Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 53764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
"I'll do better, I promise." Asshole.
****
Late that night as Natalie was getting ready for bed, a sharp knock rattled against her door, followed immediately by Marco opening it and coming to stand in the threshold.
She gasped and turned around from her dresser, facing him, clutching the top of her pajama set to her naked chest. Thank God, she'd slipped the matching tap shorts on only seconds before.
Breathing heavily, she retreated a step until she backed into the dresser. "What do you want?"
He stood in the doorframe, sudden color highlighting his cheekbones, his nostrils flaring. "I need an escort tomorrow night. I was going to take Tanya, so you're in." He began walking toward her, and Natalie couldn't get her throat to function enough to answer him--not when her brain was barely functioning.
He stopped a few inches from her and lifted a black American Express card and showed it to her before reaching behind her and placing it on the dresser. Her eyes clung to his face, and she knew the instant his gaze left hers to land on the mirror behind her, where he could see her naked back.
She clutched the shirt to her chest, trying not to hyperventilate. Awareness ran from her breasts to her tummy, and her thighs began trembling. "Can't you find someone else?"
"Where am I supposed to find someone on such short notice?" His eyes landed on her again before sliding down to focus on her collarbone.
"I--I don't know."
His hand reached out and a single finger moved softly, back and forth, over her collarbone as he spoke. "There will be a car waiting for you at ten in the morning. Take the card and go buy whatever you need. It's only a semi-formal event-- a cocktail dress will be fine. Shoes, bag, make-up, hair--get whatever you want--spend whatever you want. Call Joy before you leave--she's made the arrangements. She'll know what you should do and where to go."
Her heart hammered and she barely understood a word he said. The single brain cell left inside her head was focused entirely on the finger that was stroking her. Her tongue reached out and dampened her dry lips and she felt his eyes drop to her mouth. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Marco--"
"It's just a small charity thing that the bank supports. You'll be fine." His hand reached out and lifted her chin and his eyes tangled with hers. "How could you not be? You're beautiful." His thumb swiped her bottom lip and she trembled and felt herself swaying toward him as her entire being flooded with desire. "So pretty." His eyes left hers, running over her hair, down her body, all the way to her toes and then back to her face again. "So very, very pretty," he whispered.
Marco reined in the lust that clawed through his guts when Natalie gripped his shoulders with hands that trembled. He knew she didn't realize the top she'd been covering herself with had slipped and fallen between them. Her naked breasts were pressed against his stomach, and the soft feel of them after weeks of wanting her and not being able to touch her was almost too much to bear. He should have ended it with Tanya the moment he'd met Natalie. He might as well have done it; he hadn't slept with her since he'd set eyes on Natalie.
Natalie disturbed him in every possible way a woman could disturb a man. He recognized that much; but didn't intend to fight it any longer. He had to have her, and soon. He didn't much care what it would take--getting her into his bed had become the number one goal in his mind. It was more important than anything else in his life at the moment; he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the bank or anything else for that matter, until it was accomplished.
But he had to go slow. There was something soft and gentle about her, something almost innocent and naive that was telling him that seduction was in order. He knew her age--knew it would be almost impossible for her to still be a virgin. But the girl shaking in his arms--this young woman who had been retreating from him since the first day they'd met--there was no way she could be very experienced.
She was like a fine wine, delicate and silky, going to his head at once and making his brain spin. He desperately wanted to touch her breasts, wanted to feel their soft weight in the palms of his hands. He wanted to taste them, lick them and suck them--until she begged him for more. And then he wanted to give her more. He wanted to give her more until the ache he felt all the way to his soul went away. It had slowly been building since the day he'd met her. He'd wanted her then--and it had only grown worse with each passing day. Seeing her, smelling her, watching her.