When I'm With You: The Complete Novel (15 page)
“Come on, we can’t let these two steal the show.”
Elise removed her high-heeled sandals and took Caden’s hand. As she walked over to the designated dance floor—an open area behind the outdoor furniture—she noticed Lucien’s eyes gleaming in the firelit darkness as he watched her. A thrill went through her for some reason. He’d been ignoring her all night—well, not
ignoring
exactly. She’d sensed his attention sporadically, his alert focus as he observed her. Why was he stretching things out now that she no longer officially worked for him and they’d both completed their medical exams? He was driving her mad with his elusiveness.
She definitely had Lucien’s attention now, though, and she gloried in that fact. Caden was a good dancer. She hadn’t danced since her nightclub days and wasn’t really sure if she still had what it took. Turns out, she found her rhythm just fine, if Caden’s admiring grin and increasingly sexy moves in reaction to hers were any indication. She danced with Francesca’s handsome friend, but she danced
for
Lucien. Even though she refused to look in his direction, she was acutely aware of his focus on her . . . of his increasing tension, like a powerful storm brewing in the distance. She laughed at Caden’s comments and gyrated her hips, giving him a seductive look that turned his eyes hot. She glanced over her shoulder at Lucien and transferred the gaze to him, thrilling to see his stare trained directly on her.
She’d known it would be.
She’d stayed under the radar for the past year or so, but tonight, she felt the wild girl in her rattling at her cage.
When the dance came to an end, she and Caden shared a quick hug, both of them laughing and overheated. They began to walk back over to the seating area to join Jacob, Mrs. Hanson, Lin, and Anara.
“Aren’t you going to dance, Lucien?” Ian asked pointedly as Elise and Caden passed their little circle, which consisted of Ian, Lucien, and Davie. Elise’s cheeks grew even warmer than they had from the dance when she noticed Ian nodded in her direction, an infinitesimal smile on his sculpted lips. She realized Ian was teasing Lucien. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dance before,” Ian prodded.
“And you never will, if I have my way about it,” Lucien said shortly. Caden and Elise drifted over to their group.
“Ah. As good at it as I am, I’ll wager,” Ian said, taking a sip of champagne.
“Lucien is a fabulous dancer.”
Three pairs of eyes flickered over to her when she spoke; one pair flashed a disbelieving glance that seemed to burn right through her. She bit her lip.
Oops
.
Ian lowered his glass. “When have you seen Lucien dance?” he asked, amusement tingeing his features. “I thought you two had just met recently.”
“We did,” Lucien said at the same time she did.
“What . . . does Lucien break into dance after last call every night at Fusion? I can’t quite picture it,” Caden asked, joking and doing a couple subdued dance moves, immediately stilling when noticing Lucien’s impassive expression and glacial stare. She got the distinct impression that while easygoing Caden and Justin might have partially broken through Ian’s reserve due to their friendship with his fiancée, Lucien was still considered a bit intimidating. Lucien transferred his gaze back to Elise, his manner seemingly calm, only his slightly flared nostrils betraying the fact that his hands were likely itching to stretch around her neck.
“Oh no, it’s nothing like that. Sharon Aiken and a couple of the waitresses told me that Lucien stepped out for a few at the Fusion Christmas party last year,” Elise sidestepped with a verbal sleight of hand to hide her error.
“I was at that party,” Ian mused. “I don’t recall seeing Lucien dance.”
Lucien quirked a brow up at her calmly, as if to say,
I’ll let you handle the lying, since you’re the unquestioned champion
.
“You have to wait until the bitter end for the good stuff—or so rumor has it.
Thank you
,” she told Mrs. Hanson warmly when the elderly lady brought Caden and her their drinks.
“Well, you learn something new every day,” Caden said. Elise took a long drink. She felt a little light-headed, but she didn’t think it was from the champagne. She pointedly ignored Lucien’s stare.
Ian received a call and disappeared on the other side of the wet bar to take it. Lucien walked away to get another drink. Francesca begged off from Justin’s manic dancing and went to follow Ian. Elise glanced over a few minutes later in the midst of conversation with Davie, Caden, and Justin and saw Francesca in Ian’s arms at the far corner of the deck, her face reflecting in the moonlight as she looked up at him and they talked, their manner subdued . . . intense. Francesca nodded, as if in reassurance, and Ian leaned down to kiss her, his head lingering.
As a particularly boisterous song came to an end, she saw Ian walking toward the door to the penthouse while Francesca busied herself refilling guests’ glasses, passing hors d’oeuvres, and chatting with Jacob. Elise watched from the corner of her eye, her curiosity mounting, as Lucien set his glass on the bar. His tall form melted into the shadows in the direction Ian had just taken.
Lucien stood with his back next to the wall, listening intently through the partially opened mahogany door.
“Those are my only two options?” he heard Ian’s deep voice resonate from inside the library office. Lucien knew from his many visits to the penthouse that it was the room Ian used for business while he was working at home. He’d hoped that since Ian made the call inside, he’d use the house phone—Lucien could have more easily eavesdropped on the conversation then. Although Ian had sought out the privacy of his office, however, he still used his cell phone. There was a pause as Ian listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone speaking.
“I understand what you’re saying, but surely there must be more choices than to either try this new medication or insert a feeding tube.” Lucien’s brow furrowed as he moved another inch inside the opened door, straining to hear. Ian sighed. “Fine. Let’s do the medication, if it will make her eat. Yes, I understand,” Ian said, sounding grim. Weary. “If she doesn’t respond to the new medication, a feeding tube will have to be inserted. Damn it, it’s so barbaric,” Lucien thought he heard the other man hiss.
He froze when something drew his attention away from Ian’s tense conversation. Elise stood several feet away from him in the hallway, her brows arched in amazement.
“I can’t be there for a few days yet. Fax the authorization papers to my residence,” Ian was saying. “We both know she hasn’t been reacting well to the sight of me anyway,” he said, his voice sounding hollow . . . barren. “If anything, I’d say
I’ve
been the trigger to her worst periods recently, Julia.”
Elise opened her mouth. Before she could get off the first word of her demand to know what he was doing, Lucien lunged across the space that separated them. He cupped her face and covered her mouth with his own. He applied pressure, swallowing her tiny squeak of surprise, his entire focus on the man in the office.
Had Ian heard anything? he wondered distractedly.
Ian resumed his conversation with whoever was on the phone, but suddenly Lucien couldn’t comprehend a word he was saying.
Elise’s body was pressed against his, her breath coming in shallow, rapid gasps next to lips that had meant to silence, but now were molding . . . shaping. He leaned down and fit the tight curves of her hips in his palms, his cock jumping at the perfect fit. His fingers reached, digging into the firm, ripe flesh of her ass. He penetrated her lips with his tongue. Her taste surged into his awareness.
She was clean and delicious, tasting of strawberries and champagne . . . and Elise.
She gave a muffled cry, but this one of arousal, not shock. He knew, because her tongue began to duel with his, hesitantly at first, but as the friction built . . . energetically.
Yes
, this was the Elise he knew. So eager, so sweet, so addictive; he was a fool to have ever taken a taste in these circumstances. Because no matter how she clouded his logic when he needed it most, she was a temptation that surpassed all others.
Elise didn’t know what had happened to her. One moment, she’d been dumbfounded by what appeared to be the sight of Lucien eavesdropping—spying—on Ian Noble. Next, she’d been stunned at the feeling of his firm, persuasive lips moving over her own, spinning a spell of silence. Then she’d been luxuriating in his kiss and the sensation of his long, solid male body pressed against her own. She felt his cock harden next to her lower belly as their tongues slid and dueled and tangled together. Desire unfurled in her at the evidence of his stark arousal. She had touched, petted, and sucked her share of cocks, but this ripping, lightning strike of lust she experienced, this was different . . . a sharp, biting, imperative need. She had reached the age of twenty-four and never even glimpsed the edge of desire until Lucien.
She stared up at his shadowed, compelling visage a moment later when he sealed the electric kiss. His body throbbed next to her, hot, male, and primed. He lifted a long finger and pressed it fleetly against his lips before he grabbed her hand. She followed him without question, the luxurious fabrics and carpet of the penthouse muting their hasty tread. She would have followed him to the gallows after the shock of that kiss.
He opened a heavy door along an unfamiliar hallway and pulled her into a room. When he closed the door, it plunged them into complete darkness. Suddenly, her back was pressed against the door by his large, hard body.
“You never give up, do you?” he breathed out, the hint of anger in his amused tone thrilling instead of alarming her. “The only thing you were missing was the pole while you danced up there on the terrace,” he said next to her mouth before he nipped at her lower lip. A ripple of excitement went through her.
“Were you jealous? Turned on?” she asked softly, plucking at his lips in return. He tasted wonderful.
“Wasn’t that the entire point? I want you to know that I’m going to punish you for teasing me that way. Then you had your fun by almost giving me away about the dancing, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t do that on purpose.”
“Of course you didn’t. You never do.”
“The slipup was an honest mistake,” she said breathlessly as they nibbled at each other’s mouth and her body seemed to liquefy from a rush of heat.
“Was it a mistake the way you were gyrating all over Caden? I felt like I was watching you two having sex with your clothes on. And what about just now . . . what the hell do you think you were doing in that hallway?” he asked, a new edge to his tone.
“I wasn’t doing anything but looking for you!”
“You weren’t doing anything but poking at the sleeping snake again. Some things never change,” he muttered, shifting his hips so that his erection slid against her belly. She heard the dark amusement in his tone. He touched her jaw with caressing fingertips, then brushed her sensitive lips. “Now you’re going to have to deal with the consequences, aren’t you?” he asked, his voice a low, sensual threat.
Her heartbeat throbbed in her ears in the oppressive silence. Even though it was pitch-black in the room, she pictured his small smile . . . the glint of a dare in his eyes.
Pride warred with desire.
Desire won.
She reached between their bodies and outlined the contours of his erection
. Oh
. His testicles felt full—fuller than any man’s she’d ever touched. It excited her, that evidence of his blatant masculinity. His cock rode down his left thigh. She stroked him through his pants, her eyes widening in the darkness. His low, rough groan sent tendrils of excitement through her lower belly and sex. Her fingers trembled as she unfastened his trousers. She wrapped her hand around his thick, tumescent staff a moment later and whimpered.
“That’s right,” Lucien said in a rough hiss as she stroked his warm, dense cock, completely spellbound. “Between that and my hand, I’ll tame you yet,
ma chère
.”
Stark longing overwhelmed her. No retort came to her as he guided her to her knees.
Read more of Elise and Lucien’s sizzling romance in
Part III of WHEN I’M WITH YOU
Available from Headline on March 19, 2013
You’ve met Lucien and Elise. Now meet Ian and Francesca in the sizzling
It’s at a cocktail party in her honour that she first meets him – and the attraction is immediate for graduate student Francesca Arno. It’s also bewildering. She’s not used to such a wholesale sexual response to a stranger. Enigmatic, darkly intense, with a commanding presence, billionaire Ian Noble completely unnerves her. And she likes it.
For Ian, Francesca is the kind of woman he can’t resist – one that comes all too rarely: a true innocent. But he can sense in her a desire to open up, to experiment, to give herself to the fantasies of a man in control. The first kiss, the first caress, the first challenge for a woman who craves what she’s never had – a man who gets what he wants. . .