Caramel Kisses

by TJ Michaels

  Sydni’s protests morphed into needy little whimpers when Drew proceeded to snatch the objection right out of her head with a kiss hot enough to make the nail polish on her toes liquefy. When he broke away, she was sucking wind, trying not to squirm from the zing shooting down between her thighs. It was enough to set her ablaze, make her want nothing more than the fulfillment of those endless kisses he’d finagled out of her.

  “Dinner?” he suggested between nibbles and nips. Then he returned to his starting point, tasting her lip gloss in between short, panty breaths—mainly her short panty breaths..

  Dinner? Why? They’d just had lunch. Besides, why bother with dinner when she could simply eat him up in four, well maybe six, big delicious bites. And Drew knew just how to work her. Knew which buttons to push. Knew how to make her want more of the sensuous mouth driving her wild.

  Something dinged in the back of her mind. Duh—the elevator sounded for each floor it passed. Still, a few more levels to go. Plenty of time for her to chase his tongue from one edge of his yummy mouth to the other. All she needed was one more kiss. Yes, one more should do it. Wait, another. And another.

  God, the feel, the taste of his lips on hers was like caramel and vanilla heaven. The arms wrapped around her body were unyielding, strong, made her feel safe and secure, yet so unsteady it was downright disconcerting—as if the elevator plunged straight down instead of heading up to the eighteenth floor.

  This man who touched her so tenderly, yet boldly, made her feel more alive than she had in years, almost as if she were outside of herself. Suddenly the warmth of his body eased away. The spell entwined around her senses dissipated. Well, sort of.

  Sydni’s eyes remained closed, arms looped around his neck. Good gracious, get a-hold of yourself, Sydni. It’s just a kiss and he’s just a man. Right?

  “Syd?”

  “Huh?” Were those her words whooshing around like that?

  “Dinner tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up at seven sharp.”

  She was still trying to catch up to her lungs when the elevator doors slid open with a hiss. Drew shooed her out of the small space and out into the reception area. Gray eyes sparkled as the man watched her watching him through the shrinking space of the closing doors.

  “Ms. Cannes, everything okay?”

  Twirling around toward the voice, Sydni swallowed a surprised gasp at the knowing look on the receptionist’s face. Pulling her wits about her, she nodded to the woman then marched down the hall to her private suite of offices wondering how Drew managed to roll right over her and get exactly what he wanted. And how in the world would she keep him from doing it again on their date tomorrow night? More importantly, did she even want to?

  Drew headed out early, glanced at Sydni’s car parked on the executive level as he passed by and recalled how she felt in his arms. During their cozy lunch this afternoon, the woman’s nearness crawled underneath his skin and wiggled until there was no way he could resist kissing her. Thank god for winning that bet. She’d probably fall out if she knew he’d totally guessed the answer while his gut danced around with nervousness at the possibility of him guessing wrong.

  Planning out his next moves with Sydni in his head, Drew headed straight to the shopping district, pulled into a swanky shop on designer row. Parking quickly he jumped out of his car. The receptionist, a pleasingly plump, gray haired woman dressed to the nines, greeted him as he entered the glass double doors of the establishment.

  “Hi, Landy,” he called with a wave.

  “Hi yourself, handsome. Go on back. She’s expecting you.”

  “Thanks.”

  The flirt blew him a kiss followed by a chuckle as he sent her one right back. After slipping into the new set of duds laid out in his personal dressing room, Drew headed into the fitting salon where Charli waited.

  “So how was lunch?” Charli asked in a sing-song voice.

  She tucked a few pins into the cuffs of the pants he wore then folded them under.

  “It was interesting. Your sister is going to be a tough catch. Stubborn.”

  Charli laughed heartily. “You have no idea. You up to the task?”

  “Are you kidding me? I’ve been waiting for a chance like this since I saw her the first time at that soiree she threw for you when you launched the new business. I’m up to it, all right, Charli.”

  “Yep, my sister is as stubborn as a free-born mule. She’s also convinced that all she needs is work, work, work.” Charli left out the part about Sydni thinking Drew was simply too young for her. The man would just have to figure that one out on his own. And if Charli knew her handsome friend, he was exactly what Sydni needed—a man as stubborn and self-assured as herself. Charli bit the inside of her cheek to keep from cackling. God, she couldn’t wait to see the fireworks when these two got together. Sydni wouldn’t know what hit her! Hee hee! But there was one thing she needed to say first.

  “Look, Drew, I know you’ve been bugging me for a long time to hook you up with my big sis. But in all honesty, the reason I didn’t was because I’ve known you for years and I’m more than aware of the kind of women you’re typically seen with.”

  Charli knew she had his attention when he stopped fidgeting with the waistband she was adjusting and went completely still.

  “The kind of women I’m usually seen with? What do you mean, Charli?”

  “I mean they’re usually petite little perky blondes several years younger than the both of us. And my sister is anything but. I wasn’t sure you were serious before.”

  “And now?” he asked, carefully, guarded.

  “You’ve been bugging the hell out of me since you started working at the same company as her. All you talk about when we get together is Sydni. You ask about her. Wonder about her. Guess about her. And it seems you haven’t dated in awhile. So I figured perhaps you were really serious.”

  “Hell, now that I see her all the time, all I can think about is her. I know she’s not the type of woman I usually date, but I don’t give a shit. I want her.”

  “For how long?” Charli asked pointedly.

  “As long as she’ll have me. The problem is getting her to the “have me” stage. I had to trick her into letting me stick around. Now I’ve got to figure out a way to keep her.”

  “Why her, Drew? I mean, why Syd? And if you tell me you’ve got a sudden thing for black women I’m going to kick your ass,” Charli quipped.

  “Everything about Syd, Charli.” With that, heedless of the pins stuck in various places of his pants, he stepped down off the tailoring block and sat down in the nearest chair. Charli didn’t think she’d ever seen Drew look more intense. Not even when they took the bar exam together.

  “Charli, I swear, this isn’t a simple fling for me. I’m old enough to know when someone has snagged my attention. Sydni not only snags it, she holds it. It was bad enough when I saw her at various functions with you. But now that I see her every day I find myself trying to run into her just so I can see her smile. To watch her walk. To hear her talk. To hear her speak with such confidence to her peers, then listen to her crack a corny joke and show her non-executive side. I don’t even care which direction she’s going and I’m trying to find a reason to follow her there. Her skin is perfect, flawless, smooth like Dove chocolate. Her hair is always pulled up into a classy knot on top of her head. I’d love to take it down and roll her long locs around my wrist and…ouch!”

  Charli stuck him with a pin. “Okay, okay! More information than I needed to know, damn it!” she interrupted with a loud hearty laugh. “Now get your butt back up on the block so I can finish these pants and go take a cold shower.”

  Drew rubbed his thigh where she’d poked him, then hopped back up on the tailoring block.

  “So where are you two going for your first dinner date?” Charli inquired.

  “The Blue Ginger.”

  “Oooh, smart man. Nothing like Japanese gourmet to charm my sister.”

  “Then we’ll take a little walk
in the arboretum under the moonlight. Hell, I’ve even checked the weather to make sure it’ll be clear skies. And this time I managed to talk her into letting me pick her up.”

  “Why?” Charli wondered aloud.

  “Because then I’ll have to take her home. She’ll either kiss me at the door or let me in to play.”

  They shared conspiratorial grins when Charli said, “You are a bad boy, Drew, and you don’t play fair.”

  “Yeah I am, and no I don’t.”

  Chapter Six

  She’d been running on simmer since Drew picked her up this evening. The ambience of the restaurant he’d chosen would have been perfect if not for the butterflies that accompanied her main course. As Sydni enjoyed a traditional donburi pot, her stomach danced all over the place. And she almost lost a chopstick when Drew grinned up at her while he poured her another glass of wine. The man was dressed in a classy and elegant pair of navy blue trousers with a black long sleeved summer knit sweater. His dark hair was freshly cut and Sydni found herself wishing he’d left a bit more on the sides for her to run her fingers through. After all, she’d already agreed that they were in the “getting to know you” stage and Drew would kiss her later.

  She wondered aloud at the golden hue of his skin. He answered without hesitation.

  “My family is Sicilian on my father’s side. My mother’s family is from Spain. So we’ve all got the dark features. Hair, eyes, skin, the works.”

  And Sydni thought he was damn fine. She still couldn’t believe she was sitting here with a man like Drew when she really should be at home working. Then the thought morphed into another one – working for what? Sure, she enjoyed her job, but it wasn’t like she got brownie points for working herself to the bone. Hell, most folks didn’t even know she spent most of her weekends pouring over numbers and putting together deals and proposals.

  The truth of it? She was tired of dating men who thought it was normal to fuck her with their dress socks on—to stuffy to lay it on her the way she liked it. So full of themselves yet threatened by her, though she was a caring and giving person who could care less what they did for a living. They had no ambition, no drive. Were simply satisfied with the mediocre, yet tired of her quickly when they learned she’d risen higher in the ranks and made more money than they did. Or when they came over to dinner and acted like they couldn’t touch anything because she lived in a better neighborhood than they did. Sydni was tired of landing idiots who felt they had to compete with her in order to love her. Or jackasses who felt they had to leave her for someone younger, women who were still making their way. So her solution had been to stop being bothered with them at all.

  But Drew knew all these things about her and still wanted her? And speaking of age, their latest movie trivia question hit it dead on. The question—name the sixty-five year old actor who just had a child by his thirty-five-year-old wife. It made her teeth grate.

  “Movie stars seem to do it all the time. I could name five actors off the top of my head that are dating or married to women twenty years their junior, or more,” Sydni said as she looked up from her donburi pot. Her gaze went immediately to the working of Drew’s throat as he took a sip of golden plum wine. She wasn’t sure what was more potent, the drink or the man.

  “You have something against younger lovers? I sense a story there,” Drew said with a lazy, coaxing smile.

  “Hmm, let me see,” she snorted, one finger tapping her chin while her gaze rolled up to the ceiling. The perfect sarcastic pose. “My ex left me for a little pixie faced, barely blonde, loud mouthed chicklet almost fifteen years younger than me because I wasn’t gullible and easily controlled. Well, he can have it. As for me, I don’t date kids.”

  “Well, what do you consider a kid?”

  Sydni suddenly felt like she was being backed into a corner, but for the life of her she couldn’t stop her mouth from running.

  “I think a man who goes for a woman fifteen years his junior is a damn lecher,” she swore resolutely.

  “Well, I’m in luck.” At her tilted expression of confusion, Drew chuckled and said, “I’m only eight years younger than you, so that takes me firmly out of the kid category, and removes you from the lecher group.”

  Huh? Wait a minute. He hadn’t been talking about male etiquette in dating younger women, but her stance on dating younger men? Holy shit! Smooth was the only word for him. But smooth didn’t mean serious.

  “Are you kidding me? You? And me?”

  “Why not?” he replied, reaching across the table to take her by the hand. His index finger traced along her knuckles. Her gaze followed the manicured tips across her skin, imagined him traipsing those fingers along…Aw hell.

  Back the hell up and focus, woman.

  Forcing the sensual haze from her mind, Sydni left her hand in his but finally managed to pry her eyes away from his long, strong fingers. She met his gaze and the breath caught in her esophagus. The man’s eyes pinned her with a predatory stare that made his beautiful gray eyes look like chipped ice. Not cold, but unyielding.

  “But why me, Drew? I mean, look at you. You’re brilliant, way manly gorgeous. And you even seem to have a pretty cool personality. What the hell could you possibly want with me?”

  Drew scooted out of the booth, helped her up and led her toward the exit.

  “Wait, the bill…”

  “Already taken care of, beautiful. Come with me.”

  “To where,” she gasped, making her high heels move faster as he towed her out the door.

  “For a walk so I can answer your question in some semblance of privacy.”

  “What question?” Oh god, she was approaching delirious if she couldn’t even remember what she’d asked him not three minutes ago.

  “You asked why you. And I’m going to answer you. Thoroughly.”

  Oh. My. God. The man sucked all the air out of the sky and all the strength out of her typically stubborn resolve.

  Next thing Sydni knew they were walking through the arboretum across the street from the restaurant. She knew this place intimately and the particular path he drew her down led to the middle of some lovely Japanese gardens with a bridge that stretched over a slow moving stream that reflected the glow of a full moon.

  Oh-ho-ho the man was good and had no doubt planned this romantic interlude. And she’d stepped right into it and sank feet first.

  “I’ve been wanting to meet you since Charli’s big grand opening bash to christen her new designer tailor shop. I told you that before.”

  Crowding her against the railing, he planted a hand on either side of her hips, holding onto the metal and effectively caging her in.

  But strangely, Sydni didn’t feel trapped. She felt damn horny.

  “Y-yes. I remember you saying that?”

  He leaned closer.

  “But I hadn’t mentioned that I’ve been somewhat fascinated with you since the first time I saw you, and every time since then. Including every college function you accompanied Charli to. Every award ceremony. Her graduation. The celebration of her passing the bar exam.”

  So, uh, why hadn’t she noticed him at any of those things? The answer—Charli had been the focus of her world. Charli and building her career. But now Charli was doing just fine and her career? Well, it was just fine too.

  “But why? Why have you wanted to meet me?” She just had to know.

  “Other than the fact that you’re a beautiful woman, I want you for the same reasons you find me attractive, Sydni. You’re classy. Solid and steadfast. Strong but feminine. In a word, perfect.”

  Then his lips were moving over hers. And god, could the man kiss. No guy this young should have such skill with his mouth. It made her wonder what else he was good at.

  Her barely audible gasp must have been encouraging, because Drew had the nerve—god, she loved nerves—to deepen the kiss and press his body flush with hers. Oooh! The light bulb went on in her head. No wonder his perfectly fit trousers never showed evidence of what kind
of package he carried. The man wore a cup! And whatever hid underneath it was dying to get out.

  Did she really want to find out? Her body screamed “Yes!” but her common sense was having a problem. She’d just turned forty-two years old. What the hell was she doing out on a date with a man eight years younger?

  Having fun, is what you’re doing.

  “Oh shut up,” she muttered.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Not you, Drew. I’m talking to my damn conscience.”

  “Why? Is it telling you to drop your guard just a little bit and allow me a chance to make you happy?” He dropped a kiss into the hollow of her throat. “If it is, you should listen to it.”

  Strong teeth nipped the tendon between neck and shoulder, then sucked lightly on what happened to be a sweet spot. Sydni yelped then sighed, her arms slipping up and around his neck. His warm breath felt so good against her skin. His lips, even better.

  “Mmm…”

  “So, is that a yes, beautiful?” he whispered against her ear, taking advantage of the tilt of her head.

  Oh god, yes. At her barely perceptible nod, he said, “Trust me, Syd, you won’t regret it,” then backed off just a little. Sydni was sure he’d meant to be reassuring by putting a bit of space between their bodies, but the mischief in his eyes belied the easy grace with which he moved. Boy, she was in so much trouble.

  He held out a strong hand and waited for her to wrap her fingers around his. Then, hand in hand they continued across the bridge and along the boardwalk into god-knows-what.

  * * * * *

  After a car trip filled with lively music and even livelier conversation about the remakes of her favorite songs, Drew and Sydni strolled to her front door. And Sydni’s feet were suddenly as cold at the Arctic Circle. She put her key in the lock but couldn’t bring herself to turn around and face her new lover…whom she had yet to make love with.

  There was no denying the serious chemistry between them. Well, she could deny it but that wouldn’t make it go away. But out of control was never a feeling Sydni enjoyed, so it was time to grab the reins and pull this horse to a stop. Only, she couldn’t quite face the man that she wanted to ride into oblivion.