Ran From Him (16 page)

“Yes.” Daniel cleared his throat.

“I think Amie will like it.” Cate glanced down at the dress, glad to look away from him. She didn’t trust the way her heart thumped, reading messages in his silence. Despite her embarrassment in the daring red dress, she preferred his heated, teasing approval to this unnamed tension.

The sales assistant broke the silence. “You can bring your friend in tomorrow, if you like. Is she the bride?”

“Yes.” Cate smoothed a lace frill. “Amie’s marrying my brother in a month.”

“That doesn’t allow much time.” The other woman frowned. “Definitely bring your friend in as soon as you can. I don’t think the dress needs much alteration, if she approves it. But you’ll need to think of matching accessories. Maybe a hat?”

“I’ll bring Amie in, tomorrow.” Cate was glad of the sales assistant’s spate of words, and the reminder of their real purpose in the shop. “Excuse me, I’ll change back into my everyday clothes.”

And my everyday mind
, she added silently.

She stripped off the peach silk and hung it carefully before pulling on the familiar practicality of her chambray shirt and trousers.

Daniel bought the red dress while Cate changed.

She saw the white and gold bag he held, but didn’t challenge him. She felt too unsettled. A lover could buy such things, and enjoy the giving and receiving. If she protested, how could she explain the protest? Unless she wanted to call a halt to their love-making?

She cuddled herself around his arm. “Let’s go home.”

“Will you model the red dress again?”

The tension between them eased; shifted into the less stressful realm of desire.

“I could be convinced,” she said.

“So do we take a taxi or walk?”

She saw the teasing in his eyes. “For that, I’ll make you wait and walk.” She released his arm and he slipped it around her waist.

“You’re punishing yourself, too.” He caressed her hip a moment, then pulled her closer. “You don’t have to model the dress.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” She wet her lips and looked up at him from under lowered lashes. “But someone promised me an office fantasy. There was mention of a desk…”

“Promises should always be kept,” he agreed solemnly. “Tell me, what did the fantasy include?”

She glanced around, but no one was close enough to hear their murmured exchange. “Well, I thought I’d be a journalist interviewing a sexy businessman, and each time I get an answer I like, I undo a button, maybe take off a piece of clothing.”

“What questions will you be asking?” Daniel’s voice went husky.

It bolstered her confidence with the sexual game. She put her arm around his waist and angled her body so the side of her breast brushed him as they walked.

“Questions?” She sounded demure. “I thought I’d ask what you like. What sounds do you like a woman to make in love-making, whimpers or words, sighs or screams? Where do you like to touch her? How do you like her to touch you? If I like your answers, we’ll move on to a practical demonstration.”

She felt the tension in his body and the faster rhythm of his breathing. Her own body was heating and melting. Words, just words, but they seduced them both.

“Tell me,” he said.

“For the practical demonstration, you’ll be sitting in your chair. It’s large and solid and leather. I’ll be naked. I’ll slide onto your lap and help you undress. I’ll touch you the way you tell me to, and then, you’ll touch me, until we’re both so hot and desperate for one another that you stretch me out across your desk and plunge into me.”

He shifted the shopping bag so it covered the evidence of his arousal.

“And I’ll take you so deep and so strong that you scream my name, and I’ll explode like a firecracker from the pleasure of you thrusting into me on the wide, smooth, wooden desk,” She finished triumphantly as they walked into the lobby of the apartment building.

He punched the lift button. The doors opened and he pulled Cate inside and hit the penthouse button. He pushed her back against the wall, lifting her to cradle his hardness, and thrust against her. “You, torment.”

He thrust again, and she rode the strength of his need. She ached for the reality of his possession. His mouth came down on her, and she answered from her own hunger. Lips and tongues mated, and demanded more.

The lift doors opened, and he stumbled out, carrying her wrapped around him. He groaned with the agonising friction of each step.

Somehow they got the penthouse door open, themselves inside, and the door shut again against the outside world.

“Cate. Caty.”

She felt the door at her back, bracing her weight, and brought his hands to her breasts. She sobbed as his fingers dug and massaged. Pleasure broke over her like surf on a summer day.

“My turn.” He stripped off her trousers and his jeans, and fitted protection. Then he came up into her with a passionate intensity that had her shattering a second time. “Caty…I like all the sounds you make…but mostly…I like my name.”

He thrust a final time, and she screamed it. “Daniel!”

They rested against one another, recovering breath and identity.

“I feel ravished.” Her breath sighed against his throat. She licked a glistening of sweat beading there. “It feels wonderful.”

“It sure does.” He smoothed her hair. “You seduced me.”

“I know.” She smiled, feeling smug.

“I like it.” He hugged her tightly before allowing her to slide down his body.

They re-dressed and straightened their clothes.

“Daniel, where’s my red dress?”

“Oh.” Unexpected colour stained his face. He’d forgotten it. He went out and retrieved it from a corner of the lift.

She laughed. “Thank you, sir.” She accepted the shopping bag and stretched up to kiss his cheek. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed. And thank you for buying me a beautiful dress.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“I think I should call Amie about the bridesmaid’s dress.”

“Okay. I’ll make some coffee while you call her.”

Cate watched him walk into the kitchen, and tingled from their recent encounter. He was a gorgeous man.

Sternly, she brought her mind back to business.

Amie was delighted Cate might have found a bridesmaid’s dress, and promised to meet her tomorrow to view it.

“I’m so excited. I’ve booked a photographer and a caterer, and tonight, Rob and I will write our vows. A garden wedding suits me so much better than a formal church affair. Have you thought where you and Daniel will marry?” Fortunately, Amie didn’t wait for a response. “He’s pretty traditional. No bungee-jumping wedding for my brother. Still, you’re tall enough to look beautiful in a traditional wedding gown.”

Cate took advantage of Amie’s pause for breath to redirect the conversation away from a tummy-churning discussion of her mythical wedding. “Have you decided on your style of wedding dress?”

“Al-most,” Amie drew out the word. “I can’t have anything too frilly. Being short, I’d look like a frothy meringue. I think I will wear white. It shows up against a green garden and blue sky. Do you think I could get away with a mini-skirted wedding dress?”

“If anyone can, it’s you, Amie.”

She giggled. “I don’t think I’ll risk it, though. Mum would have a fit. Did Daniel tell you how pleased Mum is to hear you’re marrying him?”

Cate’s heart sank. “Did you tell her?”

“Me?” Amie’s voice rose in astonishment. “Daniel phoned her.”

“Oh.” Cate’s hand tightened around the phone.
How could he?
“I have to go, Amie. I’ll see you tomorrow about the dress.” She hung up and flexed her tense fingers.

“Daniel.” She tracked him to the kitchen. “You told your mum we’re engaged.”

He looked at her cautiously, probably picking up the note of strain in her voice. “I had to. It’s not the sort of secret a son keeps from his mum.”

She collapsed onto a bar stool. “But it’s such a lie, and it just seems to be spreading and spreading. Amie asked where we’d be married.”

“A church.”

“We’re not getting married.” She took a deep breath. No need to shriek. “Amie said you’d be traditional.”

“See.” He handed her a cup of coffee and slid a packet of chocolate biscuits along the counter. “We’re just doing what people expect. We can break reality to them after Amie and Rob are safely married.”

“I guess.” She took a chocolate biscuit and ate it moodily.

Daniel sat on the stool next to her and nudged her knee. “I was going to suggest we go out to dinner, tonight, to show off your engagement ring and the red dress, but with you worried about our engagement—”

“Our fake engagement.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to go out and pretend to be happy.”

He went still. “Are you unhappy, truly unhappy?”

“I…I’m uncomfortable lying to people.” She looked at his concerned expression, his doubt. She reached out her hand and touched his arm. “I’m not unhappy about us. I like this time with you.”

“I’m glad.” He covered her hand with his.

“So.” She took a sip of coffee. “Dinner. What about a romantic picnic dinner here above the crowds?”

“You and me and candlelight? You could convince me.”

They drove down to a gourmet deli to buy the makings of their picnic dinner: salads of Thai beef, Greek and char-grilled vegetables, smoked meats and roast chicken, crusty bread rolls, cheeses and olives, and strawberry tarts for dessert.

Used to solitary grocery shopping, Cate enjoyed the novelty of shopping with a partner. You could consult, share likes and dislikes, and simply enjoy a sense of belonging. It was seductive.

Daniel appeared to enjoy the shopping, too, though he protested she’d only brought him along to carry the bags. “You only want me for my muscles,” he said as the penthouse lift carried them up.

“I did offer to take a bag.” She winked. “Though you’re right. I adore your muscles.”

“Do you, Caty?” He smiled slowly, as lazy and satisfied as a basking lion. “You’ll have to show me.”

A shiver slid down her spine.

The lift doors opened.

He swung a shopping bag to keep the doors open. “After you.”

She stepped past him, aware of his height and width. Because he was always gentle with her, tempering his strength to their pleasure, she had never considered his potential for physical dominance.

His self-control spoke of caring. He was a gentleman, in the true, literal sense of the word.

She used the security card he’d given her to open the door, then stretched up and kissed him while his hands were occupied holding the grocery bags.

It was a very good kiss, even if she said so herself. Sexy, hungry and full of promise.

He blinked when she retreated. “Well, now.”

“Uh huh.” She shook a finger. “Groceries to the kitchen while I find us a picnic blanket.” 

She chose a hunter green blanket from the linen closet and spread it on the floor in front of the floor length windows, over-looking the river. Evening shadows were drawing in, tracing patterns across the river and parkland. Soon the streetlights would go on. Far above the world, she and Daniel could watch and dream.

“A picnic is a great idea.” He popped a strawberry in her mouth as she entered the kitchen. “We can eat the food we want, in the way we want.”

“Mmm.” She savoured the flavour of the strawberry, her tongue licking the juice from her lower lip.

He bent and shared the treat, his tongue stroking slowly into her mouth.

Desire coiled through her.

He drew back, his eyes full of the knowledge of her response. “Champagne?”

“Lovely”

While he opened the bottle, she transferred their food to plates for later serving, and brought the platter of fruit to the picnic blanket.

He detoured to the sound system and put on a sultry Blues collection, then he handed her a glass of champagne and stretched out beside her.

Dry and smooth, the champagne sparkled on her tongue. She took a second sip, then set the glass aside. She met his smiling eyes, and slid down so her posture mirrored his, lying on one side, supported by an elbow. She took the glass from his hand, and put it safely out of the way.

“A private picnic has certain benefits beyond food,” she murmured.

“Such as?”

She gave him a gentle push onto his back. He went willingly. Her finger traced the line of his open collar. “Such as dress standards. You’re much too over-dressed.”

“You’ll have to do something about that.” His gaze locked with hers, challenging and demanding.

“I intend to.” She straddled his hips and bent to the task of unbuttoning first his shirt, then hers. She felt the contrast of his crisp chest hair and her own soft skin against her fingers. Male to female. Beneath her, his body stirred, and she rocked gently in answer.

His mouth tightened and she bent to soften it with kisses. He caught her, brushing off her shirt and unclasping her bra, dragging it from her so that the heated friction of skin against skin had no barrier. She teased him with the hard points of her nipples, before pushing upwards, breaking contact long enough to undress completely.

He breathed out unevenly as she stretched out over him again. “I think I’m definitely over-dressed.” Still in his jeans, his desire strained against them.

“Shall I help?” She unzipped his jeans and found him. She licked her lips.

He groaned.

She grinned, and fell on him, kissing his mouth in a seductive taunt, sucking his tongue in the way he wanted her to take him.

He retaliated, cupping the naked heat of her and torturing her with pleasure.

She broke their kiss to gasp his name.

“Any more teasing or is it time for the main course?” he asked.

“I’m starving.”