Page 73 of You Rock My World
I blink. “Come again?”
“The way you move, silent on your feet.”
I dip my head. “I only took off my boots, hardly makes me a ninja. Besides, it’s not my fault you’re so easily startled.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t be so jumpy if you weren’t so…”
She trails off, circling a hand over me as if to conjure the right word.
I take a step closer, our bodies almost touching. “So…?” I tease.
She shakes her head.
“Josie—”
“I’m just saying,” she cuts me off. “It would help if you warned me before you pounced.”
“I didn’t realize I was pouncing.” Isowas.
Her gaze dips to my chest, and I don’t know if she’s relieved or devastated it’s covered now.
She tugs at my T-shirt, assessing my work. “Well, you put it on straight. You’re good to go.”
“Not so fast.” I rest my hands on her shoulders, feeling the tension in her muscles, the rigid anticipation. I slide my palms down her arms, catching the edges of her cardigan. “We’ve got five minutes. And I have something to verify.”
Her eyes widen, and her usual confidence falters. “W-what?”
I don’t answer right away. Instead, I let my fingers linger on the soft fabric of her cardigan, taking my time as I ease it down her left shoulder. My gaze locks onto the strap of her dress—and the complete lack of any other band under it. Josie shivers, I can hear her heart pounding, or maybe it’s mine.
My fingertips brush her skin as I let the cardigan slide down her arm. Josie doesn’t stop me, but she doesn’t encourage me either. Are we both waiting to see who will blink first?
Her eyes are searching mine, looking for clues, for intentions. Whatever she finds, I know what I’m feeling—an unbearable need to erase the short distance and taste the uncertainty, turning it into something real.
I lean in, catching the faintest hint of her perfume. “Josie,” I croak, my voice betraying the storm inside me. “Are you really not wearing a bra?”
“My dress has no back.” Her pulse jumps at her throat. “So, no.”
A low, involuntary groan rumbles out of me, and before I can stop myself, I drop my forehead against hers. “Are you trying to kill me?”
Her lips part, and in the gentlest, most cruel voice, she whispers, “You’re still breathing.”
Barely.
I lift my head, taking in every detail of her. The cardigan is skewed now, slipping seductively off one arm, revealing the smooth, tantalizing expanse of her back in the mirror. The sight wrecks me.
Her skin taunts me, flawless and exposed.
I spin her so she’s facing the mirror as I keep standing behind her. “Can I see?”
She meets my gaze in the reflection, her throat working as she nods. I lower the other side of the cardigan and let it slip down her arms, easing it off her until it pools on the floor. She grips the back of the chair for support.
For a beat, I just stare. At the knots of her spine, at the shadows that curl and play along the curve of her back. My fingers hover near her skin, trembling with restraint, aching to touch. When I finally give in, it’s the barest graze of my knuckle down her spine.
Josie shudders under the touch, her whole body reacting as if I’ve sent a current through her. Her head tilts back, her eyes fluttering closed on a sigh.
I push her hair to the front and trace the path again, slower this time, feeling the contours of her vertebrae. I lean in and inhale the scent of her shampoo, savoring the sound of her unsteady breathing. My hands itch to explore more, to slide around her waist and pull her close, to feel her heart beat against my chest.
I want to kiss her nape, to taste her skin, and hear her gasp. I want to undo her, but if I start, I won’t be able to stop.
