“I want to take off all your clothes and touch you right here.” He moved his hand further up, close to the apex of my thigh. “Kiss you there too. Nip and lick.”
A tremor coursed through me at the word lick. I felt Carter lean in next and place a kiss on my upper arm, then my shoulder. The moment was interrupted by the arrival of the dessert, breaking the tension. We made conversation while we indulged in macarons with whipped cream. The sparks between us were now on a low simmer, though I had a hunch it was only because Carter was keeping his hands to himself.
“You know, I’m going to try and sniff samples with the lights turned off. I think it’s going to be an interesting experiment.”
“You always look for ways to improve processes?”
“Of course. How else can I stay on top of things? But in this case, I don’t know if it will improve the process. I just think it might provide an alternative perspective. I like trying out new things.”
Once we finished the food, Carter asked, “Do you want to drink anything else?”
He’d put his hand on my lower back, slipping his thumb under my blouse, and my skin sizzled at the contact. And just like that, those sparks turned from simmering to explosive.
“We can go,” I whispered. How could he set me on edge with such an innocent touch? Or maybe it was the cumulative effect of all the times he’d touched me before. I’d barely got the words out when he asked for the bill. Someone was impatient.
***
Carter
I made a concerted effort to keep my hands off Val on the way home. Once inside, she looked over her shoulder and asked, “Do I have you all night?”
“Yes, you do. The girls’ nanny is spending the night with them.”
“She’s been their nanny for a while?”
“Two years. But she’s starting her master’s next fall, so I’m going to have to look for someone else. She’s Zachary’s cousin.”
“He’s the partner in Sloane & Partners?”
“One of them, yes. Anthony is the other. I went to law school with them.”
“Were they brainiacs like you?”
“Someone looked me up.”
She gave me a cute smile as we moved through the semidark living room. We weren’t making much progress because I was keeping her flush against me, kissing her neck and shoulders, occasionally her lips too.
“I did it after you looked me up. You finished college earlier than anyone else. While working odd jobs, right?”
“What can I say? I never needed more sleep than five hours a night.”
“I’m grouchy if I don’t get eight.”
“Noted.”
“Also, I’m grouchy if you make noise in the morning.”
“Also noted. I drove my roommates at Harvard insane with my sleep schedule.”
She chuckled. “I can imagine. You went there for law school, right?”
“Yes. Got my undergraduate degree from UCLA and went to Harvard for law school.”
“You know, we could have met at Harvard. Landon and I had scholarships, but we gave them up when we had to come back to LA to look after the little ones.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“It all worked out, but we had to be... flexible, you know?”