“You can take me out for a drink before it arrives.”
“Dutch courage?” I feel the loss of her fingers as she straightens.
“A chance for you to persuade me Icanpretend to like you.” She steps backward out of reach. “You want the performance of a lifetime, right?”
I want you on your knees, right now, in front of me. I want all kinds of things I shouldn’t.
“See you at six forty-five.”
Her words penetrate my lustful haze, and I pull a doubtful face.
“Have you met me?” Her confidence and her playfulness and the way she touches her fingertips to her sternum make me smile. “Remember, you gave me only ten minutes to get dressed last time.”
“And you took at least twenty.”
“Just imagine what I can do with ten extra minutes.” She throws the retort over her shoulder, leaving me alone in the room to do just that.
Chapter 30
OLIVER
Seven on the dot, and the door to her room swings wide.
“If only I’d put money on you being late,” I begin, gesturing with my glass, “I’d be quid’s ...” My words trail off as Eve appears in a pool of midnight-colored silk. The halter-neck style bares her shoulders and arms, the neckline plunging between her breasts. The dark silk skims her hips like a lover’s touch, dropping to the floor to reveal a hint of red toenail.
“What do you think?” As she crosses the room, the sinuous flow of the fabric parts like a wave, exposing her leg almost to the top of her toned thigh.
“I think ... I’m lost for words.” And sporting a semi at the sight of her, at the heady perfume she’s wearing as she comes to a stop in front of me.
“Honestly, I feel like a Bond girl.” Her pleasure is a sudden, shy smile, and I note how her fingers toy nervously with a tiny silver purse. “You look like a Bond villain,” she adds, taking the glass from my hand. Her eyes hold mine over the rim as she sips.
“Would that be the one with the pussy or the one with the unfortunate teeth?”
“The one that looks like Henry Cavill.” Reaching out, she runs her thumb over my satin lapel. “You scrub up good.”
My evening suit is single breasted and shawl collared and fits like a glove. I can’t think of my own clothing when all I want to do is slide my thumbs under those shoestring straps at her shoulders.Would her dress snag at her hips or flutter freely to the floor?Now is not the time to find out. Unless I want a punch in the balls.
“I try,” I say, taking my glass back. I set it down and offer her my arm. “Shall we get that drink?”
The hotel bar is busy this evening as we enter. I could procure a table (I do own the place, after all) but it’s best we aren’t tempted to stay long.
Tempted. What a joke. In that dress, Eve is the personification of enticement. Desire is the serpent in the garden, and Eve is the forbidden apple dangling from the tree. Sweet and ripe for the plucking.But only if I have no regard for my testicles.
My hand slips from her back as she turns, bare but for two thin straps crossing at her spine. “What are you having?”
You under me, your breath in my ear as your body yields to mine.“The usual. And you?”
Her lips twist briefly. “Something to take the edge off. A margarita, maybe?”
“You’re nervous?”
Her lips twist. “Whatever makes you think that?”
“There’s nothing to be worried about.” I have every faith she’s up to the task.
“Meeting a man I don’t know to do what, I’m not sure. No biggie, right? But—” She halts and frowns, as though she didn’t mean to say that.
“What is it?”
