"Hello?"
"I'm in town. Thought I might come over."
His voice reached through the telephone wire and slid down
her spine like warm maple syrup on a cold winter's day,
into every nook and cranny of Misty Vale's traitorous body.
"All right," she replied softly. "I'll be waiting." She
hung up and quickly began moving around the room,
straightening magazines and throw pillows, dimming the
lights before heading for her bedroom. Shedding her
skintight bike shorts and sports bra, she slipped into a
new black teddy she knew Cullen would love.
If it weren't for him, she probably wouldn't own half as
many pieces of fancy lingerie. But he liked the sheer,
sexy stuff, and she liked wearing it for him.
She quickly pulled her long, wavy hair out of its ponytail
holder and ran a brush through to fluff it up.
A second later, the doorbell rang. She hurried across the
room, glancing around one last time to be sure everything
was in order. And then her hand was on the chain,
releasing it. On the knob, turning it.
"Hi."
He was leaning against the jamb, black hair glistening in
the porch light, blue eyes sparkling with barely banked
desire. She swallowed hard, wishing she knew how to settle
the butterflies flitting around in her belly.
"Hi. Come on in," she said, stepping back to allow him
entrance.
She closed the door and refastened the security chain,
then turned to find him watching her like a hawk might
watch a mouse just before swooping down and carrying it
away.
He was dressed for business in charcoal gray slacks and a
white dress shirt, both of which were slightly wrinkled
from a long day of meetings and travel. His tie was silk,
with pastel swirls that reminded her of a painting she'd
seen once in an art gallery. It was pulled away from his
neck and hung limply from the collar with the top two
buttons undone. The jacket that matched his slacks was
folded over one arm.
He looked tired, and as much as she wanted to drag him
straight to the bedroom, she thought he might need to
relax a bit first.
"Do you want anything?" she asked, tipping her head in the
direction of the kitchen at his back. "A glass of wine?
Something to eat, maybe?"
With the flick of his wrist, his jacket fell to the floor
and he was striding forward, his gaze focused intently on
her face.
"Later," he growled in a low voice that sent every cell of
her being into erotic overdrive. His arms wrapped around
her and a second later, his mouth hovered above
hers. "Right now all I want is you."
As always, his kiss scorched, setting her afire from head
to toe. She buried her fingers in the hair at the nape of
his neck, caressing his scalp. His lips moved over hers,
sucking, biting. His tongue delved inside to lick and
stroke.
Her breasts swelled beneath the satin material of her
teddy, pressing against his solid, muscled chest. His
hands ran along her spine, over her waist, and finally
cupped her buttocks, pulling her into the evidence of his
arousal. Misty moaned, holding him tighter and hitching a
leg up to hook on the jut of his hip.
Tearing his mouth away, he breathed heavily against her
cheek. "Bedroom. Now."
"Yes."
Bending slightly, he lifted her into his arms and strode
with purpose across the living room. He knew the layout of
her apartment as well as she did. Not surprising, since
he'd bought the building for her three years ago, after an
accident on stage had damaged her knee and ended her
career as a showgirl on the Las Vegas Strip. Her dance
studio was downstairs, and she lived above.
Cullen lived in New York, working hard for Snap — one of
his family's many successful magazine ventures — but he
visited Nevada as often as possible. And whenever he was
in town, he spent the night with her...in her bed.
She lived for those nights. Waited for them, craved them,
even though everything inside her told her it was wrong.
He was five years her junior, his family — the Elliotts —
one of the wealthiest and most prominent in New York. They
couldn't have been more different if they'd been born in
opposite hemispheres.
But from the moment she'd seen him, standing backstage
after one of her nightly performances, there had been
something about him. Something that drew her, kept her
connected to him no matter how many times she told herself
they should call off their blazing red-hot affair.
Reaching the edge of the bed, Cullen laid her on the
mattress and followed her down, covering her body with his
own.
"I love this," he said, fingering the black fabric that
barely covered her from chest to thigh. "But it has to go.
I want you naked."
"You're the boss," she told him with a small smile. One
side of his mouth quirked up in sensual amusement as his
fingers slipped beneath the teddy's spaghetti straps,
sliding them over her shoulders and down her arms. She
moved to allow him to uncover her breasts and pull the
garment down past her hips and thighs.
His beautiful blue eyes seared through her like laser
beams. He openly admired her breasts, her belly, the
triangular area between her legs hidden behind a swatch of
black lace.
Rising up from the bed, she helped him remove the lingerie
completely. He tossed it aside, returning his attention to
her bare, curvaceous form.
She wiggled anxiously, wanting to touch him. Wanting him
to touch her.
"You're overdressed," she told him, grabbing the end of
his tie and giving it a tug. The action brought him
several inches closer, until their noses nearly touched.
His chest rose and fell with his harsh breathing and she
took a moment to run her hands over the wide planes of his
pectoral muscles before her fingers moved up to the knot
at his throat.
She loosened the tie, taking her time pulling the length
of silk free of his pristine white collar. Then she went
to work on the buttons of his shirt, slipping them through
their holes one by one. When she reached the bottom, she
tugged the tails out of the waistband of his slacks,
revealing his smooth, tanned chest and six-pack abs.
She swallowed, overwhelmed by the sheer perfection of
Cullen's toned build. He'd mentioned once that he worked
out several times a week in the company gym of Elliott
Publication Holdings (EPH).
And she reaped the benefits.
Pushing the soft cotton off his shoulders, she pitched the
shirt in the direction of her discarded negligee. Next
came his belt, unbuckled and pulled through the loops of
his pants. When her painted, manicured nails dipped behind
the button at his waist, he sucked in a breath, sending
his stomach rippling.
"I hope you're enjoying yourself," he said through gritted
teeth, "because I fully intend to repay the favor."
"Uh-oh. I'm in real trouble, then, because I am enjoying
myself. Very much."
She flicked the button of his trousers open with her
thumb, creating even more space for her fingers to delve
and explore. The heat of his body — so close to the
throbbing, insistent center of him — enveloped her,
soaking through her skin and down into her soul.
With the backs of her fingers brushing over the sprinkling
of hair leading downward from his navel, Misty used the
heel of her hand to push the zipper down. Slowly, the
individual snicks echoed through the room.
Cullen held his breath, the sensations she was creating
were almost too much to bear. Each click of the zipper
teeth separating seemed to reverberate through his bones,
his teeth, his rigid, straining shaft.
He'd been half-hard all day, anticipating the moment when
he could tie up his Snap business in Vegas and sneak away
to make love to Misty. The things she was doing to him now
didn't help matters, either. His blood was boiling, his
head pounding. Much more, and he thought he might implode.
She was amazing. Every time they were together, it was
like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Hot, vibrant,
spectacular. He was surprised they hadn't set the sheets
on fire years ago.
If he told anyone, even his brother, how Misty made him
feel in bed, they would have given him one of those sly,
knowing looks and said, "Sure. She used to be a showgirl.
What do you expect?"
But it was more than that, because as explosive as they
were in the bedroom, they worked just as well out of it.
He wanted to make love to her as often as his schedule and
physical endurance would allow, but he was equally happy
to sit on the sofa with her and watch a movie or pick at
day-old Chinese takeout.
That's what no one would have understood. What he didn't
particularly understand himself.
The zipper reached its end and Misty dipped her entire
hand into his pants, into his briefs to circle his
pulsating length. His diaphragm seized, and his nostrils
flared as he fought to pull air into his lungs. She
stroked him, squeezed him, teased him until he wanted to
scream.
"Enough." Before he lost it to her fingers instead of
inside her where he most wanted to be, he grabbed her
wrist and extracted her hand from his trousers.
In a few jerky moves, he kicked off his shoes, socks,
pants and underwear.
Once he was naked, he climbed onto the bed, pushing her to
her back as he straddled her thighs. Bracing his weight on
his arms, he leaned forward and took her mouth the way
he'd fantasized all through the long flight from New York.