“You need to work on your poker face,” he whispered, loving how she shifted under his attention.
She took a step back, just enough to make his chest tighten. “I’m just wondering what else you were hoping for?”
He closed the distance, backing her into the wall.
“You know what I’m talking about. Did you really invite me in for food?”
Jamie took a slow step closer. The whip hung in his hand, the tip grazing her arm as he moved in.
Her eyes flickered down to it.
“That’s not a toy, Jamie,” she teased, her lips curling. “You could hurt someone with it.”
Jamie’s lips quirked. “Maybe I want to play with it.”
The words hung in the air, heavy with meaning. Shannon’s chest rose and fell as she inhaled, her pupils dilated.
She held his gaze for a beat, lips still curved in a playful smile, before her eyes darted to the whip, then back at him.
She took another step, closing the distance further. Her hand brushed his chest, just a touch, enough to send a spark through him.
“You’re impatient,” she said. “What if I make you wait until you’ve eaten?”
Jamie took in her hesitation, his lips curling into a small, predatory smile. “Oh, I have patience, love. The question is, do you?”
He held her gaze, waiting for her to break. She didn’t, but the air between them grew hotter.
“However, the longer you make me wait, the more you’ll regret it,” he added.
She didn’t back away this time. Instead, she tilted her head, the teasing smirk still playing on her lips. “Regret it how, exactly?”
His hand moved to the side of her face, his thumb brushing her jaw. “Test me and you’ll find out.”
As her lips parted and a little gasp broke free, he let his fingertips skate from her shoulder down her arm, the touch light but purposeful, sparking a jolt of heat between them.
“Tell me, Shannon,” he murmured, his voice laced with something darker, “do you want to stop now?”
She was close enough that every breath, every movement, seemed to draw him in deeper.
He could see the raw hunger in her eyes shining with that same intensity that had been pulling him in all along. It made his own desire burn hotter.
She opened her mouth, caught between a teasing challenge and a reluctant admission, and damn if it didn’t drive him wild.
“I think you’re too used to getting what you want.” She ran her nails over his chest.
He swallowed, watching her, enjoying every second of this game she was trying to play. Every second she made him wait, every moment she made himworkfor it, his pulse thrummed, knowing exactly how it would turn out for her.
He could hold out. For now. It was what made the whole thing with her so thrilling.
“Is that so?” he asked, his voice rough as he bumped his body closer, his groin pressing against her belly.
“I only offered you food.”
“And that’s all youwant to give me?”
She chewed the edge of her lip, her gaze flicking up to meet his.
“Isn’t that enough?” Her voice carried just the right mix of challenge and curiosity, as if testing how much further he would push.
