Page 21 of Seducing Cinderella

Was she fucking serious? She didn’t think he was turned on by her? Nowthatwas enough to piss him right the hell off. Abandoning the stupid stretch, he grabbed her ass in both hands and pulled her into his body.

Hard.

This time she gasped and planted her hands on his pecs in a feeble attempt to keep some semblance of space in the equation. Lucky for him, that wasn’t the half he was concerned with obliterating everything between them but their clothes. And even those weren’t a safe bet at this point. To prove it, he ground his pelvis forward, letting the hard length of his cock rub against the nerve-sensitive juncture between her legs.

“Feel that, Lucie? That’s not how I react to women I’m not into. Believe me, there are other ways of teaching you these things. Less intimate ways.” Ways that he should damn well be using. But instead he trailed one of his hands up her side and swept his thumb over her nipple, eliciting a wanton moan from her kiss-swollen lips. Even through the material of her sports bra and tank top he could see her nipple pucker and harden from his touch. He hissed in appreciation. “I just can’t seem to leave myself out of this.”

“Why not?” she said with just a hint of trembling.

Why not?That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? Whycouldn’the step back from her? Why was it that every time he pictured her doing anything with another guy, much less that asshole of a doctor she was so hung up on, his gut clenched like he’d just been sucker punched by a heavyweight?

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “All I know is I’m tired of fighting myself when I’m near you like this. So maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe starting right now we come up with a new plan.”

He wasn’t sure if she realized it or not, but Lucie’s hands left his chest and slid up behind his neck, allowing her breasts to mold themselves against him. Damn, he loved the way her softness gave way to his harder body.

“What are you suggesting?”

He dipped his head until they were so close they were sharing breaths, their noses lightly brushing as they danced around their overwhelming desire to fuse their mouths. “Maybe the best way to teach you how to seduce, is to let you feel what it’s like tobeseduced. And then let you try it out on someone who’s not your eventual target. So you get any nerves out of the way.”

“Like a trial run.”

“Right. In the end I go back to reclaim my title like I want, and you bag your doctor, just like you want. No strings, no hard feelings. But in the meantime, we blow off some steam and get whatever the hell this is out of our systems.”

“I suppose that makes sense. It’s definitely a plan with merit.” Her long fingers at his nape slipped up into the hair at the base of his skull as she tipped her head back, exposing the smooth expanse of her neck for his nibbling pleasure. “Oh, God.” The prayer was a breathy whisper, just barely loud enough for him to hear, and made him grin with base satisfaction as he moved up to the space just behind her ear. She tasted like salted caramel, a combination it seemed he couldn’t get enough of.

“So what do you say, Luce?” He nipped at her earlobe and then soothed it with a gentle suction in his mouth.

“I say—” Her answer was cut off by a gasp as he pushed her back the few inches to press her up against the wall.

“You were saying?” Reid prompted her to start her sentence again, knowing damn well he wasn’t going to let her finish. It was too much fun interrupting her.

“I was saying that—uhn!” That time he ground himself over where he knew that sensitive little bundle was swollen and aching for some contact. “Damn it, Reid, yes, okay? I say yes to the new plan!”

“About damn time you spit that out.” And with that, he attacked.

Chapter Nine

Lucie feltlike she just sold her soul to the devil, and she couldn’t care less. In all her life she’d never felt so wanted, so desired. Reid was setting her on fire, and she was more than happy to go down in flames.

The air surrounding them was humid with an eclectic array of scents. Sweat, both old and new, carried undertones of her jasmine shampoo and something of his that reminded her of ocean foam and sunshine.

He buried his face in her neck. She had no idea so many wonderful things could be done to one’s neck. Kissing, suckling, biting, licking. Each was more erotic than the last and took with it another fraction of her sanity.

The man moved like he’d been training to dothishis whole life instead of fight. She certainly never experienced anything close to this with her ex-husband. Reid consumed her with what should logically be considered basic moves, and all she could think to do was wrap her arms around his shoulders, dig her fingers into his strong back, and hold on for dear life.

With one hand he grabbed her thigh and held it on his hip as he performed another of those magical pelvic thrusts. The new position opened her up, allowing the hard length of him to cause delicious friction at her very center. Suddenly she wished their clothing would spontaneously combust. There were way too many barriers between them.

“I want inside of you so damn bad,” he breathed against her jaw. “I can’t remember the last time I was this hard.”

“That’s a good thing, though, right?”

He pulled back just enough to look down at her as he answered. And lucky her, it also provided him with room to trace, pluck, and torture a nipple with his free hand, eliciting anOh, Godand a few accompanying moans. “Goodandbad. Good, because it means I’m extremely turned on by you. Bad, because it means I’m going to embarrass the hell out of myself when I don’t last longer than a few minutes.”

“Really?” Lucie tried to remember the act of sex ever lasting more than a few minutes and came up blank. She’d sort of assumed that was the norm, but she wasn’t tellinghimthat. Trying to look nonchalant, she asked, “So, how long would you say is your average?”

Reid laughed as he hoisted her up with her legs around his waist and his weight pressing her into the wall. She was almost at eye level with him now, making it impossible not to be transfixed by the amusement dancing in his mossy-brown irises. “I think that’s the male equivalent of asking a woman her weight. But it doesn’t matter because I think, with a little practice, we’re going to leave my average in the dust.”

That didn’t really tell her much, but it sounded promising. Only, he didn’t give her a chance to ponder it for more than a second before he took her mouth in a heated kiss. His tongue delved between her lips and massaged hers. He tasted faintly of an Andes chocolate mint, which was likely from his toothpaste and protein shake, but made her want to suck on him until he melted in her mouth.

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