Page 26 of Reckless Kiss

Font Size:

Page 26 of Reckless Kiss

Chapter 9

“This way,” Esme whispered with a slight incline of her head.

I followed on instinct. No words, no gestures. I simply followed as silently and obediently as I could.

She led me down a dimly lit hallway—probably meant to deter wandering guests—and into a dark but open alcove near the kitchens. Pots and pans slammed and banged against each other, along with the sounds of shouts and running water. Between the lack of light and the cacophony from the next room we had a surprising amount of privacy.

Edmund had only recently bought this house. Was Esme so adept at finding hiding places that she’d already found the best ones here? It seemed so. Once we were safely ensconced in the safety of the darkness she turned in the tight space, her arms and hips just barely grazing mine, and looked up.

“I don’t what to say other than...sorry.”

The muscles in my arm fired and even though my mind knew it was the wrong thing to do, I didn’t stop anything that was happening. I let my hand rise to her hip and slide along the curve. I brushed my thumb over the jut and squeezed.

“That’s part of our deal,Esme.You never have to explain yourself to me.”

Her gaze darted away, ran down my body. “I think this goes beyond anything.” She swallowed and I watched the way her delicate neck moved, the way the lines of her body ran together to create the unmistakable shape of a woman. “I have removed myself from my father as much as I can. I moved to Tampa to avoid him at all costs but,” she shook her head, “anyway, he’s here now and I had no choice but to appear tonight. When we met at the cocktail hour with Jeffry and I realized you were an agent I had the faintest thought that I couldn’t get away from men in sports, but that was it. I had no idea my father would call a dinner party and invite so many people.”

I squeezed her hip again to calm her because by this point she was babbling and nervous. “No explanations necessary. I mean it.” Even if I did want them all.

She shot me a wary glance. “You’re not angry? Put off that I’m not who I led you to believe? That I’m being called by a different name?”

I didn’t move at first because I didn’t want for her to see just how much all those things were affecting me. Instead I stood very still, kept our eye contact steady. “I was shocked.Surprised.I wasn’t angry at all. If anything, I was concerned.” And that was the scary, weird truth of it all. I wasconcernedabout a woman. No, not just concerned. I was emotionally invested. “Do you want to tell me why?”

The question escaped me before my brain could talk sense into my body. The more she told me the more I wanted to grab her by the hips and lift her so that she had no choice but to wrap her legs around my waist. Perch her on that ridiculous excuse of a table sitting decoratively behind her, free my dick, and bury it inside her until she began babbling my name.

She stared at my chest, unblinking. “I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about Edmund and he was no different as a father. I didn’t like being associated with him, even as a child. In high school I started going by my middle name.”

Esmeralda.Even silently I loved the way the syllables rolled together. “I somehow doubt your father approved of that.”

She grimaced. “He hated it. Took it as a personal insult. So only my close friends used it. They shortened it to Esme and I found it fit me.”

Marie was one of those friends. “I agree. You are not a Rosalind at all.” Then I swallowed because even saying her name made me hard. “Esme.”

Her lips curved slightly at the corners as if she enjoyed hearing me say her name. Before I knew what I was doing I brushed a kiss at each of those corners.

“Leo,” she sighed.

I gripped the table behind her, so close to what my body wanted but not actually indulging it. “I want you to know you left quite an impression on me, Esme. I haven’t stopped thinking about you.”

“Is that supposed to be a good thing?” She looked up at me, didn’t push me away.

“Yes,” I growled.Growled.What the hell was happening to me? “I consider my dates friends. I care about all of them. But they never leave me wanting the way you did.”

I swear she was holding her breath. Her chest didn’t move. Her eyes didn’t move. The only indication she was alive was the sight of her pulse thrumming in her neck.

“Is that because of the things I asked you to do to me?” she whispered.

Her body writhing as she begged for her orgasm flashed through my mind once again. So erotic. Somine.Except she wasn’t mine anymore.

“No,” I whispered back. “I won’t deny that I enjoyed everything about our night together but it wasn’t what you asked for that left me wanting. It was you.” And that was the truth of it. There was so much potential left on the table. So much more of her I wanted to explore. No woman had ever left me curious and hard the next morning, as if our long night together had only been a moment instead of hours of playing.

“Me?” she scoffed. “What you mean is you want another worry free night of fucking a woman who is up for anything.” She tried to duck away.

I stopped her, pulled my arms in around her and yanked her against my chest. “No, Esme. Seeing you the other night at Rusty’s after months of having you on my mind, it hit me. I was just happy to see you again.You.It felt like you’d been missing.”

She remained stiff but stopped trying to escape. She was breathing as hard as I was when she grabbed my face and kissed me. Frantically. Lips that opened and a tongue that demanded my attention. I did exactly as I’d imagined, taking her by the hips and lifting. Those gorgeous legs wrapped around my waist and she ground against me. She arched, giving me her neck to kiss and suck as my cock grew hard.

“Please Leo.” Her nails dug into my shoulders as she writhed, eyes screwed shut, hands trembling.


Articles you may like