A Friendly Engagement (15 page)

And she knew why, if she’d stop long enough to acknowledge it. “I’ll be right back. Ladies’ room.”

She rushed into the white marble room and closed the door. Her reflection told the story. Her heightened color, wide eyes, and parted lips. She looked hungry. Hungry for Omar.

Gawd.
She’d wanted him to kiss her so bad. Her own image taunted her, and she rinsed her face with a splash of cold water. She dragged a fluffy hand towel down her cheeks and met her expression in the mirror again.

The only reason her world had changed—and she questioned her every thought and more—was because Omar wasn’t just Omar any longer. He’d gone from more than her boss, her friend, someone she cared about. She had feelings for this man. He gave her a lady boner like no other, and she wanted to jump on him and see where they landed. To hell with the consequences.

She combed her fingers through her hair, straightening several strands, and then flung the length over her shoulder to stand tall.

“Go for it,” she mouthed to her reflection. It wasn’t like he wasn’t willing, able, and ready.

Chapter Nine

Devi reentered their room to find Omar sorting through the Blu-ray movies inside the bureau across from the bed. He wanted to watch a movie? Maybe he’d changed his mind? Maybe she’d misread his intentions all along?

If so, then she was more off-kilter than she’d first thought. And him carrying her upstairs had been her imagination.

Damn
. He’d changed his mind. Of course, if you didn’t have the option of changing your mind, why have one? If only she hadn’t ducked into the bathroom for a pep talk. She shrugged to herself. She could pretend nonchalance all night long, but the disappointment that settled over her body took her breath away.

“You like
Spider-Man
?” He pulled the movie from a slot and shot her a smile over his shoulder.

“One of my faves.” Was that dejected voice hers?

“Mine, too. Why don’t you rest your feet, and I’ll get it started.”

If only what he planned to get started were her. But that didn’t seem to be the case.

Anymore.

“Thanks, O.” Devi plopped onto the bed. She tossed a fluffy pillow against the headboard and scooted up to rest her back before she dragged one foot across the opposite knee. She worked the ball of her foot with her fingers, digging deep until the pressure almost became painful. For some reason her self-massage didn’t have the desired effect. Why would it? She pressed her lips together. Disappointment over the night of passion she’d imagined turning into a movie night with a self-imposed foot massage might have something to do with her lack of enthusiasm.

You win some, you lose some.
But this loss settled on her like nothing ever had before. Earlier she’d feared trying to sleep, knowing Omar would be mere feet away. Then she’d worried about them taking a new step in their relationship—one where they’d share a bed. And now she wondered if she’d sleep at all because her mind would be turning over question after question. For starters, why had he changed his mind?

“How are the feet?” He had his back to her as he fidgeted with the remote and the player.

Damn, even his back sent her over the edge. His muscles moved beneath his shirt, and when he lifted his arm the material grew tight over his shoulder blades. The pressure she’d been applying to her feet softened as she imagined running her hands down his bare back. His warm skin. Sinewy muscles.

Get over it. Not happening tonight.

She cleared her throat and smiled, hoping the gesture would carry over into her voice. “I spent all last weekend dancing in new shoes, and now tonight going barefoot in the sand and dancing like a gorilla has my tootsies screaming. My massage isn’t having the desired effect. I might have to seek out a professional.”

She wanted to laugh but didn’t have it in her at the moment. He turned toward her. Damn that shirt. He might as well be bare-chested with all that muscle movement going on.

Omar tossed the remote from hand to hand as he made his way toward her. He threw the remote onto the comforter and flexed his fingers, cracking his knuckles. “Let me. I’ve been told I have magic fingers.”

I’ll bet.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to put you out.” Butterflies filled her belly as anticipation built inside. To have his hands on her, even if it were only her feet, affected her breathing.

“Like I said earlier, I’m at your service.”

He kicked off his sandals, and Devi smiled. “Oh, and by the way. Remind me later to go over the proper way to wear sandals, O.”

He looked down at his feet, wiggling his toes inside his socks. “What?”

“Although your hotness lets you get away with wearing sandals and socks because most people won’t look below your knees, you’ve broken the major footwear code. Never wear socks with sandals. Totally taboo. Unless you’re over sixty and golfing.”

“Whatever. I’m just living my life.” He winked, and then he sat on the bed, pulling his socks off, twirling them in his hands, and sailing them across the room.

“Are you trying to impress me?”

“Is it working?” He pulled her legs over his lap and rubbed his hands together. “Get ready for the best massage of your life.” His fingers worked the ball of her foot, between her toes, and then down the length of her sole.

Her entire body relaxed. His large hands took control, and she didn’t mind giving it up. She heated, as if hot rocks from a salon spa comforted her skin.

“Hmm. Whoever said you had magic hands didn’t lie.” Devi moaned and sank back against the pillow. She closed her eyes as they rolled back into her head.

The movie played in the background, but she didn’t even care. His fingers sent a throbbing heat between her legs, and all she could think about was Omar. Naked. But she wouldn’t make the first move, just in case she came off looking like a fool. Just in case she read him wrong, like she had earlier.

Or had she?

She hated that her confidence disappeared. Her feelings for Omar had her at a disadvantage she wasn’t used to.

“So, do you see kids in your future?”

What kind of sexy talk was this? She opened one eye and met his implacable gaze. “I’m not opposed, but it’s nothing I want right away. At this point I have no plans to settle down. But maybe in ten or fifteen years I might decide to have a child on my own since marriage isn’t anything I’m planning on.” She shrugged. “We’ll see where life leads me.”

“You sure have a way with them. They all seem to want to be with you.”

“Well, it’s only because I had chocolate.” She chuckled softly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as he continued to work the kinks out of her foot and he spread the warmth by giving her calf a good rubdown, too. She could almost fall asleep, if not for the fact that her body was on fire.

Devi cleared her throat. Even though she knew the answer, she had to ask to keep the conversation going. Because for some reason she needed to talk, and listen, so that she wouldn’t moan and groan in pleasure. “How about you, O?”

“You already know the answer. Kids are okay if they belong to someone else. My life is centered on work. I don’t want any distractions.”

For some reason, hearing him voice what she already knew stilled her heart. He had had a sad childhood—in her opinion—and she’d assumed he’d want to be a father to prove he could do it better. Because he could, he definitely could.

His firm fingers kneaded her flesh, working their way down from her knee then over her calf until they resumed their pressure on the bottom of her foot, specifically her arches.

“You have gorgeous feet, Devi Boss.”

His comment made her smile. “Thanks. I have a bit of a foot fetish with my own feet. I love slippers, nail polish, pedicures. Anything to spoil the tootsies.”

“Your high arches are probably why your feet ache so much. What do you wear, size six, seven?”

“Six. My grandma tells me all the time I have princess feet, but not a princess life.” She grinned when he chuckled. “I blame her for starting my foot fetish.”

“I have a secret.”

“Do share.” She sighed as his fingers hit a sore spot by her pinky toe.

“I have a foot fetish, too.”

Her head jerked up from the pillow and she met his delicious smile. His head was bent slightly as he worked her foot; a lock of hair fell over his forehead, giving him a mischievous air. “You have a foot fetish?” She bit her lip to hide her smile.
You learn something new every day.

He laughed. The husky, sensual sound curled her toes. Good thing he’d probably think it was because of his awesome massage techniques.

“Don’t you think everyone has some type of fetish? Even me?”

“I guess I never considered you.” She held out her palms to quiet his instant comeback. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. Just that you are always so… I don’t know—well thought out. Planned. Organized.”

“And you can’t have a fetish if you’re orderly?” His fingers stopped, his thumbs pressed deep into her arch.

She shrugged, wiggling her toes, hoping her movement would remind him he’d been in the middle of the most amazing massage of her life. If he could heighten her awareness by rubbing her feet, imagine what would happen if he had access to her entire body.

She shivered. In a very good way. “I just don’t think of you and fetish in the same sentence. Something so sexual…”

“You don’t think I’m sexual?”

“You’re my boss. My friend. I guess I don’t think of you that way,” she lied.
Until lately.

His brows shot up. “Really? My hands on you now don’t faze you in the least? That day on the sidewalk, when I took you in my arms, you thought nothing of that?”

“Come on, are you going to tell me you think of me sexually?” she teased. Of course they thought of each other sexually, but she needed to hear it. His answer would be a total aphrodisiac.

“You want me to be honest?”

“Of course.” She swallowed hard. Her heart filled her throat, and she felt like her entire future rested on his answer.

“I do. Lately I’ve had so many fantasies starring you, I’m about to have myself committed,” Omar growled seductively.

His words lit her on fire, and she scooted higher against her pillow to study him. Her heart pounded so hard she pressed her palm over her chest. Her friendly engagement ring twinkled in the light from the television. Heat roared across her face. Hell, across every inch of her. This was the best news she’d heard all week. “Really?” she squeaked.

He nodded and lifted her other leg to hone his massage techniques on new skin. All of a sudden she felt all feminine and take-me-in-your-arms-and-ravage-me. She tried to concentrate on how awesome her feet felt, and the movie, as his words sank in.

“Tell me your fantasy.”
And then I want you to throw me back on the bed and do everything I’ve been imagining and more.

He lifted her foot to his mouth. His lips moved like a whisper across the arch of her foot. His eyebrow lifted as he gauged her reaction from over her big toe.

Her eyes widened, and her breath seized, but she refused to break eye contact. Her fingers gripped the comforter, and she twisted the material into her fist as he nipped the side of her foot.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Is this happening?

Who’d have thought Omar kissing her foot would feel so…so… She had no words.

A rush of heat burrowed through her body. She burned from the inside out, starting at her feet and spreading up her legs. The fire coursed through her calves, brushed her thighs, then burned a trail to the cleft between her legs where it lingered and grew in force. Her nipples tightened and peaked.

Devi blinked when he ran his tongue on the inside of her arch again, pressing his fingers into the center of her foot until she moaned.

She shifted her position again as her abdomen clenched. A spasm shook her core until her sex tingled with anticipation. If his tongue could have her writhing with desire by teasing her foot, she wasn’t sure she’d survive anything more.

Any doubt about hitting the sheets with Omar blew out the window. The last thread of common sense from her brain was overcome by flames.

“Is lavishing my foot with your tongue one of your fantasies?”

“No. That just came to me in the moment. What I really want is your lips. Those full, lush lips that tease me every time you speak. I want to taste your mouth, your tongue as it thrusts into the warmth of mine. I want to kiss and lick and nip the skin at your throat, your pulse, the tender flesh at the base of your neck.” His gaze slid down her body and lingered on her breasts. As if obeying his silent command, her nipples tightened more, and his eyes darkened. His gaze traveled farther south, and he licked his lips. She could feel herself growing wet. Did he have any idea of his effect?

“Do you want more details?” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully as their eyes locked.

“I like the sound of all of that.” Her voice came out barely a whisper. She sat poised, waiting for something to happen. Hoping.

Okay, you so did not misread him earlier. He’s as turned on as you.

“I’m glad you approve. How about you? Fantasies?”

At the moment her fantasy was stripping down naked and letting him have his way with her. Damn, if he didn’t make a move soon, she might take the reins and have her way with him. Screw not making the first move. She’d push him back against the mattress and climb aboard. Being on top definitely had advantages. Goose bumps erupted on her flesh at the thought. She wanted him, but she didn’t realize the intensity until now.

From over his shoulder the television caught her eye. Her favorite part in the movie filled the screen. “I do have a fantasy. Kind of a silly one.”

“Now you have to share.”

“Mine involves a superhero. He’d hang upside down from the building, I’d remove his mask just enough to reveal his lips, and we’d kiss—of course all of this would happen after he came to my rescue.”

“Would you tell him he’s amazing?”

She felt her face heat, again. “Of course.”