Читать книгу Pure Desire - Denise Tompkins - Страница 9

Chapter Three

Dominic knew two things with absolute certainty. First? The woman under his hands moved her body in a way that suggested everything below her nose was double-jointed. His cock kicked at the idea, and he brushed against her ass. She shifted to accommodate the caress. What had been a passing thought quickly became a full-blown erection. And there was that word again. Blown.

He swallowed his groan.

Second? He knew there had been a second half to this thought train, but damn if he could retrieve it. All that mattered at the moment was Rhyan and the way she ground her ass against his groin.

His hands at her waist helped Dom lead her. Or be led. The longer they were out there, the less sure he was about whom directed whom. For the first time in his life, he was happy to have someone lead him by the proverbial nose. His cock pulsed.

He couldn’t stop the growl that rumbled through his chest.

Rhyan stretched and writhed against him, settling her lush curves to his hard contours.

His thumbs traced the bottom of her rib cage as he slid his hands around her until his forearms crossed. He pulled her closer, eliminating the remaining airspace between them. The planes of her abdomen were supple yet hard, soft yet firm. She was all woman and owned every ounce of her femininity, totally unapologetic for it.

Curling over her, he closed his eyes and ran his cheek over her hair, lost in the scent of rain on a dry desert night. She turned her chin enough to give him better access to her neck and grasped his head, holding it close. Music shifted to something slow with a steady, deep beat. He needed to tip the DJ tonight, because the guy was spinning tunes right off the soundtrack to seduction.

Dominic traced two fingers up her jawline and tucked her hair aside. A small shudder raced through her. Arousal. Eyes still closed, he gave himself over to his senses—the way the silk of her dress caught on the minor calluses on his hands, the ebb and flow of the crowd’s movement around them, the tickle of her perfume in his nose.

The need to taste her skin again curled through his pelvis. He settled his parted lips below her ear, the tip of his tongue caressing her carotid artery. She jerked once before her pulse took up a harder beat. Salt from her skin made his mouth water. Settling his teeth over her pulse point, he gently bit down.

Her fingers flexed against his skull and she gasped.

That sound, so uncontrolled and uninhibited, fueled lust’s flame and incinerated the fabrics of reason and logic. A soft touch of his tongue to the area he’d nipped gave him time to refocus. He huffed a breath against her skin, smiling when she shivered. Who did he think he was kidding? All the “focus” in the world wasn’t going to bring him down. Only a full release would get his head sorted out, allow him to think.

He rested his lips against her ear. “Let’s get out of here.”

She stiffened. The way her chest heaved had been so damn sexy. When she stopped breathing at his suggestion? Not so much.

“Problem?”

“Yes.”

Dom stilled, relaxing his hold on her. “Want me to call you a cab?” When she didn’t respond, he let his arms fall to his sides and took a short step back. He wanted her, craved her with a bone-deep hunger he’d never experienced. Tension shortened every muscle in his body until he swore his bones fractured under the strain of her rejection. Fuck this. No one-night stand was worth this. He was out. Turning to leave, he saw her chin fall. He didn’t stop. She had every right to pass on the night just like he had every right to keep freaking moving without apology.

Her nails dug into his arm.

He glanced back, a terse dismissal forming on his tongue. The words never made it out.

Rhyan closed the distance between them. Winding her lithe body around him, she became his true north, pulling him around to align with her. Long fingers shoved through his hair. A hard yank pulled his head down to meet her seeking mouth.

Her lips were soft and full, her mouth hot and demanding. She slid that mouth over his and sank her teeth into his lower lip hard enough to tread the fine line between pleasure and pain. He was so onboard with that.

* * *

She pulled herself against him, one foot tracing his ankle, her back arched to press her breasts against his chest. The kiss evolved into a full-body event. Pulling one hand free of his hair, she reached between them, untucked his shirt and raked her nails down his abs. Those deft fingers curled around his waistband and tugged.

His hips pumped forward, the movement small but undeniable.

Hard breaths collided as she broke the kiss. Her eyes fluttered open. “Yes.”

No one word had ever been sweeter or more potentially ambiguous. He splayed one hand over her lower back and ran the other under her hair and around the back of her neck. “Be more specific. Two minutes ago I was getting ready to call you a cab.”

She closed her eyes. “I’m ready to go.”

“Where?”

“With you.” The pink tip of her tongue darted out to touch kiss-swollen lips. Thick lashes rose, revealing a clear green gaze.

He tightened his hold on her neck. “We’ll give each other tonight. No strings attached. I need to know that’s not going to pose a problem tomorrow.”

One corner of her mouth fluttered up in a sad approximation of a smile. “I’m leaving town at dawn.”

He considered her for a moment before leaning in and resting his cheek against hers. “Then we should make the most of the time we have between now and then.”

“Yes.”

Dominic didn’t hesitate this time. Instead, he gently turned her toward the parking garage elevators. He’d taken the long way around at the beginning of the night. Now? Time was at a premium.

Like he’d said, he intended to make the most of it.

* * *

Rhyan’s decision had, like so many things in her existence, been impulsive. No doubt it would cost her. The price? She didn’t want to think about it. If she couldn’t gather the information the Caste demanded, if she fell victim to the guilt constricting her throat, if she failed to hold true to her intent to seduce Dominic and flee... So much hinged on that tiny, two-letter word—if. The Caste would punish her if her gamble didn’t provide them with a payout come morning. There was no undoing it. Not without admitting to Dominic who she was and what she’d done, and she simply wasn’t willing to go that route. Instead, she’d do her best to be the seducer instead of the seduced. Dawn would be here soon enough, bringing with it the consequences of choices made and the events that had yet to present her with options.

They stood side by side at the elevators and silently waited for the car. Doors opened with a soft chime. He increased the pressure on the small of her back, directing her forward. A couple of guys raced to catch a ride down.

Dom pulled a pen and held out a hand to stop the pair entering. “Let me have your parking ticket.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to validate it for the inconvenience.” He wiggled his fingers. “Hand it over.”

The taller of the two pulled out his wallet and retrieved the stub. “What inconvenience?”

“You’re going to have to wait for the next car.”

Confused, the guy peered around Dom. “What? Why? There’s room—”

His buddy elbowed him and jerked his chin toward Rhyan.