Читать книгу A Private Affair - A.C. Arthur - Страница 12

OKAY, THAT WAS DONE.

It was good. Damn good.

But it was done.

So why were her thighs still trembling and her body already missing the warmth of his?

Riley kicked off her shoes, dropped her robe onto the closed toilet and rested her palms on the cool marble top of the sink. She lowered her head and took a deep breath. When she looked up, the woman staring back at her through the mirror was only slightly foreign. Her eyes were bright with remnants of desire. Her cheeks were flushed, lips plump from his kisses. Delicious kisses that had served as the appetizer to a greater entrée she couldn’t have imagined if she’d tried.

She wanted him again. Dammit!

Riley turned on the water, hoping the noise would take the foolish thoughts from her mind, but then realized they’d agreed to twenty-four hours or at the very least sunrise tomorrow. He’d only been there an hour and a half, which meant she still had plenty of time to indulge in Chaz’s scrumptious body. She leaned forward and splashed water on her face. It was cool and her body shivered with the contact. She pulled her hair free from the pins that still partially held it back and took the next few minutes to wash up.

She’d intended to take some time to clean up and then return to the bedroom, to face the music so to speak. Instead Riley pushed her arms into the sleeves of her robe and tied it tightly around her waist before moving to sit on the lip of the soaker tub, and closed her eyes.

She’d had sex with Chaz Warren.

And not one time had he complained about her not making enough noise, or not praising every move he made. There’d been no requests for her to do anything he’d read about online or saw in some movie. She wasn’t given instructions on how to please him and she’d never once had to wonder if he would please her. Riley’s orgasm had come like a full-blown explosion of sensation that still had her body quaking.

Walt had always complained. Nothing Riley did was ever right for him, and to be honest, she’d stopped trying long before she’d caught her ex with another woman.

I won’t go into specifics but things could get pretty frigid in Riley’s bedroom.

Riley closed her eyes as she recalled the quote she’d read in the newspaper the day after she’d walked calmly out of Walt’s condo, leaving him and a model she’d seen before—but would love to never see again—naked in bed. She hated that she remembered those words and hated more how they still made her angry. She wouldn’t allow them to make her self-conscious. Riley knew how to bring herself pleasure and she’d had a few experiences with other men besides Walt, so she knew his words had been laced with vindictiveness. If their sex life wasn’t what it should have been, Riley wasn’t solely to blame. But she’d wanted to spare her family and the reputation of their company so no rebuttal to Walt’s inappropriate declaration was made.

Which was why this fling between her and Chaz would definitely end in twenty-four hours. There was no doubt in her mind about that.

With her shoes in hand, Riley walked out of the bathroom and into the empty bedroom. Chaz was gone, and a quick punch of disappointment landed in the pit of her stomach. She walked to the closet and placed her shoes inside before turning slowly to look around once more, confirming that the room was empty.

“I thought you might be thirsty.”

She startled at the sound of his voice and glanced in the direction of the door to see Chaz standing there with two glasses of champagne. He was wearing his boxers and nothing else and her body instantly responded with disappointment shifting to the slow burn of arousal.

“Yes. Thank you.” For lack of anything better to say, Riley met him as he came into the room and accepted a glass. Her bare feet moved across the plush beige carpet until she could sit on the side of the bed.

“You don’t have to be nervous,” he said.

She finished the sip of champagne and looked toward the end of the bed where Chaz now sat.

“Why would you think I’m nervous?”

“You’re not talking.”

“I was drinking.”

He shrugged and took a gulp of champagne. “Guess what I mean is that this doesn’t have to be uncomfortable. We can just take things as they come.”

“Right. For the next twenty-four hours.” Riley glanced at the clock. It was almost two in the morning. “I’ve had a really long day.”

“Me, too.” Chaz finished his champagne and walked around to the other side of the bed. “I was hoping you weren’t going to expect sex all night long. I mean, not that I wouldn’t be glad to oblige. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t fall asleep on you. But it might be a good idea to get some rest.”

She hadn’t meant to, but Riley smiled. “I wasn’t expecting sex all night long.”

“Great. We agree.” He proceeded to arrange the pillows before pulling back the duvet and sheet.

Riley had been watching over her shoulder and set her glass on the nightstand before easing off the bed to pull the bedcovers down on her side. She normally slept in a nightgown but she wasn’t about to walk across the room to the bureau where she’d put her clothes to retrieve one. The robe would do just fine for tonight. Her pillows didn’t require a lot of adjustment and she lay easily on her side of the bed.

Chaz lay on his side. He pulled the covers midway up his chest. The chest that was still bare and undeniably enticing. There was a scar beneath his left pectoral. She’d seen it when he was standing in the doorway. She wondered how he’d gotten it.

“This is the only time I’m a fan of lights-out in the bedroom.” It was an easy comment made seconds before he leaned over and hit the button that turned off both bedside lamps simultaneously.

The room went dark and Riley’s heart began to pound a different rhythm. It wasn’t a totally unfamiliar feeling but one that she didn’t welcome now. She pulled the covers up, tucking them tight beneath her armpits, and closed her eyes. She could do this. She could sleep in the same bed with a guy. Although she’d never done it before.

Riley Eliza Gold was twenty-nine years old, one of the youngest woman executives at RGold Fashions. She’d graduated summa cum laude with a degree in statistics from Columbia and went on to hone her skills at the Parsons School in New York. She was in charge of a multimillion-dollar line within her family’s company, their legacy. There was nothing she couldn’t do.

Except, at the moment, she was having a hard time regulating her breathing knowing that if she just extended her arm she would touch a man. Chaz Warren, the renowned brand manager for King Designs, her family’s biggest rival, to be exact.