“Fine,” Kait snatched it back from him and drained it. Then she got to her feet and looked around for her shoes. “Dom and I will go to the bar.”
“Stay away from Dom, too.”
It was a command, Kait knew. A master of the universe imparting an order with no particular force because force wasn’t needed when you knew you would be obeyed unquestioningly. And that infuriated her more than if he’d yelled it at her. Forgetting her shoes, she put her hands on her hips and glared down at him where he was still sitting on the divan.
“Don’t try to tell me what to do, Landon James. Your family might rule New Canton, but this is New York, and we’re not kids anymore.”
No, he thought, trying to keep his face blank as he looked up at her. Her dress had shifted a bit, and he could see a deep V of creamy skin the neckline had hidden before. She wasn’t a kid. And she was right—he was acting like her big brother, telling her what she could drink and who with. If she’d been any other woman, he wouldn’t have bothered. He would have simply said—
“Come home with me.”
Kait blinked, caught off guard again by the change in his voice. Was she drunker than she thought? Was she missing periods of time that explained these shifts in his mood? “Excuse me?”
Landon stood up. “Come home with me. You know it’s inevitable, Kait.” That was what he needed—to get her out of his system.
“Why should I?” Kait asked, narrowing her eyes up at him. “Because Simone isn’t around?”
“Fuck Simone,” Landon grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her up against him. “We ended things after I drove you home, and I haven’t thought about her since I saw you across the room. I want you, Kait. I can’t get you out of my head.”
I can’t get you out of my head.
Kaitlyn lost her breath. It wasn’t the champagne making her feel dizzy anymore, it was Landon’s words. If she was the type to be brutally honest with herself, she’d already know they were what she’d been longing to hear. That she felt the same way. But she wasn’t, so the realization came as a shock to her. She looked up at him, stunned.
If she hadn’t looked at him like that, Landon thought he could have controlled himself. But her smoke gray eyes had clouded over, and her lips had parted, and he wanted to devour her in large, greedy bites. He took her mouth roughly, forcing her lips apart and fisting his hands in her hair to keep her from softening the kiss.
Kaitlyn didn’t want to soften this kiss though. She just wanted more of it. Her fingers clawed into his neck and she pushed up against him. She was dimly aware that his arm had gone around her waist and he was pulling her down onto his lap on the divan.
“Don’t stop,” she said breathlessly when he broke away just for a moment to get situated.
“I’m not planning to,” Landon said harshly, and dragged her face back to his. If he’d been able to think, he wouldn’t have been able to kiss her like this. But she was intoxicating him more than the whiskey, and so he slid his hand into that low V of a neckline and cupped her breasts without thinking of the hundreds of people right outside the sheer curtain.
God, she was so smooth and warm. The memory of every other woman he’d touched seemed cold in comparison. He wanted to shove her beneath him and sink into this heat. Some distantly aware part of his brain stopped him. Not too fast.
Faster, Kaitlyn thought when his hand hesitated. He was driving her half mad, rubbing her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and then stopping like this. She moaned against his mouth and clawed her fingers into his shoulder.
With a groan, he shoved the flimsy straps of her dress down so that her breasts spilled out. He lowered his head, lightly biting and licking until she was gasping.
“Come home with me, Kait,” he muttered into her breast. “Or I’m going to fuck you right here.”
As easily as his earlier words had seduced her, these threw reality in her face. Suddenly, all of the fizz and boil and sparkle was gone, and Kaitlyn realized where she was, and what she was about to do.
“No,” she gasped, pushing his head away with effort.
Landon leaned back to look at her, his eyes glazed over with lust. “No?” he repeated.
“No, I can’t go home with you.” She struggled off his lap, pulling the straps of the dress back up. “I can’t—I can’t do this with you.”
Landon stood up slowly, and his voice was dangerously patient when he said, “You just were.”
“No,” Kait shook her head wildly and grabbed up her shoes. “It went too far. I shouldn’t have—you shouldn’t have—”
“Why not?” Landon grabbed her arm before she could fly out of the alcove. “We’re both adults, Kait. We’re allowed to act like it.”
“I can’t. Not...not this fast.”
“Why not?”
“Because!” Kaitlyn searched for a lie, but she could barely breathe with Landon holding her so tightly, with the memory of his hands still on her body. “Because I never have.”
She clapped her hands over her mouth as Landon’s eyes widened with surprise. “You’re a virgin?” His hand softened on her arm, then slid up it to cup her face.
Kaitlyn nodded miserably. How had she gotten here, discussing the most intimate details of her life with Landon James? How would he react? Why did she care so much?
“That does change things,” he said softly, the pad of his thumb rubbing her lower lip. “Come home with me. We can take our time.”
Kait almost nodded, hypnotized by the unexpected softness in his dark eyes. But part of her froze. She knew he wasn’t the man from her past—knew he’d never hurt her like that. But God, he could hurt
