When I slide my hand onto the back of her stool, she freezes.
Take her, have her, for one night only.
The scent of her hair and the way it grazes my skin drives me mad with a reckless hunger for her. "Let's go somewhere more…intimate."
"I'm not that easy." Her voice is low and sultry, decadent beyond belief.
And I chuckle, again. "I am."
"Telling me you're a man-whore is supposed to turn me on?"
"You are aroused," I say, my own voice turning husky. "I can see it. We're adults, and I willnae do anything without your consent."
"Damn straight you won't."
She can't see my smile. I have no power to contain it, faced with this fiery, sensual lass. In the back of my mind, a voice whispers to me. You can have her for more than a night, for more than a week, for a lifetime.
I do not want that.
Even if I do, in some deeply buried part of myself, I have no right to drag this sweet and sexy woman into the tangled web of my life.
One night only.
I nuzzle her throat, just below her ear, savoring the way her breaths quicken. "I want to kiss you."
She hesitates, swallowing visibly. "I'd like that."
"Good."
A ridiculous sort of relief floods through me. I need a good shag, that's all. This is nothing more than relief that my cock will soon be sated and cease throbbing every time I inhale this woman's scent. I skim my lips along her jaw, then drag them across her cheek to the corner of her mouth. My tongue flicks out to sample her skin.
She sucks in a sharp breath.
While I fight to keep my breaths even, I explore the seam of her lips with my tongue and then reposition my mouth over hers. I keep the barest distance between our lips, not quite touching her, though I'm desperate to claim her mouth and brand her with my kiss. Her lips ease apart, begging me to take her, and her body sags toward me. Her palms float up to my chest. The light pressure of her hands, the whispers of her breaths, all of it spins me down and down into a black hole of lust, and I am helpless to resist the gravity of her.
I skate my lips over hers.
She lets out a breathless moan.
A need seizes me, an irresistible impulse to take her moan into me. I press my mouth to hers, those lips soft and yielding.
She clenches my shirt in her fingers, opening her mouth as if pleading for more.
I lick at her tongue in delicate, teasing laps until I have the lass dissolving into me, our bodies stretched across the distance between our stools and our knees grazing each other. My free hand finds the elegant curve of her back and glides upward until my palm lands on her nape. A shudder ripples through her body. I push my fingers into her hair to cradle the back of her head.
No turning back. I will have her tonight, for hours and hours, until we've both satisfied our thirst for each other completely.
I plunge my tongue inside her mouth. The brazen lass meets my every thrust with matching swipes, our tongues tangling like we can't bear to sever the contact. When she moans into my mouth, I thrust my tongue harder and deeper. My balls pull back into my groin, a sign I'm far too aroused for a public venue. If I don't unhand this woman, right this instant, I'll caith right here in the middle of a crowded bar. I need to spirit her away to my hotel so I can come inside her body instead of all over my kilt.
I break the kiss, my gaze pinned to hers, my chest heaving. "How much have ye had to drink?"
"What? Two sips and one gulp of this one drink. Why?"
"Yer still thinking clearly, then." Thank heaven for that. I couldn't survive walking away from her now. Decision made, I ghost the backs of my fingers over her cheek. "Come with me to my hotel. Stay the night."
Her mouth falls open, tempting me to devour her again.
She meets my gaze head-on and sighs one word. "Yes."
A thrill shoots through me, electric and shocking. Aye, tonight I will have her.
Tomorrow…I'll be gone before the morning comes.