“You were a few minutes late,” she said, secretly delighted by his clarification.
“Yeah.” He smiled. “I rest my case.”
She laughed and settled back in her seat. “Okay, then.”
He started the car. “Glad we’re on the same page.”
“Are we?” She rolled her head to the side to peer at him. She was pretty sure if they compared the passages in their heads there would be few similarities.
“Maybe for this weekend we should be,” he said, his eyes on the road as he hit the gas.
Her stomach dipped at his unexpected proposition. Perhaps he wasn’t so unaffected by their kiss last night. “Maybe we should.” She didn’t know if she could trust herself to take what he offered and leave it at that, but miles away from their normal lives, why not have what she wanted? It was time Cassidy Ware added some fun, new, impulsive pages to her story.
Even if they ended up burning her.
*
After the whole candle and match thing, Nick had changed their dinner reservation for tonight. Romantic hadn’t been his angle, but when he’d inquired with the concierge about the restaurant and been told that yes, there were candles on every table, he’d asked for another recommendation. The concierge had practically jumped up and down with excitement and mentioned dining in the dark. The fixed menu is amazing and the experience one of a kind, she’d said. Since he wasn’t too picky, he agreed with her suggestion. She booked them a table at seven o’clock. He got directions, said thanks, and walked away. “It’s very romantic,” she called after him. “Enjoy!”
He and Sid now stood at the front desk of Ebony, a chic, upscale restaurant where customers dined in complete darkness. He’d heard the concierge say dark, but he’d pictured low, moderate lighting, nothing like this.
The hostess led them to a table with a tiny flashlight in her hand. Sid slipped into the small round booth first. He followed right behind, their hands brushing on the leather seat as he overshot the distance between them. “Your waiter will be right with you,” the hostess said, plunging them in total blackness as she turned to go sans light.
Sid giggled. “I can tell by the look on your face—I mean I could tell a minute ago that this isn’t what you were expecting.”
“No, it’s not. You okay with it?”
“I’m good. This is the perfect date restaurant, you know. Not that we’re on a date. It’s just that now I don’t have to worry about food stuck in my teeth or get embarrassed if I spill something on my sweater.”
A sweater he liked a lot with a deep V-neck that allowed a glimpse of her black lace bra when she moved a certain way. Not that he was fixated on her chest or anything. Too bad his imagination would be the only thing on duty tonight, though, since he couldn’t even see his hand when he lifted it in front of his face.
“Good evening,” a man said, startling both of them. Nick knew this because Sid made a squeaking sound.
“Hi,” Sid said.
“I’m Derek. I’ll be your server for tonight. Welcome to Ebony. Is this your first time dining with us?”
“Yes,” Nick and Sid said.
“Great. A little about tonight, then. Our philosophy here is that without visual stimulation, the pitch black heightens your other senses. You can only feel, taste, and smell.”
“And hear,” Sid piped in.
Derek chuckled. “Right. But we frown on loud chewing and hope you’ll keep your conversation quiet so as not to bother our other customers. We want dinner to be about experiencing the food and each other in a unique and sensual way.”
They weren’t touching, but Nick could swear Sid shivered.
“In other words, feel free to enjoy the meal however you’d like,” Derek continued. “But if you prefer to play it safe, there is silverware on the table. What can I get you two to drink?”
“Just water please,” Sid said.
Nick wanted a shot—or three—but went with Sid’s choice. “Same here.”
“I’ll be back with your waters and first course.”
“I wonder what he looks like,” Sid whispered, leaning close enough for her breath to fan across his cheek. “He has a nice voice.”
Two things struck Nick. One, he didn’t like that she’d noticed their waiter’s voice enough to wonder about him. And two, he wanted to feel her breath ghost along other parts of his anatomy.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he felt around the tabletop, finding a large round plate, eating utensils, cloth napkin, and Sid’s hand.
“Oops. Sorry,” she said. “I was trying to find my place setting.”
“I have a feeling we’ll be bumping into each other a lot, so don’t sweat it.”
“Is that your way of saying you plan to eat off my plate, because I don’t share with just anyone.”
He grinned. “What’s a guy have to do to rank sharing your meal?”
“In this situation, nothing. I won’t know if you take my food or not,” she said easily. Her elbow bumped his side. “Ack. Sorry. I should scoot over.”
“Don’t.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I said don’t worry about it. We’re supposed to be close to get the full experience here.”
She relaxed against his side. “Okay. But I should warn you. I like to eat off other people’s plates, too.”
“With the right incentive, I can be persuaded to share.” Her hair tickled his nose. It smelled like pink grapefruit.
“I’m pretty sure this is going to be a free for all, unless you want to take the civilized route,” she said.
“Civilized?”
“We move apart and use our forks and knives. Put our napkins on our laps. I think we’ve eaten enough meals to go through the motions of eating properly even if we can’t see anything.”
“And uncivilized?”
“I stay right where I am and we don’t follow the rules or good manners. Just do what we want as Derek suggested. I’m not afraid to get messy, are you?”
Things had already gotten messy. And they were about to get worse. With her warm body nestled against his, her sexy voice, and kind, intelligent disposition, he was all in to get messy, get distracted, get naked… “Not at all.”
“Your first course,” Derek announced. “Truffle Mortadella. Cured pork sausage in a black truffle sauce.” Derek must have a lot of practice working here because Nick heard a plate land on top of the one in front of him without a hitch. “Water glasses are at eleven o’clock,” their waiter added.
“It’s a good thing I’m not wearing white,” Sid said, laughter in her voice, and he admired her spunk even more. “Okay, first bite goes to you for bringing me on an adventure this weekend.”
Sid’s aim was perfect as she pressed a piece of sausage to his lips. The round piece of meat was warm, the scent sweet and spicy. He opened his mouth and her fingers grazed his lips as she placed the bite on his tongue.
Nick had been in plenty of work situations where there was almost zero percent visibility and his other senses had had to kick in. Where adrenaline and strength played a big part in his body’s response. But being with Sid like this, her body heat mingling with his, her hands feeding him, the two of them unable to see a thing, stirred a reaction he hadn’t felt in forever. She had him forgetting everything but being in the moment.
She made a sucking sound like she’d licked her fingers of the truffle oil. “Mmm. That’s really good.”
He reached out and picked up a piece of sausage. Warm and wet with sauce, a bit of the liquid dripped down his finger. “It is,” he said, finished chewing. “Now it’s your turn.” His hand hovered for a moment until she slid her palm down his arm to his wrist and helped guide him to her mouth.
When he tried to pull his arm back, she held tight while she chewed and swallowed. “That was yummy, but I bet this is better.” She brought his hand back to her mouth. Using her free hand as a guide, she gently grasped the base of his fingers and found the tip of his pointer finger with her tongue. Then she slid
the whole digit into her mouth and licked it clean. Did the same to his thumb.
Aw, hell. What little restraint he had left snapped as her sucking hit him right behind his zipper. Twice now she’d put her mouth on him, rolled her tongue over his skin, and he wanted to return the favor on all her pleasure points. But she had to know this couldn’t lead to anything more before they went further.
“I was right,” she said, releasing him.
“Sid.”
“Do not give me a speech about how you don’t want me to get the wrong idea. I have lots of good ideas, Nick, and they all center on tonight. Nothing more.”
How was a guy supposed to say no to that?
“Perfect,” he said right before he cupped her jaw and without warning, kissed her.
He wasn’t gentle. He claimed her mouth so she would know it belonged to him and he wanted this as much as she did. No doubts, Sid. This wasn’t something that didn’t matter, that wouldn’t leave a mark on him, too. He kissed her with all the pent-up desire he’d barely kept under control since last night.
Her lips were soft, warm, pliant. They tasted like the truffle sauce. She sighed when he parted them to tangle his tongue with hers. Hearing her pleasure made him want to hear all her sounds, but mostly the ones she’d make when he licked and sucked on her nipples and between her legs. Actually, there wasn’t a part of her he wanted to leave untouched. Mapping her body with his hands and mouth would be his pleasure.
The kiss exploded after that. She fisted his shirt in her hands, kissed him back with the kind of raw, hot urgency that would have brought him to his knees if he were standing. He’d never been kissed with such wild abandon. Maybe it was the dark. Or maybe it was a peek at what he could expect with Sid.
“Jesus.” He heard himself growl. She murmured something in response he couldn’t decode, probably because she’d knocked him senseless, and then she slowly pulled back.
He wished he could see her face.
“That was nice,” she said breathlessly.
“Nice?” He shot back, equally out of breath. And he was so hard it bordered on painful.
“Super nice?”
She was messing with him. He could hear the goad in her voice. Accustomed to their nearness and personal space now, he palmed the back of her head and took her bottom lip between his teeth. “Careful, Sid, I can play right back.”
“I want you to.” To prove her point, she nipped him in return.
His dick got even harder. He liked this uninhibited side of Sid. He liked it a lot.
“Should we finish our Truffle Mortadella?” he asked. Before I strip you naked right here.
“We should. I’m really hungry.”
They fed themselves and fed each other. The bites Sid gave him tasted infinitely better than the ones he took for himself because the pads of her fingers lingered on his lips for an extra second.
“Do you ever miss playing football?” she asked while they waited for their main course. She had his hand in her much smaller one, drew lazy circles on his palm with her fingernail.
The question, out of left field, caught him unaware. He normally would have brushed it off and changed the subject, but her touch combined with her kindhearted voice had him willing to answer.
“Sometimes. Not as much as I used to.” He didn’t miss anything as much as he used to. Time had a way of helping with that.
“If you could go back and change one thing about—” She dropped his hand. “I’m sorry. Forget I said that. That was really insensitive and—”
“It’s okay.”
“Jumbo prawns simmered with tomatoes and snow peas, finished with cilantro in a green curry sauce and served over jasmine rice,” Derek said, the sound of plates being set down reaching Nick’s ears. Perfect timing.
“It smells amazing,” Sid said. “Thank you.”
Nick put his arm across her body to keep her arms at her sides. “You get first taste this time.”
“Okay.”
He picked up a prawn, blew on it, and brought it to her mouth. “Take a bite,” he said. “I’ll eat the other half.”
She did as he asked, moaning her approval. Then, shrouded in darkness that gave them license to go past their barriers, they ate with their hands, laughed, touched often, and reluctantly picked up their forks to use on the rice.
“Here,” she said, sliding a snow pea across the seam of his lips before slipping it into his mouth. As he chewed, she giggled. “Ahh! I just dropped one into my sweater.”
“I’ll get it.” He placed his hand on the front of her neck, then moved one finger smoothly down the center of her chest until he got to the edge of her V-neck. She sucked in a breath. He felt it at the base of his spine. “This okay?” he asked, doing the gentlemanly thing when he felt anything but. He wanted to get her off in this booth, push her somewhere she might not want to go but he knew would make her feel good.
“Yes,” she whispered.
He had no idea where the snow pea went and didn’t care as he played with the lace border of her bra before dipping his hand inside the lingerie to cup her breast. “You feel amazing, Sid. Soft. Full.” He kneaded, fondled, ran his thumb across the stiff peak. “Insanely beautiful.”
She wiggled, her knee bumped his underneath the table, and he knew instinctively that she’d spread her legs in order to touch herself.
“Where are your hands, Sid?”
“One is here.” She put her palm on his thigh. “And the other is…is in my pants.”
“That is hot as fuck,” he whispered, pinching her nipple. “I wish I could see it.” His blood hammered in his veins. He hadn’t been this turned on since…since forever.
Her hand pressed into his leg. He sensed her hips lifting off the seat slightly. “Not sure I’d be doing it if you could.”
“We need to get out of here.” Before she dipped that hand into her underwear. He wanted to give her an orgasm. And he needed to do it back at their hotel because he had no plans to stop at one. There would be no sleeping for either of them tonight.
“That’s a great idea. But I’ve been so turned on since you kissed me, that I need to take the edge off.”
“No,” he said hoarsely, slipping his hand out of her bra. With his other hand he gripped her forearm and tugged her hand out of her pants. “Stay on that ledge a little longer and I promise I’ll make it worth the wait.”
“Hmmmm,” she said and proceeded to tiptoe her fingers up his thigh to the hard, aching bulge in his jeans. “Since it appears you’re there with me, okay.”
That innocent enough touch to his hard-on had him shouting, “Check!” and hoping Derek got to their table like a pitbull was chasing his ass.
Did Nick say he liked this uninhibited side of Cassidy? He meant loved.
Chapter Seven
This is really happening.
I’m going to have sex with Nick.
I’m going to see him naked.
He’s going to see me naked.
Cassidy stiffened amid their tangle of arms and legs as they stumbled into their hotel room, mouths connected in a kiss that made her breathless.
Nick kicked the door shut with his foot, pulled back. “You okay?”
“Yes.” She was. Mostly. It just now hit her that this wasn’t only sex. Sharing her body with him meant sharing her deepest, darkest secret and shame. Sure, she could make this quick and dirty, leave her sweater on and keep her back against the wall or pressed into the couch, but she didn’t do sex that way. It wasn’t something meaningless to her, especially with Nick.
She stepped backward and before she chickened out, lifted the hem of her sweater up and over her head. Clutching the clothing in her hand, she kept taking steps back. He took steps forward. His gaze fell to her black lace bra before returning to her face. His incredible blue eyes told her this was going to be okay. She’d tell him what happened and then they’d carry on. The grim reminder of her past didn’t get to be in charge anymore.
She’d never
been this intimate this fast with someone before. With her two previous relationships she’d dated the guy for weeks first, told him about her past before they took things beyond PG rated make-outs. She hadn’t wanted them caught unaware, more for her sake than theirs.
You’ve known Nick your whole life.
“You don’t look so sure, Sid, and even though it would kill me to stop what we’ve started, nothing happens in this room that you don’t want to have happen.”
“This is going to happen.” She affirmed. God, she wanted it to happen so badly. He brought out an uncontrolled, wanton side of her she liked. A lot.
“I can’t give you more than right now, you understand that, right?”
“Yes.” She tried to keep any emotion off her face, but must have failed because she saw concern etch a path around his eyes.
“This is all on me. I’ve still got shit to work out. I can’t do long-term with anyone. But I want to breathe you in, every inch of you. I want to kiss you, taste you, and know what it feels like to be buried inside you. I can’t remember ever wanting anyone so badly.”
Her heart beat a rhythm like her favorite country song. She couldn’t either.
“And the way you look at me? Jesus, Sid. I’m going to earn that admiration by making you feel so damn good.”
“S-sounds good to me. I just need to tell you something first.”
“Okay,” he said, flipping on the light switch and leaving space between them when the backs of her legs hit the bed in her room. She plopped down. “Should I take off my shirt first so we’re on equal footing?”
How could she not adore this man for lightening the mood? “Yes. Yes you should.”
He pulled it off one-handed, flung it to the side. She almost slid off the bed when she saw his bare torso. His broad shoulders alone were enough to make her woozy. Add in a muscled chest, toned abs, and the tops of those sexy V-cuts on his hipbone that made anatomy her new favorite subject, and she had to press her lips together to keep from moaning out loud.
Falling for Her Bachelor (Bachelor Auction Returns Book 2) Page 7
