Lucy Monroe - Satisfaction Guaranteed

“Huh.” It was definitely a sound of disbelief. “So, do you acknowledge last night was a date?”

There was no hope denying it and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. “Vito certainly thought so.”

“He’s a flirt.”

“He’s a sweetheart.”

“He’s an Italian lothario who is going to lose his charming accent along with his voice if he doesn’t stop flirting with my woman.”

Ethan was playing his role again, but she couldn’t help the thrill of dark pleasure that raced down her spine at his words.

He nuzzled her neck, sending chills of pleasure down her spine. “So…you hungry?”

She let her head hit the wall as she leaned against it. “A little…”

It was a lie. She was starving…both for him and for the delicious food smells coming from the kitchen. The question was, which hunger was going to get to her first?

“If you’re only a little hungry, then maybe you’d be okay with dessert first.” His lips played along her jaw.

Oh, yes…dessert. Yum. “What’s for dessert?” she asked in a whisper that sounded a lot more come-hither than she’d intended.

He kissed the corner of her mouth, but not full on her lips. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that.” What was her sanity doing asserting itself now? Didn’t it know when to keep a low profile?

“Trust me, you are.”

She was…but she wasn’t. And the conflicting feelings only fed the overwhelming desire coursing through her. Shouldn’t her ambivalence at least give her a little respite? And yet despite how her body buzzed with electric need, her mind and fears would not shut off. Had she gotten so used to dreaming about life rather than living it, she’d lost the ability to just exist in the moment?

It was not a comfortable thought…but none of them were right now. “You said you wouldn’t push me.”

He cupped her face and leaned his forehead against hers while his body pressed closer. “I want you to the point of madness, Beth. And as fantastic as it was, I don’t want another session of lovemaking via the phone. I need the real thing. I think you do, too.”

Her body certainly agreed with him. It ached to press closer to his heat, but part of her was more than willing to try the phone sex thing again. It had been incredible. What if the real thing was a disappointment? Not that she was expecting it to be. She liked making love. A lot. It had been good with Alan and she thought it would probably be spectacular with Ethan. Would she survive it though?

“I’d never done that before. The phone sex thing,” she clarified as if he wouldn’t know just what she was talking about.

He nuzzled her. “I figured that. Neither had I.”

“N-never?” She shivered as his nuzzling affected her in ways she wished she could better control.

“No. Now that you’ve taken my virginity, do you feel obligated to marry me?” he asked in a deep voice that masked the humor she knew had to be lying under the surface.

But even knowing it was a joke, the words caused everything inside her to freeze in shock. “Uh…no.”

“Too bad, but maybe I can change your mind.”

“Don’t joke about that.”

“Why not? Are you worried your certainty I’d make a bad long-term prospect is in jeopardy?”

“No. You’re the one who said you were looking for sex without commitments.”

But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t end up wanting one. And that would be a disaster on so many levels, she didn’t even want to consider the possibility.

“More like sex without long-term commitments. I expect you to be very committed to me and only me while we’re having sex and vice versa of course.”

How could he talk so intelligently while she felt like her muscles and her will were turning to jelly? “I think maybe I should come back another night to do the get-to-know-you thing.”

He leaned back so their eyes met. His were assessing and hungry…very, very hungry. “What are you so afraid of, Beth?”

“You.”

He shook his head. “Don’t you know…you’ve got nothing to fear with me, darlin’? Nothing at all.”

He was wrong. She had no doubt he knew exactly how to give her more pleasure than she’d ever known. It wasn’t her body she was worried about. It was her heart, but she wasn’t about to admit her biggest fear was that she was falling in love with him. He knew too much about her desire for him already.

Besides hearts did not belong in discussions about sex without long-term commitments. Hearts and the feelings they held were very long term. She’d learned that with Alan. Walking away from him had hurt more than the humiliation of calling off the wedding. Way more. Only the certainty that a lifetime of the same was staring her down had given her the strength to end the relationship when he got home repentant and still wanting to marry her.

She hadn’t dated for the first year after the breakup simply because she’d still been hurting too much to risk her heart. Then she’d met Ethan and every other man had eventually faded into the background. If he had that kind of power over her when she didn’t love him, how much worse would it be if she did when he walked away?

Even more terrifying was the prospect that he might change his mind and not want to. She didn’t think she’d have the strength to do it herself.

“What is the matter, Beth? You look like you’re watching a horror movie and it’s reached the really gory part.”

Now that was apt, but she attempted a shrug. It didn’t work very well considering how close they were. “Nothing.”

He looked at her like he was trying to read her mind, but for all his super spy abilities, he couldn’t do that. Thank goodness. She looked back, blanking her expression so she would not expose her churning emotions any further. She had a lot of experience with that particular feat.

His green gaze narrowed like he wasn’t buying the suddenly peaceful façade. Her dad used to look at her like that, but if he hadn’t been able to break through the barriers she’d learned to erect around her emotions, Ethan sure wasn’t going to.

He shook his head. “You are going to learn to trust me.”

Not likely, but she was smart enough to keep that thought to herself. An alpha male like him would see it as a challenge and he was determined enough where she was concerned.

“I want to kiss you.” He massaged her jaw with his thumbs like he was getting her ready, his expression still probing. “I need to taste your lips. So, if you’re saying no for real, you’d better say it now. Once my mouth takes yours, my body isn’t going to be long in following.”

The proof of that statement pressed hard against her tummy.

An atavistic part of her suspected that if she said no, he would just look for another way to convince her. One thing was for sure. She wasn’t going anywhere. She didn’t want to, not really. Even though she should. And he wasn’t about to release her without an argument. One she knew she was destined to lose because too much of her was on his side.

The man looking at her so intently right now had no intention of being thwarted and yet she knew with just as primitive a certainty that he would never actually force her to do anything, nor would he ever physically hurt her. The truth was…he would never have to. She was a hair’s breath from kissing him herself.

“Dinner first,” she forced herself to say. “And then I look over your apartment.”

“And then I strip you naked and keep you that way for the rest of the night.”

“We’ll see.”

“Yeah, baby, we will.” It was as much threat as promise and she shivered in spite of her certainty he would never push her beyond what she could deal with.