Page 8 of The Senator's Daughter

I head to the kitchen. “White or red?” I call out.

“White.” I hear another cupboard open and close.

“You know, I don’t think you’re supposed to go through people’s houses while they’re still there. You’re supposed to wait until they’ve left,” I say with a grin. I slide Lola’s glass across the counter as she walks through to the kitchen. She shrugs.

“I think it is better to not hide these things. I am interested in you. I have looked and that has piqued my interest more. I’ve seen the things you choose to show and some of the things you want to hide. It only makes me want to know you more.” Lola takes a long, deep drink. I’m surprised she can even taste the wine; she swallowed it so quickly.

Lola leaves the glass on the counter and saunters to the living room. As she settles on my sofa, she looks like she belongs there, her dark hair stark against my creamy suede sofa. Lola is so incredibly beautiful, almost classically so, with her make up more refined than it was while she was working.

“Why don’t you come and join me?” she askes softly. As I move toward her, she adds, “Leave the wine.”

I do, of course I do. And then I cover the distance as she pats her lap. I feel dizzy, my pulse racing as I slowly straddle her.

“I can feel my heart beating in my chest,” I admit as I sit on her lap, my legs softly and slowly spreading, so I can settle on her thighs.

“I wonder where else I can hear it,” she says with a low voice. Heat sizzles through the air between us.

“Where do you think?” I ask, but I am nervous, cautious.

“I don’t know. Where do you think?” She won’t give me an out. Lola wants to push me.

“I imagine you might hear it anywhere if you got close enough. I can feel my heartbeat all through my body.”

“Then I’ll have to listen all over,” she says softly, her voice low as I watch her lips.

“You will.”

“l will have to start at your chest,” she decides, and I nod.

“I think that’s the best place to start,” I agree.

Lola leans in slowly, pressing her ear against my chest. My heart is beating loud . . . fast . . . hammering . . . so I try to control it with deep slow breaths. Calm thoughts. But it doesn’t work. Still those fast, loud beats, just for her. And Lola listens to every one.

“Don’t break it,” I whisper softly, wondering where the words came from. I barely even know her, but this is how I feel, like she has me in the palm of her hand. Right before my hands drop to her jaw, soft palms against her skin, tilting her up. I lean down and give her a kiss on her beautiful, full lips. Lola’s lips are so very seductive and kissing them is exactly the thrill I thought it might be. The kiss is deep, slow and delicate, and she kisses me back. Slow. Delicate in return. Letting me know her intention isn’t to break my heart.

My lips part a little, just to take a breath of her. Gentle and tentative, I draw her air in. My eyes close and I savor it, savor her. And when my eyes open slowly, I feel the tingles, tiny trembles, so close, so near, that my heartbeat doesn’t stand a chance. “It’s late,” I manage, but even those two words are difficult for me to get out.

She nods and nuzzles against me, placing a kiss right on my chest. “It is,” she agrees, but makes no movement away. My fingers are still on her jaw as her head drops to my chest. I thrust my hands back into her wonderful glossy dark hair. The slow run of my fingers through her hair, then a press of my palm, holding Lola right against my chest. “Maybe . . . maybe we should sleep. Rest. You can stay here.”

I want to do so much more with her but I feel my inexperience deeply. It is all so overwhelming that I’m not sure where to start.

“Do you think we should sleep?” she asks, and her voice is seductive.

I pause between what I should say and the truth. “Yes,” I pause, “but I don’t want to,” I add.

“Then don’t.”

“What do you want?” I can hear the edge of neediness in my voice as I ask her.

“You to stay awake with me.”

“If I stay awake with you, what will we do?”

“I could make you feel more trembles. More tingles,” Lola says softly, and I have no doubt that she could.

“You could . . . but will you?”

She gives me another kiss on my chest and drags her chin along it as she looks back at me. “Yes.”

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