Bachelor Unleashed - Brenda Jackson [27]
“Everything is ready, Mr. Kane. Should we proceed?” the driver asked over the intercom.
“Yes, Jules, and you can darken the lights back here.”
On cue, the lights in the panel of both doors went out, drenching the rear of the car in total blackness. The only illumination came from the light reflecting off the tall buildings of the Manhattan skyline.
Farrah knew the exact moment the car drove onto the huge barge, and moments later she heard the sound of the car door opening and closing. She glanced questioningly over at Xavier.
“Jules is leaving,” he said. “He’s joining the captain of the barge in the wheelhouse. They’re old friends.”
“Oh.” She knew that meant that she and Xavier would be in the car alone.
Moments later she could actually feel the swish and sway of the water beneath them when the barge began moving. She had ridden a ferry once before while visiting a friend in Florida. It had been a passenger ferry, and it had been during daylight hours. However, this ferry ride provided a beautiful view of New York City at night.
She glanced over at Xavier. He was still sitting across from her and was looking at her. Although the lights reflected off his features, she couldn’t see his entire face. However, knowing his eyes were on her was enough to send a luscious shiver up her spine.
Why did he have to be so mind-bogglingly handsome? Why did being here with him and sharing this space with him remind her of other times she’d shared more than space with him? She couldn’t help but recall when she had shared her body, given it to him whenever and however he’d wanted it.
She decided the best thing to do was strike up a conversation to ease the heated tension flowing between them, although she doubted it would do a single thing to douse the hot-blooded desire flowing through her veins.
“We won’t be running into the passenger ferry that runs twenty-four hours a day, will we?” she asked.
“No, we’re taking a different route so we’re safe.”
She wondered just how safe she was alone with him in the darkened backseat of a car while rolling down the Hudson. There was the scent of a predatory male circulating in the air, but she was determined to stay in her corner. If anyone made the first move it would be him…although he didn’t seem in a rush to do so.
Silence hovered between them for a few moments, and then he asked, “Would you like some wine, Farrah?”
She lifted a brow. “You have wine in here?”
“Yes.”
He proceeded to press a button, and a compartment opened that transformed into a minibar.
“Wow, I’m impressed,” she said.
He chuckled. “Are you?”
“Yes.”
He uncorked the wine bottle and poured two glasses. He then leaned over and handed one to her. “Umm, you smell good,” he said in a deep, throaty voice.
They were passing beneath a brightly lit building that illuminated his features. Heated lust was definitely shining in the dark depths of his eyes.
“Thanks. I think.”
He smiled. “You aren’t sure?”
She took a sip of her wine, liking how it tasted on her tongue. She looked at her wine in the glass and then at him. “Yes, I’m sure. I think you smell good, too. I guess our noses are in rare form tonight.”
“That’s not the only thing. Slide over here for a moment.”
Farrah met his gaze and decided she was either a glutton for punishment or eager for pleasure. Ignoring the voice inside her head advising her to stay put, she slid over the warm leather seat toward him. What she’d told him earlier was the truth. He smelled good. Good enough to lick all over.
When she was basically plastered to his side, he stretched his arm across the back of the seat. “Now,” he said when she was snuggled close to him, “this is where you belong.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
She would have thought such a statement—a bold proclamation made by him or any man about where she belonged—was out of order and deserved a blistering retort, but she didn’t have time to do so when he eased the glass