AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shook her head. “No. You’re royalty. That makes you abnormal and hardly an impartial judge. I know what royalty means where I come from. In New Orleans it’s an entirely different level. So it’s the French families in power here, not Italian. But the rules are the same.”
I poured our champagne into paper cups. Kennedy’s eyes widened when she saw the oysters on ice arrive.
“You eat this?” she pointed at them.
I winked. “You’ll love them.”
I could tell she was against the platter. She didn’t like how they looked.
“Come here,” I urged her to lean over the table. I topped an oyster with hot sauce and placed it on her tongue.
She cautiously closed her mouth. I waited for the reaction. The distrust turned to a smile.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” I cocked my head.
“They’re good.” She nodded. “Really good.”
I laughed. “My work here is done.”
We drank and made our way around the shells on the platter. By the time we finished, we were the only ones still sitting at a table. The place was empty. The server cleared our table, taking the vinyl cover with him. I gave him an extra hundred to leave the lanterns on over our table and to close down the outside restaurant. I wanted to be alone with her. I couldn’t give her total freedom, but I could her a night of it.
“This version of New Orleans isn’t bad.” Kennedy dangled the paper cup between her delicate fingers. She was relaxed. At ease. She wasn’t the same girl I had discovered in the pool house a few hours ago.
I climbed out of the table and strolled to her side. I sat, sliding my body next to hers.
I’d never wanted to kiss a woman as badly as I wanted to kiss her. Booze. Oysters. Starry sky. Crackling chemistry. Fuck. How did I show restraint?
“Knight?” she whispered. The question sounded like a command. I didn’t like taking orders, but it was a plea.
I tilted her chin upward and took her lips with fierce ownership. My tongue lashed against hers. Kennedy dropped the paper cup of champagne on the grass and draped her hands around my neck. My mouth burned for her. I wanted to suck the alcohol from her lips. I wanted to drown in her. The purrs from her throat echoed in my ears. I nipped at her throat, inhaling her skin. Biting behind her ear and dragging my breath along her neck.
My hand traveled along her waist, following the lines of her curves. Trailing over her thighs. My fingers curled against her hip. My mind wandered as quickly as my hands. She tasted like champagne and summer. Innocence and purity in a world that was cast in darkness. Her body melded to mine.
“I want to take you back to my place,” I growled against her neck. “Show you that over-the-top view I have.”
She nodded eagerly. “Yes. I’d like to see it.”
There was no guarantee she wouldn’t be under lockdown for the next month. I had her in my hands now. I wouldn’t waste wait time we had before dawn broke.
It was another few minutes before we broke for air. I walked Kennedy to the car and kissed her quickly before shutting the door.
I tore out of the Cajun oyster joint and back toward the city. Neither one of us spoke a word. The sexual tension filled the car.
“This is it,” I announced. I parked near the rear entrance to the courtyard. I lived alone with the exception of a few members of my staff in a multi-level apartment. The ground floor was mainly for greeting guests or making them wait when I didn’t want to take a meeting. My suite was on the top floor. And it did have a fucking incredible view.
Her eyes followed the windows to the top level. “As old as Marguerite’s?”
“It’s pretty damn old.”
Kennedy was captivating. She intrigued me. And it had only been a few hours since she dropped into my orbit. I wanted nothing less than to take her upstairs to my bed, but it wasn’t going to be enough.
I stroked the side of her jaw, craving her already. She blinked slowly before crossing over the console and wrapping her soft palms to my neck. My tongu
e thrust in her mouth and we started drowning again. Her dress was bunched and dislodged around her waist.
The windows began to fog. My hands navigated her curves with recent memory. Her lips parted with a gentle sigh as soon as I slid between her legs. Finally, under that short little dress that had tortured the hell out of me.
