She looked at me blankly.
“I mean, hasn’t it become a bit pedestrian these days? What with all those loud Americans flocking to it? Doesn’t it have a Disneyland there? A friend of ours just got married on the Amalfi coast in Italy. What a little slice of heaven that was, although I do still think I prefer the Riviera.” I laughed and leaned in. “Call me a traditionalist, I guess.” I leaned towards Ryan. “I mean, if I got married, I’ve always loved the idea of a winter wedding, you know? Like in Verbier, or St. Moritz—mind you, I’m such a klutz on a ski slope. Last year when I was in Aspen I broke my ankle on the first day!” I laughed again. God, I was irritating, and smug. Shit, this was fun. “I just spent the rest of my holiday in the spa with one of those Kardashian sisters. God, what was her name? I get them all so confused, they all look the same, don’t they?”
Sasha and Murray blinked at me. Rapidly. They looked utterly speechless, like the cat had gotten their tongues and run far, far away with them.Well, let’s give them something to fucking talk about.And so I leaned in, and kissed him. I had meant it to be a peck on the lips, but the second our lips touched, something happened.Everything happened.
Everything around us dissolved. It blurred. And like condensation slipping down the edge of a glass, we melted. We slipped. We fell over the edge and down into the abyss as our lips touched. Cold and hot and fuzzy around the edges. His lips and the warm breath coming out of them were all I could feel in the entire world. I felt dizzy, swaying on my feet as if the floor had spun away from us. Our kiss was soft at first. Lips dancing across each other’s, just a warm, gentle breeze to begin with. But then his lips pushed into mine, harder. The force of them ignited a fire, a heat that exploded in my face and traveled down my body into my legs and toes. This was the kind of kiss that caused earthquakes. That caused the very foundations to rock and shake and crumble. I parted my lips, waiting for the warm wetness of his tongue. Waiting for it to caress mine. It did. And it stole my breath. It stole everything. My pulse raced, my heart exploded and I wanted to drink him in, to consume him, every centimeter of him. In the back of my head somewhere, I knew we were still in a room full of people. But I didn’t care. All I cared about was his tongue, his lips and his hand on my lower back. His fingers splayed, kneading and digging into my flesh through the thin material of my dress. But it was too little, I wanted more, and I could feel he wanted it too.
We broke away and stared into each other’s eyes, and then I nodded at him.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He nodded back and took me by the hand, weaving through the crowd, pushing open a door, walking into a reception, pulling out a credit card. “Any room,” he said, digging his fingers into my palm with urgency. “One night . . . checking in now . . .” he said.
And then he pulled me across the room again, pressing elevator buttons, the doors opening with a ping and closing, and then . . . we were alone.
Alone for the first time since the start of our kiss.
CHAPTERSIXTY-EIGHT
Ryan
That voice in the back of his head had finally shut the hell up.
Her lips were hot. They tasted of lipstick and champagne and salt, and he wanted more of them. The elevator doors had closed, he looked up at the lights of the floors. Floor six. He estimated they had only a few seconds, but he was going to make the most of them.
He grabbed her face between his hands and pressed her lips to his. This kiss had been years in the making, or so it felt. His hand traveled around the back of her head, he laced his fingers into the soft hair at the base of her neck. His fingers tightened in her hair and she gasped against his mouth, opening hers slightly, giving him a chance to push the tip of his tongue between her lips. He let the tip tease her for a second, while she shivered in his arms, and then he tilted her head to the side and pushed her mouth open. Their tongues slid over each other, as if they belonged together. Soft, wet, warm. The feeling ignited a million sensations that had been dormant until now. He gripped the back of her neck, driving deeper into her mouth and then . . .
Ting!
He pulled away quickly as the elevator doors opened. He looked at her. Out of breath. Her red lipstick was smeared across her face. He touched his lips and pulled his fingers away; they were also stained red from her lipstick. She’d left her mark on him. They stared into each other’s eyes, chests rising and falling together, even though they were apart. Without hesitation, he grabbed her by the hand and led her down the passage. They had barely said a word to each other since the kiss in the banqueting hall. They didn’t need to. Her eyes told him that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. And the way she kissed him, the way her lips felt against his, told him that she needed him as urgently as he needed her. He struggled with the key card in the door, mainly because his hands were sticky with sweat. Finally, he pushed the door open. He grabbed her around the waist and pushed her in. Not wanting his hands to be anywhere else but on her body, he kicked the door shut with his foot. It slammed, loudly. But the sound of her breathing, coming out fast and furious as he gripped her waist and walked her into the wall, was even louder.
A frenzied energy built up inside him as he kissed her and started pulling up her dress.
“Hurry,” she said breathily.
And he obeyed her; as soon as he could, he put his hand on the bare skin of her legs, splaying his fingers, digging them into her flesh. He’d wanted to touch her like this since that night he’d taken the thorns out of her foot. And now, he was getting the chance to and he wasn’t going to waste it. Her skin was hot to the touch as he trailed his hand up her thigh and helped her out of her panties. His lips left her mouth, his tongue moved down her neck, over her collarbones, stopping momentarily to kiss the indentation between them, and then down to the plunging neckline of her dress. He took the material between his teeth and pulled it down even further, exposing the tops of her breasts. His hand left her face as he slid his fingers under the strap of her dress and pulled it down until the left side of her dress slipped open. He quickly went to work on her bra strap, pulling it down in the same way as the dress, until her naked breast was exposed. He stopped and looked at it. Looked at her. She was beautiful. Even more beautiful than he’d imagined she would be.
She arched her back towards him, thrusting her breast towards his face. It was a clear invitation. He lowered his head, placed it on her chest and breathed in her scent. Sweet. Sticky. Floral and salty. He kissed her there. He licked off the fine mist of perspiration that coated her skin. But he didn’t pull his tongue away. He left it there, connected to her skin, and dragged it across her. Dragged it up the side of her breast, dragged it underneath, where her breast ended and her ribcage began. He teased her like this for a while, dragging his tongue closer and closer to her nipple, but never touching it. Grazing it. Sweeping past it until her panting told him she couldn’t take much more of the teasing. He took her in his mouth, and at the same time, he slipped his hand under her panties.
She let out a tiny yelp. Pleasure, not pain, as he skillfully worked her with his hand, and with his mouth. He opened his eyes and looked up at her face. Her head was back, her eyes were closed and her mouth was open, gasping for air, as if she was a fish that had been taken out of water. She raised her hands above her head, clawed the wall with her nails, as if she was looking for something to hold onto. She rocked her hips back and forth in circular motions as he increased the speed and flicked his tongue across her nipple.
Suddenly, she cried out and her whole body stiffened. She froze, dead still, and didn’t make a sound. He could see the physical waves traveling through her. Starting at his fingertips, sweeping into her belly, causing her ribs to tighten, her breasts to harden and heave, her neck and jaw to clench and a flush of redness to light up her cheeks. Then he felt her body soften, crumple. He grabbed her as she started slipping down the wall.
But he didn’t want her like this, up against a wall. He took her by the hand and led her to the bed. He wanted them both naked, so he pulled his jacket off and tossed it to the floor. He started unbuttoning his shirt and she watched with anticipation, until it was off. He stared at her dress, willing her to take it off. She gave him a tiny nod and then pulled the other strap off her shoulder; the dress fell with a soft thud, pooled on the floor at her feet. She stepped out of it, then kicked her high heels across the floor. His eyes drifted down to her panties. They’d been pushed to the side, exposing just a little bit of her.
He grappled with his belt buckle and removed it in one swift movement. He tugged at his trousers and let them fall. They stood there in their underwear, looking at each other, waiting with anticipation for what would come next.
CHAPTERSIXTY-NINE
Poppy
I was so hot I was melting. My cheeks burned and tingled and a knot tightened and throbbed in my stomach.
God, he was good. And God he looked good in his underwear. And he wanted me. I could see it in his eyes. I could feel it in his tongue, his hands, his mouth and the way he’d made me come.
He stepped closer to me. His eyes locked with mine but he said nothing. He didn’t need to. I reached around and unclipped my bra, letting it fall on the floor. I put my hands on his waist and then moved them down to his underwear, the piece of material that stood between us. As I started slipping them down, he reached out and did the same to mine. They fell at the same time and then, we were completely naked. Nothing now stood in the way of our two bodies coming together.
He leaned in. Put his thumb over my lips and ran it over them. His lips came back down on mine. This time, he pulled my lip into his mouth, sucked on it, then bit it gently. Letting go, his tongue moved to my neck; down, and then up. He pulled my ear lobe into his mouth, and I giggled at the sensation. He chuckled into my ear, the low tone of the chuckle and the hot breath playing on my skin, causing a tingle to sweep through me, head to toe.
