“And I want to have sex right now, right this instant. I want to make love to you until both of us can relocate our sanity.” His fingers twirled a lock of her hair. “The truth is, Pepper, that you’re infiltrating my day as well. But I’ve been dealing with this for over a week, while you’ve only had to endure it for the past two days.” Her eyes widened and he realized she was confused by his timeline. “Yes, I saw you through my office window last week and I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind ever since.”
“Oh,” she whispered, stunned by his response.
“So, how about a compromise?” he offered.
She shifted, but he couldn’t tell if she was worried or eager for whatever he was about to offer.
“What kind of a compromise?”
He paused, as if considering his idea. “I think we should move forward on both of our ideas. A compromise, of a sort.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, wary and obviously not liking his suggestion.
“I want to make love to you, Pepper. I will control this lust that seems to explode whenever we touch.”
She was shaking her head even before he finished. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
His thumb caressed her cheek and he almost growled with satisfaction when she turned her head slightly, leaning into his touch. “Why not?” he asked, but he was distracted by her lips and her skin and how much he wanted to pull her into his arms.
“Because…” she paused, swallowing as she closed her eyes, pressing her cheek against his hand. When she realized what she was doing, she cleared her throat and pulled away. “Because I don’t think that this is…controllable.”
He smiled slightly, but his body was too hard and primed for real amusement. “You might be right. But do you think there’s an alternative?” he asked. When he took her hand and placed it on his erection, she gasped and he almost shattered. But he didn’t take her hand away. Nor did she pull away. In fact, after a stunned moment, her fingers started exploring that hard evidence of his arousal. “Do you really think that we should be in public together when this could happen so quickly?”
She didn’t laugh. Instead, she moved closer and he suspected she didn’t even realize she was doing so.
“You might be right,” she whispered. “Does this…” she looked down at her hand covering his erection. “Does it happen often?”
Dimitri shook his head. “No. Only when I think about you. So over the past several days, it has happened too often.” He lifted her hand and kissed her palm. “Did you have trouble sleeping last night? Is that why you slept in my jacket?”
She bit her lip for a long moment and he reached out with his thumb, rubbing the wounded area. “You wanted to talk and get to know each other, Pepper. This would be something that would help me get to know you.”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, I couldn’t sleep last night. Not until I pulled on your jacket and curled up in it. That’s why it’s such a mess now. I’m sorry.”
He leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers. “I’m glad that it helped you sleep. What were you thinking about before you slipped the jacket on?”
“You,” she whispered. As if it were a deep, dark secret.
“What about me?”
“If you were angry. And then I was angry because I knew you were angry. Then I became terrified of what almost happened last night. After that, I went back to anger because I didn’t think you’d ever want to see me because I stopped what was about to happen. Then frustration,” she whispered, turning her cheek to press more firmly against the palm of his hand, “because I really wanted to experience what almost happened last night and terrified that I’d never get another chance.”
“That’s a lot of thinking.”
“What were you thinking about after you left me last night?”
“You,” he told here without hesitation. “About all the ways I was going to make love to you. About how many times I was going to make love to you. Wondering what you taste like, what you feel like, what you smell like. Everywhere,” he finished and received the expected blush.
“That’s a lot of thinking,” she whispered, returning his words.
“I didn’t think about wrapping myself up in your sweater.” He moved closer and felt her reciprocate.
“Would it have worked?”
He shook his head. “I doubt anything would have worked last night. Nothing other than this,” and he kissed her. Slow and heavy, deepening the kiss when she whimpered, pulling her closer and closer until she was draped over his lap. He held her head so that he could deepen the kiss, and Pepper wrapped her arms around his neck, shifting on his lap so that she could press her breasts against the hard planes of his chest.
Dimitri forced himself to slow down, to show her how good things could be. He slipped a hand under her sweater, finding that incredibly soft skin underneath. She gasped against his mouth and arched into his hand, silently inviting more.
He wasn’t capable of denying her. Shifting her body, he pulled her closer. Just like last night, she straddled his hips, freeing his hands to touch her. He stroked her back, lifting the material of her soft sweater higher and higher. Eventually, he simply pulled the sweater off, tossing it onto the floor. Then he looked at her, taking in her soft, full breasts held by the thinnest, sheerest piece of lace. Her nipples were dark and puckered, just waiting
