Page 40 of Due Diligence

With her body still undulating in my arms, she turned her head, leaving our lips just an inch apart. I breathed her air; she was breathing mine. I couldn’t resist. I lowered my lips to her neck and I pressed them against her skin.

That was clearly the moment when I crossed the Rubicon. We weren’t dancing anymore; this was foreplay. Her body practically purred with lust, quivering in my embrace. She rotated in my arms, pulling back in the process. I didn’t let go of her hand. Nothing could have made me let go of her at that point.

We faced each other. Her eyes started at my chest and traveled higher, surveying my mouth. Her eyeliner was smudged and herchest heaved, accentuating her generous breasts. She stopped moving; we were the only ones standing still on the dancefloor.

Briefly, doubt entered the picture. Maybe I had misread it. Maybe I had taken it too far. After all—she was a fucking vision. She looked like she was handcrafted to make men weak with desire. Her curves. Her waist. That damnmouth. I could have devoured her in that moment. I wanted to grab her so hard that she would feel me for days and grow wet every time she thought of me.

I was about to apologize to her when her expression softened. To my surprise, she began to smile at me. It was inviting. Gorgeous.Genuine. I wanted her to smile at me more often. Ineededher to. I tugged her towards me, letting her know I didn’t want any of this fucking space between us. Then she was back on me, this time with her front flush against mine. Her breasts pressed into my abdomen and her arms rose to the back of my neck.

We moved together to the music, grinding to the fast beat—our bodies too close for our professional relationship to ever be the same. I knew it; she knew it. Neither of us gave a flying fuck. My hands planted on her ass, gripping her over her tight leather skirt. I decided I loved leather. I decided it was the sexiest thing I had ever put my hands on. From today forward, I was going to buy a skintight leather skirt for every woman I would ever date.

Cassie tugged on the back of my neck, bringing my face closer to hers. She weaved her fingers through my hair, clutching me like I was her property. Her lips touched my ear as she writhed on me, clearly unbothered by how public this was. “Did you follow me here?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t lie.

“What for?”

“I wanted to know more about you.”

“Oh yeah?” she probed, her tone laced with disbelief. Her hips jerked against me, basically begging my cock to make an appearance. “What did you learn about me?”

I pulled my head away from hers so I could stare at her. At the same time, I raised my hands up from her ass and dragged them to the waistband of her skirt, letting my palms rest on her bare skin. She inhaled sharply, and I knew I had caught her off guard.

“I learned you should dress like this more often.”

“Maybe I always dress like this,” she responded, her voice crackling as she whispered in my ear over the pounding bass line.

“Do you?”

Cassie didn’t answer. Instead, she kept her eyes locked on mine, attentive but unrevealing. “What else did you learn?”

“I learned that you’re so fucking hot I can’t even remember why we hate each other so much.”

The words escaped me before I could really consider their gravity. I didn’t regret them though. Once they were out in the open, my intentions had been laid bare. I wanted her; now she couldn’t ignore it.

She was a stone-cold fox though. My admission didn’t faze her. On the contrary, it seemed to delight her. She raised the corner of her lips into a faint smile. “I remember why.” Her hands traveled down from the back of my neck to my chest. They pressed there, taking in hard muscles and gripping at them through my shirt like she resented the fact that my body called to her. “I hate you because you’re a vengeful egomaniac.”

I pulled her closer, holding her against me so firmly that when she breathed, I could feel her abdominal muscles pressing against me. This was dangerous, bordering on the point of no return—where I would have been content and willing to fuck her right there in the crowd. “And I hate you because you’re a holier than thou princess.”

“I hate you because you think being rich makes you important.” She rose on her toes, again bringing her lips just an inch from mine. Her scent overwhelmed me. Perfume and sweet lipstick. Whiskey and beer.

“And I hate you because you’re a goddamn mystery to me,” I murmured.

This time, I didn’t wait for a response. I kissed her—hard. Our lips met and the connection was pure heat—a decade of tension igniting into potent, insatiable desire. Her taste went straight to my head, urging me to explore her. I did, pulling in soft, plump lips. I wanted this mouth to be mine. I wanted to wage wars if it meant nobody else could ever indulge in this wicked mouth but me.

We only kissed for a few seconds before a groan escaped her—want and hunger leaving her and hitting me in all the right places. My tongue parted her lips, tasting her. I loved her warmth and the way that she let her body fall right into mine. She could melt into me and I wouldn’t mind it.

I brought my hand up along her spine, sliding it under the loose hem of her shirt. I planted it flat on her back, right on top of her bra clasp. She nodded when she felt me under her shirt, letting me know I was allowed to touch her there. I wondered where else I could touch her—there wereso manyplaces I wanted to touch her.

Suddenly, she broke away from our kiss to put her lips against my neck. She sucked in, drawing the soft skin by my Adam’s apple between her teeth. She groaned as she let her tongue touch me, sucking so forcefully that it stung. I savored it. I wanted her to mark me—to stay on me for days, weeks even. As she sucked, her body shuddered against me. My other hand moved from her waist to her ass once more. I gripped one cheek in my hand, palming her fiercely. She was all softness under this leather. Shewas all decadent, responsive heat and smooth skin, begging to be grabbed.

Her lips returned to mine, drawing me into a full and unyielding kiss. Our tongues had fully familiarized themselves with each other at that point. It still wasn’t enough. There was so much more of her I wanted to explore, and I could feel the bounds of my resolve wearing down. I went from abstaining from any kind of indecency in public whatsoever for six years, to openly making out with Cassie in the middle of a nightclub. I was just getting started.

“You’re so fucking sexy,” I told her, breaking away from her lips only as long as it took me to say that. I gripped her ass with my hand, squeezing it so tightly that she gasped into my mouth. “You don’t care that we’re doing this on the dancefloor.”

“I love it,” she managed to say as she pulled away from my lips. I felt her body pressing against my cock, grinding on my growing hardness. “And I hate you for being such a good kisser.”

Boldly, I slid my hand from the back of her bra around to the front. I touched her over the thin lace of her bra, palming her breast in my hand, hoping she could feel my fingertips digging into her luscious skin. “Not the only thing I’m good at.”

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