“If you’d had a little patience, you wouldn’t have ruined your sister’s wedding.”
“I hardly ruined her wedding.” He scoffed, setting the empty flute down on the nearest table. “You think one headline is going to ruin her wedding? You’re crazy.”
“Maybe I am crazy, but not for thinking that. Maybe I’m crazy for thinking I could work with you and agreeing to be in a fake relationship with you.”
“Stop calling it a fake relationship. Besides, you were fine with it earlier when your lips were against mine.”
“I was distracted.”
“You were distracted when you were kissing me? It sure didn’t feel that way.”
“I don’t know why we’re having this conversation. I said no more kissing and the first thing you did was kiss me and you did it for the rags, to boot.”
“Are you mad because I went behind your back about that or because you don’t have a shot at getting back together with David now?” He stepped forward.
I turned around and stepped into the first door that opened. If we were going to have this conversation, it would be someplace I knew the photographers wouldn’t be. Unfortunately, the room I stepped into was dark and unknown to me. Aramis stepped in and shut the door behind him. I turned around to face him and realized that even though I couldn’t see him, he was much too close to me. I shook my head and focused on the conversation.
“Why are you so obsessed with David?”
“I’m not.”
“You obviously are. You’ve brought him up twice in one night. I didn’t realize you were this insecure.”
“I’m not.” I could hear the frown in his voice and took his momentary confusion to pose a different question.
“Why did you act the way you did when you kissed me in the woods?”
“How did I act?”
“You kissed me and then pretended I didn’t even exist.”
“I was riding with my son.”
“You used him as a shield and you know it.”
“This is ridiculous. I can’t have a conversation in the dark.” He walked away and switched on a lamp. It was still dark, but it was better now that more than just the moon was illuminating the room.
“You were using him so that you wouldn’t have to confront the kiss.”
“Confront the kiss?” He closed the distance between us once more. “Have you forgotten we’ve shared a lot more than a kiss? Or did you just store that away in the furthest end of your memory so that you don’t have to think about it?”
“No.” I swallowed, heart racing. “I remember quite well.”
“Do you?” His voice lowered and he stepped closer still. My stomach flipped once and flipped again when he brought a hand up to my face. “Do you need to be reminded?”
“Are you going to remind me?”
“I can.”
“Right now?” I felt out of breath and nothing was even happening.
“Why not?” His lips on mine silenced whatever response I was sure to make.
The kiss was soft, slow, a complete departure from our previous ones, even the few we shared all those years ago. He took his time with his tongue exploring my mouth as his hands slowly made their way down the sides of my arms, each calloused pad on his hands grazing my soft skin as they lowered down to the skirt of my dress. He pulled it up ever so slowly, as if to give me time to say no. What I did was lean into him, reach my hands up behind his head and tug his thick head of hair to announce my stance—I wanted this, I wanted him. Now. It seemed to fuel him. His kiss turned deeper, more demanding, his tongue whipping mine as he tucked a hand into my panties and slid his fingers into the lips of my already wet pussy, a relentless tease as he explored.
“It’s too bad we don’t have much time,” he said against my lips as he pulled away from the kiss. He took his fingers out of my panties and brought them to his mouth, sucking on them as he looked into my eyes and moaned as if the taste was the best thing in the world. “I’ll take my time with you next time.”
“Next time?” I gasped as he once again slid his fingers into my panties, this time sliding them inside of me and pumping. “Oh my God.”
“You’re so wet, Joslyn. Have you been this wet all night?”
“No.” I shook my head, gasping and arching my back. “Don’t stop doing that.”
“Were you this wet for David?”
“No.” I gasped once more when his thumb hit my clit.
“No?” He pressed his chest against me, continuing his relentless strokes.
“No dammit. Please don’t stop.”
“I’m not stopping, baby,” he whispered against my mouth. “Later tonight, after the party is over, you’re going to come to my cottage and I’m going to fuck you.”