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“I’m good for it.” Press your advantage. Now. “If you are, too, prove it.”
Her gaze dropped to his mouth. “How?”
Heat and awareness shot through the roof. God, that dress clung to her curves like a second skin. Would it be terrible if he hooked both sleeves with his thumbs and yanked it down so he could feast his eyes on her beautiful bare breasts?
Gage tipped her chin up with a crooked finger to bring her mouth in range. But he didn’t take it with his. Not yet.
“So, let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Cass murmured, her breath mingling with his. “By your logic, if I kiss you, that’ll prove I can separate business from pleasure?”
“Who said anything about kissing?” he countered. “Is that what’s on your mind, Cass? Because I’m game if you think kissing me will make your point.”
It was a dare and a challenge—guaranteed to get an in-control, powerful woman like Cass hot—and she caught both full force. Her mouth curved upward as she contemplated him. “I think it’ll make your point, not mine.”
“Oh?” Barely six inches separated their lips and he ached to close that distance. “What point is that?”
She leaned in, almost there but not quite, lips feathering against his, and it was more evocative than if she’d gone for it. Her perfume engulfed him in a sensuous wave that heightened the sparking awareness. Her breasts brushed his chest aggressively and he nearly groaned with the effort it took to keep his fingers from her dress.
One little signal and he’d slide his arms around her, pulling her into the fiercest kiss. The only prayer he had of cracking that ice was to give her something sizzling hot to grab on to with both hands.
Public place, public place, public place, he reminded himself furiously.
“Your point—if I recall—was that you’d use all the information at your disposal to seduce me,” she murmured throatily. “I don’t think you have a shot.”
“Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
The irresistible draw between them sucked him in, and finally his arms closed around her and her mouth sought his. A scorching kiss ignited the pent-up emotions and desire Gage had been fighting since he’d first laid eyes on Cass in the parking lot of her building.
They twined together, shifting closer. As close as they could on the bench without turning the kiss into something too indecent for public consumption.
Yes. Oh, God yes. Her tongue darted out in a quest for his and he lost himself in the sensation of her hot flesh. She tasted of wine and familiarity, throwing him back to a time when she’d been a major part of his first round of freedom.
Memories zipped by of Cass spread out under him, hips rolling toward his in a sensuous rhythm, hair spread out, her gaze hot and full of anticipation and pleasure as they came together again and again. Memories of her laughing with him, challenging him, filling him.
He wanted her. Just like that. Right now.
He forgot about the hard bench and pulled her closer, nearly into his lap as he let the lace of her dress pleasure his fingers.
She tilted her head, sucking him deeper, her hands sliding across his back, gripping his waist. Driving him wild with the need she’d enflamed with a simple touch. He wanted to feel her again, feel like the world was his for the taking, like life had endless possibilities. How had he not realized that Cass had been such a huge piece of that?
Masterfully, purposefully, she kissed him, breaking down everything he’d thought he was doing here. Everything went out the window: plans, strategy, formulas. Who cared? This was pleasure at its finest and he wanted more.
Then she pulled back, separating from him before he was ready, and his knees went weak. She smiled, her expression heavy with something he couldn’t identify.
“Nice,” she said conversationally. “And now it’s time for the business talk we’ve been avoiding. Join me when you’re done with the pleasure part of the evening.”
She stood, swishing away from him on her dangerously sexy heels and sashaying out of the hall. The ice in her spine appeared firmly in place.
Blearily, he watched her go, too floored to call out. That had been hotter than he could have ever imagined. Hotter than it had ever been with Cass in the past. Hotter than he would have credited, given the ice-goddess routine she’d perfected.
He’d goaded her into kissing him in hopes of getting past all that icy reserve, past her CEO exterior, past all this business talk so he could seduce her into his bed. Instead of melting her, he’d learned he wasn’t quite over Cassandra Claremont. And she hadn’t been affected at all.
