Page 80 of The Fiance Dilemma

There it was again, that command in his voice. That rough… softness, if that could ever be a thing. “Rules are important,” I told him, swallowing around the need to bring my hands to his chest and pull him closer. “They’re not that hard to follow. You yourself made one.”

“Part your lips,” he said. And when I didn’t, his hand moved up my body, reaching my face, cupping my jaw. “Everyone’s watching us, Josie.” His thumb brushed at my skin, grazing the corner of my mouth. “Seeing how I’ve blindfolded you in a sad excuse to spare you the sight of how I look right now.”

My throat worked.Everyone’s watching us, Josie.I could indulge in that. We could. “And how is that?”

“Like I want to throw you over my shoulder and run,” he said, voice low, just for me. He swiped at my bottom lip. “Like I want to drag my fiancée to that gazebo in the back and fuck the anxiety out of her.”

All the blood in my body swooshed to my feet. And the only reason I didn’t slip to the ground was Matthew’s body against mine.

“Now, part those lips, Baby Blue,” Matthew ordered. “I’m bringing a glass to your mouth.”

Ever so gently he did. Letting me go through the motions—smell, wet my lips, taste—although my brain was screaming at me to stop that and let him drag me to that gazebo. Drag him myself. All I wanted was to taste him, not the wine. Blindfolded was fine. Just this once.Just this once?“Chambourcin,” I said. Voice almost gone. “You skipped two wines. No. You skipped three. You—”

“I’m impatient.” His words sounded so strained, so very tense, that I wanted to take the handkerchief off my eyes. See him. Was that pain? Need? The urge I felt pooling down my body in overwhelming waves? “Greedy, too.”

I shook my head. “No, you’re not.” And I felt it in the air that left him, the way he was ready to argue that, or distract me away from the point. “You’re the opposite of those two things.”

Warmth engulfed my waist, and then my hips were pushed against his. A breath hitched in my throat. He brushed his nose against mine before dragging it across my cheek, until it was deepin my hair. “Maybe I should kiss you, then,” Matthew whispered in my ear. “If I’m not that impatient and not at all greedy.”

My whole body shook. So much that I clasped his arms with my hands. I tried to make sense of this. I was blindfolded. In the middle of a party. Turned on like I had no business being. Pressed against Matthew’s hips. I wanted to squirm. Search for more. Chase the feeling making my belly tight. I… I wanted him to kiss me. “If everyone’s really watching.”

He huffed out one of those strange laughs, his hold starting to loosen, as if I’d said the wrong thing.

I fisted the fabric of his shirt, stopping him before he could move away. “Maybe you should kiss me, then.” He went still against me. “Maybe it’s what my fiancé would do.”

“Take the blindfold off,” Matthew said. Barked. His fingers digging into the fabric of my dress. “I want you to look at me.”

All that need and anticipation, and yes, urgency, rioting inside me came to a halt. Everything paused as I dragged the silky handkerchief down my face, letting it pool at my neck.

There was thunder in Matthew’s eyes. The brown behind the glasses I loved so much mingled with an emotion I swore I could feel swirling deep in my gut. Lower, too. He looked so on the edge, so absolutely on the verge of doing what he’d been stopping himself from doing. Was that kissing me? He could. It looked like he would. I wanted him to. Now. So badly.

“If you don’t wipe thatplease, Matthewsmile off your mouth, I swear I’m going to kiss it away myself, Josie.”

His words made my ears ring. A sense of triumph tightened my chest, making me blind. Forgetful. Careless.God, yes. Matthew’s mouth. On mine.

Matthew’s gaze dipped, desperately returning to mine. I was still smiling. Then his hands were climbing up my spine, the roughness in the motion making everything in me rise, thicken. Wherewere we? What were we doing? I didn’t care. My chest heaved, and I moved into him, as if I could cling to him, speed things up. Matthew’s grunt was brief but telling, making me grow even more impatient, coming even closer. I felt him at my belly, hard. My breath caught. I—

A throat was cleared.

Loudly.

And whatever bubble we’d been in burst.

“Go. Away. Shark,” Matthew said, eyes on me, voice hoarse.

“Believe me,” Bobbi answered. “I wish I could. Because PDA I can deal with. But you crossed that line a while ago. You’re… edging each other with wine and blindfolds. And I wouldn’t mind watchingifwe didn’t have something of an emergency on our hands.”

Matthew’s nostrils flared, unwavering brown eyes not leaving me. I knew how that felt. I couldn’t look away myself, as if those minutes without the sight of him had me greedy for his face.

“Still not interested,” Matthew said, his jaw now bunching up.

“I don’t care,” Bobbi answered. “Because that senator wannabe, Josephine’s ex, is here. And we’re going to have to deal with that.”

My head spun then.

Reality finally seeped in.

“Duncan’s here?”

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