“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he said in a deep, husky voice.
“We were just having wine,” Annelise said from beside them. “You must be Kane. My name is Annelise.”
Kane raised his head slowly and tore his eyes from Gigi to greet her friend. “Yes, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Gigi clung to the door handle for support, practically sagging against it during the temporary reprieve. I’m such an idiot. For all I know Gio asked him to drop something off for me. Hold it together. “What brings you by, Kane?”
His eyes flew back to hers, as they silently said, “You.” But his actual answer gave much less away. “I have business in London. I didn’t see you before you left and thought I’d check to see how you’re doing.”
Breathe. Play it cool. Gigi closed the door and raised a hand in the direction of the couches behind them. “Well, your timing is perfect. As Annelise said, we were just having wine. Would you like a glass?”
“I’d love one.” It wasn’t what Kane said, but how he said it that sent waves of heat through Gigi. He wanted more than wine.
Oh, God, me too. Me, too. “Have a seat. I’ll get you a glass.”
Behind the swinging door of her kitchen, Gigi wrapped her arms around her waist, closed her eyes, and bit her lip. I don’t know him well enough to feel this way. If being ditched after a kiss hurt, do I really want to risk more?
Don’t do it.
* * *
When Gigi returned with his glass, Kane was seated on the couch across from her friend. The way Annelise was looking him over reminded him how he’d felt in high school when going out with someone involved meeting her father. He shot her what he considered a charming smile.
She didn’t smile back. “So, how long will you be in London?”
“London?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You said you were here for business.”
“Oh, yes. Not sure yet. We’re considering an expansion, so I’m visiting sites for a potential secondary regional office.”
“Any in Scotland?”
“Very possibly.”
“Would it be a permanent office or a temporary endeavor?”
Kane loosened the tie that suddenly felt tight around his neck. He stood with relief when Gigi returned with his glass of wine and one for herself. The awkwardness of Annelise’s questions was quickly forgotten as well as the woman herself. That was the risk of seeing Gigi again. He wanted her with an intensity that overshadowed everything and everyone.
Gigi held out the glass of wine to Kane. His hand brushed hers while he accepted it. From the expression in her eyes when they met his, Kane knew she felt the same fire that had shot through him. “Thank you,” he said softly. She held his eyes for a moment longer. He’d never wanted to kiss a woman as desperately as he wanted to kiss her. To taste her plump lips. He groaned.
“Gigi, Kane was just telling me about the business that brought him to the area. It sounds as if it’s all still up in the air,” Annelise said cheerfully from the chair across from them.
Without looking at her friend, Gigi answered breathlessly, “Business decisions can be complicated. They aren’t something to be rushed into.”
“Not unless you know what you want and, in this case, I do,” Kane said.
“Do you?” Gigi’s lips parted again deliciously.
“Yes,” Kane said decisively.
Annelise chirped in again. “How exciting. And surprising, I bet, too. Gigi, didn’t you tell me you hadn’t heard from Kane since you saw him that last time at Gio’s?”
Gigi shook her head as if clearing it, and the temporary spell that had overtaken both of them was broken. She looked over at her friend and nodded. “I did say that.”
They seemed to share a meaningful look. “You did.”
Gigi took a seat in a chair beside the couch and downed a gulp of her wine. Kane placed his glass on the table in front of him and returned to the couch. He turned a charming smile on Annelise again. “Do you think it’s possible to give Gigi and me a few minutes alone? We have something we need to . . . discuss.”
He expected Annelise to bow out gracefully. She seemed to understand what was going on between them. However, in an act that raised Kane’s level of frustration, Annelise settled herself deeper in her chair. “Gigi and I tell each other everything, so I’m sure she’s okay with me hearing whatever.”
“It’s okay, Annelise. I want to hear what he has to say.”
“That’s apparent, but I promised to hang out with you tonight. Remember how you said you didn’t want to be alone?”
“She won’t be,” Kane said definitively. He had no intention of leaving. Gigi’s eyes flew to his.
“Annelise is right. She should stay.”
Okay. Gigi had called in reinforcements. That was fair. Why should she trust me? I haven’t given her a reason to. I imagine she’s as confused as I have been. Kane stood and walked over to Gigi. “I spent the last month living at my office instead of coming here and doing what I wanted to.” He took her by the hand and pulled her up to stand in front of him. “This.”
The moment their lips touched all sanity left Kane. What started as a light kiss deepened quickly. Gigi wound her arms around his neck, pressing intimately against him. He couldn’t get enough. She held nothing back. It was a kiss that consumed both of them.
“Okay, that’s it. I give up. It was nice to meet you, Kane. Gigi, call me tomorrow.” With that, Annelise left the apartment.
Kane heard her, but he was already beyond caring about her presence. Gigi felt better than he remembered. Her mouth tasted sweeter. Her body softer beneath his firm hands. He didn’t want to stop to discuss why he hadn’t contacted her.
Without breaking off their kiss he lifted her in his arms and set off down the hallway toward what he guessed would be her bedroom. He’d spent countless nights imagining what he would do if he had Gigi in his bed.
Tonight he planned to enjoy every moment of being in hers.
Chapter Fourteen
‡
Years of fantasizing about Kane added to what was already a sexually charged walk to Gigi’s bedroom. Somewhere in the back of her head she heard her own voice telling her to slow down, but she ignored it. Her hands ran hungrily across his strong shoulders. She opened her mouth wider to his hot tongue. He was a warrior, laying claim to her body, and she was his very eager spoils of war.
He laid her across her bed more gently than his deep kiss implied he would, and Gigi shook with excitement. He stood over her, lust burning in his eyes, as he looked her over slowly, savoring her, even clothed. “I’ve wanted this since the first time we met.”
Breathing beneath the heat of his gaze was difficult. Gigi was practically squirming with the need for his mouth on her again, to feel his hands on her bare skin. She raised herself and brought her hands to the top button of her blouse. His nostrils flared. She slowly undid each button, loving how he didn’t hide his obvious excitement at watching her. It gave her a boldness she didn’t normally have in the bedroom. She felt beautiful and sexy beyond anything she’d experienced before; the feeling was addictive.
She dropped her blouse to the floor beside the bed and unclasped her bra, slipping it off and dropping that too beside the bed. His cheeks flushed pink. Gigi went up onto her knees and moved to the edge of the bed before him.
Their ragged breathing was the only sound in the room until he groaned and bent to take one of her breasts into his mouth. Gigi placed her hands on his shoulders and threw her head back as he skillfully teased and circled her nipple. He adored her with his tongue, his teeth, and the sweet hotness of his breath. She writhed in pleasure against his mouth, loving how his fingers played softly with her other breast. He kissed his way across her chest to her other breast and started his erotic assault all over again. Before Kane, Gigi would have said she liked to have her breasts kissed, but she had no idea it could feel like this.
Holy shit.
W
hen his teeth closed over her hardened nipple and gave it a little tug, Gigi cried out in pleasure and nearly came. Even though his touch was concentrated to one area, Gigi’s entire body was on fire. Beneath her skirt, her silk panties were soaked. She wanted his cock inside her with a frenzied need that could no longer be suppressed.
She reached for the belt of his pants, but he stilled her hands. “Not yet.”
With one strong move he lifted her so she was standing on the low bed in front of him. The substantial height difference between them brought her breasts in perfect alignment with his mouth. As he once again began to kiss her, his hands caressed the outside of her thighs, up her skirt until he found the waistband of her panties. He slid them down gently. Gigi kept a hand on his shoulder for support while she stepped out of them. He pushed her skirt up so it bunched around her waist and brought his mouth down to kiss her mound. “Perfect. So fucking perfect,” he said against her trimmed sex.
His eyes sought hers, and Gigi had never felt more beautiful. One of his hands ran warmly from the back of her knee to cup the curve of her ass in a proprietary move. He guided her legs to a more open stance, then his fingers dove between her wet folds, seeking her sensitive nub.
Gigi grasped both sides of his face and lowered her mouth to his. She drove her tongue between his lips, claiming him as he claimed her. There was no thought beyond the pleasure of his touch, beyond the need that pulsed through her. She was humming for him, an instrument happily being played by its exceptionally talented musician.
Gigi gasped into his mouth when the first wave of her climax shook through her. Kane broke off their kiss, and the movement of his fingers across her clit increased in rhythm. Gigi’s eyes began to close, but Kane gave the back of her ass a light slap. It didn’t hurt, but it was enough of a surprise that Gigi’s eyes flew open. Kane growled, “Don’t look away. You’re so wet. So ready. Come for me, Gigi.”
Giving herself over to him was pleasure in itself. Gigi gripped his shoulders and held his eyes as wave after wave of orgasm shuddered through her. When she thought it couldn’t get better, he slid two fingers inside her and began to pump in and out with a force that prolonged her climax and had her crying out his name while begging him not to stop.
He didn’t. Not until she slumped slightly against him. Then he turned her before him, unclasped her skirt and lowered it until she shakily stepped out of that too. Completely naked, she turned back toward him, flushed and ready for whatever he wanted.
He stepped out of his shoes, threw his tie on the floor, pulled his shirt from his trousers, up over his head, and threw it to the floor. Without looking away from her, he undid his belt and stepped out of the rest of his clothing. Gigi’s eyes wantonly sought what she craved. His shaft was fully erect and a mouth-watering size.
Without warning he grabbed both of her calves and pulled them out from beneath her. She fell with a whoosh onto the bed behind her, leaving her spread-eagled before him on the bed. She would have laughed at the joy of his confident roughness, but she met his eyes, and her need for him seared through her. There was nothing funny about how close she was to begging him to take her.
He rolled on a condom then moved above her. His hands were everywhere on her, strong and bold. She ran her hands over every part of him she could reach. Kissed his chest, his neck, his lips when he brought his mouth near hers. Theirs was a mating he commanded, but Gigi loved every minute of it.
When he eased the tip of his shaft between her folds, Gigi opened wide for him. He dipped just an inch into her eager sex, then pulled out and slid himself up and down across her clit before dipping inside her again.
He adjusted himself onto his elbows and cupped her face as he kissed her deeply. The thrust of his tongue grew deeper, synchronizing with the thrust of his cock. Gigi met both with everything in her, finding joy in giving herself fully to him.
His thrusts grew more forceful, filling her beyond what she’d known. He moved to adjust her hips, lifting her legs to allow a more fulfilling depth. The careful skill and gentleness of his lovemaking gave way to a wilder mating. She felt the change in him, and it was an aphrodisiac like none other. He was a man who was always in control, but with her, he was as much a slave to her desire as she was to his.
She came with that thought blissfully accompanying the cascading fire that rocked through her. He joined her with fierce, deep thrusts and a primal, “Mine.”
He gave her a final, hot kiss and rolled onto his side beside her to dispose of the condom before pulling her back into his arms. She wrapped her sweaty body around his and closed her eyes. Whatever the future held for them, Annelise had been wrong about one important thing—the zing was real.
More real than she had even imagined.
* * *
Kane pulled a bed sheet over Gigi, surprised by how protective he felt over her. The sex between them had shaken him with its intensity. There was no going back to how things were before. She was his now. How their relationship would play out was as uncertain as what the consequences of it would be. None of that mattered to him, though. He would overcome any obstacle as long as it meant she would remain in his arms and in his bed.
I sound like a caveman. He kissed Gigi’s forehead and smiled at her when her eyes fluttered open at his touch. I feel like one whenever she looks at me.
Her smile was shy, which was adorable after the intimacy they’d shared. “Hi,” she said.
He kissed her nose. “Hi, yourself.”
“I did not mean for that to happen,” she joked.
He nuzzled her neck. “I did.”
She raised a hand and placed it over her eyes. “Tell me Annelise left before you carried me in here.”
He kissed his way to just behind her ear. “You don’t remember?”
She chuckled, still covering her eyes. “No. Oh, my God. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
He bit her earlobe gently and growled, “Never?”
She lowered her hand. “I’m not saying I was a vir—” She stopped and her eyes narrowed at the smile she caught on his face. “You’re teasing me.”
He rolled onto his back, taking her with him so she was sprawled across him. The feel of her soft thighs brushing against his cock had him already hardening again. He moved her so she could feel him along her still wet lower lips. “Maybe. But, you like it, don’t you?”
Gigi sat up, moving herself along his shaft in an intimate, hot caress. “Is there any point in trying to pretend I don’t?”
He slipped the bare tip of his cock deeper between her lips. She kissed him deeply while wiggling against him, driving him nearly out of control. He broke off the kiss and ordered huskily, “Lean over and grab the last condom from my pants pocket.”
Her eyes sparkled with lust and humor. “Last? You only brought two?”
“I knew one wouldn’t be enough. Three seemed presumptuous.”
She laid a hand flat on the middle of his chest and frowned down at him. “I don’t know if I like that you brought them at all. I might have said no.”
He reached up, took her by the arms, and pulled her down onto him, claiming her mouth with his. He kissed her deeply. He didn’t want to try to put how he was feeling into words. When he broke off the kiss, he said, “Get the damn condom before I take you without it.”
She moved off him to retrieve what he requested and rolled it onto his cock. Instead of instantly returning to her previous position, she knelt beside him, looking into his eyes. “What is it about you that makes me want to say yes every time?”
Kane ran a hand up one of her firm thighs, up her slim waist, and gently brushed the side of her breast with the back of his hand. “I don’t know, but I’ve felt the same from the first time we kissed. You were too young then, but I wanted to say yes to you then. And it was torture to stay away from you in New York.”
“Then why did you?” Her eyes were wide and full of uncertainty.
“I told myself it was better for all of us if
I did.”
“Not because you were with that woman from the party?”
Kane closed his eyes for a moment. It was difficult to have the conversation while his cock was throbbing for release. “She’s a friend.”
“The kind with benefits?”
“Before the party, yes. But not after I kissed you that night. You’ve haunted me since then, Gigi.”
She smiled, her eyes twinkling with satisfaction. “Good.”
Kane leaned upward, slipped a hand behind Gigi’s neck and pulled her back down on top of him. “We can talk later. Right now, all I can think about is fucking you until neither of us can move.”
She laughed softly against him, an act that jiggled her amazing tits back and forth across his chest. “That might be tough with only one condom left.”
He rolled them both over until he was between her thighs with his cock poised above her sex. “Challenge accepted,” he growled. He had all night to show her how many other ways they could make each other come.
Chapter Fifteen
‡
The next morning Gigi woke to the sound of her phone ringing in the living room. She reached for Kane instinctively, and was disappointed to discover the bed beside her was empty. Disappointment dissolved quickly, however, when she realized the sound in the background was the shower. He wasn’t gone. And last night had actually happened.
She rolled and stretched like a cat in the sun, loving how sated she felt. Kane had worshipped every inch of her last night and the memories brought a smile to her lips that could not be denied. Annelise was probably checking in on her. Gigi let the call ring through. Annelise would be full of questions Gigi wasn’t ready to face yet. She didn’t want to think about the future or if she and Kane had one. She wanted to savor every moment of being with him. And if Kane wanted nothing more than sex? She’d deal with that as soon as the perma-grin faded from her face. A woman could be pardoned for wanting a repeat of last night more than she wanted to analyze it.