Notorious in Nice Read Free Page B

lapped at the seam of her mouth. It felt so delicious and mysterious and magical. She went slack in his hold, eyes closing, senses racing to where his tongue made contact, savoring the way blood raced to each touch of his mouth against her wet lips.
    “Open,” he ordered, and she smelled smoke and oak and salt and sea.
    She obeyed, the submissive female part of her craving his domination. His tongue slid in and out of her mouth, tangling with hers, tickling a heady sensation on the roof. Her hands fisted his shirt and she wanted to be horizontal, feel the weight of him on her, rub against the hardness grinding into the V of her torso.
    “Is anyone in there?”
    A burst of knuckles rapping against wood seeped in small increments at the edges of Su-Lin’s mind. His lips left hers, he murmured something, and the feather touch of his mouth over his words flamed her body. She didn’t want this to stop. Her fingers crimped the soft linen covering his chest.
    “Jaysus.” He tugged her tight to his pectorals, and one warm hand slipped under Su-Lin’s blouse to stroke the small of her back. “Answer the fricking woman, darlin’. Say you’ll be a few minutes.”
    Voice shaky and wavery, Su-Lin did as he commanded.
    All at once, she realized what would happen when the door opened, and she couldn’t prevent a slight groan. “Oh no. My aunt, my uncle, if they knew…”
    Chucking her chin, he met her gaze and muttered, “I’ll take care of it. They won’t know. Where are your parents, Jenny? Why are you with your relatives?”
    The questions slid like a glacier through her soul, filling crevices with a familiar dread, one she’d lived with all her life. Gymnastic training stiffened her spine, and she concentrated on the next second, the next surprise, the next obstacle. “My parents are dead. This trip is my graduation present, and my uncle and aunt are my only relatives. I don’t know them very well, but my aunt will disapprove, I know it.”
    His thumb stroked the frown between her eyebrows. “I said I’ll take care of it, and I will. Now, I’ll go out first, and if the road is clear, I’ll knock once on the door. Wait a few seconds and then make your way to the table. Got it?”
    He balanced her chin on the tip of his forefinger forcing Su-Lin to meet his eyes.
    “Yes.”
    “I’ll be at the cocktail reception tonight. We’ll finish this later.”
    Finish?
    He set her away from him, his hand lingering under the curve of her breast. “We have three weeks together on the cruise, darlin’, and you’re in the cabin next to mine.”
    Su-Lin stood staring at the closed door after he’d left. She pinched her forearm hard, felt the sharp pain, waited for the skin to color a dusky rose, and still didn’t believe the events of the last few minutes had actually occurred.
    The reflection in the mirror above the marble sink told a different tale. Lips swollen and red, her slanted jade eyes glazed, her taut nipples poking against the sheer black top broadcast her arousal. Each touch, each scrape against the material made her nipples burn a notch higher.
    She splashed water against her hot cheeks, dried her skin, and held her breath when she heard the slight graze of knuckles on wood, Terrence’s signal. She opened the door, letting oxygen out in a whoosh when the alcove proved empty. In a studious attempt to regain control, Su-Lin focused on the smooth turquoise surface of the sea and a majestic white sail billowing above a sleek navy boat.
    Terrence stood when she reached the table and slid her chair away from its edge. She sat. He nudged her back into position, and her knees and thighs slipped under the white tablecloth.
    His hand curled around one leg about two inches above her bent knee and Su-Lin almost flew out of her chair. He must have felt her muscles tensing, for he gave a soft chuckle and rubbed a slow, rhythmic circle right there. Heat flooded her veins and a slight sheen of perspiration broke out on her