She tossed his clothes to the arm of a chair, and as she neared the bed, Dibs stretched for her hips and tugged her forward. He pressed a kiss to her stomach, wrapped his arms around her, and rested his cheek against her waist. She frowned. What in the world was he up to?
As she combed her fingers through his thick hair, he tilted his head back, lifting a heavy-lidded gaze to hers. Contentment colored his eyes the distant glow of an endless summer sky.
Her heart lurched and tightened in her chest. How strange…that she could be so moved by this man she barely knew. “What are you thinking about down there?”
“How I could get totally used to this.”
She cupped his cheek and bent down for a lingering kiss. He was a smooth talker. She had to give him that.
Floating a hand over her hip, he urged her onto his lap, and his breath bathed her neck when he buried his face in her hair.
Okay…wait. Now she got it. She slung an arm around his shoulders. “You’re one of those insatiable sorts, aren’t you?”
He hefted her in arms and turned in one motion, tossed her onto the bed and jumped, landing beside her on the bed. An irrepressible laugh escaped when he scooped her in under his chest.
“I can’t help it. You make me crazy.”
“Aha! I knew you were a whack job.”
With tender lips, he brushed a chuckle along her shoulder. And for the briefest moment she let herself believe he only wanted to hold her, to kiss her, and nothing more. He worked his hands in under the small of her back, tightened his arms, and rolled them over until she lay balanced along the length of his body. Tangling their legs together, he landed delicate kisses over her cheeks and neck, eyelids and chin.
She finally pulled back from him, laughing lightly at his satisfied grin.
“We should get on the same flight tomorrow,” he said.
“We should, huh?” She folded her arms across his chest and lowered her chin to her linked fingers.
“Yes.” He settled one of his hands behind his head, squinting up at her. “And then I’m buying you dinner.”
“You already bought me dinner.”
“What’s your favorite restaurant in Chicago?”
A muted tapping sounded against the door. She smiled and rolled off Dibs, skimming his broad shoulders when he crossed into the seating room and swung the door wide.
A gloved bellman wheeled a large silver cart through the door and she sat up, her brows lifting at all the different covers aligned on top. She left the bed for the cart and peeked under a lid, discovered a bowl of fresh fruit and popped a strawberry into her mouth. The door shut and a moment later Dibs materialized behind her, his strong arms coiling around her waist, bringing her bottom flush to his hips.
She selected another strawberry and offered it to him over her shoulder. He sucked the tips of her fingers while taking it into his mouth.
Under the next lid lay a piece of New York cheesecake. She curled her lip and resettled the cover.
“See anything you like?” The sash at her waist went slack. Dibs snuck his hands inside and began a tantalizing exploration of her body.
“Not yet.”
The third plate held a piece of carrot cake. She grimaced and dropped the lid.
He pressed his palm to her stomach, brushed her hair aside with his chin and nibbled a row of love bites down the column of her throat. His erection nestled and hardened along the crease of her bottom. He swiveled his hips, one hand cupping her breast, and swept his thumb back and forth until the nipple sprang to attention. His contented murmur warmed her hair.
Beneath the fourth lid waited a piece of chocolate triple-layer cake. “Here we go.” She piled several strawberries on the plate and located a fork, glanced back at the cart and slumped. “We have a serious problem.”
“What’s the matter?” he breathed in her ear.
“He only brought one piece of chocolate cake.”
“You need more than one?”
“Well, no…”
Dibs’s arms fell away from her and he clasped the edge of the plate. Tessa tugged it back.
He cocked an eyebrow in warning. “Rex…be nice.”
She wrinkled her nose, but relented. With a finger wrapped around her pinkie, he walked her into the bedroom to the end of the bed and urged her to sit beside him. He cut into the cake and brought the morsel to her lips.
She studied the dessert, then the wicked delight dancing in his eyes. Leaning forward, she parted her lips. He eased the fork inside, his shoulders swiveling when she fell back on the bed and tossed her arms over her head. The cake melted like cream in her mouth, decadent and rich with a hint of chocolate mousse.
“Scrumptious,” she said.
“How scrumptious?”
She measured the desire in his gaze. “Are you planning to seduce me with chocolate cake?”
“Yes.” He broke off another piece and leaned back on his elbow. “Here.” His focus remained riveted to her mouth when she let him place the fork on her tongue.
Her pulse ratcheted a degree and she closed her eyes as he shifted around, twining one of his heavy legs through hers. The tines of the fork skimmed her bottom lip. She laughed quietly and opened her mouth, then gasped in surprise when he darted his tongue inside. She ran her fingers through his hair, eagerly accepting him when he pressed a thumb under her chin, angling her head to deepen their kiss.
His lips disappeared, but she kept her eyes closed, a smile threatening to burst past her pretense to scold. “You’re teasing me.”
His throaty chuckle dallied in her ear. The bumpy tip of a fresh strawberry wet her lips and she bit down into the juicy fruit.
His chocolate-coated finger skimmed the length of her neck. A heady sigh eased from her throat and she rolled her head to the side. Dibs’s warm tongue stroked her skin. His teeth nibbled the lobe of her ear.
Her arm was lifted, a buttery circle smeared along the tender inside of her wrist. His tongue tasted. His lips lingered, dotting over her skin to the crook of her elbow.
He grasped her hand and submerged her finger into thick frosting. And when he sucked the digit into his mouth, glittering light ignited and shimmered throughout her body. The pressure of his pursed lips drifted to the tip of her finger. The pad of his thumb swept her lips.
A heady fever rose in her veins. She lay rapt on the bed, languishing in euphoria while Dibs kindled and stoked her arousal with the entire piece of cake. First a strawberry would touch her lips, then the tip of the fork, and she would open her mouth to receive whatever he offered her.
The mounting anticipation became her only focus, until her negligee billowed past her knees and his coated finger descended the inside of her thigh. Exhilaration surged, flooding her mind with a bright veil of light. She floated, poised on the brink of coming undone, waiting for his touch, his kiss. Desire pooled and she quivered when he dragged his tongue along her skin, blew a hot breath over the moist trail. The ball of his thumb tapped and circled, unfurling the flower of her inner folds as he nuzzled the tight nest of curls between her legs.
The glide of his tongue left her body and she hitched a breath, held it lodged in her throat.
“It’s all gone,” he whispered.
She opened her eyes and at once, she knew. He’d just given her the single most erotic experience of her life.
“I’m completely falling in like with you.”
She smiled at his tender reassurance. “You know, you give the greatest pillow talk.”
His eyebrow twitched. “I’m serious.”
Her pulse quickened, and she pushed up on her elbow. “Is that right?”
He nodded.
“How extremely fortunate for me.” She traced a fingertip along the tier of his defined abs. “Then do you think I could bother you for one more ki—?”
He came forward in a rush; she had never needed to ask.
Tessa held his kiss, her palm on his cheek while his full, moist lips tended hers. Dibs wound a hand under her arm, between her shoulder blades, and lifted. Her breasts met the firm wall of his chest. His thumb ensnared the strap of her negligee and he lowered it from her shoulder. Heat rushed her thighs when he dipped his head and captured her nipple, laving it with his tongue, grazing his teeth over the sensitive peak.
She slipped the knot at his waist, flitted her fingers down his planed stomach, and flipped the robe aside. He pressed a small silver packet into the palm of her hand. His breathing grew labored and he closed his eyes, his head rolling back on his shoulders while she stroked down, fully seating the condom. She collapsed on the pillow as he swung over her. Each kiss was a gift, her lips, neck and shoulders. Pleasure throbbed and she writhed when he engulfed her breast in his mouth. The head of his rigid member swept her stomach, probed her inner thigh. She fisted the sheets, her back bowing when he teased her entrance, massaging her hidden bundle of nerves. He stroked and fondled, the pressure increasing until her need for him was so complete, her entire body quaked.
He had taken her back to that place, where nothing would stop unless her passion was sated, unless he fulfilled her needs.
She pulled him down to her, kissing him with everything she had left, wanting the moment to last longer than she could ever endure. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, bucked in frustration when he entered her slowly, so achingly slow. The muscles in his arms tensed. He angled her hips off the bed, and she whimpered her disapproval when he withdrew. He locked her tight in his arms and delved deep, rolling and grinding his pelvis against her. They arced into each other, moving and swaying as one. Desire darkened his eyes. His pace increased. The room spun, and when he caressed the oversensitive bud between her legs and pulsed within, a shudder of such tremendous release overtook her, the world exploded into a million tiny shards of light.
****
Dibs’s breath filled her ear. Tessa blinked and lifted her head from his chest. He was asleep on his back, the crumpled sheet draped loosely around his waist.
She’d more than just overstayed her welcome—she’d surpassed the hello, the goodbye, and all the parts between. She crept back from him and tiptoed into the bathroom, but left the door ajar, afraid to risk the noise.
She rushed into her clothes, gathering her shoes and shopping bag on her return to the bedroom. Glancing at Dibs’s sleeping figure, she padded to the chair in the corner and carefully lifted his pants. The change in his pocket jingled. She froze and held her breath. A muffled snore spilled from his lips. She reached into his pocket and retrieved her key cards, then ever so gently lowered his pants back onto the chair.
Near the front door, she gathered her purse and briefcase from the floor, grasped the doorknob, and…
Past the open bedroom door, the steady rhythm of Dibs’s breathing drew through his sculpted chest, his face relaxed and at peace. Perhaps just this once…
She snuck her hand into her briefcase, approached the nightstand, and balanced a business card against the lamp.
The corners stood out in sharp relief against the green glow of the digital clock. She snatched up the card, flicking the edge with her fingernail, replaced it and held up her palm for it to
stay
before heading for the door.
Without missing a step, she spun around, stalked to the nightstand, picked up the business card, and crammed it in her pocket.
Sorry, Dibs
…
She leaned against the door as it swung closed, hoping to silence the bolt clicking into the latch, and then rushed for the elevator, fighting to slow her steps and pounding heart while she paced.
The first easy breath came in the cab, on the way to the airport.
Chapter Four
“I cannot believe you are such a bitch.”
Tessa pinched the bridge of her nose. “Can we not do this?”
The whole exhausting ordeal of returning to Chicago—the first available flight re-routing her through Atlanta, not to mention negotiating the over-crowded subway—had taken most of the day. Maybe she’d made the wrong decision, coming in to touch base with Tiffany instead of heading straight home. Either way, it didn’t matter. Being at the office was basically the same as being at her condo, except now she was forced to deal with her best friend’s prudent wisdom.
“You just left.”
Tessa filled her lungs to explain, stopped, and stared Tiffany dead in the eye. “Yes.”
“I cannot believe you are such a bitch.” The gold charm bracelet on her wrist jingled and winked in the light as she tossed a manila file folder onto Tessa’s desk. “Here.”
“What’s this?”
“Everything I found out. You asked me to do a search, remember?”
Oh, yeah. That. Chalk one up to a temporary moment of misguided curiosity. Tessa set the folder aside, faced her computer and pulled up the calendar for the Sandburg wedding to check what she had missed from the day before.
“Okay, what kind of pills are you popping, and how do I get my hands on some?”
She slanted a sarcastic glower toward the perplexed crease in Tiffany’s brow. “Not funny.”
“How can you not be interested in that gorgeous example of the male physique? I thought you said the sex was fantastic.”
“Look.” She swiveled her chair to her desk. Time for a refresher course in Dating Delusions 101. “Who they are or what they look like doesn’t matter. Relationships always end the same. Brad Pitt could be begging me to marry him, but in the end we would still end up hating each other and going our separate ways. That’s just the way it is.”
Disbelief twisted Tiffany’s lips. “Not all relationships are like that, Tessa.”
Oh, really? She opened her side desk drawer, yanked the folders out one at a time, and slapped them onto her desk. “Divorced, divorced, separated, divorced, I heard this one’s having an affair, divorced.”
Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Not the folders again…” she mumbled.
“Do you realize over two million dollars passed through this office last year?” Tessa aimed a finger at her desk. “And of that two million, I would say approximately ten dollars and fifty cents was spent wisely.”
Tiffany crossed her arms, sighing.
“Now, far be it for me to tell these people how to spend their money.” Tessa straightened the folders into a neat pile, tapping the bottom edge against her blotter. “After all, we would be out of business without them. And if they want monogrammed toilet paper, then, by all means, we’ll get them monogrammed toilet paper. But forgive me if after everything is said and done, and
paid for
, it still doesn’t matter. Marriage is a farce, and true love does not exist.”