I'm alone with Reese. Sure, I've sort of lived with him for a week and a half, but tonight being alone with him feels different. He charmed the socks off Grams, or rather, charmed the silk stockings off her. She has never liked any guy I've ever dated, but she fell for Reese at first sight.
Kind of like I did.
He stands there across the sofa from me, in his Armani suit, looking so outrageously yummy. I want to eat him up, but something has changed between us. Something I can't yet identify. I know how to hunt down facts, no matter how obscure, but understanding this thing between me and Reese has me stumped.
Because I've never felt anything like it.
We're dating. We're in a relationship. But I don't know where this is all leading.
He sweeps his gaze over me while he unbuttons his jacket. "You are so beautiful, Arden."
"It's the dress. Armani makes any girl look fabulous."
"You've got it the wrong way round.Youmake thedresslook fabulous."
"Thanks." My cheeks warm, but not with embarrassment. The heat of his gaze penetrates me, sizzling on my skin and deeper into the most intimate places. "You make that suit look so damn hot."
He crooks a finger, beckoning me to come to him.
I cross the distance between us, my gaze never leaving his, and stop right in front of him. Inches separate us, and I swear I can feel the heat of his body radiating into me.
Reese settles his hands on my arms, gliding them up and down so slowly and with such decadent tenderness that his touch sets off a tingling sensation in its wake.
"Mm," I hum, laying my hands on his chest. "I want you. Tonight. Please, Reese, don't say no again."
He kisses my forehead, my nose, my lips.
I slide my hands inside his jacket and push it off his shoulders. He takes his hands off me only long enough to shed the jacket. I grasp the knot in his tie and work on freeing it, while he showers light little kisses on my temple, down my cheek to my jaw, and on the sensitive spot just under my chin. The thought of being with him again, of feeling and touching his body again, excites me so much that I moan even while I undo his tie and toss it away.
When I grasp the top button on his shirt, he lays his hand over mine to stop me.
"Maybe we shouldn't," he says. "I want you so much it's killing me, but Chance and Elena---"
"Will get over it. They're cool with us dating, so they'll be fine with us getting it on once they realize it's none of their damn business."
"You're probably right." He slides his hands up to my shoulders and down my back to the top of the zipper on my dress. "Can't care anymore. I need you, all of you, naked, underneath me, on top of me, everywhere."
"Oh yes." I unhook the buttons on his shirt one by one, my fingers grazing his skin as I go, loving the way his breath catches. "Let's stop thinking and just do it."
He drags the zipper down, inch by inch, nibbling my earlobe while I shiver from the feel of cool air on my back and from knowing I'm about to have what I've craved for days. Him. Inside me.
I push the shirt off his shoulders.
Reese shrugs out of it, then plucks the straps of my dress off my shoulders. The dress drops to the floor, leaving me in only my flimsy lace panties and bra. I've worn the semitransparent one he liked this morning, or I assume he liked it. When he saw me in it, his eyes had glazed over, and his mouth had fallen open.
He takes in the sight of me, running a hand over his mouth.
Then he sweeps me into his arms and rushes me into the bedroom.
Chapter Fifteen
Reese
I sprint into Arden's bedroom and lay her down on the bed. The covers are over it, but I'm so excited about making love to her that I don't care. I pull her knickers off, then reach under her body to undo her bra and get rid of it too. She lies there naked, with the sweetest smile on her face, and bites her lip in the way that always makes me want her.
All right, I want her every second of every day. She doesn't need to bite her lip to get me worked up. But watching her release that lip little by little makes me even harder for her.
The thought I had a minute ago comes back to me. I want to make love to her, that's what I'd thought. Make love. Have I ever used that phrase to describe sex before? Maybe once before, and I think it was earlier today. Arden has done more than drive me to break my promise to Chance, or to break my habit of never staying in a woman's bed all night. Because of her, I want more than sex. Only with her.