“What are you waiting for?” she murmured, already breathless when the only part of her he’d touched so far were her fingers to steady her.
“Permission.”
“For the love of…” She reached up with her free hand and grabbed him around the back of the neck, pulling his lips down to hers. If he was opening that door, she sure as hell wasn’t going to give him the chance to close it again. Her rear hit the counter behind her when his body pushed closer. She was amazed when he removed the wine glass from her grasp and placed it in the sink without even breaking the kiss.
Their lips pecked and nipped and nibbled at each other, then his fingers slid up to cup both sides of her face. When she opened her mouth to him, he plunged his tongue inside, stroking hers in a strong yet tender rhythm. Kay raked her nailed down Van’s back, fisting his shirt in both hands to tug it free from the waist of his sweats.
Their lips made a smacking sound when he wrenched his mouth free of hers. She whimpered a protest that turned into a moan when he began to kiss his way along her cheek, to her earlobe and then along her neck.
“Do you know how intoxicating you are? Do you know I’ve thought about kissing you almost constantly since that night?” His words were low, gruff with desire.
“I’m not the one who stopped us,” she retorted, sliding her hands into his waistband to grab his backside. “Oh my god … you’re not wearing any underwear.”
She realized the moment the words left her mouth how silly they sounded. Van chuckled against her shoulder. “I wasn’t exactly expecting company, Kay.”
He groaned when she dug her nails into his ass, pulling his hips into hers. His hands found the buttons of her shirt and began to work them quickly. Once undone, he parted the sides and cupped both of her breasts, pressing so that she arched back against the counter.
Her stomach quivered when he dropped to his knees and peppered kisses to her belly, taking a moment to circle her navel with his tongue. Head back and breath coming in pants, she gripped the edge of the counter to keep herself steady as he began to unbutton her jeans.
The heat of his palms touched her hips, then he teased low, stripping her pants down. Kay lowered her head when he gently took one of her feet, slipping her shoes off one at a time before removing her jeans completely. With the sort of touch that under other circumstances would have made her ticklish, he grazed her skin from her ankles up to her hips again, studying and admiring her legs as he went. The heavy-lidded admiration in his gaze as he looked at her was hypnotic to watch.
“White,” he said, barely above a whisper, and his index finger followed the hem of her silky white panties to her inside thigh before pressing his palm to the heat of her.
Kay moaned, thrusting her hips to his hand. She was wet and aching and desperate for more of him, and when Van began to remove her panties, she knew he wouldn’t disappoint. No sooner were they gone, then he leaned in and ran his tongue into her slit, teasing her most sensitive place.
“Oh, Van, that is so good,” she gritted, opening her legs wider for him and gripping his hair to keep him in just the right spot. She couldn’t help the movement of her hips, rolling them with the movement of his mouth and pressing him into a quicker pace as she got closer and closer. Her toes curled as the world exploded, rushing waves taking hold of her core.
Gasping for air, she took a moment to catch her breath. When Van came back up to stand, she plunged a hand into his sweats and took hold of his erection. His groan of pleasure made her smile.
“Wait,” he said, his voice like gravel.
“No, no waiting. I want to make love with you, Van. Please…”
He stepped back from her, but extended an arm so that he could caress her lips with his thumb. She turned her head and nipped at his palm. “Christ, Kay.” He reached up over his shoulder and grabbed his T-shirt, yanking it over his head and dropping it on the floor. “I’m damn sure going to make love to you. But stay right there.”
She stood alone for a moment, her mind so cloudy from the lingering effects of her climax that she couldn’t quite figure what to do with herself. Her body was still thrumming with desire. She let her shirt slip down her arms, then lifted her hands to her breasts. She palmed them both, drawing them together and imagining his hands doing the same thing.
“Take off your bra, Kay,” Van told her, coming back into the kitchen, pulling down his sweats and kicking them aside. She reached behind her back to unhook the clasps, but her eyes were riveted on him as he opened the package and slipped on a condom. His eyes rose to look at her again, “You are so gorgeous. I know I should probably take you to my bedroom, but I’ve been watching you make your way around my kitchen all evening, and the idea of taking you in here is so damned sexy.”
She was sure she felt a blush creep into her cheeks, but she didn’t have time to worry about that because he was there in front of her, lips and body crushing her all at once. When his hands cupped her backside, she let him take her weight and she lifted her legs to wrap around his waist. Then she reached a hand down to guide him to her entrance. He drove into her hard, and she cried out in pleasure.
Her head dropped back, and his teeth grazed along her throat in sexy up and down motions, all the while he rolled and ground his hips to hers. “Yes, oh yes, baby. God, I’ve needed you.” He panted, stroking her faster and harder against the kitchen counter. One of his hands abandoned her backside and slid up her side to cup her breast, kneading and then tweaking her nipple into a hard sensitive pebble.
“Kiss me. Don’t ever stop kissing me,” she pleaded, locking her ankles behind his back and searching eyes-closed for his mouth. His lips found her, tongue mating with hers. Then his body shook, and he groaned into her mouth as he came. Kay put her hand between her legs to bring herself to completion even as he pumped against her one last time, finishing his release.
Kay was circling a finger along his chest lazily, her head cuddled into the crook of his arm. He tucked the blankets up over her some more, not because she seemed cold, but just because he enjoyed the idea of cradling her in warmth. One of his legs was dangling over the edge of his bed, uncovered. When she’d insisted there were enough blankets for both of them, he’d confessed that he generally slept that way. One leg in and one leg out.
It was a weird little fact about himself he’d never once told anyone.
“So it was sort of like a cotillion then?” he asked, interrupting as she described her debutante season in Durma.
“Hmm … sort of. Only it lasts for months, with parties and balls and dances several days a week. Thinking on it now, I can’t believe I had the stamina for it.” She flexed her feet back and forth under the cover, rubbing them against his leg.
“Yeah, I know.”
She scrambled to sit up and look at him, a wry smile on her face. “How would you know? I can’t imagine you at a cotillion.”
Van rolled his head to bury it deeper into his pillow. “I’ll have to take you to the Tyler Rose Festival sometime. Or the Gilmer Yamboree. Or the Palestine Dogwood Festival. Any of the fabulous East Texas fairs. You’ll be impressed.”
Kay giggled and settled back in against him. “You don’t strike me as the fair sort of guy.”
“Ha!” He had his eyes closed now, not really dozing, but just relaxing in the moment. “Tell that to my mother. She didn’t have a girl, so the next best thing was to provide her son for escort duty. I became a pro at it.”
“I’d like to have seen that.”
“So tell me about your Season.”
She shrugged her shoulder. “It didn’t end well. I caused a scene one night. Some of the guys pulled a prank on a woman who had sponsored me. I … I may have tossed punch into my date’s face.”
Van laughed, pulling her closer with the arm around her shoulder. “I’d like to have seen that.”
She giggled, but then turned still in his arms. Her shoulders tensed. “Mom and Dad had an argument that night. Momma was really angry. Things had bee
n strained between them for a long time, since my childhood. And she’d insisted on us taking that trip to Durma for my Season. She wanted me to make a good marriage, but she blamed Daddy for my willfulness. Jeremy said he thought she was always afraid I’d turn out like Aunt Iggie.”
“Aunt Iggie? And I thought my aunts had funny names.”
“Oh, short for Agnes. She disappeared when I was just a baby. So anyway, Daddy came back to America, and Momma and I stayed to finish the Season.”
“What happened to your good marriage?”
“Fate perhaps?” He felt her smile into his chest. “There was one guy, one I might have considered, but Daddy had an accident, so Momma and I came home. Once I was back here, I remembered I wanted to go to college and build a career before a family. And Momma was so busy taking care of Daddy that she didn’t seem to notice.”
Van’s hair made a rustling sound against the pillow as he nodded his head in understanding. He shifted, bringing a hand up to caress her neck. “Sometimes life just takes its own path. So why the need to tell this story?”
She curled her head to kiss his hand, then leaned up so that she could face him. “An explanation maybe. And part of my apology. I still don’t like that Mrs. Faucett’s boys are back in that house, but I shouldn’t have flown off the handle like that. I appreciate that you didn’t send me packing.”
Van looked into her blue eyes and studied her. He could just imagine her willfulness very often centered around protecting someone else. He’d sensed it in her nature, but the story of the ball was further verification. It was hard to blame a person for that sort of selflessness.
“Are you okay with this?”
He was just reaching up to comb her hair back from her face when she asked him those words. He stopped, leaning in and kissed her forehead. “If you mean do I regret us ending up in bed together, no. Unequivocally no. But we need to be honest about this. You just finished telling me a story that ended with you following your dream of a career.”
“You first.”
“First what?”
Kay laughed and the sound warmed a place low in his belly. The way she licked her lips made that warmth turn to rising heat even lower.
“First to be honest. Tell me how you feel about this.”
“Ah, okay.” He put his hands on the mattress and pushed himself up so that he was sitting. Her hand brushed his partial erection, and he sucked in a breath. She didn’t seem to notice as she was rearranging the blankets up over her breasts. “The truth is that I’ve admired you for a long time, Kay. I think you’re an exceptionally sharp woman, and I think you have options before you that you probably haven’t even considered. I’m proud that I had you in my classes and that you’ve come to be such an integral part of our firm and that I saw that potential. But over the last several months, it’s been all I could do to keep my hands off of you. I’ve spent many a night here in this bed imagining you in it.”
“Hmm…” She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at him. “And yet you shot me down.”
He groaned and rolled his head back and forth. “Damn, that almost killed me.”
“My turn,” she said with a coy smile. “I thought you were sexy the day you locked me out of class. I thought you were out of my league though. Oh, I know I’m good-looking enough, but I figured you would take me for some girl just playing games by trying to sleep with her teacher or boss. I wanted you to see me for more than that. I came here tonight because I didn’t want you to have a bad opinion of me. I made love with you because I wanted to. And I’m in this bed with you because I want this to be more than just this night.”
Vulnerability shone in the way her eyes darted back and forth to her hands as she spoke. She took a moment, breathing in deep as if contemplating whether she should say more. After a time, her eyes returned to his, and he knew that he had never seen anything more ravishing than Kay looking at him like that. Her blonde locks were mussed, her cheeks blushing and there was affection in her eyes that he couldn’t quite call love, but that perhaps was the beginning of it.
Van reached out a hand to crook behind her neck and pulled her close for a kiss. Withdrawing just enough to look down at her, he spoke. “I want this to be more, too. We should be careful though, at least as far as letting people know. I’m not ashamed of this, Kay, but the other partners won’t be thrilled with it. And the staff won’t look at you the same if they know.”
“So does that mean we’re confined to meeting up here in your house, then?” she grinned, nipping his lips.
He considered that and then shook his head. “No. I think I’d like to take you on a real date. I am after all nearly a professional escort for lovely debutantes.”
“Well, I’m not quite a debutante anymore. Do you want to come with me to Thomas’ New Year’s Eve party?”
“Uhm, no. I don’t believe so. First, I promised Mom I’d go help her with some work at the house. I haven’t done as much lately as I should have. But second, and most importantly … I don’t think I have the wherewithal to be in the same room with Thomas without doing something I shouldn’t.”
“Now, Mr. Van Buren, be careful or you’ll sound a bit willful.”
Before she could say anything else, he took her by the shoulders and swung her over onto her back, his body pressing hard against hers. Her lips opened with a gasp and his mouth swooped in, kissing away any other thoughts of discussion either one of them might have had.
Kay decided she needed a partner for the New Year’s Eve party, and Tamara was more than a little excited about the invite. When they walked into the hotel ballroom, the woman’s mouth dropped open in wonder, and she twirled in circles to take it all in. This wasn’t the first of these parties Kay had attended, so she wasn’t nearly as impressed.
“Geez, Kay. This is like, wow. Awesome. This has got to be a corporate sponsored thing. I mean, people don’t do this, do they?”
Kay dropped her head to the side and grinned. “People like Thomas do. Or rather, his parents do to keep people like Thomas happy.”
“He must be loaded,” Tamara breathed.
“I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it. Here he comes now.”
Thomas stalked over to them, head high and cocky. He looked nice, dressed in a black tuxedo, his hair slicked back. When he got to them, he leaned in to hug her, pecking her on the cheek.
“This is my friend, Tamara. She’s been anxious to meet you.” Kay put her hand to the other woman’s elbow and motioned her forward to meet him.
“A pleasure,” he said, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips in an exaggerated show of chivalry. “Now c’mon, ladies. Got a table just for you right this way.”
Kay let them go ahead of her, then she scoped out the nearest restroom. Tamara glanced over her shoulder at her, and as women do, they made hand motions to signal their intentions. As soon as she got into the bathroom, Kay fished her phone out of her clutch and tapped to retrieve a message that had come through just as Thomas was being introduced.
Remind me to tell you about Mom’s premonition about you. Have a good time tonight, even if you are with him.
She chuckled and rolled her eyes, blood rushing in her ears with excitement like a school-girl getting a note from her boyfriend.
I brought Tamara to distract Thomas. Have fun with Mom. Can’t wait to hear about the premonition.
By the time she’d finished her business and was washing her hands, the phone vibrated again.
I miss you. The taste of you. The feel of you.
A shiver of delight moved down her spin, heat centering between her legs at the mere suggestion of their lovemaking. She clenched that spot tight as she squeezed her legs together.
Don’t make me too desperate. There are a lot of eligible men here who might want to take me home.
Sitting down in one of the plush chairs just past the bathroom stalls, she waited for his response, repeatedly hitting the button to keep the screen awake.
You are a tease, Mi
ss Rawley. If you go home with any of them I’ll find out. Remember, Tamara works for me.
Before she could tap a response, a second message popped up.
Have a good time. I’ll see you soon.
When she got back to the party, Tamara rushed her with flushed cheeks. “They have goodie bags. This is real Tiffany!” she held up a little silver bracelet with a heart on it. “My sister is gonna freak!”
Kay looped her arm through Tamara’s and walked her toward the door prize table. “Tell you what, let’s get my bag, and you can give her my bracelet.”
“No!” she objected, though there was a glint of excitement in her eyes. “I couldn’t do that.”
Chuckling, Kay grabbed one of the bags. “Remember, I come to these things every year. It’s no biggie for me.”
Tamara took the offering and clutched it to her chest like a prized possession. “Thanks, Kay. I really appreciate it. Trisha’s just gonna die when I tell her.”
They made their way to the table Thomas had shown Tamara and ordered a few drinks. While they waited, her friend took out her cell phone and snapped a few pictures, texting them to her sibling.
“Hey, you gorgeous gals, no sitting down. The bass is thumping, and it’s time to start dancing.” Thomas approached the table, gyrating his hips with a swaggering grin.
Tamara practically leaped from her seat, while Kay carefully put her hand to the table and lifted herself up. She let the other two go ahead onto the dance floor, following a ways back. Giving into the beat of the music, she began to dance. Tamara seemed to be taking a definite interest in Thomas, which made it easy for Kay not to find herself in the awkward position of gyrating too close to him. When a slow song began to play, she quickly exited the dance floor and hoped he would take Tamara into his arms.
By the time she reached the table and grabbed up her drink, the other two were moving back and forth gracefully. She watched Tamara’s head tilt back as she laughed, and Kay smiled, hopeful. The couple came back to the table a few minutes later, chatting amicably.
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