Then he kissed her earlobe, tugged on it with his teeth. Went back down to her neck and dropped achingly soft kisses there.
“What do you say?” His whisper sounded better than her favorite song.
“This.” The word came out breathy. “I say we do this.”
For one night, she planned to let herself go. Forget about investigations, about her past, about revenge. She’d relinquish the control she so carefully maintained. Overlook the vulnerability that scared the shit out of her. Tonight she’d be a woman who took what she wanted.
She’d never been just that before.
What she did for a living, the job, had always defined her. Always been the reason, the foundation, for the person everybody saw. Even alone with Jason all those years ago, she wasn’t the person he’d met in foster care. She’d hidden from him too and he’d never questioned her, never seemed to see any change in her after they’d reconnected. How disconcerting that he’d been in love with a woman who wasn’t at all what she appeared to be, and he hadn’t noticed.
Hugh knew more about her than anyone else. Knew she’d killed.
And still he wanted her.
The urge to get physical with him, to shed everything and wrap herself bare around him, made everything inside her come alive with bone-melting mania. She spun around and kissed him. Hard.
By now, they knew each other’s mouths well and the kiss quickly escalated to tongue and lip locks that made her heart pound in double time. She gripped the back of his shirt and yanked him closer. Nestled his thigh between her legs and shamelessly rubbed against him. Tingle after tingle rushed to the juncture there. She remembered his fingers and how he’d stroked and grazed her sensitive skin over her panties.
He pulled back, sucking, then lightly nibbling her lower lip just like he’d done earlier. “If you don’t slow down this is going to take all of two minutes.”
“I don’t want to go slow this first time.” She nibbled back.
“First time?” He lifted her hand to his mouth and dropped kisses on each of her knuckles.
“I want this all night. I want you all night. Now stop talking and get my clothes off me.”
The hunger in his eyes stripped her of any misgivings. She put her hands on his face and lavished him with kisses that fueled cravings she didn’t know she had. She wanted to crawl inside him. Wanted so much more of him.
Pressed up against the tall reception desk, she felt his hands reach for the button of her jeans and excitement stormed through her. His fingers moved with dexterity and her pants slid down her legs. She marched in place to assist in their removal, eager to get beyond where they’d been earlier. It made kissing more difficult and they bumped teeth. A giggle escaped her mouth. His lips curled up in a smile she felt pressed against her own happy face.
When the jeans reached her ankles, she remembered she still had her shoes on. Without breaking the ridiculously hot, heart-stopping lip connection, she let go of his face and tried to reach down. But with her pants that low, it was impossible to lift a leg to meet her outstretched arm. Hugh sucked, nibbled and tasted the whole of her mouth one more time before pulling away to lift her in the air.
“What are you—”
He planted her on top of the desk, her bottom on the solid surface while her legs dangled down. His gaze raked over her thighs before he tugged the jeans from her with one easy swoop, shoes and all.
“Oh,” she said, turned on by his strength and impatience. “Is it hot in here?” The ten-second kissing reprieve didn’t squelch the heat coursing through her blood. Nor did the way he contemplated every teensy tiny bit of her exposed flesh as if he were trying to figure out where to conquer first.
“Very,” he mused back, dropping his mouth to the inside of her thigh.
That’s a good place to start.
An involuntary shudder swept through her as his lips caressed her thigh with so much care the clamp on her heart weakened. She didn’t have to like him, didn’t have to think him the best thing since red velvet cupcakes, to have sex with him.
But she did—she did both those things.
She grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away, hopped off the desk, and proceeded to unbutton his jeans. “We need to even the playing field.”
He kicked off his shoes so that by the time she had him undone, sliding the jeans down took all of three seconds. She skimmed her hands up his legs, his muscles taut beneath her palms. His skin was hot and delicious and she’d be perfectly okay with the night lasting forever. She reached his boxer briefs and gulped.
His erection molded against the black cotton, huge, thick and…
She wrapped her hand around the base and slowly stroked upward.
…hard enough to hammer nails.
Tess bit her lip. She glanced up at the sexiest man alive and then grabbed the waistband of his briefs with her teeth, ready to slide them down and take his entire length into her mouth until pleasure unraveled inside him.
He growled and pulled her up. “Jesus fucking Christ.” He slammed a kiss to her lips, then lifted her shirt over her head. Tess grabbed the bottom of his tee and pulled it off. His eyes darted to her tattoo and swept over her midriff. She returned the look by eyeing his ink and taking in all his smooth, delicious muscles. The man should be on the cover of GQ. Without any clothes.
Something raw and real—a must-have-you-now urgency—overcame her. She raked her nails over his shoulders, pressed her breasts against his chest and wrapped one leg around his thigh. His erection hit her center just right. Sensations spiraled through her like a meteor. She moved against him and felt her wetness increase. One big, strong hand molded to her ass. The other cupped the back of her head.
And then they were kissing again. She got all her air from him, from some invisible yet powerful force deep inside him that he shared with every sweep of his tongue. His fingers unclasped her bra and she shimmied her upper body until the straps fell down her arms. A moment later, the lingerie hit the floor.
He groaned and gently forced her against the desk. His mouth moved to the delicate part of her neck where soft, gentle caresses tickled and burned at the same time. Involuntarily, she dropped her head to the side to give him easier access. She’d lost all control over herself. Would die if he stopped. His heart beat against her own and for the first time in her life, her heart wasn’t ticking like a time bomb. Instead, it hummed.
She let her leg fall until it reached his calf. Every slope, every bump of his body molded to hers. The liquid heat between her legs grew slicker, intense waves of pleasure rolled over her. She teetered on the edge of climax and they’d barely progressed past kissing.
Whether it was the muggy weather from outside seeping in, or the heat between them, perspiration trickled between her breasts. His body grew wet too. She took the initiative and slipped up and down him, dragging her tongue down his neck and chest to drink in his flavor. Heaviness filled her breasts, her nipples pebbled, ached. He stopped her momentum by capturing her bottom lip with his teeth. Then he kissed her again, only this time he took much more than her kisses in return. Something potent, something that fused them together, that made her beginning entwine with his end, passed between them. He’d marked her his.
And she didn’t want to fight it.
With his mouth still pressed to hers his hands moved to the tiny shred of material at her hips. His greedy touch tore any remaining strength from her, and she melted into him. He inhaled, as if gathering focus, and rather than slide the panties off as she expected, he ripped them with one needy pull.