guiding her into the next step.
There was something naughtily hot about the movement. Especially when Linc leaned in closer, points of his body making contact with hers. Mmm…he smelled good. Like deep woods and fresh air and hot male. And his hand where it held hers was big and warm, sending little shocks of sensation up her arms and across her chest, hardening her nipples under her dress.
Much, much too much time had passed since she’d been this close to a man. Her senses didn’t seem to know what to do with the overwhelming input washing over them. Of course, the alcohol probably heightened that effect.
Just then, Regina didn’t care how or why she’d come to be in that particular spot at that particular time. She was merely enjoying that she was. And didn’t want to be anywhere else…
DAMN, SHE WAS INTOXICATING.
Linc wasn’t much of a drinker—he preferred to remain in control at all times—but on the few occasions he had indulged, he’d had a similar rush to the one he was feeling right now, looking down into Regina’s face.
He easily led the steps Vivienne suggested, finding the scene reenactment subtly sexy. The movie was one of his aunt’s favorites and he’d been forced to watch it with her no fewer than a dozen times over the years during his visits.
Somehow in all his research, he’d missed the fact that Regina was stunningly attractive. Then again, maybe he hadn’t missed it so much as hadn’t anticipated his reaction to her being this close. It wasn’t often he came into face-to-face contact with one of his subjects, much less cheek to cheek.
His gaze skimmed her features, taking in the arch of her soft brows, the sizzling warmth in her green eyes, the almost poutlike quirk of her full lips. This close up he also understood that she wasn’t as thin as he’d originally thought. There wasn’t a single sharp angle to her.
His jeans tightened incrementally with each brush of his body against hers.
She readjusted her hand in his. He looked at her fingers and short, clean nails, totally unlike the bloodred polished ones her friend had. He knew Regina worked as a waitress at a small downtown diner and imagined she must do a lot to keep her hands as soft as they were.
He’d already guessed she didn’t drink often. If he needed further proof of that, her unsteadiness on her feet was clear evidence.
As she swayed toward him, his body instantly reacted, need, sure and swift, exploding through him.
“Sorry.” He saw her speak the word rather than hear it as she looked up into his face, her nose mere millimeters from his.
He swallowed hard, wanting to kiss her so much in that one moment it was all he could do to stop himself.
Interestingly, he didn’t have to. Because she kissed him.
He wasn’t surprised to find she tasted as good as she looked. Strawberry lip gloss teased his taste buds even as the tang of tequila remained on her breath.
“I say we get out of here,” Vivienne said behind her.
Regina blinked and drew away. “What?”
“I don’t think the lady’s ready to leave yet,” Linc said, not wanting to let her go just then.
“I meant the three of us…”
Linc looked from Regina to Vivienne and back again.
He couldn’t have agreed more…
3
REGINA TRIED TO open her eyes, but she feared they were fused shut. She rubbed her eyelids and then blinked against the bright morning sunlight flooding the bedroom in her small apartment. Her head pounded and her body ached in places she hadn’t been consciously aware of until that very moment. She groaned and closed her eyes again, rolling over…straight into something.
Before totally registering someone else was in the bed, she was out of it. It took her a moment to realize she wore nothing but her birthday suit. She grabbed the throw that had been lying on top of her bed but was now on the floor.
A groan and then the figure under the sheet rolled over.
“Vivienne!” she said. “For God’s sake, you scared me half to death.”
“Why are you whispering?” Her friend smiled and looked around. “Is this your bed?”
Regina pulled the throw closer. Sleepovers had never been part of the plan before. Never mind open nakedness. Viv’s casual tone inched her uneasiness higher.
Slowly but surely, some of last night’s events played out in her mind. Little more than blurry snippets of candlelight, music, wine and more, um, dirty dancing in the living room.
And her and Linc and other naughty goings-on.
Oh, no…
She stared at the bed, her heart hammering in her throat even as heat warmed her blood.
“What happened?” Viv asked, stripping back the top sheet.
Regina started to close her eyes to keep from seeing more than she wanted, then realized her friend was wearing her bra and underpants—red satin with black lace. The type of lingerie Regina would never dare buy herself no matter how much she might want to.
She let out a long breath. While the undergarments weren’t what she was used to seeing her friend in, it wasn’t complete nudity. She’d seen more of her in her bathing suit.
“Coffee?”
Regina squealed at the sound of the male voice behind her. She whirled to face none other than the guy they’d met at the bar last night.
He was here?
Still?
Her gaze trailed to the bed, to him and back.
Oh, no…
His grin was one hundred percent pure sin.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
His words contradicted his naughty expression.
He openly looked her over, his gaze lingering in places that made her blush everywhere but on her cheeks. Well, at least those on her face.
She glanced down. She held the throw between her breasts, leaving them both bare. When she’d faced him, the fabric had twisted around her legs, her pubis clearly visible.
She gasped and turned around to adjust the material, then realized she was giving him a full back view. She couldn’t move fast enough to cover herself even as she ducked into the connecting bathroom.
Oh, no…oh, no…oh, no…
Regina leaned against the doorjamb, her eyes closed, her lungs refusing air.
This wasn’t happening… It wasn’t even remotely possible she…
What
