"What? Surely you weren't serious about that whole endless kiss thing?"
"Wrong. Serious doesn't begin to describe how I feel about you, woman."
"But you don't really know me," she protested breathily. Hell, it sounded pitiful even to her ears.
"But that's going to change, remember? Besides, I know plenty about you," he whispered, lowering his head until they were practically nose to nose. "You've taken care of your sister and put her through college. You're a successful woman with exquisite taste and style. You're strong, giving, smart, funny."
A light brush of soft lips over the skin just shy of her jaw sent a shiver vibrating across her collarbone.
"How can you know? I mean..."
"Just the fact that your sister thinks you're second only to God says plenty about the kind of person you are. I've been asking her to formally introduce us for a year. She moves a bit slow, that one."
Shanice laughed, then sucked in a breath as she got a whiff of not just his cologne, but the man's natural scent, just there at the crook of his neck. And when had he pulled her completely into his arms? More importantly, when had her feet moved to accommodate him?
Shanice's protests morphed into needy little whimpers when Massimo proceeded to snatch the objection right out of her head with a kiss hot enough to make the nail polish on her toes liquefy. When he broke away, she was sucking wind, trying not to squirm from the zing shooting down between her thighs. It was enough to set her ablaze, make her want nothing more than the fulfilment of those endless kisses he'd finagled out of her.
"Dinner?" he suggested between nibbles and nips. Then he returned to his starting point, tasting her lip gloss in between short, panty breaths—mainly her short panty breaths..
Dinner? Why? They'd just had lunch. Besides, why bother with dinner when she could simply eat him up in four, well maybe six, big delicious bites? And Massimo knew just how to work her. Knew which buttons to push. Knew how to make her want more of the sensuous mouth driving her wild.
Something dinged in the back of her mind. Duh—the elevator sounded for each floor it passed. Still, a few more levels to go. Plenty of time for her to chase his tongue from one edge of his yummy mouth to the other. All she needed was one more kiss. Yes, one more should do it. Wait, another. And another.
God, the feel, the taste of his lips on hers was like caramel and vanilla heaven. The arms wrapped around her body were unyielding, and strong, making her feel safe and secure, yet so unsteady it was downright disconcerting—as if the elevator plunged straight down instead of heading up to the eighteenth floor.
This man who touched her so tenderly, yet boldly, made her feel more alive than she had in years, almost as if she were outside of herself. Suddenly the warmth of his body eased away. The spell entwined around her senses dissipated. Well, sort of.
Shanice's eyes remained closed, arms looped around his neck. Good gracious, get a hold of yourself, Shanice. It's just a kiss and he's just a man. Right?
