yes. I love cake, especially...chocolate,’ Toni replied, but the words were driven from her mind as Scott’s fingers wound up into her hair and then the base of her skull. His gaze followed the line of his hand as though her hair was the most fascinating thing that he had ever seen.
His fingers slid forward and stroked her cheek with the gentlest of touches.
‘You have cream and éclair on your face,’ Scott whispered and, leaning forward, he raised one finger and brushed it along her upper lip. Then, as she watched, riveted, he slowly ran the tip of his tongue across his chocolate-covered fingertip.
It only took a fraction of a second but it was the hottest thing Toni had ever seen in her life. So hot she couldn’t help herself taking a sharp breath in some feeble attempt to cool her suddenly burning cheeks.
‘Perhaps we should stick to the doughnuts in future?’ she squeaked. ‘Messy eater.’
‘I’ll risk it.’ He grinned and followed the outline of her jaw with his thumb.
Scott slanted his head and slid closer and just for one second she thought that he was going to kiss her neck.
Instead, she felt a breath of warm sweet air from his soft lips against her cheek.
And every hair on her body instantly stood to attention.
Before she could change her mind, Toni rested both hands lightly on his hips so that the scent and sensation of his body could warm every cell in hers before she finally pulled her head back.
She knew without looking that her nipples were alive and proud and probably doing crazy things to the front of her top, but she truly did not care.
Scott looked straight at her, his chest responding to his faster breathing, and whispered, ‘Chocolate works for me,’ before sliding his hands down the whole length of her back, the pressure drawing her forward as he moved his head into her neck and throat, kissing her with just the barest contact of his lips on her collarbone, then up behind her ears, his hands moving up and down in a gentle caress of both sides of her back, inside her sweater. As though he wanted to find out what her skin tasted like without the chocolate and cream chaser.
The stubble on his chin and sideburns made her burn with instant fire, and instinct rather than sensible thought took over.
And chocolate was not what Toni was thinking about. At all.
For a moment their eyes locked together.
The need in his took her breath away and left her floundering, helpless.
What if he wanted her as much as she wanted him at this minute?
That could only spell trouble. For both of them.
Toni tried to break the mood by looking away first.
And then she made the fatal mistake of glancing back and fell dizzyingly into Scott’s startling blue flecked eyes. Eyes which called to her with a message that her heart could not ignore.
I like you. A lot.
Doomed.
Without a second’s hesitation, she leaned forward just an inch and started to angle her head so that their noses wouldn’t clash, their eyes still locked. His tongue moistened his upper lip, and she instinctively did the same. His eyes glanced from her mouth back to her eyes as his hand came up to cradle the back of her head, smoothing down the hair, caressing the warm skin between her neck and ear. And suddenly she wanted—needed—to crush her mouth against his and taste his sweetness and life and passion.
She could sense that her breathing sped up in anticipation for his kiss, her eyes half closed at the pleasure to come. She wanted him to kiss her.
But what he did instead made kissing seem tame in comparison.
Scott’s fingers moved down from her waist on to the rough tweed fabric of her trendy skirt until they reached her exposed leggings-covered thighs.
Toni breathed out a sigh of shuddering delight as his palms cupped her thighs, his thumbs caressing back and forth on the sensitive area on the inside of her legs, moving just a little higher with each caress.
She blinked up into Scott’s face and he smiled at her with an expression that told her everything that she needed to know.
This man knew exactly what he was doing and how her body was reacting to his touch. But she wasn’t the only one. His breathing was matching hers, hot and fast and snatched between gasps.
Just to prove the point, his gaze locked on to hers and his hands pushed her skirt just high enough for him to step closer so she could feel just how much his body was enjoying the moment.
Somewhere inside her head a voice was telling her that she should tell him to stop. Soon. Very...oh, Lord...soon. But maybe not straight away. Because this felt way too good to stop.
Toni was just about to arch her back over the drawing table when Scott suddenly moved his hands out from under her skirt, pressed them on to the table, stepped back and whispered, ‘I have an idea.’
An idea? What? Now?
Licking her lips and forcing her brain to form something close to sense took a second but eventually Toni managed to whisper, ‘Great. Although I was hoping that you might have more than just the one.’
‘Ah, but this is a classic. How would you like to be my date for dinner this evening?’
What?
Toni felt as though someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water over her and she instantly pushed her bottom off the stool and tugged her skirt down.
‘A date? You? Me? Are you serious?’
‘Is that so outrageous?’
‘No. I mean yes,’ Toni blustered, desperately trying to come up with an excuse why she could not, dare not put her heart on the line again. ‘Technically, I’m working for you. An employee, in fact. And you have a girlfriend. You told me about the girl you left behind in Alaska the other day in the coffee shop. I’m sure that your lovely blue-eyed Dallas wouldn’t be too happy with that idea. I don’t date other girl’s boyfriends. Ever.’
Scott paused for a moment, grinned then pulled out his wallet and handed her a photograph. ‘Good to know. Toni, meet Dallas.’
‘Oh, you have to be kidding me? You keep a photo of...a very handsome husky dog.’ Toni peered at it, rolled her eyes and passed the snapshot of the dogsled back to its owner. ‘Tease. Dallas is one of your sled dogs, isn’t she?’
‘Hell, no.’ Scott grinned. ‘Dallas is my lead girl. She runs the rig. If she doesn’t want to tug and run?’ He sliced the air with his hand. ‘We’re grounded.’ Then a warm loving smile crept up out of nowhere and hit her with its full power. ‘But when she moves? That girl is poetry in motion. And smart. We get on just fine.’
‘So I see.’ Toni smiled. ‘Well, it’s obvious that any girl would have to work hard to compete with the lovely Dallas. That’s a special relationship.’ She sucked in air between her teeth. ‘I wouldn’t want to come between a man and his dog.’
Scott
