Chapter 4
DEAN
Then maybe we should leave.
I can hardly believe my own ears.
This breathtaking, captivating woman wants me to take her home and do wicked things to her. She’s offered herself to me, and I’m more than ready to take whatever she’s willing to give.
My hand tightens reflexively around the back of her neck.
“Your place or mine?” As if I would pass up this opportunity.
Forget the party.
I made my appearance, so my boss can hardly complain. The rest of the night is mine to enjoy. And goddamn, am I going to devour every minute.
“Yours.” Her answer bears a slight tremble, and I wonder if it’s nerves or excitement. Probably both.
While I’m not nervous, the fire in my blood definitely has me on edge.
I take her hand and spin us toward the exit.
I can’t believe my luck that this divine creature was here alone and stumbled right into my path. Like we were meant to find one another. It’s ridiculous. I don’t believe in fate, but the course of events tonight makes a man wonder.
The second we’re beyond the ballroom, I whirl around and seize her lips with mine.
It’s what I’ve desperately wanted to do since first laying eyes on her.
I couldn’t wait another minute, and the taste of her is just as heady as I suspected.
Champagne laced with strawberries and mint—sweet with a tangy edge—the same as her.
She meets each stroke of my tongue with one of her own.
Bold yet graceful—she’s absolutely breathtaking.
I pull away only because the masks are getting in our way. That, and I want to see her. All of her.
Careful not to mar her hair, I remove her mask, then mine, and we take each other in for the first time.
I didn’t think the mask had hidden much, but I was wrong.
She’s even more spellbinding now that I see the elegant angle of her high cheekbones.
I’d say Sachi should be on billboards if it wouldn’t mean every man in the world pining for her.
“You are the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen.” It’s the truth, and I have to tell her. I want her to know exactly how I feel.
“Kiss me, Dean.” Her breathy words clench tight around my balls and have me surging forward to do her bidding.
I love that she’s not afraid to ask for what she wants.
And what I want is to devour every inch of her.
I want to sink myself inside her and feel her writhe beneath me until she’s screaming my name.
Jesus, I need to get us out of here before I end up fucking her in a hotel bathroom.
I pull back again, this time admiring her kiss-swollen lips and the point at the base of her neck where her skittering pulse flutters with excitement. She’s the most alluring, sensual woman I’ve ever known, and I need more. Now.
“Let’s get your coat.” I take her hand and turn, leading her toward the coat check station.
“I don’t have one with me. My friend ended up taking it home with her.”
I pause and peer back at her, confusion wrinkling my brows. “It’s fifteen degrees outside.”
Her cheeks flush. “I know … it was silly of me…”
I lift her chin with a gentle touch of my knuckles to bring her gaze back to mine. “It’s fine.” I shrug out of my tux jacket and hold it out for her. “I’m plenty warm without this.”
“Thank you.”
She smiles up at me with such genuine gratitude that I want to march her back inside the ballroom and demand that whatever magistrate is present marry us on the spot. It’s the most ludicrous, absurdly impulsive notion I’ve ever had, and I’m stunned at how reasonable it sounds in my head.
What the fuck has come over me?
It’s lust. I must have gone too damn long without getting laid.
Or not. Maybe Sachi’s simply that incredible.
Either way, I need to get her home and fuck her senseless so that my oxygen-deprived brain can get some blood flowing to it again. The little bit of focus I have left right now is centered on making sure my dick doesn’t tent my pants.
Once we reach the valet, I hold her body against mine, her back to my front, to ensure the frigid air doesn’t chill her.
And to hide the fact that I’m losing the battle with my dick.
Even the crystalized flurries in the frozen air aren’t enough to shrink his excitement.
The sweet scent of berries and cream coming from Sachi’s hair isn’t helping.
When my black unmarked Dodge Charger pulls around, I breathe a sigh of relief. I help her into the passenger seat, then hurry back to the driver’s side.
“The heat okay?” I adjust the settings, which the valet has set to maximum, then pull out of the drive-through and into city traffic.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“If that changes, let me know.”
“Yes, sir.”
The words linger in the thickening air.
My eyes cut hungrily to her. She stares back, eyes rounding before she bites her bottom lip to fight back a grin.
Fuck, she’s adorable, and she’s not even trying.
A smirk hooks the corner of my lips as I shake my head and turn my attention back to the road. “I’d love for you to tell me more about yourself.”
“Like what?”
“Like what you do for a living and how long you’ve been in the city. You don’t have a local accent, so I assume you aren’t from here.”
“I’m originally from California. My parents are still there.”
“That’s quite the shift. What made you decide to leave the West Coast?”
“Art. I’m a … I mean, I own a gallery.”
“Really? That’s impressive. Is it a family business?” She’s young to own a gallery all by herself, but stranger things have happened.
“No, not family, but it’s not just mine. It’s … complicated.” She looks down at her hands—a sign I take to mean she’s not crazy about the subject matter, so I detour the conversation.
“Rumor has it there may be a Nor’easter snowstorm coming for Christmas.”
“Really?” She perks up, excitement brightening her eyes. “A white Christmas would be amazing.”
“I agree now that my job doesn’t require me to be out in the elements.”
“Oh, yeah. I didn’t think about that. Did you get stuck working out in storms very often?”
“Not often, but more than I would’ve liked,” I answer in a playful tone.
“It doesn’t matter how many layers you wear when it’s negative ten outside.
Early on, I was too dumb to use those heat packs and thought I was going to lose my toes after directing traffic in a storm. The worst part was warming back up.”
“You have to do it slowly, or it’ll hurt.” Her words hang in the air. While I don’t think she initially meant to make a play on words, the double entendre can’t be ignored.
We glance at one another, and her eyes widen with surprise.
Amusement hooks my lips into a crooked smile. “Definitely don’t want it to hurt.”
She coughs to hide a chuckle. “Not when it doesn’t have to, though a tiny bit of burn never hurt anyone.” Her eyes cut to mine again, and the desire in her stare has me forgetting to breathe.
Fuck.
Me.
Christmas has come early. I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve this woman, nor do I care. I don’t want to question any of it and risk breaking the spell.
I hit the accelerator, drawing a giggle from beside me.
It only takes another minute before we arrive at my building.
Neither of us says much while we park and ride the elevator up to my apartment.
There’s no room for words with the sexual tension billowing all around us.
Every second that ticks by ratchets up the pressure.
My heart thuds a primal beat against my inner ear, and my lungs burn with the need for oxygen. The need for Sachi.
When I finally open my apartment, I watch her with curiosity as she takes in the sight.
My place is big. And nice. Very nice.
I prefer not to take dates home with me because it inevitably raises questions, but I could hardly back out when she took me up on the offer to come here. I want this too damn much to worry about what she might think about my money.
As I watch her taking in her surroundings, I’m struck by how much I enjoy seeing her here in my space.
How much I want her to stay. I could see myself curled up with her on a rainy day, watching movies from the sofa.
It’s madness. I don’t know her well enough to want things like that, yet the thoughts surface unbidden. I can’t deny the urge is there.
As are other more … pressing … urges.
I close the distance between us, stopping inches behind her, and slip my jacket off her shoulders. She shivers.
“Cold?” I ask in a gruff, lust-filled murmur.
“Not even a little.” Her face turns back toward mine, heat blazing in her eyes.
For the first time in my life, I feel a twinge of understanding for the monsters I hunt down and arrest because I sense I might be capable of depraved, unholy things if it would mean seeing that look in her eyes again and again.
“I need to fuck you, Sachi.” I know I shouldn’t be so blunt, but I can’t help myself.
I need her.
“I think I’d like that very much.” Her voice is a sensual caress against my skin.
She reaches behind her to unzip her dress. With her back still facing me, I see her fingers tremble too badly to cooperate. I take her hands in mine and lower them to her sides.
“You sure this is what you want?”
Please, Christ, say yes.
Something about this seductive, confident woman being so profoundly affected by me makes me want her even more. I want to explore every little reaction she has to my touch, but I want it to be voluntary. That’s nonnegotiable.
“I do … it’s just, I don’t normally do this sort of thing.” She wrings her hands together. “I know it may have sounded like I do, but I don’t, and you’re so confident and … and beautiful and …”
I coax her to face me. “You don’t normally have sex or go home with men you’ve just met?” I need to understand what’s happening here. I don’t want to fuck this up.
“The second one.”
I nod. “Well, let me put your worries to rest. I’m going to make you feel very, very good, Sachi. Do you want to take things slowly?”
She nibbles on her bottom lip, then shakes her head. “I really want you to fuck me.”
Thank Christ.
I place my hands on either side of her head, noting the faintest tremble of my own hands. “I don’t want to be gentle,” I admit in a heavy rasp.
Sachi’s eyes hold mine steadfastly.
“Then don’t.”