Page 64 of Worth Every Risk

At least not yet.

The house is quiet when I enter. There aren’t many lights on. The hall is dark, but there’s a glow falling across the floor that’s coming from the formal sitting room.

I’m insanely nervous. I’ve never felt like this; like every nerve ending in my body has been rubbed raw and left exposed, sparking into nothingness. There is no man in the world who has ever induced this delightfully toxic mix of fear, anticipation and arousal in me. I want it to last forever.

Mr Hawkston is sitting in a chair reading a book. I wonder how long he’s been there. He was upstairs with Lucie not long ago, but he looks so relaxed that if I hadn’t seen him on the monitor myself, I’d have been convinced he’d been here all evening.

He lays his book down on the table beside him and glances up at me. It’s a look that jolts against my body, making my breath catch in my throat. It was intense when we made eye contact before, but now it’s a fire that could burn me up from the inside because we both know what it means and where it leads.

We both knowexactlywhy I’m here.

He's still wearing the white shirt and pale blue jeans he had on earlier. His dark hair is tousled.Did I do that?

He strokes his fingers over his bottom lip as he observes me, as if he’s remembering our kiss too. His forefinger pauses and tugs a little on that full lip, pulling it down so I can see the pink inside.

Want is scored across his dark irises. He stands and walks towards me. My heart constricts a little more with each of his steps until he’s right in front of me.I can hardly breathe.

He holds out his hand, and I place mine in it. His clasp is warm and gentle, almost tender. He leads me out of the room, towards the stairs.

He doesn't speak, but there's no need to. We’re united in whatever this is, and right now I’d follow him anywhere.

On the first floor, he stops outside the door to his suite and releases my hand. “Do you want to come in? I need to be sure, because if you say yes, it changes everything.”

“We’re way past the point of no return, Mr Hawkston.”

His eyes sparkle with amusement—it’s a good look on him. “It’s Matt. Call me Matt.”

I bite my bottom lip and smile at him. “Okay, Matt.” The name feels weird on my tongue, and he smiles as I say it, encouraging me. “If you think the way you kissed me earlier hasn’t already changed everything, you’re really underestimating your skills.”

He laughs quietly. The sound does strange things to my insides. “I’m not underestimating anything. I want your consent, that’s all.”

“You have it.”

He gives me a sexy smile that causes a rush of arousal to pulse between my legs. I’m already soaked, and he’s barely touched me.

He opens the door to let me into a large dressing room that’s bigger than my bedroom and Lucie’s together. A dim yellow light glows from beneath the dark wood doors of the wardrobes that line the room.

“Wow,” I say.

He follows me into the room, closes the door and the lock clicks in place, but he pauses a moment before he turns back to me, his hand on the handle. I have no idea what he’s thinking, but hesitation doesn’t feel like a good thing.

“Are you about to change your mind?” I question, words bubbling up before I can stop them. “Because if you are, I’ll have to resign. There’s only so much humiliation a girl can take.”

He spins to face me, and there is nothing appropriate about his heated gaze. “No.”

Relief floods me, and the anticipation of what’s about to happen is so sweet, I can almost taste it. Every inch of my body isalight, glowing from the inside. My skin is so sensitive that each rub of my clothes is abrasive.

Mr Hawkston steps closer, his eyes blazing with desire. No one has ever looked at me the way he’s looking at me now; it’s so raw, so intense. I’ve never felt more wanted.

He lifts my hair from my shoulder, his fingertips grazing my neck. “Can I?” he rasps.

“Anything. You can do anything,” I reply, and his exhale is a barely disguised laugh, but it doesn’t last long before he lowers his lips to the same spot and kisses me there, so gently and with such reverence that I can’t move. Lust is firing through me. I want so much more than he’s giving me, but at the same time I want to appreciate each thrill his touch elicits.

His lips move up my neck all the way to my jaw. He groans, and the rumble of it vibrates along the side of my face, sending a shiver of desire all the way down my spine. A breathy moan escapes me.

“Fuck.” He releases the word on a desperate sigh, as if this is more than he can handle. For a second, I worry he really will change his mind, but then he grabs me, harder than before, pulling me against him, pressing our bodies flush.

His lips crash against mine, and his kiss is ravenous. It’s both hard and soft at once, and if it’s possible, more charged than the first one. His hands are in my hair, cupping the back of my head, my neck, drawing me deeper into him. We kiss passionately for what feels like forever, but when we finally slow, I suck his bottom lip into my mouth and bite down on it gently. When I let go, a deep rumble vibrates in his throat.

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