the gap and felt her hands tighten as he got closer to her nipple. He teased her by outlining the areola first then laved her entire nipple.
He attended to her other breast with the same care. He couldn’t stop touching her, needed to caress more of her skin. He loved the way she felt as arousal spread throughout her body. Her hips shifted on the bench. Her hands moved restlessly over her own body, reaching out to hold his head to her as he scraped his teeth down her side.
“Lift your skirt for me,” he said, his hands busy at her breasts.
The fabric of her skirt was gossamer light, as he’d noticed when they’d walked through the casino earlier. Ever since then he’d obsessed about it.
Slowly she brought her skirt upward to reveal her thighs and then the matching pink lace panties. Her tight auburn curls were visible under the light material.
He leaned back to study her. Awed that she was his. And she was his no matter how stubborn she was about living with him. Shelby belonged to him. A red haze settled over him and he was determined to prove it to her.
He set about arousing her using every bit of knowledge that he had but couldn’t remember where he’d gained it. All other women dropped away. The experiences he’d had with them were only to enhance what he had with Shelby now.
He tugged on her panties, and she obliged by removing them. When she came to him again, he parted her with his thumbs before lifting her to taste the engorged bud he’d uncovered. He suckled her gently, her hips bucking, her hands fluttering to his head to hold him closer.
He brought her to the edge then backed off. He wanted to build a fury within her so that she’d feel the way he did. Out of control.
He kissed her stomach and dipped his tongue into her belly button. He skimmed his hands over her breasts, rubbing them in a circular motion.
Her hips lifted into his chest and he felt her moisture there, realizing he couldn’t wait any longer.
“Hayden?”
“Yes, baby?” he asked. Lowering his hands between their bodies, he unzipped his pants and released himself. He slipped on the condom he’d put in his pocket before joining Shelby earlier.
He pulled her forward so that her hips were fitted to his. Now her back was arched and her skirt was still between them.
He grasped her waist and lifted her up. “Hold on to me.”
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her legs around his waist. Hayden loved the feel of her soft skirt against his stomach and erection. He reached between them, parted her with one hand and guided himself to her entrance with the other.
He thrust upward, going as deep as he could. Shelby’s nails scored his shoulders. Her breasts rubbed against his chest. Nothing had ever felt better than the wet heat of her wrapped around him.
She rocked against him again and again and Hayden leaned down, wanting to demand answers from her. But he couldn’t. Emotions swamped him as he felt the telltale tingling at the base of his spine signaling that his release was imminent. He slowed his pace.
“Faster. I’m so close,” she whispered in his ear.
He put his hands on her hips and thrust up into her as he ground her down against him. He heard her breath catch once and then twice and then a long, low moan as her orgasm washed over her.
He came a second later. He cradled her close to his body, very aware that even if it wasn’t wise he was falling for Shelby Paxton, again.
Eight
Shelby spent the next few days in her store readying it for the grand opening tonight. She tried to ignore that more than sex had happened between her and Hayden. They were both busy with work but Hayden made time for her in his schedule. He’d shown up unexpectedly one afternoon after one of her staffers had to go home for a family emergency and helped her unbox the merchandise.
He’d also taken her for a ride on his prized custom West Coast Chopper. He was everything she wanted in a man and more, and she knew she was falling hard for him. Every day revealed another facet of the man and she had yet to see anything she didn’t like.
But she remembered Alan and what had brought her to Vegas and worried over that. Not to mention what she’d been forced to realize about herself that night in the private garden. That Hayden already owned her heart and soul. She could try to pretend she hadn’t completely given him her heart but she knew that wasn’t true.
A part of her rejoiced. After all, she’d returned to Vegas with just that goal in mind. But the other part of her worried. Alan had been out of touch since the night she and Hayden had spent on his yacht, and Shelby worried that Alan was going to show up before she had a chance to talk to Hayden.
She’d tried several times with Hayden to bring up the subject of her return to Vegas. Tried to find the words to make him understand that she hadn’t realized how much he’d changed, how much she had. But last night a letter from her mom had arrived and she’d been unable to deal with anything but that.
Hayden had taken her up to his penthouse and they’d sat on his balcony and talked until two in the morning. Talked about their single parents. She’d learned more about Alan than she’d expected to. Realized that once Hayden’s mom died when Hayden was quite young, Alan had focused on Hayden, making his son’s success the purpose of his life outside the casino.
When Shelby had talked about her own mother, she’d realized that it wasn’t her mother she was ashamed of. It was the way other people had always looked at them. She told Hayden about how her mother loved to crank up old Elvis Presley albums after dinner and they’d danced and sung while they’d cleaned the dishes.
She’d forgotten how much she’d loved her mom until that moment. She’d made the decision to call her and set up a time to visit only to have to leave a message on the answering machine when she followed through.
Shelby felt as if all the loose ends in her life were finally being straightened out. She was thirty-two and just starting to get it together.
Last night Hayden had pushed her hard to move in with him, even going so far as inviting his friends Kylie and Deacon Prescott to his penthouse for dinner. Shelby had enjoyed meeting the couple. But more than that she’d enjoyed the feeling that she and Hayden were a couple. A real couple. A happily-ever-after couple.
And that scared her.
She glanced at her watch. 8:50 a.m. She had ten minutes until she’d be addressing her staff. Paige was due in this afternoon and they were having a soft opening by invitation only for the other casino owners in the area and VIPs from each of the surrounding resorts.
A soft opening was a pre-grand opening that was a test run for business owners. Shelby was always nervous at this stage. But as she stood in her office and glanced into the showroom at the gilded shelves filled with unique, sexy lingerie, she felt her confidence return. After all, this was the twentieth store she’d opened.
Her staff had been handpicked and Shelby knew they’d do a fabulous job. She’d decided that tonight, after the formal grand opening, she’d tell Hayden she’d move in with him. And she vowed to talk to him about his dad. To let him know that Alan had blackmailed her into coming back.
She
