She leaned over him, propping herself up on the table. “That’s the risk you take. That’s why they call it gambling, Knight.”
It was meant to be fun, additional rubbing of his face in the loss. She expected him to persist in a rematch. Or to laugh. But more likely to protest, argue, and further amuse her with his annoyance.
Instead, he said, “I knew you weren’t wearing a bra. And there isn’t a stitch of flannel on you anywhere.”
Then his finger reached out and hooked around the trim of her robe. One little tug and he had pulled it back until the swell of her breast was showing, his eyes dark and edgy.
She blushed. From surprise, a hint of embarrassment, and most of all from hot jolting desire that reached deeper inside that robe than his finger was. All the way inside, snaking everywhere until her body pulsed and throbbed and burned with it.
“What the hell are you doing?” she said, with forced indignation.
“Confirming that I can’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”
“Given that lackluster display of arm wrestling, I guess that wouldn’t be too far.” She held on to her control with a great deal of effort. It was tempting to just tumble herself into his lap, which was so inviting, hard, and denim.
With a bulge that wasn’t a gun.
Oh, damn, she wanted that.
“You’re a real comedienne. You want to see how strong I am?” He stood up fast, surprising her, his thighs coming awe-inspiringly close to her mouth.
His chest brushed her arm as he stretched to his full height, which was a good eight inches more than her five foot six. He filled the space around her, smothering her with his largeness, his broad chest eye level.
She stayed bent over, refusing to admit how flustered she was. And hot. Was terry cloth flammable? If it was, she was dead because any second now a fire was about to ignite between them.
“I’m not interested, Knight. All I want to know is how much information you’re going to give me about Delco Pharmaceutical.” It just about cost her her soul to spit out those words that were nothing more than total bullshit.
His mouth was next to her ear, his fingers brushing her hair back off her cheek as he drew her to a standing position. Sheshivered as he said, “Uh-uh-uh. You’re doing it again. Lying to me.”
“You can’t prove it.”
Lips grazed along her jaw, forcing her to gasp against her will, her eyes fluttering shut like some newly awakened virgin. Reese completely, one hundred percent appreciated the fact that she was a woman, despite what her father wanted to think.
“Want to bet?”
Then he shifted and kissed her.
NINE
Derek knew he was screwed.He might as well kiss the last of his career good-bye and apply for a security position at the mall.
The minute his mouth touched Reese’s he forgot about the case, Nordstrom, and his ulcer, feeling nothing but a hot pit of desire, intense aching want that was owned by this woman. He thought to be cautious, to taste and savor before going deep. But Reese didn’t wait for him to do more than brush her lips, and took him instead. She grabbed on, held, sucked on his bottom lip and moaned an honest pleasure into his ear, making him feel about as manly as he was capable of being.
Reese kissed the way she talked, with vibrant movements and a single-minded determination to get what she wanted. She wanted the upper hand and having caught him off-guard by her response, she had it.
Until Derek broke off and trailed his lips down her long smooth neck, touching the tip of his tongue along her clavicle bone. Reese’s grasping, taut fingers slackened a little and a funny little sound like a hiccup came out of her.
He loved the way she tasted, soft and sweet, like sucking on a juicy apple, golden delicious. Settling all of her body against his,he moved up to her ear, tickling it with his tongue and dusting kisses across her cheekbone until he was back to her mouth.
This kiss was his, slow and soft, wide open lips and gentle pressure. Nudging tongues and quiet sighs. Reese’s fingers slid down off his shoulders to the edge of his shirtsleeves, then clung there.
He moved his knee between hers, wanting closer, everything touching, and he felt the crush of the neck of her robe between them. Taking her mouth again and again he wondered through a fog of lust if this was a good idea, before his fingers ignored the question and headed for her belt.
But Reese stepped back, knocking his hand away, the complacent passion receding a little from her eyes. She panted as he clenched his lips together, disappointment pulsing through him, paralyzing him for a minute while he regained control.
“While this is a nice distraction, we haven’t settled our bet. You haven’t actually agreed to information share with me.”
Derek should applaud her for bringing them back around to the subject. But all he wanted was to toss that robe out the window and spend about a million years tasting every inch of her.