“Dustin,” she began, surprising even herself when she realized the decision had been made.
“Hmm?”
“I…” she licked her lips.Take control,she said to herself.This is not a boardroom, but you can still be a boss.She injected more courage into her voice, more command, so he wouldn’t have an inkling about how nervous she was inside. “That offer you made. A night of pleasure; no strings attached. Do you remember?”
“I remember,” he said in a low voice.
“I want to experience our pleasure.”
Not saying anything more, he bent his head and kissed her.
Chapter 21
Chantelle watched as Dustin locked her bedroom door, even though the housekeeper was asleep in her annex and the security team were out on the grounds, patrolling. It gave her a sense of safety, the feeling that he was protecting her.
With the flick of a finger, he dimmed the lights. Yet not so much that she couldn’t take a good look at him. His jacket was off, but his nicely fitted and well-pressed shirt emphasized the breadth of his chest and the narrowing of his slender waist. His hair had been brushed back off his forehead at the start of the evening, but now, it fell forward into his eyes.
Really needs a haircut,she thought, and yet her hand came up without her say-so, and brushed lightly at it. He grasped her hand in mid-stroke and brought her fingers to his lips. The gesture made her shiver. It was intimate. Tender. Bordering on the very edge of their agreement. No strings attached.
Nevertheless, her fingers strayed downwards to his jaw, where she felt the roughness of his stubble under her fingers. It felt so, so good. She leaned forward and pressed her lips along the trail where her fingers had passed. The scent of him made her want to sink into his aura, bask in it.
He pulled away, just a few inches, and tilted her face up so he could gaze down into it. “Chantelle,” he said softly.
Why did her name sound so good when he said it?
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“Okay.” He paused again, still pondering. Then he said, “You know there’s no coming back from this, right?”
“For God’s sake, Dustin. Stop treating me like I’m a virgin! I won’t break if you squeeze me!” in a huge show of bravado, to prove to him that this wasn’t a big deal, she grasped the zipper at the back of her dress and began to tug it down, but then to her mortification realized she’d gotten it stuck halfway.Way to make a point, Moreau,she said to herself.
Smiling—but not unkindly—he spun her around so he could have access to her back, and fiddled with the zipper until it slid to her hips, freeing her dress, allowing it to puddle around her feet.
She felt him close to her back… so close that she could feel the heat of his body against her bare skin. She wasn’t wearing a bra… seldom did, and so with only a pair of panties between him and her flesh, she felt more naked than she would have if she were wearing nothing at all.
His hands came down to rest lightly on her hips. She felt his breath against her throat as he pressed his lips there. She stifled a groan.
Again, the roughness of his stubble—did this damn man not own a razor?—scraped against her shoulder, then against her neck once more, around the back of her bowed nape and to the other side. A parade of kisses, like toy soldiers, all in a row.
Then his hands rose to come around her, slowly sliding up to cup her breasts. He seemed to be weighing them, and she hoped to God Almighty he wasn’t judging them. She had never been highly blessed in that department, her breasts barely being much of a handful. But they were firm and round, and tipped with rose and brown, like chocolate-dipped strawberries.
Though her pregnancy was still recent, she’d noticed the change in those breasts, a new fullness, a new heaviness… and now, a new sensitivity, as his touch, as light as it was, made her want to moan out his name.
He spun her around again, and they were face to face. Kissing, first tentatively as if afraid to convey anything that went beyond casual contact, and then intensely, as weeks of repressed hunger took over.
“I have been waiting so long for this,” he groaned against her lips.
Me too,she wanted to tell him. But didn’t dare.
He was still dressed, still had his shoes on, and that wasn’t fair. She found that her hands were already attempting to solve that problem, popping open his buttons easily, and lifting the tail of his shirt out of the waistband of his pants.
Undressing him.
She wondered if he was going to say something snarky, mocking, as men do, but he seemed relaxed, encouraging, enjoying her ministrations but not lording it over her. His skin was warm against the flat palms of her hands. It had been such a long time since she’d made that kind of connection with a man that she almost moaned with pleasure at the feel of him.
He took his own shoes and socks off, and then stood barefoot, his toes scrunching up in the pile of the carpet. Taking her hand, Dustin led her to the bed like a prince leading the bemused princess to the center of the ballroom for the big dance as the music score swelled around them.