She drew a heavy breath, her chest rising high and falling fast. I’d made her nervous, and it was delicious to watch. “Okay,” she whispered, then gave me another smirk. She was daring me to take charge, and I wasn’t about to refuse. I took her hand in mine and stood us both up. She was perfectly obedient, but I knew better. Sweet Parvati might have been modest in front of the others, but I could tell she was itching to try something wild. We might have missed dinner, but wild was on the menu for the night.
14
PARVATI
By the time we reached our hotel room, I was laughing so hard I thought I might be crying. Good tears, this time, thankfully. Daniel closed the door slowly, letting the latch softly sync together like the perfect puzzle piece. He still had his hand in mine as he faced me. His eyes followed the contours of my body. There was a certain determination to his gaze.
“Parvati,” he whispered. He slightly tightened his hand around mine, those fingers curling up against my wrist and giving me a flutter of expectation. I stared up into his dark gaze, then I shivered. “You’re cold.”
“I’m okay.” I gave a brief smile, then used my free hand to rub my arm. Truthfully, I was trembling inside.
His eyes narrowed. “Let’s get dried off.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
I lifted my hand from his, but before I could head to my things, he was reaching for my shoulder. He laced a finger beneath the strap of my dress, and I just stood there and let him. Maybe it was the buzz from the champagne, but I wasn’t worried then about what other people might think. Daniel and I were alone. Completely alone.
“Take off your dress so I can dry you,” he simpered as he lowered the strap and let it dangle against my skin. His touch was fiery hot, stoking the coals deep in my core. At first, I let out a soft giggle. I didn’t want to think he was serious, but the look on his face told me otherwise. He took a step back, and his hands gracefully found the top button of his dress shirt and began to unfasten it. He tilted his head as if to say go on, and my gleeful grin fell right off my face. I swallowed a breath, tightening my jaw to what was about to happen. Daniel was my brother, I knew better. That stare though. Damn was it hot!
I reached up my back and took hold of the zipper. I pulled it down in a quick burst of anxious momentum, and Daniel stopped me immediately.
“Slower,” he warned, coming closer as his hands found another button to undo.
Stopped in my tracks, I wasn’t sure what to do next. He wanted the tease, the patient torture of watching me drop my dress to the floor. But that was just it. With the zipper open, there was nothing else to do but drop the thing. I stood motionless, watching him as he opened his shirt completely. With a wave of his hands, he aired out his damp, dark gray shirt. He neared me with the fresh scent of rain and cologne, a bright musky smell that only made my intoxication worse.
“Mmm,” I moaned. I closed my eyes as he got into the light and cast a shadow over my body.
Daniel placed a hand on my neck, fingering through the tangled mess of my wet hair. He let out a soft chuckle. “That’s right,” he groaned. The fire in my belly was just taking flame. His other hand found my waist with a grip that meant business. If I wanted to leave, this was my last chance. If I wanted to tell him to stop, this was it. I let go of the back of my dress and let one side of it fall off my shoulder. My eyes lifted into his, and those dark globes of his pierced me directly in the heart. It was a lustful, desire-driven poke of the heart, nonetheless, but it was enough to show me what I truly wanted.
I placed a palm on his bare chest as I let my sight travel down over him. His body was lean and tanned, a perfectly defined chest greeted me face to face. I drew in a stammered breath and then moved closer to his skin to plant a soft kiss. He moaned at the sensation, tightening his grip on my waist as his other hand caressed my hair.
A deep rumbling of mutters came from low in his chest. “Just like that.”
I left a trail of brief kisses up the middle of his chest. My hands played around his ribs, holding and touching and fondling. My lips grazed the outline of his peck, leaving plumes of hot breath here and there. I could swear he had trembled, but if so, he was good at hiding it. A lick to his nipple, and he wasn’t so solid after all. His body wavered and shuddered, and I licked and sucked to draw out a whimper.