I returned to my original plan and placed my hands at the apex of her thighs. Grabbing the fabric of her dress, I gathered it in my hands, pulling up the front until I could slip easily underneath.
She gasped. “Max!” She tried to grab at my hands and pull down the dress, but my grip was too strong. “What are you doing?”
“What?” I brushed my finger across the smooth flesh of her thigh and I heard it, the tiny whimper of pleasure that escaped her mouth. “These people already think I’m a heathen.”
She brought her hands up to my shoulders and squeezed. “I don’t believe it. You are not a heathen.” She looked at me with admiration, like she believed I was better than all the stereotypes.
Well, shit. Didn’t that just ruin everything.
Fortunately, my growing erection was too powerful for my brain, and its intentions were on override.
“You know…there are some perks to me being a heathen.”
“Is that so.” She cocked her head.
I nodded. “I have some very uncivilized thoughts running through my head right now. Thoughts that most people wouldn’t talk about in public.”
Her shoulders shook with the force of her shiver. She let her hands fall away from my shoulders and leaned into my body, her hands now making their way to the outside of my thighs.
“Like how I’ve wanted to see this dress pooled around your ankles since the first moment I saw you in it.”
Her lips parted and a soft breath escaped.
“Or how I wish I had pulled off your pants that night on the boat so I could have seen all of you.” The hum of the voices in the other room played in the background. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
Something darkened her gaze. Not fear, or worry. Desire. It danced in the soft light, letting me know I had the go-ahead if I wanted to take it. I just didn’t know if I should. There were so many good things about Everly. So many good, clean, pure things. I was only dark and seedy.
“Do…do you want to come back to my place?”
I continued to caress her supple flesh with my fingers, moving in a slow circular pattern. “And what would we do there?”
“You could…”
I wanted her to say it. I wanted to know that she wanted this as much as I did.
“…help me study.”
That was not the response I had been hoping for. Maybe she needed to be coaxed a little bit more.
“Hmmm…is that all?” She shivered when I let my finger trail down the hollow of her neck. I leaned in, placing my mouth against her ear, making sure that no one would be able to hear my next words. “What if I want to take you home and put my mouth on your pretty pussy?”
She sucked in a breath and whimpered at the same time, it was half-begging, half-shocked.
She’d had at least five glasses of champagne. With each glass her body had unwound. I imagined the coils holding her in place unraveling. I knew there was no way she was going to get any work done tonight.
My hands had made their way under her dress. My fingers were touching bare thigh.
“I bet if I put my hands between your legs right now your panties would be soaked through.”
She looked up at me, a playful determination in her eyes. “What if I’m not wearing any panties?”
She was daring me to touch her. Daring me to test out my theory, right here in public. I looked over at the couple who still conversed on the opposite end of the room. They hadn’t looked over here the entire time.
Our eyes locked, and with a smile, I traced my fingers up her thigh. Higher and higher I circled her tender flesh, her skin getting hotter with every inch I traveled north.
She hadn’t been joking. Nothing came between my fingers and her soft flesh. She stepped wider, granting me access, and I swiped three fingers between her folds, wetness greeting me. Her head fell back and she moaned, loud enough to draw attention. With my free hand, I cupped the back of her head and brought her attention to me.
“We’re taking this slow and steady.”