Wicked Burn(40)

It should have been you, Niall.

No. She didn’t want to dwell on that now. Right now she wanted to think about Vic, about how wonderful it would be to see him again. Had it really only been three days since she’d lain in his arms as the light of dawn broke around the shades in his bedroom?

Something in her chest seemed to lurch when the hostess led her to the private booth where Vic sat. He stood. As usual he showed not the least bit of self-consciousness about eating her up with his eyes. Every time she saw him after a brief absence she was struck anew by his rugged, elemental male beauty. He looked movie-star handsome in a pair of khakis that fit his lean hips to perfection, a casual green and ivory button-down shirt with a white T-shirt beneath it. She recognized his well-worn brown bomber jacket hanging on the coat hook attached to the deep booth.

Her eyes swept the length of him hungrily and lingered for a moment on his brown leather belt. She must have made some kind of face, because when she met Vic’s stare, the humor and heat in his gaze made the apologies for being late for their dinner date melt on her tongue.

Her silly smile faded almost as quickly when Vic leaned down and covered it with his mouth. His kiss resulted in even worse breathlessness than her sprint had caused, not to mention a slow, hot burn in her * that Niall had never experienced in such a public place before. His tongue swept her depths thoroughly, just as it did that first time he’d kissed her. After he’d seemingly been temporarily sated by her taste, he tilted his head, held her chin steady with his fingers, and slowed to a tender, hot slide.

That kiss kept Niall right at the boiling point, much as the previous one had turned her up to full power as easily as if he’d flipped on a switch.

“You’re the only woman I know who could look like springtime wearing black,” Vic murmured several knee-weakening seconds later. A shiver went down her spine at the sensation of his warm breath next to her ear.

She smiled and turned her head, nuzzling his cheek with her nose. Her heart beat erratically in her chest. It felt indescribably good to be in his arms again . . . to inhale his singular scent.

“I see that you got a new belt.”

“There’s plenty more where that came from,” he murmured through a grin before he bent his head and tasted her lips again.

The hostess cleared her throat. “I’ll just set these menus down here.”

Niall started in embarrassment, realizing that the woman had been witness to her and Vic’s entire exchange. How easily he made her forget herself. But Vic would have none of her embarrassment. He tilted her chin up to meet his mouth for another hot, possessive kiss. Only after he’d had a sufficient taste of her and the unacknowledged hostess was long gone did he finally release her from his arms.

They were back around her soon enough once he slid into the booth after her. She saw that he’d already ordered her a glass of wine.

“I’m sorry for being late. I never even got a chance to drop off my suitcase before I went to the museum. How much time do we have before you have to be back at the theater?” she queried anxiously.

“I have to meet with my lighting designer in an hour.”

“Oh . . . so soon,” she murmured regretfully. She blinked after a moment when she realized that she’d been staring hungrily at his mouth. “How is everything going with the play?”

He shrugged. “It’s going.”

She smiled as she took a sip of wine. Vic’s fingers stroked her nape slowly, the seemingly casual touch setting off a series of fire-works along her sensitive nerves. He abruptly removed the clip that held her hair, allowing it to fall around her shoulders.

“Did you get everything done in New York that you intended?” he asked gruffly.

Niall’s eyes fluttered closed in sublime satisfaction at the sensation of his long fingers massaging her scalp. “Yes.”

“Did you miss me?”

Her eyelids opened and she met his hot, steady stare.

“You know I did.”

His mouth tilted into a crooked grin. His first two fingers caressed the front of her throat softly before they twisted in her strand of pearls, forcing her closer to his face.

“Do you wear these pearls just to drive me nuts?”

Niall laughed softly. “No. I sincerely doubt that most men would say that pearls were a supersexy accessory.”

“Most men are idiots, then,” he muttered as he nuzzled her ear and then lightly bit at the tender flesh. Niall felt her * flood with moisture when his lips closed around the pearl studs in her earlobes and his warm tongue flicked against the gem and her flesh.

“I can’t wait until opening night,” he muttered a few seconds later.

“Why?” Niall asked breathlessly. Her entire consciousness focused with unbearable intensity on every subtle movement Vic’s mouth made on her ear and neck.

“Because after all this shit with the play is said and done, I’m gonna show you just how sexy your pearls really are.”

“Do we have to wait that long?” she shocked herself by asking.

Vic exhaled slowly. Much to her regret he removed his mouth from where it was nuzzling to such breathtaking effect along the back of her neck.

“Yes,” he replied with just a tinge of irritation flattening his handsome mouth. “I’ve got a million things I need to do. If the next few nights are anything like the last two, I won’t even get back to the apartment until three or four in the morning.”