Golden Lies - Barbara Freethy [122]
"I don't think you want your mother to see my bare ass on your bed."
"That would shake her up," she said with a little laugh. "But I actually like the sound of that." She dropped her hand to the snap on his jeans and heard the sharp intake of his breath. She didn't have to look down to know that his body was not fighting her nearly as hard as his mind was. Since she was a curious woman by nature, she let herself look anyway and was more than a little pleased by what she saw. When she glanced back at Riley, she couldn't hide the smug satisfaction she was feeling.
"I'm a man," he told her. "It doesn't take much."
"That's what you'd like me to believe, but I know it's me making you crazy."
"Feeling awfully sure of yourself all of a sudden."
"At one time, in my youth, I was an inexperienced virgin sleeping in this bed, but that was a long time ago, Riley. I want you to understand something important, all joking aside."
"Okay, tell me."
"I'm not a princess. I'm a woman, a complicated woman with good sides and bad sides. This room is part of who I am. I won't try to defend my family or my background or the privileges I grew up with, and I don't expect you to defend yours. What's important is not where we come from or how we were raised, but who we are today, what we want out of life."
"It's hard to forget where you come from."
"Maybe I can help you forget." She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned forward, whispering in his ear. "I want to make love to you."
"God, Paige, you can't just say it like that."
"I can say it any way I want."
"If you want to go back to my apartment—"
"I don't. And I don't want to go back to my apartment. I want to make love to you here."
"Why here?"
She gazed into his dark blue eyes and knew she had to tell him why. "Because this is where I first dreamed about you."
"Not me. I'm not some prince. You must have me mistaken for some other guy."
"I know who you are, Riley. And I have a pretty good idea of who you're not. I don't mean I dreamed of you exactly. I just dreamed of feeling this way, a little bit wild, reckless, like I'm about to jump off a cliff and I'm not sure where I'm going to land."
"Maybe you should back away from the edge."
"You're the one who makes me want to go higher and see what's on the other side." She touched his lips with hers, tentative at first, then with more confidence when he didn't reject her. "I'm going to make you forget who you are and where you are. The only thing in your head and your heart will be me," she whispered against his mouth, feeling his warm hands run up her back as she pressed her breasts against his chest and ran her tongue along the line of his lips.
Riley groaned deep in his throat. "You're killing me, Paige. I'm going to stop saying no if you're not careful."
"Good, because I don't intend to be careful." She covered his mouth with hers, diving into the kiss with her heart and her soul, giving him everything she'd dreamed of giving a man. No holding back. No second thoughts. It was all about this one moment, this one incredible kiss.
She threaded her hands through his hair, drawing him as close as she could, and when his arm slid around her body and hauled her up tight against his chest, she knew there was no turning back. She let reality go, stroking his tongue and feeling the rest of her body respond with a sense of desperation she'd never experienced before. She wanted him more than she wanted to breathe. She'd never felt so needy, so starving.
A moment later, the breath was completely knocked out of her when Riley moved suddenly, tossing her on her back, his hard body pushing her into the soft pillows.
"You didn't think I was going to let you call all the shots, did you?" he asked.
A shiver of anticipation ran down her spine at the intense male look in his eyes. He cupped her head with his hands, imprisoning her face for his very thorough kiss. Then his mouth left hers to dance along the side of her cheek, down the column of her neck across her collarbone