Page 66 of Ache for You (Slow Burn 3)
He slants me a heated look and smiles.
Oh dear sweet lord in heaven. That burning smell is my panties going up in smoke.
He takes my mouth again. This time his kiss is deeper, the way I wanted it. It’s searching. Needing. I slide my arms up his chest and over his shoulders and sink my fingers into all that glorious thick hair, using it to pull him even closer. We’re both breathing hard through our noses.
He slides his hand down from my chest to the side of my ribs. When his thumb nudges my hard nipple, it sends a shock wave through my lower body. I moan into his mouth.
He breaks the kiss and nuzzles his nose into my hair. “I want to suck on this,” he whispers, breathing raggedly, stroking his thumb lazily back and forth across my nipple. “I want to pinch it and suck on it and lick it. I want to test it with my teeth, see how much pressure you can take before you squirm.”
I’m panting now. Literally panting, like a dog. Cornelia’s got nothin’ on me.
But Mr. Hot Dirty Talk isn’t done yet.
Right into my ear, in a tone somehow both hard and soft, he says, “I want to take off all your clothes and get you naked underneath me, spread you out on a bed so I can see all that beautiful skin. I want to put my face between your legs and eat your sweet pussy until you’re hoarse from screaming and limp from coming. Then I want to slide my hard cock deep inside you and fuck you, bella.”
His hand tightens around my breast. He flexes his hips, dragging the fabric of my panties across my engorged clitoris, making me shudder.
His voice turns rough. “I want to fuck you until you forget everyone and everything else but me. Until you’re satisfied. Until you’re mine.”
The kiss we share is explosive. It’s hard and passionate and almost sloppy, our teeth clashing and both of us making animal sounds as we claw at each other in greed.
“Wait—wait.”
Panting, I push him away. We stare at each other for a beat as my brain reboots and I once more become capable of rational thought. “You’re using my designs.”
He licks his lips, shakes his head a little as if to clear it. “What?”
“My designs. From my sketch pad. You’re using them in your new collection. Right?”
There’s a long silent moment where he simply looks at me and breathes raggedly. Then, through gritted teeth, he says, “Yes.”
I shove him away, wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, and curse. Loudly. It echoes off the stone walls. “I don’t want you to. Don’t.”
He straightens his tie. Smooths his hair. Says casually, “Are we negotiating?”
Between him and Brad, it’s a miracle I haven’t committed murder already. “You know, you have to go to sleep at some point. But you don’t necessarily have to wake up.”
He ignores my threat on his life. “Here’s my offer you didn’t want to hear earlier: a kiss for every page I return.”
When I don’t respond, because I’m too breathless, he smirks. “Not a peck on the cheek, either. A kiss like the one we just shared.”
A wave of hurt makes tears well in my eyes. How could he? How could he do this to me? Today, of all days, when I’m the most vulnerable I’ve ever been?
I whisper, “When I’m telling my best friend the story of the exact moment I went from disliking you and distrusting you to hating you, this will be it.”
His eyes flash with emotion, but he quickly regains control of whatever he was feeling. His handsome face becomes a cold mask. He says flatly, “There are twenty-six designs in that sketch pad. I’ll give you credit for the kiss we just had, plus the kiss at your father’s shop. That leaves twenty-four. I’ll leave it up to you when we start, but we’ll have to be done by the night before the shows in Milan.”
I stare at him with my mouth open. “That’s three weeks.”
One corner of his mouth lifts. “Better get started.”
I’m somehow hot and cold at the same time. I’m sweating, but shivering. The shivering could be fury. “I’ll tell everyone. I’ll make sure everyone knows those designs are mine. I’ll call the press—”
“Really? You want more press?” His gaze on mine is level.
The thought of the stories that would circulate on the internet makes me sick. He knows exactly which target to aim for, that’s for sure.
“It doesn’t matter. I can prove they’re mine.”
