“God, you’re beautiful.”
Like she’d touched an exposed hotwire, the low rasp of his voice sent an electric current thrumming through her body. She bent a knee, shifted to escape the pleasant discomfort, and braved the intensity of his gaze. Mistake. One look at the unmasked hunger in those vivid blue eyes hollowed out her stomach and left her shivering.
As if he pulled himself from some faraway place, he gave a slight shake of his head. One corner of his mouth turned up in a knowing grin, and he stepped the rest of the way into the room. The door clicked closed with a bump from his heel. Approaching the bed, he unbuttoned his shirt.
Brad bent over her knees, hands braced on the mattress, his shirt lapels tickling her shins. “So beautiful.” He leaned forward and placed a kiss on first one ankle, then the other. “Tell me, Cassie,” he murmured as he cupped her ankle in one hand and slid the opposite up her calf. “Why are you here like this?”
God, he was teasing her again. Using those fingers to offer promises she ached for him to fulfill. She pulled in an unsteady breath, tore her gaze away from the way he caressed her leg. “Because I orgasmed when you told me not to.”
“Good girl.” Bending her leg, he brought her ankle to his lips and skimmed his mouth to the sensitive inside of her knee. “Are you going to wait for me tonight?”
Yes. She closed her eyes once more, carried away by the chills that slid over her skin. Somehow she managed to nod her head.
Brad gently lowered her leg, only to pick up the other and treat it to the same exquisite torture. “Thank you for thinking of the fire.”
Cassie’s voice failed her completely. She swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in the back of her throat. When it didn’t move, she nodded again.
“I’m going to light it.” Brad set her leg back down, then trailed a lone fingertip from her hip to the arch of her left foot. “Then I’m going to pick up where we left off last night.”
A groan possessed her, part pleasured, part tormented. More of last night would destroy her. “Brad?” she worked through her tightened throat.
“Yes?”
Lifting her head off the pillows, she looked down her body to meet his gaze. “Please…I don’t want to beg tonight.”
A slow, sensual smile spanned across his heavenly mouth. “Maybe just once or twice. Trust me, sweetheart.”
Cassie whimpered, but nodded again. He hadn’t hurt her, and she knew he never would. But, oh, she was on fire already, a heartbeat away from pleading as it was. All day she’d waited for this unspoken promise. All night she’d yearned.
He squeezed her foot affectionately. As he turned toward the fire, she called out to him once more. “Will you…start with a kiss?”
When he turned to look at her, his expression held a touch of wonder. He hesitated, as if he considered denying her request, then cocked his head with a slight frown. “That’s the second time you’ve asked me to kiss you today.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No,” he answered, his frown becoming thoughtful. “Why a kiss? Not that I object. There are just so many other things you could ask for.”
Cassie’s heart skipped several beats before she could find the courage to answer with the truth. “A kiss is more intimate than anything.”
Brad’s vibrant blue eyes flashed with an emotion she couldn’t define. He turned and knelt in front of the hearth, his voice a strained whisper. “I’ll kiss you, Cassie. I wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise.”
Chapter Twenty-two
The mattress compressed beneath Brad’s weight as he braced his hands on both sides of Cassie and crawled up her body to feather his lips across hers. He held himself far enough away they didn’t touch; only his thumbs brushed against her shoulders. But oh, how she felt him. The heat of his bare skin seared hers. His weight hovered, drawing her back off the bed, pulling her closer to the promise of his strong arms wrapping around her.
Cassie’s lips parted in synchronicity with her thighs. She set tentative hands on his shoulders, afraid he might lift away, and if he did, afraid she might cry. When he instead bent his elbows a fraction, lowering himself more closely, she slipped her arms around his neck and became lost in the splendor of his mouth.