so deprived that she was imagining the underlying innuendo in his words. She tried to draw a steady breath and failed to calm the riot of nerves clamoring within her. The brazen, tantalizing stroke of his thumb against her rapid pulse and the tenacity blazing in his eyes didn’t bode well for the outcome of her latest challenge.
“You’re just going to have to trust me and my abilities.” She shrugged nonchalantly, though she was feeling anything but indifferent to him. “Or we could let our dart game speak for itself.”
Grinning, he dipped his head, and a lock of sable hair fell across his forehead. “That hardly seems fair, since I’m a lousy dart player.” No machismo on his part, just endearing honesty, and damn if that didn’t appeal to her. “How about we test our skills together out on the dance floor, instead?”
3
THE VERY LAST THING Nicole wanted to do was end up in Mitch’s arms, surrounded by his virile heat, his intoxicating scent, and his blatant masculinity. He gave her little choice in the matter and no time to issue a protest that wouldn’t draw the unwanted attention of other people. Still holding her hand securely in his, he tugged her toward the parquet dance floor. Just her unfortunate luck, at that moment the band ended the fast tune they’d been playing and eased into a slow, romantic song one of the guests had specifically requested.
A heartbeat later she found herself wrapped in Mitch’s solid embrace with her own hands gripping his arms in startled surprise. Any desperate ideas she might have had about stepping back to keep a few inches between them were quickly banished when he slipped his arm tight around her waist and pulled her firmly against his hard, muscular body. Automatically, she tensed, but her rigid posture did nothing to dissuade him or ward off her own awareness of him.
Every inch of Mitch seemed to be touching some part of her. His shoulders were incredibly broad, and her breasts crushed enticingly against his wide chest, making her nipples peak and harden and ache at the heated contact. Her belly aligned with his, and somehow, someway, he’d effortlessly managed to slide his jean-clad thigh between hers in a way that was completely natural to the kind of slow dance they were engaged in.
The gradual pressure he exerted there was deliciously exquisite. To her dismay, an insistent throb pulsed low and deep. The uninhibited beat of the music dictated the sensual rhythm of their bodies, heightening her own longing for something more carnal and forbidden with Mitch. The assault on her senses was almost more than she could bear, and she struggled to keep a tight rein on her physical response.
His free hand slipped beneath the heavy warmth of her hair, and the tips of his fingers brushed the nape of her neck. “Relax, Nicole,” he murmured next to her ear.
Suppressing a telltale shiver of pleasure, she squeezed her eyes shut. Inhaling a fortifying breath, she summoned a convincing reply before she opened her eyes again. She pulled back, meeting his teasing, sexy gaze with a capricious grin of her own. “I’m perfectly relaxed, Mitchell.”
Clearly, he didn’t believe her. Doubts shimmered in his eyes, right along with something more devious. Sweeping a hand down her back in a long, meandering caress, he splayed his large hand at the base of her spine, right at the curve of her bottom. Lightning spears of sensation spiked through her and she stiffened at his penetrating touch, contradicting her attempt to pretend indifference to him.
One corner of his mouth tipped up in a knowing, beguiling smile. “That’s hardly the response of someone who’s relaxed.” He pressed closer to her, if that was even possible when she already felt like a part of him. His gaze grew more intimate, his voice softer, but she had no problem hearing him above the band’s entertainment. “Do I make you nervous?”
“Of course not,” she scoffed, the automatic fib a defense mechanism to protect her emotions from this man.
“Then prove it.” Indulgence and insistence warmed his eyes. “There’s no one here that we know to watch us, so quit fighting what’s between us and let your body soften against mine. Move with me to the beat of the music, Nicole.”
His request beckoned to her, the kind of dare she’d come to expect from him. The current song ended, giving her the perfect opportunity to bow out gracefully with some kind of clever quip. But when the band cued up the next tune with a seductive, bluesy tempo, she changed her mind. As hot and restless as he made her feel, she refused to give him the power of knowing just how much he affected her. In fact, she was fully prepared to turn the tables on him and be the one to walk away from this challenge unscathed. Just to prove she could.
Blocking out everything around them, she captured his gaze in the dim lighting. Relaxing, she let the driving, pulsing beat of the music dictate the movements of her body, the sway of her hips, the shimmy of her shoulders and breasts, and the deliberate glide of her thigh between his.
Lost in the moment and unnoticed by the other couples around them, inhibitions and reservations peeled away. Nicole softened and flowed into Mitch, just as he’d requested. Through lashes that had fallen half-mast, she watched the flame of desire and need burn bright in his gold-brown eyes, just as she’d intended.
A surge of triumph welled in her, making her bold and too assertive. “So, what do you think, Mitchell?” she asked huskily as she smoothed her hands down his chest, experiencing equal measures of satisfaction and pleasure as his muscles rippled at her touch. Tossing her head back, she arched into him in a very suggestive manner. “Is this relaxed enough for you?”
“Most definitely.” His free hand slid from her side, down past her waist and settled on her hip, leaving a trail of heat in the wake of his petting. “We’re very good together, don’t you think? Both of us qualified and definitely competent.”
Nicole swallowed hard, unable to find the words to issue a sassy retort. She was too mesmerized by the irresistible, sexual allure in his raspy voice, too stunned by the depth of her body’s craving for him to think, let alone speak.
Gently, he rocked her hips against him, igniting another frenzy of restless yearning within her. “The way we move together in such unison, the perfect fit of our bodies, is exactly the way it should be. Can you feel it, too?”
She felt too much. Every touch and illicit caress expanded the heat between them. Every slow, purposeful brush of his body against hers scalded her senses until she was burning with the kind of need only making love could assuage. It had been a very long time since she’d wanted a man that much.
She closed her eyes at that lusty thought but couldn’t shut out his murmured words, which painted such erotic and vivid pictures in her mind. She saw them flesh to flesh, clinging to each other in a dance between lovers. Witnessed the perfect fit of their inflamed bodies. Felt him filling the achy emptiness in her. Felt her own thighs clench his much too shamelessly. Tension coiled in her belly and right where the pressure he exerted was the greatest.
A tremor shook her, a warning that immediately jolted her out of her daze. “Stop.” The uttered command slipped from her lips before she could intercept it, and Mitch went still and quiet, though loud voices and music still swirled around them.
She blinked her eyes open wide, scattering the provocative images behind her lids. She stared up at Mitch in balanced increments of shock and mortification—and annoyance for his part in arousing her with his sexual monologue. Her breathing escaped her in soft pants, and she was feverishly hot, her skin flushed and tight.
Unable to believe she’d nearly allowed him to seduce her in such a public place, she attempted to untangle herself from his embrace. He held her secure, pinned against his
