to get past caring.
I didn’t often deny myself what I wanted and I couldn’t see any reason to deny myself now. Or her, for that matter, given she’d made it very clear she wanted to do this.
And, really, how much could she get up to on her knees in front of me?
My brain was shutting down, all the blood in my body heading straight to my goddamn cock. And all I was conscious of was the heat of her mouth and the touch of her wicked tongue on my skin. Imagining how it would feel if she had that tongue touching my dick instead.
‘Minx,’ I drawled. ‘You think I’m that easy?’
A stupid thing to say. Of course I was that easy.
She didn’t speak, just tightened her lips around my thumb and began to suck. The gentle pressure felt fan-fucking-tastic and it was all I could do to keep my breathing under control.
So much for finding out who she is.
I almost smiled. Oh, I’d find out; no doubt about it. Afterwards.
This mysterious creature, creeping into my office to take whatever it was she was here to take, thinking she could distract me with a good old-fashioned blow job?
Yeah, not happening.
This was my territory, and seduction was my expertise, and she’d given away one vital advantage: she’d let me know that she wanted me.
Well, I was going to use that.
It was time to show her exactly who she was dealing with.
Gently, I pulled my hand from her mouth and undid the button on my trousers. ‘You want to suck on something, Sugar? Then you know what to do.’
Thea
MY HEART WAS jumping around behind my breastbone like a gymnast on a trampoline, a dim part of me wondering what the hell I was doing.
Seducing him hadn’t seemed like that big a deal when I’d first decided on it, but now I was on my knees in front of him, with the salty taste of his skin in my mouth and the hard ridge behind his zip staring me in the face...
Well.
It seemed like kind of a big deal now.
I’d followed my gut when he’d started asking questions, dropping my act and giving him the truth—or at least a bit of it. Letting him see a piece of the real me: the woman who wanted the sun, not the shadow. Yet still he’d asked questions about whether I was there to kill him or to rob him, so I’d had to do something.
Taking his thumb into my mouth had seemed like a good idea at the time, giving me some control over what was happening. But somehow—and I still didn’t know how he’d done it when I thought I’d been making progress—he’d taken charge of things again.
He was looking at me now, one pierced brow raised in arrogant challenge, a man supremely aware of his own beauty and his extensive sexual prowess.
Daring me to refuse. To say no and pull away.
But I couldn’t. I was used to being unnoticed, yet he was noticing me, his focus so intense it was as if he was memorising every inch of me.
It was intoxicating. Addictive. And I wanted more.
You can’t afford to have him notice you, not like that.
No, I couldn’t. Then again, the chances of him ever actually remembering me were remote to non-existent. Not me, with a face you wouldn’t look at twice in the street. Your average, every-day everywoman.
I could let myself have this moment, couldn’t I, where I felt like the centre of the world instead of not even being part of it?
I took a slow breath, then another, trying to get my heartbeat under control, but he smelled so good, spice cut through with musk, and it made me ache. While the heat of his body made me want to stretch out and warm myself against him.
Yes, I could have it. I wanted it, so I was going to take it.
I lifted my hand and took hold of the tab of his zip. Then I drew it down.
The glitter of his eyes intensified, and as I spread the fabric of his trousers, I felt the tension in his muscles gather.
‘Sugar...’ he murmured as I leaned back slightly, looking at what I’d uncovered: the black cotton of his boxers stretched over the ridge of his very hard cock.
I certainly wasn’t an expert but, whoa. He wasn’t small, was he?
And it was me who’d got him like that. Pretty good for an unremarkable foundling whom no one had wanted.
Don’t get ahead of yourself. He probably gets hard for any woman.
It was true, so I tried to ignore the satisfaction that filled me. Not that it mattered anyway.
His fingers brushed over my cheekbone, making me shiver, but I ignored the touch, refusing to let myself get derailed.
Turning my hand over, I stroked my knuckles down the length of his erection, feeling the heat of him through the fabric of his underwear. The muscles of his thighs tensed as I did so and my satisfaction deepened.
He might very well get hard for every woman, but right now that woman was me and, hell, I’d take it.
Dimly, the cool part of my brain tried to tell me that there had to be a better plan than kneeling in front of a complete stranger to give him a blow job just so I could steal a damn necklace.
But I didn’t listen. It wasn’t about the necklace any more. It wasn’t even about distracting him so I could get away.
It was about the unfamiliar pulsing ache between my thighs and the hunger for something I hadn’t even known I wanted.
Since Mr Chen had died six months earlier, I’d told myself I was fine with how isolating the business was. That I didn’t mind being alone. Yet right now, with Blackwood hot and hard beneath my hand, I knew that I did mind. And that I wanted more than the shadows I currently lived in. I wanted some time in the sun.
My breathing was getting faster, louder. He could probably hear it.
I leaned forward and this time I brushed my mouth over the black cotton, inhaling his musky, masculine scent and the heat of his body.
‘Jesus...’ His voice sounded rough, stripped of its charm. His fingers slid beneath my jaw, gripping me firmly, and I just knew he was going to pull me away.
Well, that wasn’t going to happen.
I lifted my hands and rested my palms on the steel of his thighs, nuzzling against him. His muscles went rigid and I heard his breath catch. So I did it again.
‘Holy
