Night Whispers - Leslie Kelly [49]
“I think,” he finally said, “that we look pretty damn good.”
“Oh, I love you! I knew you’d be a good sport about this,” Kelsey said as she laughed and pulled him down for a quick kiss on the mouth.
Some devil inside him made him tighten his arms around her waist and deepen the kiss. Mitch didn’t question the impulse as he pressed his mouth against hers. She didn’t seem to question it, either, because she immediately tilted her head and parted her lips invitingly.
He was alive with sensation, following his instincts instead of his intellect and it felt so good. As did she. She molded against him perfectly, pressing her body against his from neck to hip. This time when they finally drew apart, Mitch didn’t regret the kiss for one second.
“Ready, wench?” he asked, glancing at Kelsey’s swollen lips, then lowering his gaze to her heaving chest.
“Oh, yeah, I’m ready,” she muttered. “I think you are, too.”
Mitch followed her frank gaze down the front of his own body. His black pants left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and certainly no room for arousal.
“You better give me a minute before we go inside,” he said, his voice a throaty whisper.
“I’d give you a lot longer than that if we weren’t standing in a public hallway.”
“Hell, Kelsey, the way I’m feeling right now, I probably wouldn’t need much longer than that!”
She laughed softly. Mitch pulled his gaze off her and stared at the ceiling, trying to calm himself down by thinking of Chinese burial rituals, bowls of cold oatmeal and his first-grade teacher, a gray-haired old battle-ax named Mrs. Dora. Finally he looked at her and nodded. “Let’s do it.”
A slow, wicked smile spread across her face.
“I mean,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “let’s go to the ball, Lady Love.”
“Is that what makes tonight different?” she asked. “Am I just Lady Love tonight, and can you forget about the fact that I’m Kelsey Logan?”
Her lips were parted and he watched as the tip of her tongue slid out to moisten them. She moved closer, laying her hand flat against his chest, and stared up at him with liquid desire in her eyes. The conservative college professor in him tried to answer logically, but his brain and vocal cords didn’t connect.
“Keep looking at me like that, Lady Love, and you’re not going to make it to the ball.”
Kelsey felt a rush of triumph fill her. “Who says I want to?”
He shook his head, then chuckled. “Come on, little wench. You need to keep your job to pay your rent.”
Kelsey sighed, picked up the empty bag she’d used to carry the chain, and let him lead her out of the alcove.
“I guess this means I won’t be doing much dancing with ‘Ginger’ tonight, hmm?” Mitch asked as he jiggled the chain.
Kelsey flushed lightly as she realized Mitch knew exactly why she’d come up with the costume idea. “Well, we don’t have to leave them on all evening. I’m supposed to spend an hour greeting people and giving out promotional stuff. After that, we’re on our own.”
“Let’s see what happens, all right? We’ll definitely stick together while Lady Love is working.”
Kelsey gave him one more chance to back out. “You’re sure about this? I mean, it might be a little embarrassing.”
“Baby, let me tell you, being chained to a beautiful woman who calls herself my wench is only going to enhance my reputation,” Mitch assured her. “Now, let’s go. I’m sure all of Baltimore is anxious to meet the infamous Lady Love.”
Kelsey nodded and they walked back toward the lobby. A brunette dressed as Cleopatra sat cozily with a man who looked like a punk rocker on one of the sofas in the lobby. The queen of Egypt stared at Mitch as they walked by. The harried-looking mommy of two, still standing at the front desk, couldn’t keep her eyes off him, either. Kelsey curled her fingers in his possessively.
The chain clinked a little as they walked, but Kelsey ignored it, proceeding as if she and Mitch were just like any other couple holding hands in a hotel lobby…half-dressed and chained together.
“Where do we go first? Do we find a table or do you report for duty?