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“Yeah, I do. It’s why I decided to open up my own law firm. I wanted to call the shots.”
“You’re hot when you call the shots. What made you come back to LA after you finished law school?”
“Got the best job offer here, and I like the city.”
I felt her smile against my cheek just as we reached the staircase, and I kissed her against the banister. I was so starved for this woman that I knew we wouldn’t make it to the bedroom. Val parted her lips instantly for me, driving me crazy. My hands were on her waist, and she pressed her elbows lightly over my fingers, as if telling me not to let go. As if. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t ever be able to let go.
I’d gone for so long without affection aside from my family that I honestly had gotten good at ignoring that bone-deep loneliness. But now that Val was in my life, I felt that absence like a physical emptiness that ached. And I knew that only Val could fill it.
But she had a rough few years behind her. She deserved an uncomplicated relationship, one where the other person didn’t have as much baggage and responsibilities as I did.
She gasped when I bit lightly at her shoulder.
“I’ve been dreaming about touching you like this for days,” I murmured. I found the zipper of her skirt and lowered it. Then I pushed the fabric down, and the skirt pooled at her feet. She was wearing a thong that only covered the essential parts, and I sucked in a breath.
“Fuck, you’re too beautiful.”
I palmed each ass cheek, kneading it, and then I lowered myself, pushing down her panties slowly, then drawing my tongue even slower over the parts it had covered. Pleasure shot through me. She gasped, doubling over.
“Sit on the staircase,” I said. “We won’t make it upstairs. I want to taste you now.”
She moved backward as if she felt the intensity of my desire like a physical force. Her legs wobbled. She sat on a stair, leaning with her elbows on the one above. I spread her thighs wide and kissed her right inner thigh, then swiped my hands under her ass, lifting her up slightly. I wanted easier access. She must have realized it because a tremor shook her. I was so turned on, it was almost painful. My thumbs reached up to her entrance, and I parted her wide.
“Carter.” Her breath came out in a rush when I brought my mouth down on her. I planned to overwhelm her with pleasure, working her up, sucking and stroking where she needed it most.
Her climax was so swift and powerful that she cried out, closing her thighs, almost trapping me between them. My breath was ragged as I lowered her ass again and kissed the tops of her thighs.
She licked her lips as I helped her up
. Turning around, she led me up the stairs.
“Hey! No more of that until we reach the bedroom.” She pushed my hand away when I touched her ass.
“Why, you afraid we’ll only make it to the top of the staircase?”
“You know it.”
Chapter Nineteen
Val
Smelling samples was one of the finest pleasures in life, as far as I was concerned. Currently, I’d smeared three fragrances on my left forearm and three on the right one.
My fellow chemists were up in arms about this, first because the skin’s chemistry altered the smell, and second because after sniffing three fragrances, the nose became too overwhelmed to tell the finer differences.
That was the theory. In practice, I knew that most people headed to a store and tried as many fragrances as possible, even on their skin. No one had time to try only three, then go back another time for more.
In any case, I’d identified most of our iconic fragrances by breaking the rules, so I planned to keep doing it.
I was alone in the small room because I asked not to be disturbed when I was sampling. I needed to concentrate—pick up on the finer notes, try to imagine what sort of emotion or reaction they could bring out in a customer. Sometimes I even wrote marketing briefings while I was at it. The conversation with Davis two weeks ago was at the back of my mind. I was semiconsciously wondering what kind of fragrances we could make for the potential exclusive line. Shaking my head, I resolved to concentrate on the task at hand before I went back to my office to compose an email to our sales associates. It was the end of November, and the Christmas rush was almost upon us.
Midway through the process, I heard commotion in the corridor, even though the door was shut.
I listened carefully, frowning when two of my newest employees ooh-ed and aah-ed. Then another familiar voice spoke.
“Of course we can take pictures, ladies.”
Jace was visiting. That was weird. I grew downright concerned when I heard Hailey’s voice as well. Had something happened? Whenever we met during the week, we met elsewhere, because my office was far away from everything.
