A Game Of Temptation

It was a date.

And he’d gone all out.

I couldn’t explain my reaction when I stepped out of the house and saw a limousine waiting for us. First thing I did was was give Alex a long look. I mean, there was no mistaking it-the limo was there for us. The driver had tipped his hat in a salute when we came out, a smile on his face and, hell, who else would have a limo waiting outside for them other than this magnificent man who apparently went all out when he took his women out?

A frown settled on my face at that.

His women.

I didn’t like the sound of it.

Saying that the little clench my heart gave at the image that accompanied those words was uncalled for and so bloody stupid, would be a huge fucking understatement. I’d literally told him that there could be nothing between us, in other words, telling him that it was okay for him to do whatever he wanted with other women, and it was a given that he would take me up on that offer. He was a man.

A gorgeous, out-of-this-world, hot-as-hell man. Hell, he wouldn’t even have to go out looking for women. They flocked around him readily.

My frown deepened as I stared at the limo, lost in thought. I could not get him out of my head. Actually, I wanted him in me. Did that mean I was one of those women?

Was I?

Was I not?

Fuck this fucking shit-

“Please tell me the limo isn’t why you’re frowning.” I turned to Alex-I’d forgotten that he was right beside me for a second there-and saw him sweeping his eyes over me. There was heat in his gaze, but there was also wariness. I could only chalk the latter up to the fact that he was nervous about the date and why would he be?Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

He’d done this before, hadn’t he? Countless times, I was sure.

Giving him a shark-like smile, I said, “Nope.” Okay, maybe I should not have said that so quickly. And maybe I should not have put so much emphasis on the’p’. “Are we getting in or what?” Also, what the hell was that question?

Jesus.

Fuck my life.

He gave me a funny look, probably wondering if a screw had gone loose in my head and trying to decide if it was too late to cancel on the date and run for the hills while he still could, but being the Mr Nice Guy that he was, he believed had no choice but to suck it up and see the date through. At least that was the only reason I could come up with as to why we were walking towards the car and not away from it.

The ride to our destination was short but made longer because of the tension that filled the car. I kept my eyes firmly on the window and he…well, I felt his eyes on me.

On the bare skin of my thighs where my gown had ridden up-it was a short dress so you can imagine just how much of my thighs were exposed-my breasts, my face, and even my hair. It was almost like he couldn’t not look at me. Like he couldn’t look away from me even if he tried, and it filled me with an intoxicating feeling-and also made me horny as hell.

Subtly as I could, I pressed my legs together. He might have seen, but I didn’t look at him to confirm.

What was that saying? What you don’t know doesn’t kill you?

Yes. Exactly. Not looking at him was better than doing it and facing the shame. My emotions were already very volatile as they were. Adding shame to the mix would be disastrous.

Why were my feelings volatile, you might wonder.

Well, for one, I was going out on a date. What the actual fuck was I doing? Did people still do that? Go on dates?

Okay, fine. Maybe they did. But I didn’t. And the fact that I was willingly going on one right now was freaking me the hell out. It would have been a different thing if he’d bound my arms and my legs and flung me into the car, but no, I was going willingly.

Again, what the fuck was that?

Second reason my thoughts were in a jumble, was the fact that I was not just going on a date with any man, but one who knew my body better than anyone else-maybe even me included because do you know what this man does to my body?-and one I’d lived with in the same house for the past month. A man so dangerous to my health that he made me feel things I’d never felt before.

For the third time, what the actual fuck was that?

My raging thoughts screeched to a halt when the car stopped moving. Alex must have told the man to stay put because he got out of the car, hurried around to my side, and pulled the door open for me. I was positive my heart gave a little flip at that.

With his big, warm hand on the exposed skin of my back, we walked into the glitzy, fancy-as-hell restaurant. His fingers flexed on my back, restless and seeking, brushing against the skin that was now beginning to grow hot even in the chill evening air, and withdrawing from it the next second.

I knew what was happening. He wasn’t sure whether he could touch me or not.

Touch me, I wanted to yell at him but before I knew it, we were sitting and a waiter was coming over. I almost screamed with frustration because now I was a horny mess shifting on my seat and he was on the other side of the table, those hot green eyes alternating between the menu and my face.

Would it be terribly razz of me if I pulled him into the restroom and asked him to bring me off?

I looked around at the few other couples, speaking quietly as they ate.

Yeah, probably.

Dropping my eyes back to the menu, I focused on placing my order.

***

His eyes on me was the most exciting part of our date.

He barely took them off me, and even during the short time when he wasn’t looking at me, he was stroking my palm, his fingers lingering when they got to the underside of my wrist before going back to the tips of my fingers.

He was everywhere. I was feeling him, seeing him and breathing him.

It was crazy. It was amazing. It was insane.

“Was it everything you thought it would be?” Alex asked softly, his expression unguarded.

“It was more.”

My voice came out even softer than his had been. I sounded vulnerable. So freaking vulnerable and something else that I couldn’t name, and it freaked the fuck out of me.

And yet I didn’t stop it.

I couldn’t stop it.

He was stroking his thumb back and forth on my palm and I didn’t try to pull away even when it felt like I was going to combust from everything I was feeling. Tenderness, strangeness, lust, confusion, and a truckload of other emotions I couldn’t begin to name right now.

Something was happening to me but I didn’t know what it was, and that terrified me.

Oh God, what have I done? I should have never agreed to come on this date-

“Laura.” My name, spoken in that soft but firm tone, pulled me out of my thoughts and had me looking up into my date’s face. My dilemma must have shown on my face because he looked worried. “Don’t overthink things. Stay with me, love.”

It wasn’t the order that had me going lax in his arms and melting back into my seat. No, it was the emotion in his eyes. The vulnerability and wariness and want and longing. God, so much fucking longing, he was vibrating with it, his fingers starting to shake on mine.

I wanted to say something sharp and sassy that the usual Laura would say, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “Okay.”

He visibly relaxed, the tension leaving his shoulders. He ordered champagne, and two glasses in, I was already starting to feel like myself again.

“Alex, do you tan in the nude?” I asked after we had been quiet for a while.

His eyes jumped to mine in surprise, whether because I was initiating conversation for the first time tonight or because of my question, I wasn’t sure.

“Where the hell did that question come from?”

I shrugged, bringing my glass to my lips to take a sip. “I’ve noticed you don’t have tan lines.”

His brows shot up. “You’ve noticed?”

I shrugged again, hiding my smile behind the rim of my glass.

Who just upped and asked such a question out of nowhere? I had been obsessing over it and he knew. Of course he did.

“I do, actually,” he supplied.

“Hmm,” I said noncommittally. “Where?”

Amusement danced in his eyes. “My house. Why? You thinking of paying me a visit?”

I wish.

Slipping my foot out of my heels, I asked, “Do you have fun, Alex?”

If he was surprised by the change of topic, he didn’t show it. “I…” He frowned. “I don’t think so. I suppose it depends on your definition of f-” He stopped abruptly when he realised what I was doing. Felt, rather.

My bare foot was ascending up his thigh, slow but steady in its journey.

I leaned back in my seat and hiked my foot higher. The position of our table meant that no-one would be able to see what I was doing, but even if they could, I wasn’t sure that I cared.

All I could think about was making him lose his mind. I wanted to see his perfect control snap. But to what end? I wasn’t sure yet.

“Laura,” Alex warned, his tone laced with danger that ignited me. He had probably been expecting me to stop, but all it did was make me want to tease him even more. I wanted to push him over the edge.

I wanted to watch him break.

A purr escaped my lips when my foot made contact with his groin and I felt how hard he was. How deliciously thick and long and steel-like he was in his pants already, the length of him going running down his right thigh. How had he gotten that hard just from a little footie?

I held his gaze as I massaged him with the arch of my foot, watching and loving as he squirmed in his seat, his eyes dark and full of promise of all the things he would do to me. Of the way he would take his revenge.

Of the way he would make me pay.

My hands shook and some of the drink sloshed over the rim of my glass just as Alex stood all of a sudden, adjusting his tux to hide the bulge of his erection. It didn’t do much-and I couldn’t stop staring.

“We’re leaving,” he informed me, and I rose on slightly wobbly legs, moving over to him.

He watched me like a predator watching its prey and I knew-I knew that the moment we got into the limo, he was going to descend on me.