Andrew went to the second print and picked it up. “Where did you get this one?”
She made a valiant effort not to stare at the bulge in his shorts. Or the cut V of his hips pointing right in that direction like a blinking neon sign. “Uh. You know that little gallery on the boardwalk? I was early for work one day and popped in on a whim. It was in the clearance box. I’ve had it for a while now.”
“Why didn’t you ask me sooner to hang it up?”
“A better question is why didn’t I just hang it up myself?”
“Yeah.” Andrew turned his head sharply to look at her. “Answer that one first.”
Jiya took two slow breaths, Andrew’s intense eye contact holding her like a magnet. “I think I wanted you to hang it up for me, even before I knew why I wanted that.”
His chest dipped hard on a rushed exhale. “Why do you want that?” He licked the inside of his bottom lip a few times, back and forth. “Because I want it so bad? Or is there another reason?”
“It…you make me feel important,” she breathed. “You always have.”
A lump slid up and down in his throat. “Good. That’s what you are.”
Jiya’s heart bobbed and weaved inside her chest. Craving their unique connection now more than ever, she reclined back on the bed slowly, propping herself on her elbows. Without looking down, she knew the bodice of her dress no longer hid a thing. Andrew’s riveted attention and the hunger in his expression would have told her all on their own. “Making me feel important isn’t just about love for you, though, is it?” She murmured the rest. “It’s physical, too.”
Andrew shuddered. “Jiya, what are you doing to me, sweetheart?”
She lifted her chin. “Hang my pictures,” she said firmly. “The airplane first.”
He bit off a pained groan, the V of his hips shifting. Flexing. “Where do you want it?”
Nerves stole through Jiya, even as she let the boldness sweep in. She’d played this role with Andrew before, but she’d been discovering. Now she embraced. With a deep breath, she extended her right leg, using her toe to point at the wall adjacent to her bed. The action caused the hem of her dress to flutter down to her hips and leaving nothing, not a thing, to the imagination. “Right there, please.” Her sex tingled at having Andrew’s immediate, hot, undivided attention. He grabbed at the bulk inside his shorts, shoving it once to the right, then the left, cursing. “Are you going to stare all day?” Jiya asked, keeping her voice even. “Or do what I’ve asked?”
A ripple passed through him. “You think I can concentrate enough to swing a hammer when you’re being a little cock tease?”
“I don’t know. Can you?” She pushed out her lower lip. “Maybe I need to do it myself.”
“Stay where you are,” he growled, picking up a nail. He took a long inhale and paced the room a moment, before making his way over to the wall, but she could see the rise in his shorts had grown even more pronounced. Enough to brush against the wall when he stepped close and lifted the hammer. “Here?”
“Yes, that will work fine.”
Andrew nodded and gently tapped the metal into the wall, sending his back and arm muscles scattering in patterns that made Jiya’s thighs clench. God. He was sexy beyond words. How had she never taken the time to appreciate the twin dents at the base of his spine? Oh, she’d definitely taken time to appreciate his butt, but never this blatantly. She’d never inspected the tight curves or the way his shorts draped over his buns like a tongue lick. And she’d certainly never appreciated that part of his anatomy while lying on her bed with her dress up around her waist.
While lifting the frame to position it on the nail, he cast her a hard look over his shoulder, rife with starvation. “How’s this, sweetheart?”
The silky use of her nickname made her folds turn slick. “Perfect.”
His gaze fell to her womanhood. “Fucking right it is.” Seeming to realize that Jiya was just as sexually frustrated as he, Andrew moved with a touch more arrogance to pick up the next nail—and the roll of his shoulders, the flex of his backside, should have won some award somewhere. Anywhere. All of them. Her thoughts must have been transparent, because he shot her a smirk. “Where do you want me to pound in the next one?”
One of Jiya’s elbows lost the ability to hold her and she almost crashed back onto the bed but managed to right herself at the last second. “T-to…just to the right of my door.”
Andrew winked. “Anything you want.”
Dangerous game, indeed. She was a rookie and shouldn’t have played it. Both of their willpower was beginning to slip and she needed to right their course soon, before Andrew overstepped the line he’d made in the sand. The line he’d drawn when he’d been capable of making good decisions. Unlike now. Or maybe that was just her.