Excerpt of After Midnight by Shari Nichols

“Step onto my shoes.” Nico took Brooke’s hand in his and rested the other at the small of her back. They moved to the music like they’d been dancing together for years. He pulled her close and she became languid in his arms.

“Where did you learn how to dance?”  

“I took lessons once upon a time,“ he murmured. “I’ve been waiting all night to hold you in my arms.” The rhythm of their breaths mingled together.

Brooke got the sensation of falling even though he held her tight. “This night has been magical.”

“For me too.” Nico lifted her chin up with his thumb and gazed at her lips. Hunger burned in his dark eyes. “I can think of a few ways it can get a whole lot better. I’ve been dying to kiss you all night.” He bent his head and his lips brushed against hers, sweet and tentative at first. But when he sucked on her lower lip, she moaned and opened for him. His tongue swept into her mouth in deep velvet strokes, scorching her clean. He tasted like wine and chocolate, sweet and decadent.

His fingers moved to her waist and brushed across her skin in the most sensual way. She dug her fingers into the lush strands of his hair as the kiss raged on. Tilting his head to the side,   he deepened the kiss, making her toes curl. The lush sweeps of his tongue forced her to draw breath.     

A low primal groan escaped from his lips, and she didn’t think she’d ever heard anything sexier in her life. The drugging taste of his mouth stirred her hunger. She could see herself becoming an addict, always looking for the next fix. She’d always dreamed of a lover kissing her like this, making her burn, and the more time she spent with him, the more she couldn’t get over the sensation that she knew him before, in a past life.      

Nico pulled away and his lips fastened to her neck. He trailed open-mouthed kisses along her collar bone. “I want you, Brooke, so damn much it hurts. I have from the first second I laid eyes on you. I’ve been fantasizing about you for months, but I was conflicted because I was with someone else. It also made me realize that she wasn’t the one.” 

Her chest heaved. “I want you too, Nico, but this is all happening so fast.” She didn’t jump into bed on the first date, but his sultry kisses fired something wild and wanton in her blood. 

“This isn’t like me.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “Getting to know you has only made me want you more.”

Her knees weakened. She’d never experienced this kind of passion before. This wasn’t only about attraction. She liked him… a lot, which made this even more complicated. After tonight, she’d probably never see him again. But how could she deny her mind and her body from the sizzling chemistry pulsing between them?

“All I could think about while I was making tonight’s dessert was licking the chocolate off your bare skin,” he whispered close to her ear, making her shiver.

 What could she say to that?

“Come home with me, Brooke,” he rasped, pressing another sensual kiss to her lips. “I know we should wait, and that I should woo you properly. If we have sex too soon it might start this relationship off in the wrong direction, but all I can think about is being inside you.”

Nico’s raw, honest words made her ache and aroused her even more. A voice in her head told her to cut bait and call it a night, but another voice told her she might not ever get this chance again. She preached romance and spontaneity to her clients all the time so why shouldn’t she experience it for herself? Placing her hand on his chest, his heart pounded in the same wild rhythm as hers. “How long does it take to get to your place?”

Scorching heat flared in his eyes as Nico squeezed her ass. “We can be there in fifteen minutes if I speed.”

A rush of desire flowed through every cell and nerve ending. Their scorching need for each other melted the last of her defenses away. “What are we waiting for?”