Page 72 of Fundamentals in Flirting

Ooh this is rather nice. Very nice, in fact.

“Hannah…” Teddy said, his voice a little growly as it reverberated through his chest and electrified my fingertips. Reluctantly, I dragged my gaze from this point of contact and up to his face. His eyes were dark pools, his lips parted.

I wanted to kiss him so badly. Just as he’d said the other night,really fucking badly.

Placing my empty champagne flute on the ground, I turned back to face my quarry, my hand still nestled snugly inside his shirt. In one swift move, I swung my leg over so I was straddling his lap and looking down into his face, which he angled backwards, resting his head on the back of the sofa.

Slowly, I undid another button of his shirt before his free hand, the one not holding a champagne flute, gently grabbed mine.

“Hannah, what are you doing?”

“I’m seducing you. Badly, it would seem.”

“You don’t need to seduce me. I’m not having sex with you when you’re drunk.”

I pouted and leant down, my lips brushing the shell of his ear.

“What if I were offering you wild, uninhibited, do-anything-you-want-to-me sex right now on this sofa?”

Teddy moaned against my neck. It was a restless, wanton noise, a mix of need and frustration, a kind of animalistic sound that had me humming in response. After a moment during which his body had gone completely still, barely breathing, he whispered hoarsely, “I think this is just the champagne and cute baby goats talking. You don’t mean it and would hate me in the morning.”

“Are you turning me down, Edward Fraser?”

I sat up and pulled my hair out of its ponytail, letting the long strands fall around my shoulders and then wriggled seductively in his lap, feeling his body respond.

“Fuck, you’re really making this difficult for me.”

“Hard, some might say?” I replied and sniggered.

God, I’m really funny, aren’t I?

He raised an eyebrow. “Indeed.”

“One kiss, then? Just one and then I’ll leave you alone. And I won’t hate you in the morning.”

Teddy laughed. “You won’t?”

“I won’t, I promise,” I said, saluting.

I could do meaningless kissing with this man. I could just enjoy my own physical reaction to him, couldn’t I? No catching feelings. He smiled and my stomach flipped over.

Shit. Who am I kidding.

“All right, Havens. One kiss. And it’d better be your best porn star one or I won’t be happy.”

I licked my lips and he traced the edge of my jawline with his fingers before gently cupping the back of my head. I leant down again, and on a soft exhale with all the breathiness I could muster, I said, “Yes, sir.”

“Mmmmm, I never thought you’d say that to me.”

“Do you like it?”

“Oh yes, I fucking love it.”

My lips hovered over his, expecting him to come to me, but he didn’t. He remained exactly where he was, watching, waiting, letting me take control of this moment. So I did. I absolutely did. I went in for the kiss, brushing my lips tentatively against his, revelling in the sudden warmth and taste of him – the scratch of his beard against my skin and the huff of his breath mingling with mine. When he responded, eagerly, a blast of nostalgia and familiarity hit me in the chest with the full force of a hurricane, and I was a ship lost at sea, hopelessly bobbing in the tempest of my own feelings.

Hungrily, I pressed into him more firmly, sucking his bottom lip into my mouth and letting out a little gasp as his fingers tightened their hold in my hair. His mouth opened, urging me on. And I took that invitation wholeheartedly, allowing my tongue to explore against his, my mind starting to shatter with the growing intensity of the kiss as he pushed back at me.

A groan rumbled in his throat. Breaking away, I kissed his jaw, his neck and then back up to his lips, frantically touching his face, his shoulders, his chest, a sudden urgency coursing through me. But then he was changing the angle, pivoting until I began to slide underneath him. The champagne flute was magically gone as both of his hands were now covering my body, large and warm and desperate as he tugged at my clothes revealing more skin to the heat of his touch. He was showering me with attention, his solid weight caging me in – and I absolutely bloody loved it.

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