Hugo Boss. The only reason I even knew that scent was because I’d once worked as a spray girl in the local shopping mall in Vegas. They had me spraying all kinds of crap. So much so you left working smelling like a bag of potpourri. Hugo Boss had a yummy male smell that seemed to arrow through my nostrils and land bullseyed between my legs.
With effort, I tried to scooch over a bit. Alec just looked at me and winked then finished plating the Chow Mein and Kung Pao. “I hope you like Chinese food,” he offered the plate to me.
I gripped it greedily, brought it close my face, closed my eyes, and inhaled the heavenly mix of chicken, sauces and noodles steaming on the plate. The food smelled so good my mouth watered, and I moaned then dug in. When I looked up, Alec had stopped plating his own food and was staring at me. What I saw almost made me choke. Those eyes of his were blazing hot, his lust plainly visible. He wasn’t even trying to hide it.
“You are startlingly beautiful.” He touched the side of my cheek and cupped it. Inadvertently, I curved my face further into his palm, sealing the connection. It had only been a few days, but I missed a man’s touch. Alec traced my bottom lip with his thumb then his voice turned husky. “Tu est le cadeau de Dieu au monde.”
“What does that mean?”
“‘God’s gift to the world.’ That’s what you are. And I intend for everyone to glory in such a gift.”
A gift. Alec thinks I’m a gift to the world. A beautiful one.
I wasn’t able to respond. Not when he set aside the making of his dinner. Not when he took my plate and set it on the table. Not when he leaned into my space until we were a scant couple inches apart. But I did respond the moment my frazzled brain registered his kiss.
Warm, supple, and sweet. His lips brushed mine before he sucked in my bottom lip and ran his tongue along the sensitive tissue. That was as far as it got before I gripped his neck and pulled him further into me. My fingers tunneled into his hair. When I encountered a hair tie, that just wouldn’t do. I pulled on that tie until it snapped and lemon-scented, thick hair tumbled in waves against my cheeks, shrouding our kiss in the haven of his luscious locks. Alec cupped my chin and turned my head to the side, sliding his tongue in and out, learning what made me tick, moan, and bite. And I did. Bite that is. I nipped at his lips like a starving animal would a steak. He didn’t seem to mind. At one point, I was pretty certain he growled—yes, growled—into the kiss taking it impossibly deeper.
Excitement roared through my body, and I tensed, wanting to bring Alec closer, needing him to be. As I was trying to lean back on the couch so he could get on top of me, he pulled back. His forehead rested against mine. “ Très jolie fille, ” he whispered in the language that was quickly becoming a major turn-on. Not that it wasn’t before, but after having his lips on mine, his tongue in my mouth, his words caressed along my senses as easily as I imagined his touch would. With purpose, with desire, with lust.
“Calm chérie .” His tone was a murmur and a balm over the heat burning inside. “There would be plenty of time for us to know each other physically. I want to enjoy you, anticipate your sweet taste on my tongue, your smooth skin along the pads of my fingers, your body on my canvas.”
I pulled back and our gazes held. “Wow.” I bit my lip and swallowed. He grinned.
“I do believe ‘wow’ is an understatement. Let’s eat. Get to know one another on all levels. Only then will the physical manifestation of our joining be as sweet.
Alec Dubois was bizarre. Who the hell even talks like that? ‘A physical manifestation of our joining?’ He may have spent too much time reading Ask Jeeves online.
“You’re a weird guy,” I said before grabbing my plate, setting it on my lap and shoveling in a giant bite of noodles. Pure heaven! Almost as good as the kiss we’d