Right when he needed her. Right where he wanted her. Before he’d known it himself.
He bent at the knees to smooth his palms under the lacy, satiny number and over her bare bottom. Thumb tracing the strap of her thong, it was his turn to groan.
He opened his mouth over her breast and lightly bit her nipple through the fabric. She clutched the back of his hair, her reaction an encouraging, “Oh God, Royce.”
A wolfish grin emerged as he swept his mouth from her breast and slipped the thin straps off her shoulders. He bared her breasts and shimmied the material past her hips. It fell into a tiny black pool at her feet. One he could’ve sworn he’d fallen into, and was now careening into oblivion.
Tongue tracing her bare, puckered nipple, he slid one hand beneath the material of her thong, encountering her wetness. She tipped forward to ride his fingers, every slick, smooth glide sending his erection from rigid to damn painful. The torture was exquisite. He returned the favor, his mission to find out how much teasing she could stand. He suckled her nipple as she sighed his name.
“Yes, yes,” came her next frantic whisper. She rode his hand in desperation, seeking her release. “Royce, please.”
He straightened, his fingers moving double time against her, his eyes burning into hers. He wanted to watch her when she came. Watch her come apart in his hands, revel in the moment she achieved what she’d come here for: a powerful, and he’d bet beautiful, orgasm.
“What do you want, Taylor?” he asked with calm authority.
“This.” Eyes closed, she held his shoulders for purchase.
“Describe ‘this.’” He knew, but wanted to hear her say it. “Tell me. Please.”
It was the please that tipped her. Her eyelids opened and her lust-blown gaze landed on his. “You. Touching me.”
“Touching you how?” His control ebbed, his cock surging toward the woman who was making him want the one thing he shouldn’t. Her.
Only now he couldn’t remember why he shouldn’t. Something about work and transition... Or was it that she was a colleague and they had to be a unified force...
The jumble of words in his head knotted themselves into a tangle. He couldn’t focus on anything but the woman in his arms.
“I need... I need...” Her brows bent, her mouth dropping open as her cheeks flushed. He watched her face contort and felt the warm rush of moisture on his fingers. When her knees slackened, he locked an arm around her waist and held her up. She drooped her arms around his neck lazily.
Seconds later, she blew out a breath that ended on a soft, satisfied hum.
“You’re gorgeous when you come, Taylor.”
An ethereal goddess, to be precise.
Her smile spread on her face like honey dripping off warm toast, her front teeth stabbing her bottom lip as she fisted back his hair. “I bet you are, too.”
He liked her boldness. She’d always possessed that attribute but until the gala it’d never been directed toward him. When she kissed him, it sent him into a weightless, uncontrolled spin. He couldn’t seem to find “up” again, couldn’t make himself care about the consequences he’d held so precious not long ago.
“Only one way to find out,” he heard himself say.
Lifting her naked body into his arms, he carried her to the couch. The moment her back hit the leather she began working his belt through the buckle.