Alicia tucked a single stray hair behind her ear. “Know what?”
“If having you again would sate my hunger, or make me even crazier for you.”
Taut and restless, the air between them grew warmer with every breath they exuded. Candlelight flickered. More lights shut off in the office buildings beyond the windows. Cars continued to pass on the avenues below, but Alicia was no longer interested in determining where they were going. She was too busy living in the here and now. The here, thenowwhere Danica Moreau confessed to being mad for her.
“Well?” Alicia’s voice was so weak that she barely heard herself speak. “You must be still hungry if you’ve invited me out for dinner.”
“So insatiable that I can’t stand to look at this food.” Danica shoved aside her plate, still half full of food. It teetered at the edge of the table. Alicia’s instincts told her to catch it before it splattered all over the floor for some poor employee to clean up.I know the type of people who have to clean up those messes. If she dared, then her value would only decrease in Alicia’s eyes.
She did not dare. The plate stopped teetering. Danica never stopped staring.
“I want you, Alicia,” she said, a growl purring in her throat. “I want you tonight. I want you tomorrow night. If I could have you every night next week, I would be the most contented woman in the world. I don’t know what it is about you, but you fill me with desires I haven’t fully explored in a long time. No woman has been worth my time until you.”
There she went, talking about her precious time again.
“Give it more time,” Alicia said. “You’ll get sick of me eventually.”
“That’s what I thought too. But…” Danica snatched Alicia’s hand, almost knocking over one of the candles.First food, now a fire?“There are three things my father made sure to teach me in my life. I’ve taken every single one to heart.”
Alicia did not want to think about Russell Moreau. “What’s that?”
“Number one,” Danica’s fingers slipped between Alicia’s knuckles. Her grip was so firm, so controlling that Alicia fell beneath a prickling spell even though Danica barely touched her. “Always do what’s right for the business. That’s why I went to Princeton and studied so hard. I wanted to be prepared to take over the company at any moment necessary.”
“Number two?”
“Number two, yes. Always do what’s right for the family.” She took a deep, satisfying breath. “Self-explanatory.”
Alicia didn’t ask about number three. She was too busy feeling that grip tighten. The way she could be tightened around all of her.What’s it really like to be pinned beneath this woman? What’s it really like to make love to her?Their previous encounters didn’t count. That was sex. Or so she had thought.
“Number three.” Were they having sex right now? Because Alicia very much felt like the woman was thrusting between her legs. Even though they were clamped shut. Even though Danica sat on the other side of this table. “When you find the perfect one to share your life with, you’ll know.”
Alicia lived betwixt two worlds, including the one that told her this was the most terribly romantic thing ever told.Imagine that!The woman of her supposed dreams declared that she already knew Alicia was her soul mate!
Then there was the other world.
The rational world. In no way, shape, or form was this woman serious. It was either an elaborate hoax, or Danica was out of her fucking mind.
Alicia thought she had an idea which one it was.
“There’s only one thing I want to find out first, Alicia.” Danica’s fingers released Alicia’s hand, raising to touch her cheek. So tender. So soft. So full of anticipation, desire, and something dark and dirty. Alicia shivered. Arousal? Fear? God,she had no idea! “It’s a very delicate matter. Will you hear me out?”
She said the first thing that appeared in her mind. “You need a surrogate, huh? Well, my genes aren’t so bad, I guess.”
“Not quite. Or at least, not yet. That can wait a while, still.” Danica actually took her seriously? “No, it has to do with something that will determine our compatibility.”
A million thoughts swarmed Alicia’s head, but at least she had the good mind to not vocalize them. She had to be the right religion. She had to be a natural blonde. She had to be tested for fertility. She had to be willing to live in the depths of Danica’s big fucking mansion, never to be seen again, like the good little mistress.
One of those things was pretty close.
“I don’t just want a wife eventually, Ms. Colbert.” They were back to that, and it was dead sexy. “I want a woman who can fulfill my every fantasy and give me everything I need and want. In return? I want to offer the same thing to her. That is the only way I could be truly happy in a lifelong relationship of such strength.”
Alicia waited for it. She even knew what she was waiting for. She had worked for that sordid club of rich depravity for a day, after all. It was enough to know.
“I hope you’re into BDSM.”
Chapter 11
Alicia had no idea how to respond to that.
