Page 87 of Point of Contention

Her hair was up in a loose bun tonight, exposing the slender swoop of her neck and her pale shoulders. I couldn’t see what she wore, hidden as she was behind the counter and a display of French perfumes and body creams, but I imagined her in my favorite emerald green and black corset—the one she wore the first night she stepped into my haven—and changed my life forever.

As if sensing me, Rylan lifted her head and looked out to the street. It was too bright inside the store and too dark out here for her to see me, but she licked her lips as they pulled into a smile. She knew I was here. Our bodies always told us when we were in orbit of one another.

There had been a connection between us since the very moment we met. At first, I’d tried to fight it. It caught me off guard. Honestly, it scared the shit out of me that a woman could walk into my world and knock it from its axis. It shouldn’t have happened, and yet…

I couldn’t stop it.

I’d tried.

Even over the past few weeks without her, giving her the space she’d thought she wanted, I couldn’t get her off my mind.

She’d consumed me.

When she finished with the woman at the register, they walked together toward the front door and my eyes followed Rylan’s journey through the store, drinking in the sight of her. Dressed in a long black dress that was snug from the curve of her hips down to below her knees, then flared out in a ruffle that hit about mid-calf, her steps were short, restrained by the snug fabric. The fact that she’d accented the dress as I’d hoped she would, with the black and green corset, was icing on the cake. The straps of the dress draped over each shoulder, held up only by the corset.

I side-stepped to make room for the customer to leave the shop, then walked into the light streaming from the open door.

Rylan’s smiled stretched across her face when she looked up at me. “I knew you were here.”

“Of course you did.” I closed the distance between us and cupped her chin. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

A camera flash drew our attention to the sidewalk and I growled as I pulled her inside and closed the door on the schmuck who’d interrupted our moment. “Fucking vipers,” I said under my breath.

Rylan stepped away from me, then tugged the beaded string of the neonopensign, wiggling her fingers in a little wave to the guy outside as the bright pink glow of neon turned off. “They aren’t going away,” she explained with a shrug. “If we’re going to do this… we might as well get used to them.”

My pulse sped. It was the closest she’d come to officially acknowledging that we were back together.

But before I could respond, she turned on her heels and strode to the back of the store. A second later, she turned off the lights, shrouding us in darkness, save for the amber glow of the streetlights seeping in through the display windows.

“Come find me,” she called.

I chuckled and strode away from the window, ignoring the paparazzi and focusing on far more important matters. The fact that only one guy had followed me to the store was a good sign; Rylan’s reaction to him an even better one.

I didn’t know what had changed, but I welcomed it.

I found her leaning against the faux ivy wall in the very back, head slightly tilted back to expose her slender throat as she watched me stride toward her.

“Hi,” she whispered when I stopped in front of her, the toes of my boots touching the pointed tips of her high heels.

“Hi.” I cupped her face again, tipping her head back even more as I slanted my lips over hers, entering her mouth with long, sweeping strokes of my tongue. She slid her hands up beneath my untucked button-down and dug her fingertips into my sides. Tugging me closer to her, she pressed her hips against mine, then rocked against me, deepening the kiss.

Pulling my head back, I focused on her eyes in the near-darkness. “Careful, Ms. Blake. There’s a security camera directly above our heads.”

She flicked her gaze up quickly, then looked back at me, a slight curve to her lips as her eyes widened with an idea.

“No.”

“Boring.”

I slid my hand behind her and cupped her ass, then pressed her hard against my growing erection. She whimpered and I chuckled. “Boring? A tempting challenge indeed.” I dropped my gaze to her chest and hummed appreciatively. “You look good enough to eat, Ms. Blake.”

“Yeah?” She cocked one eyebrow. “Prove it.”

I reached beside her head and punched the entry code into the keypad, holding her gaze as I did so.

The door opened and I pushed off of her, then motioned for her to enter the stairwell first. As she moved in front of me, I looked at her shoes and the snug fit of her dress, then thought better of it and stepped beside her, extending my elbow so she could link her arm with mine instead.

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