through her.
On the dance floor, she’d felt as if a part of herself had been unlocked, releasing a desire for more of life than she’d been living. It had been a taste of freedom, and now she was starving for it.
She always thought things through. She planned and rationalized and made sure she was making the right decisions for everyone involved, the right decision for her family name.
But now she wanted Lazaro. And it wasn’t about the company, or the marriage or anything beyond the desire to find pleasure in the man who aroused her beyond words.
“Let’s go upstairs,” she said, her voice breathy and unfamiliar, her words echoing in the empty lobby.
He looked down at her, his jaw tight, a muscle ticking in his cheek. Every hard line of his body was locked and tense, and she could feel his heart raging beneath her palm. He wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him.
The knowledge sent a shot of pure giddiness through her, a kind of power she’d never fully understood before.
“I don’t like to be teased,” he said, his voice rough, his accent more pronounced.
“I’m not teasing.” She held his gaze, tried to keep her hands, her legs, from trembling. Her voice at least was steady. She was deadly serious.
“Tell me what you want.” He lowered his head, his lips hovering above hers.
“You,” she whispered, the word torn from her.
“More,” he ground out. “Tell me more.”
Her heart thundered hard, her cheeks hot. “I want …” She swallowed. This wasn’t the time to be timid. There was no room for lies, for self-protection. “I want you. Your hands, your mouth, your …” A shudder of desire racked her body. “I want to make love with you. Tonight.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
FINALLY. Tonight she would be his. At last he would take the edge off of the burning desire that had plagued his sleep since the day he’d first seen Vanessa Pickett.
He growled low in his throat and pulled her to him, kissing her, tasting her, his body on fire with the need to push her up against the wall and take her then and there. It would be so easy to slide that dress up over her hips and have her that way, so easy and so tempting.
He pulled away from her and pushed the button on the wall to bring the elevator down. He wanted her, desperately. But he knew she didn’t want a public display. And it mattered. Because when she’d spoken of humiliation, it had been genuine.
His stomach was a tight ball of pain. Her humiliation might simply be because it was him and not some purebred show boy her father had selected for her.
But then, Vanessa’s relationships had never been news- or gossip-worthy, and he had a feeling she was simply private. The intense desire to protect that part of her, to protect her, shocked him.
Even if her humiliation was centered around being caught with him, he found he didn’t want to make her feel that way.
The lift doors opened and he took her hand and led her inside, hitting the button immediately, unwilling to wait any longer than absolutely necessary.
She looked at him, her cheeks flushed pink, her lips bright and swollen from kissing him. He cared about her not being humiliated because he wanted her filled with nothing but desire. He wanted her mind blank of everything but the need for him to be inside her, because when he was touching her, that was how he felt, and he wanted her to feel the same.
This moment wasn’t about revenge. It was about satisfying a need that had gnawed at him for the past twelve years.
As soon as the elevator doors opened into the vast living area of the penthouse he took her in his arms again, and she came willingly, her soft, delicate hands sliding over his chest, his back. Her lips were hot and soft against his neck.
Vanessa didn’t think. She just felt. Nothing else mattered. Nothing. She was determined not to let it matter.
She just wanted to feel. She wanted Lazaro. And she was going to have him. There were so many things in life she’d denied herself, so many things she’d wanted that she’d walked away from because of propriety. Lazaro was one of them.
Not now.
This was her moment. All hers. It was only about desire and want and satisfying the ache inside her, filling the cavernous void that had seemed to grow with each passing year.
She’d spent so long drifting. Walking down a path simply because she’d gone too far to turn back. But she didn’t really feel alive. She felt heartburn and angst and stress. But there had to be more than that.
This was more. This was different. And it was hers.
He was hers.
She slid her hands up his chest, his muscles tightening beneath her palms, his chest rising sharply with his quick intake of breath. He’d accused her of teasing him. Maybe she had teased him, but no more than she’d teased herself. She was haunted by her memories of him, of what might have been.
No more what-ifs. No more teasing.
The first step was always the hardest. Her fingers trembled as she slid the top button on his shirt through the buttonhole. The next one was easier, desire taking over and banishing nerves and doubts.
She flattened her hands on his bare chest, felt his heartbeat, strong and fast. She pushed his shirt from his shoulders and let it fall to the floor. He didn’t move, he only stood in front of her, a bronzed god of masculine perfection, each muscle perfectly cut and defined. The way the light worked with his physique, adding even more extreme definition to his body, made her want to capture it on film. Forever. For her.
Her fingertips skimmed down his torso, over his washboard-flat stomach and down to his belt buckle. She sucked in a breath and worked the belt loose, letting it fall open. She felt driven now to uncover him, to see him, all of him. She had wondered, for so many years she had wondered, and now she didn’t think she could wait another second to see the body her mind had woven fantasies around since she was sixteen.
She pushed his pants and underwear down his hips in one jerky movement, and he kicked them to the side, his eyes never leaving hers. He made no move toward her, he simply stood, naked, completely aroused, in the middle of his living room.
His confidence boosted hers. He wanted this. He wanted her. For once, she wasn’t going to worry about possible inadequacy.
She moved her hands down, not quite touching him intimately. He closed his eyes and put his hand over hers, guiding her toward his erection. Her stomach tightened, nerves making a guest appearance now.
She took a breath and placed her hand over his hard shaft. He was hot steel beneath her palm, the hard length of him speaking of his desire for her. She felt her internal muscles tighten as she explored him, nerves fleeing, unable to exist alongside the need that was filling her now.
She squeezed him gently, then again with more strength, increased boldness, when a raw sound of pleasure escaped his lips. His civility was all gone now. Lost in desire, his custom suit on the floor, he was just a man. And he
