“Not here,” he said, curling his fingers around her wrist. “Somewhere private.”
Her eyes widened. “Is something wrong?”
“Yeah.” He pulled her around the back of the bar, toward the copse of trees that had been there long before Gray had built his house. When they were in the center, he checked to see that nobody else was there, then pushed Van’s back against a thick trunk.
“What is it?”
“This dress,” he murmured, tracing the line of the bodice across her chest. “It’s very, very wrong.”
Her breath caught in her throat as he lowered his head to kiss the swell of her breasts, where they met the top of her dress.
“As your employer, I’m going to have to issue you a formal warning. Don’t wear this dress and expect me not to kiss you.”
She laughed as he slid his lips toward the dip in her throat. “I’d like to appeal that warning.”
He curled his hand around her bare thigh, the way he’d been dreaming about all afternoon. “No appeals,” he murmured. “Though you can beg if you really want.”
Her eyes sparkled as he kissed his way up her neck, along her jaw, pressing his mouth to the corner of her lips. She tipped her head back against the tree, letting out a soft moan as his lips met hers, his fingers brushing the tender skin of her inner-thigh.
“Do you know what you do to me?” he asked, tracing the edge of her panties. “All afternoon I’ve been looking at you. Thinking about how you taste.”
“I know.” She grinned. “I’ve been kind of enjoying it.”
He slid his hands over her hips, pulling her against his thighs until she was under no illusion how hot she made him. “Did you wear this dress to tease me?”
She shrugged. “I might have.”
“Wear it tonight. In bed. I want to peel it off you.”
“Who says you’re coming to my bed tonight?”
He blinked, his eyes meeting hers. “That wasn’t a request. Don’t forget you’re under disciplinary review.”
She tipped her head to the side, her eyes still on his. “Discipline, hmm?”
He grinned, sliding his hand behind her butt. She arched her back, pressing herself to him, and the sensation sent a shot of desire through him.
“Careful,” he warned her. He wasn’t sure how far his restraint could stretch.
“Maybe I don’t want to be careful.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “You do, I know you do. Even if I want to drag you out and shout to the world that you’re mine.”
“Is that what I am? Yours?”
“Yeah.” His voice was rough. “You are.”
She traced a line from his open collar, up his neck, to his hard jaw. “That makes you mine, too.”
Damn, he loved that. He swallowed hard, as she traced his bottom lip. “It does.” He kissed the pad of her finger.
Her smile widened. “And that means I can do what I want with you, right?”
“Right.”
“Great.” She leaned closer, until he could feel the warmth of her breath against his skin. He waited for her to close the gap, to press her lips to his.
But instead she pushed him away, laughing as she dodged around the trees into the open lawn. Then she turned and stuck her tongue out at him, the way she did when they were kids.