Asking for Andre

by Minx Malone

  “Oh, you were dating Mya?” Casey hoped the tremor in her voice wasn’t as obvious to him as it was to her.

  “No. He just thought I was. That was bad enough, believe me.” His eyes fixed on her face. “So it’ll just be the two of us. Disappointed?”

  Casey placed a hand self-consciously over her exposed cleavage. The movement drew his attention there and she watched as his pupils widened before he ripped his gaze back to her face.

  “Of course not. I’m always happy to talk to you, Mr. Lavin.”

  He grimaced and clenched his fists at his sides. “Don’t call me that. Please.” The last word was less of a command and more of a plea. “Call me Andre. We’re not in the office. There’s no need to be formal.”

  Casey stared at him for a long moment. He was behaving so strangely. She had a hard time believing it really mattered to him one way or the other what she called him.

  “Okay. Andre.” Just saying his name brought a rush of heat to her cheeks. Her heartbeat stuttered and began to beat double time.

  “Let me get you a drink.” He motioned one of the circulating waiters over.

  “Oh no, you don’t need to,” Casey sputtered. She’d already had too much as it was. But before she could protest, he plucked another crystal goblet of the sparkling gold liquid from the tray of a passing waiter.

  “Well, I suppose one more can’t hurt.” She would just sip it slowly. Savor it. It would give her something to concentrate on besides how good Andre looked in black tie.

  Casey’d only tasted champagne once before at an impromptu farewell party for a friend back home. She held her glass up to the light, admiring the color. The bubbles seemed to pulse in the soft light of the ballroom chandeliers, rising to the top of the glass in intricate patterns.

  “It’s so beautiful.”

  She heard Andre’s murmured agreement but when she lifted her eyes, she found him observing her, not the glass. He smiled and her heart jumped around in her chest again. She felt as if he could see everything she tried to keep hidden, all the flaws she desperately wanted to conceal. It made her want to find out what he was thinking just as surely as it made her want to run in the other direction.

  “Come. Let’s go outside. I need some air.” Andre motioned for Casey to follow him through the tall double doors leading onto the balcony. He held the door so she could walk ahead of him. They placed their glasses on a small table before they passed through.

  Casey stopped abruptly when she saw how high they stood. She’d never felt comfortable with heights. Tentatively, she touched the wrought iron railing, the only thing keeping them from plunging to the manicured walkway below. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, Andre stood beside her, so close she felt his heat.

  It struck her that their position was incredibly intimate, standing together in the dark with their shoulders brushing. Casey shuddered when Andre moved closer, his leg settling right next to hers, their hips bumping gently. She tried to move a little to her left but found herself next to a large column. She was now trapped between the column and six-feet-plus of hard, Italian male.

  Gulp.

  “I wasn’t sure you would actually come tonight. I know you’re very busy.” Casey sucked in a breath when he turned to face her. This close she saw the varying shades that made up his unusual eye color, darker around the edges blending into a lighter color closer to the pupil.

  “I am busy, yes. But I am learning to make time for what’s important to me.” His eyes didn’t leave hers. After a few charged moments, he turned and stared out over the walkway below. “Life is for living, right?”

  This side of the building was half shadowed, with small sconces at each balcony entrance providing muted illumination. The garden below seemed designed to encourage clandestine meetings and lovers’ trysts. Several couples walked slowly in the moonlight, hand in hand, enjoying the crisp night air. She shivered a little and wished she’d brought a wrap. Andre immediately slipped out of his jacket and hung it on her shoulders. It smelled of him, aftershave and his unique scent. She smiled gratefully up at him.

  The door behind them swung open. A woman, obviously inebriated, stared back at them before giggling and going back in. As the door swung shut, Andre sighed.

  “I’m so weary of this.”

  Casey turned to face him, a question on her face. He smiled ruefully and gestured around them.

  “I used to find inspiration in the people around me, the energy of each city I visited, the sights, the sounds. But for a long time nothing has inspired me. Everything looks the same. No mystery. No excitement.”

  She laughed and crossed her arms. “No mystery or excitement, huh? I didn’t realize I was that boring.”

  He grimaced. “Sorry. That came out wrong. It’s just this whole routine is so…routine.”

  They laughed. Casey studied the beautiful scenery. She couldn’t imagine considering champagne in a five-star hotel as routine. “I suppose you come to a lot of parties like this. Poor baby, your life is so difficult.”

  Shock flickered across his face before a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “I sound like a spoiled brat, huh?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe a little. But I really think you have it all wrong. People may seem predictable sometimes but they’re never boring. People are complicated and fascinating.”

  She gestured over the balcony to the gardens. A couple below was dancing in the middle of the pathway, oblivious to everything around them. “This is a perfect example. Tell me what you see.”

  Andre squinted down at the couple. “I see a couple dancing. I see this at these parties quite often. People get bored and wander off. Growing up, my brother and I were forced to attend many social events. My mother is very concerned with appearances, you see.” He chuckled and sent her a sly look.

  “If she only knew how many of her prim-and-proper friends we caught in compromising situations over the years, she probably wouldn’t have been so insistent that we attend those parties.”

  Casey giggled when he winked. She nodded toward the couple again. “You say they’re a couple but how do you know? Just because they’re dancing together?”

  Andre leaned over and whispered in her ear. “No, I assume because of the way he has his hand on her ass.”

  Casey peered over the railing again and her breath hitched. The man had one hand firmly on the woman’s bottom while the other rubbed slow circles on the skin exposed by the plunging back drape of her gown.

  “I bet she’s really cold,” she quipped. Even as her face heated and she started to turn away, the woman stood on tiptoe and pressed her mouth against her lover’s. She looped an arm behind his head and held him to her, caressing his back, neck and face. Casey couldn’t turn away, their dueling tongues visible even from a distance. They kissed with such passion it embarrassed her to watch.

  She peeked at Andre. He seemed completely at ease observing the other couple’s passion so she strived to seem as unaffected as he.

  “That doesn’t mean they’re a couple. Look at how they touch each other. They’re so desperate. So urgent. Perhaps they’re forbidden lovers. Maybe they haven’t seen each other in a long time and this is their only chance to be together.”

  Andre glanced over at her, obviously amused. “That’s very romantic but I doubt it. It’s more likely they’re just another bored married couple who got tired of socializing.”

  They turned to face each other and Casey instantly knew she’d made a mistake. The sudden movement threw her off balance and she had to grab onto his arms to avoid falling. She molded to him from chest to thigh, every inch of her skin heating at the intimate contact.

  The urge to wrap herself around him and explore the hard muscles under her hands overwhelmed her. If only she could be as bold as the woman below. She could pull up her dress and wrap her legs around his long frame and finally stop wondering what he tasted like.

  As if he heard her thoughts, Andre brushed his lips over her
forehead. Then he froze, awaiting her reaction. She closed her eyes, her mind telling her to do one thing and her body crying out for her to throw herself into his arms. In the end she compromised. She turned her face up to his and licked her lips. That was all the invitation he needed.

  He groaned and swallowed hard. “Tesoro, you don’t know what you do to me.”

  “What does that word mean?” Casey whispered.

  Andre swallowed hard. “It means treasure. My treasure.”

  Before she could process the words he was kissing her, his lips feathering gently over her eyes, her cheeks and then finally, finally her mouth.

  His taste exploded on her tongue, heady like sandalwood, cinnamon and man. She clasped his shirt in her fists and pulled him closer. With a stark, animal sound, his hands settled on her lower back as he kissed her deeper, only breaking apart to take desperate, greedy breaths.

  It was too much at once, too many sensations to process. Casey opened her eyes and the world around her seemed to spin and swirl. She broke away and covered her face with her hands.

  “I am so sorry. I just can’t…” She heard his harsh breathing but he didn’t try to touch her again. He probably wondered what her problem was. She couldn’t tell him because she didn’t know herself.

  “You don’t have to apologize. I shouldn’t have been so rough. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  Casey regarded him thoughtfully. He thought he’d been too rough? She shook her head slowly. “You weren’t rough at all. I’m just not very good at this.”

  Anya thought she needed to have a fling, but she didn’t even know how to approach a man. It wasn’t the kind of thing easily learned either.

  Maybe Anya could give me remedial love lessons. Seduction 101.

  “Love lessons?”

  Casey jumped at the soft whisper against her ear. She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud. She bit her lip nervously and he leaned forward at the sight before letting out a rough, grating laugh.

  “If you only knew the things I would love to teach you, piccolina. The things I’ve dreamed of doing to you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Don’t you know how you affect me?” Andre sighed heavily and leaned his head back. “I’ve tried to be discreet with my attentions so I wouldn’t offend you. Even still there are times when it seems you’re avoiding me.”

  Blushing, Casey turned to stare at the people walking on the path below. Anything to avoid looking directly into his eyes. “I didn’t avoid you because I felt offended,” she whispered. “You make me nervous.”

  Andre touched her hair, tentatively. “Truly? Do you feel this same obsession, this longing? Or am I the only one in torment?”

  “Torment? Because of me?” Was this his idea of a joke? A man who could have any woman he wanted didn’t long for the receptionist at his advertising agency.

  “Yes. These past months have been torture. Watching you, wanting you. And now you stand here asking for love lessons.” Andre skimmed a finger over her cheek. “You have only to ask.”

  The husky timbre of his voice skidded along her nerves and her nipples tightened as his finger trailed down her neck and over the swell of her breast. This had to be a dream, a champagne-fueled hallucination. But if this was a dream, Casey figured it couldn’t hurt to ask for one thing.

  “Kiss me.”

  Andre moved so quietly in the dark, his breath warm on her neck as he embraced her. She breathed in deeply, his scent overwhelming her senses. She reacted instinctively, curling against him, pressing against his erection.

  He stilled, the arm around her waist tightening until she couldn’t move. He held her gaze unblinking as he lowered his head and touched his mouth to hers.

  They both sighed at the gentle touch of his lips against hers. He watched her as he brushed against her lips again and then she felt the first tentative stroke of his tongue. She had no chance to feel awkward or nervous. She simply melted, her mouth open against his, her arm wrapping around his neck.

  He lifted her, carrying her behind the column into the shadows. All the while, her hands traveled over the flat planes of his chest to the ropy muscles of his arms which tensed as he clasped her to him. He was hard everywhere, his arms and thighs like steel cages locking her in place. Andre circled her wrists and held her still as his lips glided over her cheek to torment the skin on her throat. He tugged at the thin straps of her dress until they slid over her shoulders, exposing her lacy strapless bra to his view. He pushed the lacy cups down until her breasts popped out. When he took a taut nipple in his mouth, she bit her lip to stifle a wild cry.

  “I want you in my bed, where you won’t have to hide the sounds of your pleasure. I want to hear what my touch does to you.” His lips against her skin sent a chill of sensation through her.

  “I thought you were teaching me about kissing?”she teased. She was on fire, every nerve ending at attention.

  Andre chuckled, a dark husky sound. “Cara mia, I never said I would only kiss your lips.”

  His dark head moved back and forth between the tips of her breasts, alternately sucking and biting on them. She’d never known she could feel these sensations, had never guessed at the force of passion that lay untapped within her. She wanted to crawl out of her skin and all over him. She wanted him inside her and all over her. She never wanted him to stop.

  She panted into the wind as he stopped his attention to her breasts, shifting to hitch up the long skirt of her dress. The material glided over the skin of her thighs, the soft rustle of fabric unbelievably erotic. His hand moved under the material to cup her between her legs. The darker tone of his skin against the pale white of her thighs was raw, animalistic.

  A whimper escaped her lips as he stroked the damp silk at her core. Andre hooked a finger through the edge of the lace and ripped it with a sudden jerk of his arm. She cried out, first in surprise then in pleasure as his fingers met her wetness for the first time, skin to skin.

  “I knew you’d be wet for me. I have to feel you.” One long finger sank deep and she moaned at the decadent sensation.

  There was something primal about being backed up against the wall with one leg cocked over his hip and his hand playing between her legs. He shifted, the base of his palm rubbing directly against her clit. The heat built as he continued to caress her internally, every press of his finger and grind of his palm sending her closer and closer to orgasm. She shifted her hips, unconsciously tilting up with the rhythm of his hand.

  “I didn’t intend for our first lesson to be about the G-spot.” He chuckled softly as she clamped down on his finger when he tried to withdraw.

  “Is that what that is?” she panted. As she felt a second finger slowly working its way next to the first, she cried out and gripped his shirt.

  “You’re so tight, so perfect.” He muttered something in Italian, before capturing her lips in a drugging kiss. “Cara, you make me want.” Control obviously gone, his accent thickened.

  That she caused him to be in that state felt incredibly satisfying, especially when she unzipped his pants and grasped the evidence of his excitement. His length pressed long and thick against her fingers. At her touch, he jerked and his fingers rammed harder inside her. The sudden shocking pleasure brought tears to her eyes.

  “More.”

  Andre pulled back at her tortured whisper. “You like it hard?”

  At her shaky nod, something dark and intense passed over his face. He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a condom, ripping the packet with his teeth. She watched as he rolled it over his cock, her desire building with every breath. Some hazy part of her knew this was a bad idea but she wanted him. Nothing could stop what was coming, not even if the entire party came out on the balcony with them.

  He kissed her again, his tongue invading her mouth and all thought fled. He lifted her easily and angled her back against the wall. Then he drew back and thrust home, the moisture of her arousal easing the way. His gaze captured hers as he fucked her and
despite her embarrassment, she couldn’t turn away. He watched with carnal satisfaction as she accepted every rough thrust, every penetrating glide of his cock through her tender sheath, his eyes soaking up every nuance of her expression.

  Her orgasm surprised her, its heat spreading from her toes, up through her core and radiating out, tingling even the tips of her ears. She looked down to where she stretched open around his cock. The sight ignited a second, smaller orgasm.

  Casey squeezed her eyes shut as her sheath clenched uncontrollably, every spasm leaving a soul-crushing wave of pleasure in its wake. He stiffened beneath her and moaned into her mouth as he came.

  He waited until her shudders subsided before withdrawing. The wet glide of his cock leaving her body sent a jolt through her system. He wrapped the condom in a tissue and put it in his pocket before carefully zipping up his pants.

  “I’ve never felt like this before.” Casey buried her face against his shoulder and tried to catch her breath.

  Andre anchored her face with a strong hand and kissed her again, pulling her up until she was straddling his leg. She bit her lip at the exquisite pressure, every move they made causing her mound to rock against the muscles of his thigh.

  “Cassandra, tell me what you want.”

  Andre inhaled deeply as he tried to slow himself down. He hadn’t ever felt so hot and achy with a woman, hadn’t ever wanted to cherish every inch of her the way he did right now. She was extraordinarily responsive despite her obvious inexperience. When she’d asked for deeper penetration, he had almost come in his pants.

  Despite the spine-numbing orgasm he’d just experienced, he could feel his cock thickening again. Her scent was driving him crazy. He knew they had to stop now before someone saw them but damn if he didn’t care about that now.

  “Tell me what you want.” Andre gripped her slim hips and rocked her against the muscle of his thigh. He teased her unmercifully and continued to stare into her eyes, willing her to answer. He watched as her large, dark eyes drifted closed while she tried to shake her head.