She’d never worn something so … sheer before, especially when seduction had been out of the question and the last thing she’d wanted was to invite a man’s sexual advances. But today, she had herself a new arrangement, so she’d stopped at the Saks lingerie department to make a couple of extravagant purchases.
Trying on this flimsy sheer white peignoir at the store, she had imagined Daniel removing it, talking to her like he had last night, and her nipples had throbbed as they rasped against the material, just the thought of him getting her aroused.
The skirt fell in a waterfall down to her feet, parted in the middle and held only by three strategically placed satin ribbons, one at her collar, one between her breasts, and one at her waist.
The style was designed for her legs to peek out top to bottom as she walked, and if he dared to part the material, he would get a perfect view of her bare pussy. Which was already wet in anticipation.
She didn’t know if other women dressed up for their special friends, but then there was no way anyone had a friend like Daniel Lexington. He was the man every woman wanted to land, and he was on his way to Monica.
He, who’d been called “one of the country’s most eligible bachelors” by People magazine and “Prince of Chicago bluebloods” by Forbes, was on his way here. He, who’d held her when she was nineteen and had made her have every kind of fantasy a girl her age could have. All of them starring him. All of them scaring her to death.
Her body liked him. Very much. Too much.
And she did not like the uncontrollable urges this aroused in her.
This was exactly why she enjoyed the peace and tranquility of a more mature relationship, based on shared tastes in lectures, food, interests, rather than sexual attraction. She mentally didn’t enjoy the lack of discipline in such passionate responses to a man. In fact, it made her nervous to feel so … strongly toward anyone. But if she ever wanted to consolidate her relationship with Roland, she had no other choice but to venture into this unchartered territory until she had it down nicely.
A week of this and she’d probably no longer cringe when another man put his hands on her. When Roland begged to get her back, she would be able to kiss him without seizing up inside.
In fact, he was going to flip with the new and improved version of Monica Davenport when he saw her at the gala—where they were supposed to “talk” once more. He’d wanted her to decide whether she really wanted to be with him, and she had loathed to see him so hurt the last time they’d attempted to have sex. She had methodically decided that she did want him; he was perfect for her, and she was going to prove it to him with Daniel’s help.
The phone trilled, and the doorman alerted her he was on his way up to her penthouse. Flutters spread through her system as she went to pour wine, dismayed to find that she had to take a quick drink for courage.
Ding.
Holding her breath, she turned as he stepped out of the elevator, and at her first sight of him, her body felt as charged as though she’d gotten a shot of adrenaline straight in her veins. Flutters exploded in her stomach.
Clad in a dark black gabardine that made his hair look even blonder, the tousled sun-lightened streaks calling her fingers, he was a walking, talking sex bomb. “Wow. Did you fly here?” she said teasingly, feeling warm inside when he smiled.
“I was actually down in the lobby all day, waiting for your summons.” He dropped his coat on the coat stand, and he was wearing no tie. His hair was in disarray, his face incredibly sexy with that slow smile that made her lungs burn, and she had forgotten how incredibly low and rich his voice was.
She signaled to the wine she’d poured for him. “Wine?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” he said, and he lifted the goblet and sipped, his eyes raking her form.
She had never been more aware of how revealing her night dress was. White and whispery as a breath, it displayed her body underneath almost as if she were completely nude to him. Every inch of her hips, her curves, her belly button, could be seen. Her hair was loose, falling in perfect waves past her shoulders, but the tips did nothing to cover the tips of her breasts, and her nipples tightened visibly through the material.
His expression tonight was not as playful as yesterday, she realized with a rapidly pumping heart. It was dead serious and somber, and his eyes shone with a new predatory gleam when they finished their foray of her body and returned to hers. Her chest tightened painfully hard. He’d seen her naked. He’d penetrated her with his fingers. He’d come in her hand. The blood thrummed through her veins, slowly and powerfully going to her sex, her breasts, tightening her skin.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said, for lack of anything else to say, for lack of the courage to tell him, Do me! Do me! Do me now!
His green gaze literally ate her up as he took another drink, then he set it aside. “So the little princess needs to be tucked in.”
“It was either you or valerian.”
“He sounds old and definitely not straight, princess.”
“It’s an herb,” she said, laughing.
A full toe-curling smile flashed, and he reached out to rub his fingers along the bottom bow of her peignoir. He stared at her mouth with undisguised hunger, and she stared at his in return, her heart beating with wild tension. Her voice came out a croak. “I’m really nervous this time.”
There was a lengthened silence, both of them standing utterly still, then Daniel cupped her neck in his big hand, the slow stroke of his thumb sending shivers down her skin. “It’s just me,” he murmured, and he slowly reeled her in, until her breasts were grazing sensually against his chest, his erection nestled between her legs, his eyes were so dilated they were almost black.
His finger slid up and down her cleavage, where the fabric had parted. Then it slid higher to seize her chin and keep her gaze focused on his face, raw with desire. “I like you with your hair down. You look soft and inviting.” The raw male lust in his eyes caressed her like his words, and her body responded, her nipples visibly erect and poking into the flimsy material of her peignoir just as his eyes dropped to take them in again. “And I like what you’re wearing, too.”
Trembling to her bones, she pulled his shirt free from the waistband of his dress slacks and began to slowly unbutton it. “Are you going to make me take it off, or will you do it?”
His eyes glimmered, and her breaths became uneven as he bent his head. “Whatever the lady wants.” Her stomach clenched in needy anticipation as his lips grazed hers, just a whisper. Her breath tangled in her throat when they grazed hers again, then his hands slid into the mass of her hair as he spoke, his voice getting thicker and thicker. “Are you just mine to play with for now … or are you planning to be friendly with anyone else?”