She laid her palm flat and started to slide it downwards across the top part of his pectoral muscle. She’d seen his well-developed pecs through his shirt, and she had an overwhelming desire to feel his muscle swell against her hand and find his nipple with her fingertips.
Suddenly her hand was stuck, her wrist blocked by his next button, which was still tightly fastened.
‘I said I wanted to look in your eyes.’ Nik’s deep voice startled her, then he cupped his hand under her chin and tilted her head towards him. ‘Feel free to rip the buttons off, if the desire takes you that way,’ he added, his eyes glittering.
‘There’s no need,’ she replied, dismayed by how breathless her voice sounded. She looked up into his deep blue eyes, determined to brazen it out. She had to convince him of her indifference.
She lifted her free hand and undid the next button, and then the next one for good measure.
Her hand glided lower, and the well-defined bulge of his muscle felt as amazing against her palm as she had anticipated. Her fingertips brushed over the taut skin on his chest, and then she found his nipple.
A sudden release of hot melting desire turned her insides to liquid. Her fingers had itched to touch him, but she’d never guessed that stroking him would be as arousing as the feel of his hands touching her.
‘Look at me.’ Nik’s voice rumbled through her, vibrating deep into her feminine centre.
She gasped, startled again by the strength of her desire, by her body’s physical response to his voice.
‘I said, look at me.’ His voice resonated through her again, making her blood sing.
She blinked in confusion, realising that her eyes had slipped out of focus.
She pulled herself together and stared at Nik, overwhelmed by how powerfully she was reacting. His eyes, dark and sultry with obvious sexual need, were fixed on hers. She wondered vaguely if her own eyes were giving her away, but soon her mind was full of her own desire.
She let her fingertips circle his nipple, brushing against it with delicate teasing touches. She felt it stiffen against the pads of her fingers and she rubbed it lightly, then pinched it between her finger and thumb.
All the time she was looking into Nik’s eyes. The deep blue colour was growing darker and his lids were sinking lower. There was no doubt as to how he was responding to her caresses, and that thought made her desire sharper still.
‘You said you didn’t want to touch me,’ Nik said, his voice impossibly deep.
‘I didn’t want to,’ Carrie replied, amazed at how steady she managed to keep her voice. ‘I was proving a point, like you wanted me to.’
‘I think we’ve proved the point,’ Nik said huskily.
‘No,’ Carrie protested. Then her voice dried up as Nik took a step closer, trapping her hand between them.
‘Now I’m going to kiss you,’ he said, leaning close so that once again his lips were brushing hers.
‘No,’ Carrie gasped, but her body was already humming with desire.
‘I asked you to touch me,’ Nik murmured against her lips. ‘And in exchange I said I’d kiss you.’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ Carrie said. ‘You’re making it sound like…like…’
‘Like we’re both consenting adults free to express our desires, free to tell each other what we want?’ Nik aske
d. ‘Don’t worry. I like that in a lover. I want to know your fantasies. I want to know how to satisfy you.’
Carrie’s mind was spinning and her body was buzzing with overpowering desire for Nik. But her response to him was suddenly frightening her. She’d thought she could play Nik at his own game, but now she knew she’d been mistaken. He was a confident, sexually experienced man. She’d never even had a serious boyfriend.
She pulled away suddenly, taking a step backwards so that she was pressed up against the door frame.
A knock at the door right beside her head made her jump, and she jerked her hand free of his shirt, popping off several buttons in the process.
‘I ordered Room Service,’ Nik said, glancing down at his torn shirt. He didn’t seem in the least moved by his damaged shirt, or surprised by the sudden intrusion, but he made no move to open the door. ‘I thought you probably hadn’t eaten today.’
‘Room Service?’ Carrie echoed in confusion, struggling to pull her thoughts together.
‘You should eat,’ Nik said, suddenly stepping round her and opening the hotel room door. ‘I’ve got work to do before we leave.’