Part-Time Lover (Part-Time Lover #1)(33)

I laugh. “Oh, shut up. You’re such a horndog.”

“I know, but can you blame me? You’re so fucking brilliant and beautiful and fierce, and your determination makes me want to fuck you even more.”

I set a hand to his chest. “No talking of screwing right now. I’m talking about making a deal.”

He shakes his head, as if chasing away the stray filthy thoughts. “Okay, deal talk.” His eyes stray to his crotch. “Down, boy. We have other business right now.”

I laugh at him.

He raises his face. “Okay, so where were we? You’re going to do the absurd honor of saving my brother’s sorry arse from his lovesick stupidity because you were burned by your jackass ex, and in return all I have to do is help you win an account? This hardly seems fair. Please, let’s make it a condition that for every orgasm I get, I give you four.”

I laugh so loudly, I’d be worried about waking up Erik, but I suspect he’s dead to the sober world now. I lean in close, and nip Christian’s earlobe. “That was always an unbreakable condition.”

I pull back, and he wiggles his eyebrows. “Obviously. I was just testing you.” He stares at me, as if he’s trying to find the catch. “You mean this?’

“We’ve already made it clear that our existing relationship has terms and conditions. That means it also has an expiration date,” I say, because what else could our arrangement mean? We so clinically laid out the details at the salon, and surely he wasn’t expecting it to go on forever. No man wants that.

That’s why it’s odd when he blinks as I say those last words, as if that thought hadn’t occurred to him. But quickly, he rights his course. “Of course, yes. We have an end date. Like a bottle of milk. Slap a best-by date on me, then chuck me in the bin.” He finishes with a laugh.

Since he’s laughing, I keep it light too—that’s the best way to approach a deal like this. “Toss me there too, right?”

He nods confidently. “Both of us. When it’s done, we’ll be done.”

“Exactly. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll find another business consultant and we can stick to the terms of our arrangement we discussed at the tea salon. I’m only offering this because we have the power to stop something utterly shitty.”

“Oh, I’m quite comfortable with everything.” He rakes his heated gaze over me. He cups my cheeks. “Do you have any idea how sexy you are?”

I laugh. “Your dick is quite distracting to you, isn’t it?”

He yanks me closer. “You’re distracting. You’re going to ruin me.”

Those words reverberate in my heart. I’ve already been ruined. Surely I can’t ruin a man like him, and he can’t damage a damaged woman like me. “I don’t think that’s possible,” I whisper.

He shakes his head and murmurs as he loops his fingers through my hair. “You’re going to ruin me, Elise,” he repeats in a sexy rasp. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever known, and nothing in my life will ever be hotter than you wanting to save my family’s business, all riled up, while you’re dressed in that skirt and those heels, after I’ve had you coming on my hand at a tea salon.”

His words light me up. They must ignite him too, because he tugs me closer, peppering kisses along my neck. “You’re stunningly gorgeous and completely brilliant.” His mouth slides down my throat. “And I want to marry you for three months, and I want to do everything to ensure you win that new account.” His lips reach the tops of my breasts. “And I want to take down that cow who broke my brother’s heart.” He flicks his tongue against my skin, and I shiver as he raises his gaze once more, meeting my eyes. “And most importantly, I want you to come all over my face before I fuck you.”

Heat sweeps through me like a fire, and I can barely take this closeness, this rampant desire in his eyes.

“Yes,” I murmur since I can’t form any other word right now. Everything with him is a yes.

He groans as he claims my mouth, planting a searing kiss on my lips. It’s harder than he’s kissed me before. It’s possessive and demanding at the same time, as if he needs my lips bruised and bee-stung.

This is the first time we’ve kissed in private. We’ve kissed on the steps of the design show, outside the metro, and in the salon. But this is a kiss for behind closed doors. It’s a kiss before clothes come off.

Yet I’m keenly aware his brother is in the next room.

He breaks the kiss. “This is what you do to me,” he says, taking my hand and putting it between his thighs so I can feel his hard length.

He’s beyond aroused. He’s thick and hard and hot even through his jeans, and I want to climb on top of him, slide down on him, and ride him right here on the couch in his living room.

Only we can’t. “I’m not going to sleep with you for the first time when your brother’s drunk in the other room.”

“I know,” he moans, and it sounds like sad resignation. “But I’m very patient, and I can wait for you.”

“There are some things you don’t have to wait for though,” I say, and my gaze drifts to his balcony.

“You want to see the view?” His tone is curious.

A hint of a smile crosses my lips. “I want to see the view from my knees.”