t move. Let me see you,” he said as his fingers whispered across the tops of her breasts so lightly her skin pebbled under his touch. “Do you know how sexy you are?”
“Not sexy,” she mumbled, because she didn’t think of herself that way. Cute, attractive, pretty maybe, but never sexy. Sexy was reserved for beautifully styled women on the cover of magazines with perfect clothes and hair. She didn’t have either and she really didn’t care before this moment. “Not compared to you.”
Alec chuckled as his lips twisted into a cocky grin. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He reached around her back, unclasping her bra, sliding the straps down her shoulders with a reverential swipe of his fingers.
Her eyes fluttered as she arched forward. “You’re wrong. You’re so out of my league. We’re not even in the same hemisphere,” she said softly. She was the girl next door, whereas he was larger than life, living in LA, probably brushing up against stars, attending functions she couldn’t even fathom for his job at the agency. She wasn’t meant for that type of life.
His hands paused, no longer moving and she opened her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Don’t say that. It’s not true.”
She opened her mouth to object, but he placed his finger over her lips.
“If anyone isn’t good enough, it’s me.” Darkness flashed across his face. He had secrets, lots of them, she realized, and a tinge of unease slithered down her spine. “I’m not a good person, Violet, but when I look at you, I want to be.” He looked up at the ceiling momentarily. “Maybe that counts for something,” he mumbled, his voice almost inaudible.