The Allure of Julian Lefray (The Allure #1)(66)

I laughed and skimmed my hand an inch higher.

“Something like that,” Julian said, clamping down on my wrist as soon as I met my goal. I smiled. He was just as hard as I’d been anticipating, but I couldn’t move my hand with him gripping my wrist as tightly as he was. I jutted out my bottom lip. Bastard.

“Is this all right?” the cabbie asked.

I glanced outside and realized we were already at Julian’s hotel. I wasn’t ready for the cab ride to be over; I wanted to keep teasing him. I wanted to drive him crazy with my hand so that he could repay the favor later.

Julian reached for his wallet to pay the cab fare, but he never loosened his grip on my wrist. Whether it was conscious or not, it felt like he was doing it so that I wouldn’t bolt at the last minute. We’d come to these crossroads before, but this time there’d be a different outcome.

There was no turning back now.





Chapter Thirty-Eight


Julian





We were civilized as we walked through the lobby. I held her hand and we walked fast, keeping eye contact with the bank of elevators at the end of the lobby. The woman behind the front desk greeted us and I threw her a wave before picking up the pace.

I pressed the call button as Josephine slid her gaze to me and revealed a slow, private smile. I squeezed her hand tighter as the doors to the elevator slid open and we stepped inside.

The moment the doors closed, I pushed Jo to the wall. All civility was lost. She bit my lip as I slammed her hands against the wall over her head and she ground her hips against mine. I was tracing the top of her dress with my finger when the elevator dinged and the doors swept open twenty floors below our final destination.

I jumped back, giving us space to breathe as a couple dressed in cowboy boots and rhinestone hats stepped into the elevator.

Jesus Christ.

Jo’s chest was rising and falling as if she’d just finished a marathon. Her cheeks were flushed and she had her hand pressed to her stomach, trying to calm herself down.

The couple didn’t even seem to notice. The woman glanced from her to me and then smiled wide.

“Are you two real New Yorkers?” she asked with wide, curious eyes.

Odd question for a hotel elevator.

Jo smiled and nodded. “Do we look like it or something?”

The woman pulled her purse off her shoulder and dug inside of it. “You’re both just so glamorous. Could we get a picture?”

Jo met my gaze and I arched a brow.

“Just of us two?” she asked the woman.

The woman stopped digging and pulled out a giant camera. She handed it off to her husband—who didn’t seem at all phased by his wife’s request—and stood on the other side of Jo.

“I’ll be in it too,” she replied jovially.

I laughed. Only in New York.

I stepped closer to Jo and she wrapped her hand around my stomach. I could still feel the excitement surrounding her. Her body practically hummed with desire. I had my hand on her hip as the man positioned the viewfinder in front of his eye. Then, as he was about to snap the photo, I slid my hand down over Jo’s ass, dangerously low. She pinched my side to stop me, but it was too late. The man snapped the photo and Josephine practically came apart in my hands.

They thanked us for the photo, stepped off after a few more floors, and then Jo turned her angry gaze on me.

“Really cute, Julian. They totally knew what you were doing.”

I smiled. “No they didn’t. I was watching her husband’s face. He was oblivious, including the fact that they came all the way from Texas to get a picture of a Texan.”

She crossed her arms and leaned back against the elevator wall.

“Besides, it’s payback for the cab ride over here.”

She arched her brow and studied me from across the confined space. There was an unspoken war taking place between us—one that I wasn’t sure I could win. I thought she was about to argue with me when she bent forward and slipped her hands underneath the bottom of her dress. The slit on her left thigh pulled wider and I clenched my fists to keep from slamming the emergency button on the elevator panel. She reached up, took hold of her black thong, and slid it all the way down her legs. I watched the material descend her long legs as a rush of blood swept through me.

She held it out on the tip of her finger and smirked.

“You wanted to feel it so badly while they were taking the photo, so here you go,” she said, tossing it at me.

I caught it in my right hand and smirked.

She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up even higher. I loosened my tie and slid my suit jacket off my shoulders. She watched me start to undress as the elevator pulled to a stop on my floor. The doors slid open and I gestured for Josephine to step out first. She narrowed her eyes, clearly untrusting of my motives.

“I can be a gentlemen sometimes.” I smirked.

She laughed and headed in the direction of my hotel room. I pulled my keycard out of my wallet and stepped up behind her.

“Though I know you prefer when I’m not,” I said as I unlocked the door.

She turned around, gripped the two ends of my tie and pulled me into the suite. The lights were off, the city was our torch as she tugged the tie from my collar and tossed it over onto the couch. My jacket was next and then she stood there, eyeing me up and down with excitement.