Page 28 of A Crane Family New Year

“So am I.” He lowered his handsome face for a kiss that she returned. They made out long and slow, no worries of being caught now that they were behind a closed door. His hands moved from her shoulders to her waist, sliding up and down the crystal beads and sending shivers along her entire body. He paused, his fingers toying with the closure of her dress. “Is this okay?”

“Really okay.” She nodded eagerly.

Slowly, he drew down the zipper. He traced her spine with his knuckles, causing goosebumps to crop up on her arms.

Once her dress was open, he smoothed his warm palms over her back and up to her shoulders. His eyes on hers, he slid the garment down and off. She fought to keep breathing but only so she didn’t pass out and miss a single second of what came next.

“How am I doing so far? On a scale of one to ten?”

“Ten,” she said.

He chuckled. “Don’t make this too easy on me. I may not have impressed you on the dance floor but impressing you in here is a must.” He ran his fingers along the lace band of her black panties and then up to the sheer cups of her bra. She hadn’t expected to show anyone her lingerie tonight but was glad she’d worn her sexiest set.

“Damn.” He brushed the firm tip of her nipple with his thumb. It’d been too long since anyone had touched her intimately. She dropped her head back and sighed. Cool air greeted her bared breasts when he took off her bra. He set his mouth to her nipple, his tongue doing a dirty dance against her tender flesh.

“Oh, God.” She cupped his head as a keening moan exited her throat. Yes, yes. This felt so much better than touching herself. When he moved to the other nipple, her knees disintegrated. He must have sensed when she’d lost strength. He set her on the bed and braced one arm behind her. Then he stamped her mouth with a brief kiss on the lips before hauling her body up the mattress.

“On a scale of one to ten—” he started.

“Shut up.”

The smile he gave her was sinister. “I’ll occupy my mouth elsewhere. How’s that sound?”

A surge of warmth pooled between her legs.

“I’d hate to beg on our first date.” Her voice was hoarse, which might have struck her as funny if he hadn’t been tugging at her panties with his teeth. As it was, her concentration was solely on what he was about to do to her. Her underwear joined her dress on the floor. He spread her legs and peered up from between her open thighs—a sight she’d forever remember.

There was fire in his gaze when he said, “Suddenly, I’m starving.”

No words came when he set his mouth on her most sensitive part. He licked. He sucked. All while her shaking thighs clamped his shoulders. It was too much and not enough all at once. The view of his head bobbing up and down paired with the intense feeling of his laving tongue stroking her was almost too much to take. By the time his crisp shirt brushed against her inner thighs, she’d filled her lungs with air to cry out.

She came so hard that neon lights zipped across the insides of her eyelids like stray comets. Then they relocated to dance along her belly and chest, skittering down each of her limbs. She sank into the pillow, her chest heaving, her mind stuffed with cotton. The pulsing sensation between her legs gradually began to lessen.

“Mmm,” was the only sound she was capable of uttering.

He tenderly kissed the inside of one of her knees while she floated back to earth. When she heard him inhale, she knew what he was going to ask next.

“One hundred.” She answered without hesitation, her arm shielding her eyes. “One hundred on a scale of one to ten.”

Chapter Nine

He couldn’t help it, he laughed out loud.

Pleasing Chloe had been its own reward, though he’d take the compliment. Her peach-colored nipples were turgid, goosebumps rising on her porcelain skin. He’d thought her legs were perfect—and they were—but those breasts were beyond. He placed a kiss on the center of her chest and then nuzzled her neck.

“You taste fantastic.” He closed his lips over her pulse point. “Better than the finest pink champagne.”

She moved her arm from her face and grinned over at him. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyelids half open, her eyes slightly dazed. Something in his chest gave way—something that had been there for a while, firm and unyielding. The ache there was also very real. So real, he put a hand over his heart and massaged.

It’d been ages since he’d pleased a woman, and the last woman he’d pleased had been his wife. His sacred duty had been to love her as she died. He’d been responsible for caring for her, for worrying over her needs. It’d been an honor to care for her, but he’d missed pleasing her sexually.

Meanwhile, Chloe was looking at him like he’d hung the moon—which made him feel like a hero. A foreign feeling, but a welcome one.

She reached up and fingered a button on his shirt. “How is it that I wound up completely nude and you’ve only taken off your tie and jacket?”

He glanced down at his suit, for the most part intact. “I guess I was in a hurry to start on you.”

“Mmm.” Her eyes sank closed. “I was in a hurry to finish, apparently.”

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