The Virgin Gift(42)
Not when she’d roped her arms around my neck as she gave her mouth to me, asking with her body to be kissed fiercely, passionately.
And with ownership.
That was what my Nina had wanted from a man.
That was what she wanted from this man.
To be taken.
And hell, was I ever taken with her. So damn taken that when I broke the kiss, I couldn’t wait. “I’d like to think that kiss made it clear, but I’ve learned from you that words matter. That spelling out wishes and wants is so damn important.” I took a beat and gazed into her deep brown eyes as I clasped my gorgeous woman’s face. “So let me say this—I broke the rules of engagement.”
A grin played across her pink lips, and she whispered, “Me too.”
That emboldened me, but then, I was already feeling bold tonight. “I broke the most important one of all.”
“You did?” Her voice was a little flirty, but full of so much hope—a hope I felt deep in my soul.
“I broke it, and I don’t want to fix it because I don’t want to go back to friendship with you.”
“I don’t either.”
“I want to have everything with you. I want to be your man, your lover, your person, and your friend at the end of the day.”
She trembled, her voice hitching. “I want all of that too.”
I ran my thumb across her cheek. “And in case it wasn’t clear, I am wildly, madly, deeply in love with you.”
“Oh, Adam, I’m so in love with you.” One lone tear slid down her face, but before I could kiss it away, she brushed her lips with mine in a soft, tender kiss.
A kiss only she could give me.
And in it, I felt her ownership.
Of my heart and my soul and my whole damn mind.
It was everything I couldn’t live without.
When she broke the kiss, my head was hazy, and my mind was racing to where I wanted to go, to what I wanted to say.
But she beat me to it, surprising the hell out of me when she said, “But there’s one more thing on my list. I want number eleven.”
I’d never left a place so fast in my life.
25
Nina
This wasn’t how I’d planned it.
My goal was to show him how I felt.
But he’d beat me to it.
And I was good with that, so good. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to keep the words inside me anyway. They’d been bubbling up in me all day long, then tangoing on my tongue the second I’d walked into the club.
Saying them at last was both relief and freedom.
And I hoped the rest of the night would be too.
When we reached my place, I told him I needed a few minutes to get ready.
“Take your time,” he said.
“You probably want a glass of champagne though,” Brandon added, since we weren’t alone. He was with us, and he waved in the direction of Adam’s condo. “I picked up a bottle for you two lovebirds earlier today. I’ll go get it.”
When he left, Adam followed me into the bedroom, moving behind me when I reached the bureau, kissing the back of my neck. “You good with this? With him being here?”
I turned around so he could see the truth in my eyes. “Yes. I’ve wanted this so badly. I started to write it on my first list, but wasn’t sure if I could go through with it.”
“What changed your mind? I have to confess, I saw it there this morning, but I love that you asked for it this time.”
And this time, I wasn’t bothered that he’d looked at my list again. He was the list, and the list was us. It was ours. “What changed is when I started to fall for you. That’s when I wanted it even more.”
He banded his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. “You know I never want another man to touch you.”
“I know that,” I said with a naughty smile. “And I don’t want anyone’s hands on me but yours. That’s why I want the camera to capture us. I want to see how we look together. I want to be on the other side of the lens,” I said, my breath catching in my throat as I gave voice once more to my newest, most erotic wish. “I want to be seen as a woman in love and in lust. I need to know what that looks like when we’re in bed. And I want it with you and only you.”
He groaned, his eyes sliding shut as he yanked me close and kissed me.
Then he left the room, letting me undress and dress again alone.
I could have asked one of my boudoir photographer colleagues. But I hadn’t realized till this morning that I was ready to show Adam through photos how I felt for him. And I didn’t know how Adam would react.
But Adam was ready too.
He’d already asked Brandon to be behind the camera.
He trusted Brandon, and therefore I did too. Besides, we’d be using all my equipment. Brandon would have nothing to take away from the session but memories. I’d keep the photos.
I didn’t want to shoot them myself, because I didn’t want to break the mood to set up the pictures. I wanted to be captured in the act, to see how I looked in the throes of passion, to see in myself what I’d been imagining in my clients for so long.
I touched up my hair and makeup, dressed in white panties and a matching bra, and grabbed a glass of champagne from the kitchen counter. I took a drink and headed to my studio to make sure my camera was ready.