He leaned down and began to ravish her breasts, moving back and forth between them, his actions unapologetically hungry. He explored every curve with warm, seeking lips, he took gentle bites out of the tender flesh, he sucked on her nipples until she gave a restrained cry of anguished arousal.
“Stop. Please,” she said shakily when he transferred his head from one nipple to another and began a new sensual torture.
He lifted his head, but kept his lips close to her pink, wet nipple. “Do you really want me to? Or would you rather come?”
She glanced down, panting softly. A woman laughed loudly on the other side of the curtain. It was madness, and she knew it
was madness, but a thrill tore through her nevertheless.
She arched her back. Her breasts looked flushed, the nipples erect and reddened. The only thing she could consider was the desire to have his mouth back on her. She bit her lower lip.
“I don’t want you to stop,” she whispered. “But there isn’t time to—”
He released one of her hands and sat up slightly, pushing back the table several inches from their seat. He leaned down, reached toward the floor and drew up his hand. Joy realized he’d just pulled up the hem of her dress. She shifted her hips, allowing him to place the bulk of the fabric in her lap. For a breathless second, his hand remained between her parted thighs.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in a strangled voice when he didn’t immediately move.
“If I touch you now, it would be too much for me. I reached the end of my rope yesterday in your apartment. I won’t be able to wait, and I don’t want my first time inside of you to be in a public place,” he rasped, sounding tense. He reached for her wrist.
“Everett . . . what—”
“Touch yourself while I play with your beautiful breasts. Let me feel you shake in my arms. Please,” he added tersely when she opened her mouth to protest. It was a ridiculous request. She’d never masturbated in front of a man before, let alone done so in the midst of a crowded restaurant.
“Go on, Joy. Take a risk.”
He used his hand to tuck hers between her thighs. Despite his insistence that he shouldn’t touch her, he didn’t move away immediately. She felt his knuckles through her panties, pressing against her sensitive labia. Her own fingers touched damp silk. His face went rigid. He remained still, his hand entwined with her own as her heat penetrated his skin.
He made a rough sound and slid his hand away. Suddenly, he was ravishing her mouth as he had her breasts earlier, a sweet, savage consumption.
“You’re so warm and soft,” he murmured before he was kissing her again, and her fingers were moving of their own accord, rubbing and sliding over her clit, feeding her mounting hunger.
He dropped his head and began sucking and licking a nipple until she gritted her teeth in pleasure. She wanted to scream, the tension mounting in her was so imperative. She pressed at the slick button of her clit, agitating and circling. Everett grabbed her free hand, his actions abrupt and tense. He brought it to her left breast, his hand enfolding hers, urging her to fondle the firm, tender flesh. At first she resisted the wantonness of his silent demand, but then he transferred his mouth to the breast she held. He slid the nipple into his warm, suctioning mouth, and she held herself from below, plumping the flesh . . . offering herself to him. She squeezed her breast, the lewdness of her actions somehow liberating her.
He moaned. The sound of his appreciation as he sucked on her voraciously made her a little mad. She pressed hard with the ridge of her finger on her clit. She began to shudder in silent orgasm. Everett bit down gently on her nipple, the edge of his teeth a tender lash. A desperate, tiny cry broke free of her throat. His arms went around her. He pressed his face against her chest, holding her against him, absorbing her shudders of pleasure.
He raised his head and examined her when her convulsions ebbed. She sagged against the leather booth. She watched him, made mute with disbelief and wonder as he reached between her thighs and brought her hand to his face. He inserted her forefinger into his mouth. He closed his eyes and suckled her juices from her skin. A muscle jumped in his cheek. He slid her finger from his warm, wet mouth.
“Now I’ve seen you undone. I’m glad.”
“Why? Was this a sort of payback for what happened at the studio?”
“No,” he said, his expression grim. He smoothed the fabric of her dress over her thighs, letting it fall until it reached the top of her feet. He slid his fingers beneath her bodice and carefully drew it over her breasts. Her nipples ached dully next to the smooth cloth.
“Everett?” she prompted when he didn’t offer any further explanation for his statement, just tied the straps at her left shoulder.
He lowered his hands and glanced into her face.
“I’m glad because I wanted you to know how I felt that afternoon at the studio. I don’t know if I completely succeeded,” he admitted as he slid the table closer to their seat. “But I think maybe now you have some idea.”
Understanding trickled into her lust-dulled brain slowly. He hadn’t been paying her back, tit for tat. He’d wanted her to know that the way she felt right at this moment—turned inside out, stunned by her own actions—had been how he’d felt.
Someone directly outside the curtain cleared his throat. Everett glanced around calmly when the waiter parted the thick curtains. The man’s gaze ran first over her, and then Everett. Joy sat up self-consciously and brushed back her short hair. There was no way she could disguise her recent arousal. She suspected the skin around her mouth was reddened from whisker burn. Her cheeks must be tellingly pink.
“Would you like me to bring your entrées now, Mr. Hughes?” the waiter asked.
“We’ve had a change of plan. Would you mind packing up our food to go?” He glanced at Joy, his eyebrows raised. “If that’s all right with you?”
“Yes, I’m not very hungry anyway,” she murmured. She busied herself with unfolding her wrap, keeping her flushed face averted from the waiter. Seeing a total stranger standing there, just feet away from where she’d just been sitting with her breasts exposed, bringing herself to climax, brought it all home to her.