Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Oh, right . . . never.
I turn and push him off me, suddenly needing air. Only the second I do, I want him back. I fist his jacket and tug him closer again. I’m about to lock our lips together when he turns his face to the side and strings kisses down my neck instead. It feels like a teasing rejection, more of this addictive game.
“Should I show you how it’s really done, Casey? Show you what I would do if I were in your position? If I were trying to convince someone in this way . . .” His teeth barely scrape across my skin, and my eyes flutter closed as my head tips back to give him better access. “I’d be sure to make them think my entire heart was in it.”
For the first time, he moves one of his large hands so that it’s just at the hem of my short dress. Do it, please, I plead in my head. Then his thumb caresses the inside of my thigh as he slides his hand up under my dress, bunching it enough so he can easily trace my panties, right at the spot where my pelvis meets my thigh. Then he runs his finger up and down, right along the edge, but he never slips a finger beneath the silk. A whimper leaves me, louder than I’d intended. I try to press my lips together, but it’s no use. Phillip has already heard me.
“I’d be sure to make it feel like they were mine, totally.”
His fingers brush me on top of the silk, right over that tight bundle of nerves, and I shudder. “Your plan, sweetheart . . . it’s not working.”
Somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind, I know that he’s mocking me, that I should call him an arrogant bastard, push him away, and storm off in a huff. Oh, that would be good. Someone should really do that! Not me, though. No. I’m seeing this through.
At this point, I’m panting and desperate. We’d have to hit an iceberg before I forfeit my night with this man. “Take me back to your room.”
“I’m not giving you an interview,” he murmurs against my skin, lifting up to recapture my mouth in a long, searing kiss as his fingers continue to work me up.
“Then we should stop.”
He makes a move to pull back, and I growl at him. Actually growl! Damn my traitorous mouth!
“Don’t listen to me; I don’t know what I’m saying!”
His eyes sweep down the length of me; then he looks me square in the eyes as he takes his hand out from between my legs. “The interview isn’t happening.” There’s a stern edge to his voice that turns me to absolute goop.
“Fine.” He thinks I care about the interview right now? “Take me back to your room.”
He laughs like I’m kidding. Oh ho, buddy boy. I’m not joking in the least.
“One night,” he tells me.
I roll my eyes, like obviously.
I step forward and drop my hand to the front of his suit pants. He hisses in a sharp breath as I rub him, revealing just how badly he wants this. I’m not alone here.
His hand reaches out to grip my wrist and still me, but somewhere along the way, he loses the will. I smile as he captures my hand and tugs me from my spot. I nearly get whiplash, he’s moving so fast.
I laugh. “Where are we going?”
Already, he has me halfway down the hall. We’re not going toward the central bank of elevators. We stop in front of a discreet door built into a paneled wall, and he keys a four-digit code into a small pad before tugging the handle and revealing an austere staircase clearly meant for staff and crew.
Racing down three flights has my heart pounding.
Phillip has no issue, though. “Should I carry you?”
“Stuff it. I’m in sky-high heels.”
He laughs and slows down a bit until we make it to deck six. We slip out of the crew door and into the central hallway. I haven’t explored deck six yet beyond our tour on the first day, and it doesn’t look like I’m about to get a chance to do it now either. Phillip’s on a mission, his fingers laced through mine. He stops to kiss me for a moment.
“It’s not too late to turn back,” he murmurs against my lips. “Now. Later. You have to be honest with me.”
“Okay, you want honesty?” I fist the lapels of his jacket. “Honestly . . . if you don’t take me into your suite now, I’m going to pounce on you right here in the hallway.”
Too direct? Oh well. He kisses me once more, and then we proceed until we make it all the way down to the last door at the end of the hall, the one removed from all the others, with its own private lobby, for god’s sake. As soon as he touches the door handle, it opens. Either it was already unlocked or it recognized the key in his wallet, or perhaps there’s a sensor in his watch. At the moment, I don’t care one way or another. The door opens into his suite, and I take it in—absolutely not shocked to find it’s a floating palace.