Then she cleared her throat. “Gage and Cass are leaving. They’re my ride.”
Disappointment walloped him. That sounded decidedly final. Had he misinterpreted the long heated glances? He’d just got her where he wanted her. Well, closer to where he wanted her, anyway.
“You’re ditching me already?” he asked and tried to keep his voice light.
Probably for the best. What could possibly happen between them? A brief but satisfying interlude where he’d eventually have to say goodbye? A woman like Alex deserved promises he could never make. He would treat her well, of course, but if a woman got intimate with a man, she eventually wanted to fall in love and get married and have the whole heart of her mate. Phillip couldn’t do that, didn’t want to do that.
Gina had been enough for him. Sometimes the sadness of losing her overwhelmed him. Like it had today. Alex had distracted him and he was grateful.
But once the party ended, the cavernous house would seem even emptier. He was not looking forward to it.
Alex glanced up at him through her lashes, and her lips parted slightly. “Actually, I was wondering if you’d mind giving me a ride home. Later.”
Later was a word he liked a whole lot. It held all sorts of interesting possibilities. A smile tugged at his mouth. “My car is available to you at any hour.”
“Looks like the party is breaking up,” she commented, and it took him a second to tear his gaze from her beautiful face to register what she meant.
He glanced down through the spindles. His living room had grown surprisingly empty. What time was it? He’d lost track of everything—the hour, his guests, the people he should have been entertaining. And now he was going to kick out the stragglers in under a minute like a bad host. Even worse, he was going to have his butler do it.
Phillip signaled to George, who’d been ushering guests out the door and coordinating with the valet. His butler had worked for the Edgewoods for over forty years, largely owing to his singular talent of being able to read minds. George nodded and began moving to the remaining groups of people, herding them toward the double front doors.
Phillip should probably care about that more. “Perfect timing, I’d say.”
“I agree. I was looking forward to having you all to myself.”
A current of awareness passed between them, zigzagging through his groin, waking up his body.
“Unless,” she continued, “you’d rather I go?”
“Why would you think that?” It might have come out a little too forcefully.
She bit her lip, drawing it between her teeth. A habit he’d noticed she fell into when she was trying to decide what to say, not that he spent an inordinate amount of time staring at her mouth. Okay, probably more time than he should spend on it, but the meetings they’d had about the FDA approval process had been interminable and she’d been right there across the table.
“Just checking. I’m not the best at reading people.”
All at once, he realized what she was fishing for.
He cupped her face. Her green eyes blazed with something warm, hopeful and slightly hungry. Even the brown dot seemed extravibrant under his scrutiny. For some reason, that sent a shaft of unadulterated desire through his gut.
“Tonight is about being spontaneous,” he told her. “Neither of us is good at that. That means no expectations. Make it about what you want.”
And he meant that seriously. If she wanted to talk all night, that was okay. Of course, he wouldn’t turn down a willing woman in his bed. But he just wanted to spend time with her, realizing it was selfish. Realizing he couldn’t offer her much. Realizing he should definitely aim his search for a wife of convenience in another direction.
But no expectations meant he didn’t have to think about any of that, either. Not tonight.
“No expectations,” she repeated and her smile grew. “I like that. I like that you get I have a hard time with being spontaneous. But I want to make it about what we both want. You know, assuming we both want the same thing.”
His own smile widened. “I hope so.”
A great, no-strings evening together. In whatever form that took.
“It won’t be weird? Tomorrow? We are still working together,” she reminded him. “Some people find it difficult to face each other over a boardroom table after getting naked together.”
Okay, then. Now there was no question about whether they were on the same page. The burn in his loins flared hotter as he slid his hand to the back of her neck, drawing her close so he could feel for the pins.
He extracted one and let it fall. He’d been thinking about doing that since their first moment on the dance floor. Now he could.
“Not weird,” he murmured. “What happens at Phillip’s house stays at Phillip’s house.”
With a shiver, she shook her head, loosening the pins under his questing fingers. He found them one by one, flicking them free. She tipped up her chin to pierce him with her gaze, and he fell into it as her hair rained down around her shoulders.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Her voice had gone husky.
He loved that he could affect her. “Anything.”
“I sometimes lose track of the discussion in those meetings because I’m thinking about kicking everyone out and letting you kiss me. Maybe up against the table.”
He groaned as that image slammed into his mind unencumbered because there was no blood left in his head to stop it. He understood her problem perfectly. “I generally lose my place because I’m thinking about what you taste like. Here.”
Tracing the line of her throat starting from her ear, he slid a finger to her collarbone and replaced his finger with his mouth. Her flavor filled his senses as he fulfilled the fantasy of savoring it. Straining closer, she moaned and it was better than music.
He needed more. More contact. More music. More Alex. He drew her closer, nearly into his lap, and her dress came up over her hip as his palm gathered it. She pressed into his touch, arching into him.
And then somehow, she rolled and landed in his lap, straddling him. Wordlessly—because he couldn’t have spoken if his life had depended on it—he cupped her rear, nestling her so their bodies aligned, and then her mouth crashed into his. The kiss ignited inside him, pounding adrenaline through his body, pumping euphoria along all his nerve endings.
More. Somehow she heard him or he communicated it telepathically because her mouth opened over his as she rolled her hips in a sensuous rhythm against the fiercest erection he’d experienced in recent memory. Maybe ever.
Heat broke over him like a blast from a detonated bomb, coalescing at the point of contact between their bodies, nearly finishing him off before they’d scarcely started. He tore his mouth from hers, panting.
“Wait,” he murmured and stood with her in his arms. She clamped her legs around his waist and he stumbled to his bedroom blindly
