One Night to Risk It All(44)

She was trying to keep it light, keep it sassy, but it was hard to do when she felt as if she might cave in on herself. As if all the emotion that was inside of her was going to expand too far, and when everything came to a crashing halt, she would just fold right in.

She pushed the dress over her hips. The sunlight was bright, filtering in through the window, and she was naked now. But she didn’t feel awkward. She felt incredible. Because he did want her. Because he didn’t want her as the woman she was when she put on her mask and tried to become the perfect hostess. The one who never sent a ripple over the surface of anyone’s life.

He was okay with her not falling in line. With her not being perfect.

“I’ll never be perfect,” she said, the words spilling out of her mouth. She was physically naked, so she might as well be emotionally naked, too.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You look completely perfect to me.”

“You’re just saying that because I’m naked,” she said. “But that’s not what I mean. I mean...I’m never going to be everything that my mother was. I try. But I can’t sing on key. And I don’t like big fancy parties that much. I like to stay home in my pajamas instead of going to galas. I hate those stupid art shows that she used to sponsor. Generalizing, but I kinda think that modern art is pretentious and I never want to have to go host anything like that ever again.”

“Then why do you?”

“Because I don’t know how else to be...valuable.”

“Right now, touching you seems like it’s more important than air. I feel like if I don’t touch you, if I don’t have you, I might die. How’s that?”

“That feels good. Not an overarching life goal, but good enough for now.”

He put one knee on the edge of the bed and tugged her toward him, kissing her deeply, his arm tight around her waist, hand resting on the curve of her butt as he explored her slowly with his lips and tongue.

“You are,” he said, pausing to kiss her again, “the most incredible woman. The most beautiful. The most frustrating. You are, I hate to say, a terrible singer. But how could you ever doubt your value?”


He kissed her neck and she shivered, whatever words she was going to say drying up on her tongue, stolen completely by his touch, by her desire for him.

Alex advanced on her, strong arms guiding her fall to the soft mattress as he came to rest over her, one of his hands pinning both of hers above her head.

“You’ve said that I made you do things that weren’t in your character,” he said, “but you have turned me into a man I barely know. I dream of you. Of the softness of your skin. The sounds you make when you come. I think about you the way you told me what you wanted from me.” Her face heated at the memory. “You are a distraction,” he said. “One I never expected to deal with. I can’t even think of revenge, and agape, I was able to think of revenge when I was starving on the streets, when I made my first million, my first billion. I have always been able to think of it. And for the first time my head is so full of other things, other desires, that I can’t. That is what you do to me. That is powerful. You have done more than make me act out of character—you’ve changed me.”

She wiggled, wanting to touch his face.

‘No,” he said, tracing her nipple with his free hand. “I’m not letting you free just yet.”

“Why?” she asked, panting, out of breath, needing him so badly she thought she might go crazy.

“Because I want to take my time.” He lowered his head, sucking her nipple deep into his mouth. “I want to savor you.”

He lifted his hand to cup her cheek and she nipped at his finger. He paused, a smile curving his lips, his finger hovering just above her mouth. She sucked it in deep, the expression on his face taking on that slightly pained look, then as she released him, she bit him gently.

“You are dangerous,” he said. He bent and kissed her, bit her bottom lip as they separated. “But so am I.”

“I never doubted you were dangerous,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “But I’m not.”

“You don’t think?”

“No.”

“Liar. You are completely deadly. To my sanity. To my senses. I don’t even think I can breathe right when I look at you.”

His free hand roamed over her curves while he held her still. She arched and squirmed, trying to find satisfaction. Trying to find release. But he held her, held the power to bring her to orgasm or not. And he was definitely enjoying teasing her at the moment.

“Please, Alex.”

“Please what?” he asked, kissing her neck, the curve of her breast. He settled between her thighs, the denim rough on her skin. And she moved against him, desperate for satisfaction.

“Please let me...”

“Please let you...? Remember, you have to ask. Don’t hide from me, Rachel. Tell me what you want.”

“Please let me come,” she said, her cheeks getting hot with arousal, not embarrassment.

“Good things come to those who wait,” he said.

“I’ve been waiting. I’ve been waiting for two weeks.”

“So have I,” he said. “And I want to enjoy the experience.”

He moved away from her on the bed and tugged his shirt over his head. She watched the play of his muscles rippling beneath golden skin as he worked on his belt and shrugged his pants and underwear down his legs.