Jaeger undid the button on her skirt, and the length of fabric dropped to the floor. She stood before him dressed in her lingerie, glasses and boots. She thought she’d feel ridiculous, self-conscious, but Jaeger’s frank appreciation chased embarrassment away. The open admiration on his face, and the massive rod in his pants, told her he really, really liked what he was seeing. Feeling more confident now and a little naughty, Piper slowly spun around, showing off her teeny tiny thong.
“God, Piper, you’re killing me,” Jaeger muttered. When she faced him again, her hand on her hip, he shook his head. “You are truly spectacular.”
“Keep talking dirty and I’ll let you have your way with me,” Piper breathlessly quipped. She pushed her glasses up her nose and thought the dorky gesture was in complete contrast with the vamp she so longed to be. She pulled her glasses off and threw them onto the couch.
Jaeger smiled, stepped toward her and scooped her up to hold her against his chest. Piper linked her arms around his neck, reveling in his hard thighs beneath hers, his wide chest. His masculinity made her feel so utterly feminine.
“Let’s take this to the bedroom. As much as I want to make love to you on this couch in front of these windows, I’d hate for Beck to walk in and get an eyeful.”
“Your brother lives here too?” Piper asked, pulling back.
“Temporarily,” Jaeger told her, walking down the hallway to what she presumed to be the master bedroom. Piper dropped her eyes from Jaeger’s face to look ahead, and her mouth fell open when she looked right to the glass wall of the hall and noticed the view of the Hudson River flowing between two sets of city lights. Dear God, she had been so worried, so focused on her problems, she’d missed this amazing view!
“Oh my God, your view is phenomenal!”
What else had she missed? Piper stretched her neck to look over Jaeger’s shoulder, back into his apartment, and she noticed the oversize, vibrant artworks, the clean lines of his modern, very expensive furniture, a metal sculpture. She realized the sculpture was of a horse and the artist had captured the elegance of the animal’s movement. Only one artist had the chops to do that; it had to be Latimore, one of her favorite artists.
Ever.
“Is that a Latimore?”
“Now she notices the art,” Jaeger muttered.“No more talking about art or views or anything else. Got it?”
“Then I’m going to have to find something else to do with my mouth.”
Above hers, Jaeger’s lips curved into a bone-dissolving smile. “I most definitely can help you with that.”
His big arms tightened his hold on her, melding her to his muscled body. The art could, very definitely, wait.
She couldn’t. “Kiss me, Jaeger.”
At the end of the hall Jaeger dropped her to her feet and pushed her up against a door, his mouth slanting over hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth. All thoughts of art and views were forgotten, and Piper released a deep groan in the back of her throat.
This was what she wanted, needed.
One of Jaeger’s hands fumbled for the knob behind her back, and the door opened. He banded an arm around her waist and pulled her up and into him, holding her against his body as he walked her into the room. Piper felt the edges of the bed against her calves, and Jaeger gently lowered her and followed her down. As her back hit the cool covers, he lifted his head, and his eyes glittered with desire and need.
Jaeger lowered his mouth to hers, sucking on her bottom lip and sliding his tongue into her mouth. His hands skimmed her sides, his knuckles rubbing over her ribs, and she arched her back in a silent plea for him to touch her breasts, to pay attention to her aching nipples. When Jaeger finally, finally, sucked her lace-covered nipple into his mouth, she let out a low sound and clasped her hand behind his head to keep him in place.
This was what she’d craved during those long, lonely nights—this hot, delicious, mindless sex. She needed him to touch her everywhere, to slide into those neglected, lonely places and chase away the doubts and the darkness. She needed the oblivion, to step out of her life. But even as he touched her, as his mouth moved down her body to explore her belly button, to drag warmth over her lace-covered mound, she knew she couldn’t, mustn’t, become addicted to him, to this.