Make Me Feel Read Free Page A

She bracketed his jaw with her hands. His scent filled her: soap and his familiar spicy cologne. So male. So amazing. He pierced her mouth with his tongue, and their kiss segued from a good-morning peck to a full-fledged heart-pounder. By the time they sealed it a moment later, she panted softly against his hovering mouth.
    “Morning,” she finally replied. She saw the hot gleam in his eyes and his smile. He straightened in front of her, his fingers brushing back a loose tendril of damp hair and pushing it behind her ear.
    “If I didn’t absolutely have to be at these meetings, I’d keep you in bed the whole day,” he murmured.
    She gazed up at him, warmth suffusing her. His saying that meant a lot.
    “And I’d let you.”
    Again, graphic memories of their lovemaking swamped her. The fact that they’d both expressed their uncertainties beforehand—exposed their vulnerabilities—seemed to make the memories even more intense. Heat expanded on her cheeks. He touched her face with light fingertips.
    “Are you
blushing
?” he asked, his brows slanting as if he was both amused and fascinated.
    She ducked her head and started to turn on the stool. He stopped her by grasping her shoulders with both hands.
    “Harper?” he queried when she had difficulty looking up at him.
    “I can’t believe I let you do those things,” she said, looking at her lap because the alternative was to stare straight ahead at Jacob’s crotch, and that was even more uncomfortable than meeting his eyes.
    His long fingers caressed the underside of her chin, but he didn’t force her to look up.
    “You should believe it. Because I’m going to do more of those things to you tonight, and I’d hate for you to be shocked.”
    She laughed. His low chuckle from above her sent another wave of warmth through her that had nothing to do with embarrassment. This time, she looked up when he urged her with his touch under her chin.
    “It wasn’t just a first for you, Harper.” His stare on her was lambent, and struck her as wholly sincere, not to mention sexy as hell.
    She gave a shaky laugh. “What, you got that expert with rope by tying up manikins?”
    “No,” he replied, his solemn reply instantly quashing her uncomfortable attempt at humor. “I meant it was new to me, too. The way it felt.”
    She found herself staring up at him, searching for the truth. Her mouth trembled as she smiled, because she was beyond assured by what she saw in his eyes. His thumb feathered across the corner of her mouth.
    Across her scar.
    She shut her eyes and turned her chin into his hand. What was happening to her? Maybe he sensed her swelling emotion, because he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
    “You’re meeting with Cyril soon, aren’t you?” he asked quietly, and she was thankful he’d changed the subject.
    “Yes,” she said with fake brightness.
    “Are you going to write the screenplay with him?”
    “I haven’t completely decided yet. I need more information to know if I really can do it and if I have the time.”
    He leaned down and brushed his lips against her temple before he stepped back. “Time is the main factor, then, because I know you could write it.”
    “Thanks,” she said, flattered. Jacob was the type of man whose confidence in you counted.
    “Be ready for dinner tonight at seven thirty? I’m taking you to a place that a friend of mine just opened.”
    She nodded.
    “Don’t look at me like that, Harper,” he said, his eyebrows slanting.
    She blinked, realizing she’d been drinking in the vision of him standing before her. How could she do anything
but
, when he was so beautiful to her? He turned away, looking grim. Harper was glad for that, because she was far from happy at the idea of being separated from him, too, even if it was just for an afternoon.
    * * *
    Harper was thrilled when Marianne escorted Cyril into a salon and she saw he was accompanied by Ellie Thorton. Ellie was the young woman she’d mainly focused