Yeah, kissing him would be spectacular, but she’d only ever get to fantasize. No matter how much she’d love his mouth on hers, it just wasn’t going to happen.
Cassie booted up her laptop and logged on to Skype. As soon as she was online, she got a video call from Ian. He was already on and waiting for her.
“Hi,” she said when he came into view. Holy cow, he was hot! He had on a muscle shirt and pajama pants. He was sitting on the chair with one foot on the seat and his arm hanging over the knee that was up beside his head. And he was barefoot. God, even his foot was sexy.
“Hey. When did you get in?” He took a swig from the beer he’d been dangling over his knee.
“Just got here.”
He nodded. “You wanna get something to drink? I’d offer you something, but…” He motioned toward the screen, emphasizing his inability to actually play host.
She chuckled. “Yeah, give me a sec.” Cassie got up, walked into her kitchen and plucked a bottle of wine off the shelf, grabbing a glass and corkscrew on her way back to her bedroom.
“So did you have fun tonight?” Ian asked as Cassie sat down and opened her wine.
“Yeah. Hung out with Sasha.” She flashed her eyes up from the task at hand to look in his direction. “Got hit on by the bartender.”
He made a noncommittal sound as he drank from his bottle. He tried to play it cool, but his eyes betrayed his nonchalant behavior. He didn’t like the idea of another man hitting on her. She hid her smile.
“What did you do tonight?”
“Talked to my bother. Watched the game.” He shrugged. “You know, bartenders only flirt for the tips.”
She did smile then. “That’s what I told Sasha, but she didn’t believe me. Of course when he paid for our drinks and asked me out, I realized it wasn’t dollar signs he was after when he laid on the charm.”
His eyes narrowed, and he stopped his beer in the middle of its progression to his mouth. “He asked you out?” Incredulity filled his voice.
“I’m not sure if I should be offended by that question or not. I do get asked out from time to time, Ian.” She smirked.
“And what did you say?” he asked right away, not commenting on her remark.
“I turned him down.”
He seemed slightly mollified. “Why?” He leaned back into his seat and finally took that drink he initiated before she dropped the news of her dinner offer on him.
What could she tell him? If she said she didn’t want to see other people, he might think she was obsessed with him. It wasn’t as if they were in a relationship. Heck, they hadn’t even gone out on a date themselves. Wasn’t she just thinking about the fact that they’d never even get to kiss for real?
“I just didn’t want to.” She poured her wine and took a drink immediately to cover her nerves.
“Stand up.”
Cassie’s gaze shot to him, and he stared at her with an unreadable expression. Setting her glass down, she slowly stood.
He reached over and turned on an MP3 player. The slow, seductive song drifted through the speaker as if she’d turned it on in her bedroom. “Strip.”
She balked. It was obvious he didn’t just want her to take her clothes off. He wanted her to dance for him, and this went a little beyond her comfort level. She wasn’t some twenty-two-year-old stripper. She was already a little nervous about him seeing her fully naked, and rightly so, but the thought of not only undressing but parading around like she had a body to flaunt caused paranoia to flood her body.
“Cassie, I’ll never ask anything of you that you can’t do. You have a beautiful body, and I want you to show me how sexy you think you are. Now strip for me, baby. Show me what’s mine.”
What is his. He viewed her as his. The butterflies in her stomach multiplied. She was nervous, no doubt about that, but she also felt a sense of pride, knowing Ian thought she was beautiful and wanted her for himself. Even if he was just creating an aura of possession for play, it was still erotic and definitely fed her ego, making her want to prove him right about how sexy she could be.
Cassie reached up, traced her finger along her neck as her head fell back, gliding her finger to her exposed cleavage. She swayed her hips in time with the sensual music, then turned, giving him her back. She brought her hands up to her hair, gathering it up on her head as she shimmied down and back up, swaying seductively to the music. She heard Ian’s soft curse and felt a spike of adrenaline, knowing he was already affected by her performance and she hadn’t taken off a lick of clothing yet. She reached for the hem of her shirt and slid it up her sides, almost to her breasts. Then she pulled it back down teasingly.
Ian groaned.
Cassie treated her skirt the same way, pulling it up almost to her buttocks and dropping it before he got a chance to see the goods. She grabbed the hem of her shirt again, but this time, she pulled it off and turned to face him.
He licked his lips as she gathered her hair again and shimmied down before rocking her hips on the way back up. She teased him by pulling one of her bra straps off her shoulder but left it there. Reaching for her skirt, she eased it up her thighs as she widened her stance. She pulled it all the way up to her waist and
