Page 21 of Mr. Scandalous

“But taking immediate action isn’t always a bad thing.”

“It is if it chases you away.”

He looked so caught off guard that Eden ached to reassure him. Without another word, she leaned over and right there in the middle of the restaurant, like the bold, sexually assertive woman she pretended to be, Eden filched a kiss.

A quick, soft pressing of her lips to his.

Alec’s eyes widened in shocked surprise.

She had never done anything so spontaneous, so out of character, so unpredictable, and shelovedit.

For the first time in her life, she let loose, let go and allowed nature to take its course.

Amazing.

It didn’t take Alec long to recover from his surprise. He quickly took command, overpowering her warm, willing mouth with his own and branded her with his wayward tongue, searing her flesh.

Her heart went into free fall, tripping at a frantic rhythm of stimulus and response. She sighed against his lips as he used his tongue to coax her into a teasing game of thrust and parry.

He sucked softly at her bottom lip, pulling it in and out of his mouth in a smooth sucking maneuver.

He recovered quickly from her surprise attack, in fact, it was Eden’s turn to feel confused as his tongue muddled her brain.

Briefly he pulled away. “I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours wondering what you tasted like.”

“Did I live up to your expectations?”

“Eden, you surpassed them,” he murmured, and went back to kissing her. He tasted of cool peppermint and hot, delicious sin.

Eden closed her eyes and inhaled him, exploring his taste layer by layer. There was the peppermint, refreshing and icily warm. He tasted lively and curious. His flavor was stylish attitude—suave and debonair. One hundred percent dashing epicurean. The man knew exactly what he was doing. The kiss, and his flavor, took her higher, hotter, transporting her into the realm of memory and fantasy.

He tasted like Christmas, like snowflakes, like her grandmother’s favorite English mints. He tasted like fun and freedom and frivolity. His taste made her at once giddy and dizzy and oh, so happy to be alive.

He kissed with a power and authority born of long practice and she was jealous of that rehearsal, jealous of all the women who’d gotten to kiss him before her, and jealous of all the things she’d been missing simply because she’d been too afraid to step outside her comfort zone.

His lips sang with chaos and energy and challenging charm. His kiss whispered of the unimagined delights awaiting her if she just took that last step toward laying down her guard.

She’d picked a winner.

And she wished the kissing would go on and on and on forever. In Alec’s arms she felt as if she could accomplish anything. Creative block? What creative block?

A thousand imaginative ideas exploded in her brain, each and every one of them involving Alec and the Kama Sutra and sex toys and erotic scripts and role-playing and using food inappropriately and...

“Pardon,” the garçon said, clearing his throat and shattering her fantasy world. “Your coq au vin.”

* * *

Her kisses overwhelmed him.

Eden had taken him by surprise. Surprise, hell. She’d ambushed him. He was shocked, amazed and mightily impressed. If they gave Olympic medals for kissing, Eden Montgomery would take home the gold.

By crook or by hook, he had to have her, because it was clear she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

He waited for the garçon to leave before he looked across the table at her. Her fetching blue eyes met his with a sheen of appetite that had nothing to do with the gourmet meal in front of them.

They fell into each other’s gazes. He stared hard, communicating his want with his expression. She met the challenge and didn’t blink. She peered into his eyes as if she knew all his secrets, all his flaws, all his mistakes and she liked him anyway.

God, she was one helluva woman, vibrant, adventuresome, and not the least bit afraid of her sexuality.

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