Crave (Splendor Book 2) (49 page)

Tessa finished getting ready very quickly after his departure, but couldn’t help smiling in delight. Ian was already primed and ready for their intimate evening ahead, and her confidence level was rising with each passing moment that he’d have a great deal of trouble tearing his eyes from her during dinner.

And that same confidence soared to never before seen heights when she walked into the living room a few minutes later. Ian’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped open in speechless awe as he inspected her very, very thoroughly from head to toe.

The silk dress was of a vivid pink floral print and had a halter top, a deeply plunging neckline that showcased her cleavage to its absolute best advantage, and a short, pleated skirt. Her normally pale skin had begun to take on a soft apricot tone after all the time she’d been spending in warmer climates as of late, and so she’d dispensed with hosiery tonight, leaving her long legs bare. She’d paired her rather daring dress with strappy gold high heeled sandals, a gold cuff bracelet, and a pair of enormous gold hoop earrings. Her blonde hair had been carefully tousled, and fell in loose, thick waves halfway down her back. Her makeup was all deep pinks and smoky grays, the bright shade of her lip gloss coordinating with the polish on her fingers and toes.

Ian walked over to her slowly, never taking his eyes from her face, and then he smiled - a very sexy, panty-melting smile that made her shiver in reaction. His arm circled her waist, pulling her in close as his burning gaze dropped to the lavish display of her breasts.

“Good Christ, I think you’re trying to kill me,” he said huskily with a shake of his head. “Why else would you be wearing a dress like this if you aren’t intending to raise my blood pressure to a very dangerous level?”

Tessa shivered again as he ran a finger very slowly down between her breasts. “I, ah, does this mean you like it?”

Ian growled, tightening his arm and pulling her body flush against his very obvious erection. “What do you think, my sweet?” He bent his head and pressed a kiss to the very top of her cleavage. “I understand now about that ridiculous excuse for a bra you’re wearing. You’ve, ah, got quite a lot of your very impressive assets on display tonight, love. Any particular reason?”

She traced her index finger over his lips. “Complaining?”

He laughed. “Not bloody likely, darling, no. You look a bit like a gypsy tonight, I think, with that very vivid dress and those earrings and your hair all wild. A very, very sexy gypsy.”

She caressed his cheek. “You don’t mind? About the dress, I mean. Because -”

Ian smiled down at her. “Because you look so damned irresistible that I won’t be able to tear my eyes from you all night? Tell me, love, was that your intent when you chose this very revealing dress?”

“Yes,” she replied guilelessly. “Especially after Mrs. C. warned me about, well, about Vincent’s wife.”

He looked at her quizzically. “What about her?”

Tessa fidgeted beneath his intent regard. “Well, Mrs. C. might have mentioned that Dinora, um, likes to flirt. A lot. And, well, Mrs. C. suggested that I should wear something -”

Ian burst out laughing. “My God, she didn’t! After telling you that your skirt was one damned inch too short earlier today, that old witch actually encouraged you to, ah, show off your goods tonight?”

She couldn’t help giggling in return. “I was a little disbelieving myself. But Mrs. C.’s seen Dinora in action several times, and seemed to think she’ll try to latch onto you immediately.”

Ian waved a hand in dismissal. “Let her try, it won’t do a damned bit of good. Darling, even if you were wearing a burqa right now, you’d still be the only woman I’d ever care to look at. But dressed like this - like a very sexy gypsy -
my
very sexy gypsy, you can be quite sure my eyes will remain fixed on you the entire time.”

She toyed with the lapels of his beautifully tailored linen suit jacket. “I know I’m being silly,” she admitted quietly. “And I know you’re too decent and wonderful to ever openly flirt with another woman. It’s just -”

He tipped her chin up, and the tender look in his hazel eyes made her heart beat a little faster. “Just what, darling?”

“I know you told me there weren’t very many women you’ve been with,” she began hesitantly. “I know that. But, well, I still can’t help but wonder how many others have tried over the years, how many have flirted with you. And I just -”

“Shh.” Ian placed a gentle finger over her mouth, careful not to smudge her lip gloss. “Come over here for a minute, love, and we’ll talk about this. I’m beginning to see we should have had this particular conversation some time ago.”

She started to protest as he led her over to the living room sofa. “But won’t we be late for dinner?”

Ian shrugged carelessly. “Perhaps a few minutes. So what? Vincent is my employee, not one of my friends, and he won’t dare to comment if we’re five minutes late.
You
, my love, are far more important. You
and
your peace of mind. Now, let’s sit, hmm?”

“Okay.” She let him draw her onto his lap as his arms wrapped firmly around her waist. “Though I know I’m being silly. I mean, in the time we’ve been together you’ve never once flirted or even looked at another woman. But I can’t help wondering, what with all the traveling you did and -”

He nodded as her voice trailed off shyly. “Perfectly understandable for you to be curious. Now, let me put all of that adorable curiosity of yours at ease, my love. When I first began to work for the company, my father made it very clear that I would be representing not just the Gregson Group but the Gregson family as well. And that there would always be standards that had to be upheld, a reputation to be maintained - one of class, dignity, and, most importantly, discretion. In other words, picking up random women or indulging in casual affairs while traveling on company business was strictly off the table.”

“So you’ve never -”

“No. Hard as it may be for you to believe, I took what my father said to heart and always strove to act accordingly. It became especially important once Colin graduated from university and also began to work for the company full time.” Ian paused, as if choosing his next words carefully. “He was about as far from being discreet as you’d shudder to imagine. And when his, er, exploits quickly became more and more blatant, my determination to uphold the company standards became even more pronounced.”

Tessa nodded, quietly thrilled at what he’d told her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. “Were you ever tempted? I mean, it couldn’t have been easy not to give in.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Perhaps once or twice, but never to a point where I ever strongly considered it. The other part of this - well, it will definitely sound hopelessly old-fashioned and probably very chauvinistic, too, but the truth of the matter is that overly aggressive women have always been a huge turnoff for me. I’m well aware that I’ve got this need to be in control, and I’ve always felt that the man should be the one to make the first move. Does that make me sound like a relic from the 1940’s or something?”

She smiled at him lovingly. “No, not in the least. And whatever it does or doesn’t make you, it makes
me
very, very happy to hear all this.”

Ian hugged her tightly, his lips brushing against her bare shoulder. “I’m glad I could put your mind at ease, darling. You are the only one for me, Tessa, the only woman I’ve ever loved this way. So please stop worrying about other women because they don’t even exist so far as I’m concerned.”

She gave his darkly stubbled chin a soft caress. “One other thing. You’ve made it very clear that upholding the company and family images are important. But yet I’m here with you, and we’re not even attempting to hide the fact that we’re together.”

“That’s different.” He took her hand and kissed her palm. “There’s a huge difference - in my mind, at least - between indulging in a series of one-night stands with random women, and having the woman I’m head over heels in love with traveling with me. The woman who is most assuredly the love of my life.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes at his passionately spoken words. “Oh, God, Ian. That’s - you make me want to weep with joy when you say such lovely things. Or swoon. Maybe both.”

He smiled before giving her a lingering kiss on the cheek. “No swooning allowed. And definitely no weeping. Now, darling, if I’ve hopefully managed to reassure you sufficiently, I suppose we ought to go. After all, the sooner we get this bloody dinner over with the sooner I can take this sexy dress off of you.”

He set her on her feet before standing, then pulled her close into his big body, one strong arm banding around her waist as his gaze dropped to her very generous amount of exposed cleavage. “Though every time I look at you tonight I’m going to be hard pressed not to do this.”

“Ohhh.”

She moaned as he slid his hand inside the deeply plunging neckline of the dress until his clever fingers found her nipple. His lips caressed the side of her throat as he blatantly fondled her breast, plucking the nipple until she was squirming in arousal.

“Easy, love,” he soothed, slowly removing his hand. “Regrettably, we don’t have the time right now. But you and I will definitely have a great deal to think about during dinner, won’t we? The anticipation is going to drive both of us wild.”

Tessa swayed against him, grateful for the support of his arm around her waist. “I think I’m already there,” she whispered.

He squeezed her waist. “Well, then, this should be an extremely interesting evening, shouldn’t it?”

***

Tessa couldn’t help the smile of satisfaction that lit up her face as the waiter served them coffee and dessert. On her right, her very attentive lover, under cover of the table, of course, was busily gliding his hand up and down her bare thigh in a slow, deliberate caress, inching a bit closer each time to the soaking wet crotch of her thong. Ian had been more than true to his word, acting as though she was the only woman in the world during the entire meal. His displays of affection, though discreet, had been frequent and continual since they’d sat down at the table. She’d lost count of the number of times he’d interlaced their fingers together, or pressed a soft kiss to her temple, or wrapped an arm around her shoulders, his long fingers caressing her bare skin.

Meanwhile, just across the table, Dinora Saldivar was not so silently fuming, her lushly full mouth fixed in a sulky pout. From the moment Vincent had introduced his beautiful, vivacious wife to Ian, she’d been doing her damnedest to get his attention. But, to his credit, Ian had smoothly and coolly thwarted every single one of her increasingly obvious efforts.

Having anticipated that Dinora would likely offer her cheek up for a kiss upon introductions, Ian had not given her the opportunity and merely extended his hand instead for a brief, impersonal shake. He’d kept his replies to her boldly flirtatious questions as formal and detached as possible, assuming what Tessa had always thought of as his standoffish, if not prim, Regional Director persona.

Except with her, of course. With Tessa he’d been warm and affectionate, and she was both thrilled and deeply touched at his attentions. As his hand moved to her nape, giving her a sensuous little massage, she couldn’t help giving Dinora a rather triumphant little smile.

The beautiful brunette gave her a tight, unpleasant smile in return, but her dark eyes resembled those of a spitting cat’s. There was no denying that Dinora was an extremely sexy, stunningly attractive woman with her masses of gleaming dark brown hair, big dark eyes, and lushly full, red-glossed mouth. She was a few inches shorter than Tessa, with a voluptuous figure showcased by the dark green, wrap-front dress she wore that exposed a considerable amount of cleavage. But Tessa sensed that those full breasts weren’t natural, given their near perfect shape and firmness. Dinora’s gleaming white smile seemed to be the result of very expensive veneers, while Mrs. C. had been right on the money about those rather ridiculously long eyelashes being false.

Undeterred by the sight of Ian’s open affection towards Tessa, Dinora batted those lashes coquettishly at him, and smiled very suggestively.

“You must have to work out every single day to stay in such fantastic shape, Ian,” she told him in a husky voice. “I should get you to give Vincent here some tips. I’ve been telling him for months now that he’s too skinny and should start bulking up.”

Vincent looked a bit embarrassed, as he’d done for most of the evening while tolerating his wife’s bold behavior. “That would be great, Ian, if you could spare the time. Though you’ve admittedly got a good six inches and probably thirty to forty pounds of muscle on me, so I’m not sure any of your fitness strategies would do me much good.”

Ian shrugged and took a sip of his tea before taking Tessa’s hand in his. “My fitness strategy, as you put it, Vincent, is fairly simple - eating a healthy diet, taking vitamins, getting enough sleep, and exercising five to six days a week. After all,” he added with a wink, as he brought Tessa’s hand to his lips, “I’ve got to keep up with Tessa somehow. She, ah, tends to wear me out. Don’t you, love?”

Tessa was well aware that both Vincent and Dinora were gaping at Ian, but she only had eyes for her man. She smiled at him gratefully, caressing his darkly stubbled cheek. “I’m not sure if that’s really possible, but I do admit to trying very, very hard.”

Dinora looked both defeated and subdued, and made no further attempt to flirt with Ian for the rest of the meal. A meal that Ian was evidently very anxious to bring to an end.

“Damn Vincent for asking for more coffee,” Ian muttered in Tessa’s ear. “Doesn’t he realize that you and I have a very important date to keep in front of our dressing room mirror?”

Tessa couldn’t suppress a giggle, a sound that quickly morphed into a gasp as Ian once again slid a hand up her bare thigh. This time, however, he kept on going until his long, elegant fingers reached the very damp crotch of her all but nonexistent underwear. She had to bite down on her bottom lip as he deftly brushed aside the lacy fabric and slid two fingers deep inside of her tight, wet slit. As his thumb rubbed little circles around her clit, she brought her cup to her lips and took several sips of tea in an attempt to muffle the low moan that would have otherwise escaped.