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And more, that he had already made his choice. That what remained was hers, whatever that might be.
He might have been known as a titan in the boardroom, but he always knew the answer to any question he asked where his business was concerned. He could not say the same about Geraldine.
Her eyes were whole worlds he had not explored, though he wanted to.
God, how he wanted to.
But it was as if the barriers between them, all the resistance that she had been attempting to put up for weeks, simplyshimmeredtonight. As if all the barriers between them were a bit thinner than usual.
She looked at his hand for too long, and then, very slowly, Geraldine lifted her fathomless green gaze to his face.
And something inside of him jolted, electric and intense.
Because Lionel knew. He knew, at last, that she would be his.
Finally, something in him roared, as much in triumph as heat.
Geraldine shifted in her chair. Then she reached out and slid her hand into his, and they both let out a sound at that.
As if neither of them could help it.
His was deeper, more of a growl. Hers sounded to him like some kind of gasp.
He wanted to taste it. He wanted to taste her, everywhere.
But first there was this. The touch of her skin to his. Her palm in his hand. The heat of her, that satin smoothness that already haunted him. That was deep in him, making his hunger near enough to overwhelming.
Lionel pulled her to him, or she stood and moved herself—but either way, she was in his arms.
At last,at last, she was in his arms again.
And he remembered, distantly, dancing with her at his grandmother’s celebration. It seemed a lifetime ago now. It seemed to him that they had been different people entirely, strangers, nothing like who they were now.
Yet even then, he had felt this driving hunger for her. That he had wanted to clear the whole ballroom. Looking back, all he could recall was the two of them, spinning around and around, shining with all of this need and wonder.
He had felt too many things to name.
He hadfelt.
Because it was a mad burst of impossible light, filling both of them at once with the same fire, as if it had always been meant for them. Dancing had made it worse. Dancing had made itobvious.
That there was this thing between them, far more than mere heat. Far more complicated than anything that could be sorted out in a bed—
But Lionel didn’t like that thought at all.
So instead of teaching her to dance to the music of the moon alone, and feeling whatever questionable emotions that might bring, he bent his head and took her mouth with his.
CHAPTER NINE
THISKISSWASnothing like the last one.
That was the last full thought Geraldine had, as Lionel’s stern mouth opened over hers and he licked his way between her lips.
And then her whole life seemed to burst into flame.
As if there wasbeforethis moment andafterthis moment—this impossible kiss—but she was not the same. And never would be the same, ever again.
She had the idle notion that she should care about that, but it disappeared at the taste of him. That stunning hit that was part wine, part smoke, and all him.
