Baiting the Maid of Honor (Wedding Dare #2)(13)

Julie recognized the moment of truth presenting itself. Did she like it? To say so would be an understatement. She felt like she might burst into flames. His hand, so skilled and capable, sat on her leg unmoving and she wanted to scream at him to keep going. He wanted her to admit she liked it first. Wanted her to admit she’d shamelessly begged him for more of his rough treatment last night in the darkness. Something she’d never done in her life. Especially with a man like Reed. Dark, dangerous…interested in only one thing. Never had a man treated her with anything less than respect. Reed, on the other hand, didn’t give a damn about her recognizable last name. Where she came from. Whose names sat on the branches of her family tree.

He wanted to take her to bed. Plain and simple. She had no experience with men like him. Men who took what they wanted and damn the consequences. He represented the unknown, something terrifying for a routine-oriented girl like her. Until now, all her partners had been met through acquaintances after being thoroughly vetted. Or she met them at church on Sunday like most God-fearing Southern girls. She was on her own here. No one to guide her or warn her about the dangers of getting involved with a bad boy. If she wanted this, she could take it. It could be the adventure she’d been secretly wanting for so long. Her chance to cut loose.

But what came after?

“I asked you a question. Do you like the way I’m touching you?”

Don’t think about it, Julie. Live in the moment for once. “Yes, I-I like it.”

At once, his hand tightened on her thigh almost painfully, then slid a little higher. When the massage started again, he was so close to the barrier of her underwear, she had to bite her lip to keep from moaning. God, the thought of his hand touching her there…she suddenly needed it more than her next breath. Somehow she held her tongue and waited.

“Good. I like it, too. Too damn much.” He made a hungry sound. “The second you walked outside last night and let down all that hair, I wanted to f*ck you. If you’d stayed any longer, you’d have been gripping the railing, screaming for God. You knew it, too, didn’t you?”

Julie gasped as his knuckles brushed over her aching core. “Yes. I knew.”

Through her damp panties, he sank a thick knuckle into her opening and twisted. Julie cried out, her hands flying to the rafter in front of her, seeking purchase when her knees threatened to buckle. “When you look at me, baby, do I strike you as the type of man who lets the woman he intends to f*ck walk into another man’s hotel room?”

“No.” Her voice shook. “No.”

“That’s why you slipped Golden Boy’s key into your purse right in front of me with all the subtlety of a high school marching band. You expected me, wanted me, to stop you. How am I doing?”

She felt sweat beading her forehead. Legs shaking beneath her, she didn’t have the ability to do anything but tell the truth. “I-I kept thinking you’d follow me. Stop me from going inside. When you didn’t…I pictured you anyway. Touching me.”

“Goddamn right you did,” Reed growled, cupping her mound and squeezing. “You thought I’d let someone else touch this? Not a f*cking chance.”

Cool air washed over her bottom as he lifted her skirt over her hips, leaving her backside completely exposed to him, save her cotton thong. She’d never behaved so provocatively in private, let alone in a public place. As the restaurant didn’t open until dinnertime, they were alone in the empty lounge area, but people would be arriving soon to prepare for the evening. The encompassing heat turning her limbs to liquid battled with her ingrained sense of propriety. “Reed, someone might see us. Please…”

“I wouldn’t allow anyone to look at you like this.” His deeply aroused voice sent a shiver racing up her back. Very slowly, he nudged aside the material of her panties and sank his thumb inside her, pressing firmly against her front inner wall. She gasped at the unexpected pressure, her thighs tightening around his hand reflexively. “No, no. Keep them open. Let me find your spot. I’ll be the first to touch it, won’t I?” He gave a low groan as he rotated his thumb. “I bet in college you barely ever let anyone under those too-short skirts. Dying for a man, weren’t you?”

His thumb brushed over some hidden part of her and with a throaty cry, she nearly toppled from the ladder, but caught herself on the wooden beam at the last second. “Reed. I’m…I’m going to fall.”

“No. You will not fall. You will stay right there until I’m finished.” His thumb found the sensitive area again and smoothed over it, once, twice, as if coaxing it to life. Then he began to stroke it rapidly with the pad of his thumb. Julie couldn’t form a single thought as the orgasm came hurtling through her system, blasting her with such blissful heat she became unaware of anything but the place Reed made contact with her body. Her head fell forward as she rambled unintelligently, eyes blind as the area between her legs contracted and released over and over again. She felt his teeth sink into the flesh of her ass, then his tongue lick over the spot to soothe the sting.

A door slammed somewhere out in the main dining room. Before Julie could process the sound or what it meant, Reed pulled her off the ladder and tucked her against his chest protectively.

His mouth brushed over her ear. “Think you can stand, baby?”

The teasing hint in his voice stirred her temper. She’d just experienced an exceptionally intense climax. With someone she had no business making time with. Didn’t even like. And he had the nerve to make jokes. She squirmed out of his embrace and smoothed her dress down over her legs hastily. “Oh, I think I can just about manage. If I swoon, there are smelling salts in my purse.”