Yours Seductively

Chapter 8.1

Whatever they'd been talking about completely left Jane's mind. The lunch Tyler brought with him no longer held her interest. She was ravenous—but not for sandwiches.

He slid his hands down her back, slowly, pressing her more closely against him. It didn't take her long to realize she wasn't the only one with needs more urgently than food.

She slid her arms around his neck and parted her lips for him, inviting him to deepen the kiss —which he did, thoroughly. The cropped, olive-green top she wore with her khaki cargo shorts had ridden up when she lifted her arms, baring an expanse of skin at her midriff. Tyler took full advantage of the opportunity to explore. His palms were deliciously warm against the skin of her back. She could only imagine how good they would feel in the rest of her.

"Jane," he muttered against her lips, his voice rough. "We'd better stop this if we're going to eat lunch."

"Stop what?" She moves very slightly as she spoke, the slightest brush of her breast against his chest.

"He groaned. "That."

She nipped at his chin, savoring the spicy taste of him, enjoying the quiver if reaction that ran through him. "This?"

His hands gripped her hips, as if he intended to push her away. Instead, he pulled her closer, bringing her more snugly against him. "You're playing with fire, Jane."

"Are you warning me that I might get burned?"

"Maybe I'm more concerned that you'll burn me," he muttered, his lips moving over the soft skin behind her ear.

Her heart was beating so hard now that she felt almost as though she should raise her voice to be heard above it. And yet her words came out as little more than a husky whisper. "'Maybe we'll burn together."

He shifted, and she found herself lifted against his chest, her feet dangling two inches above the floor. She looked into his face and saw that the humor was gone. His eyes glittered, and his cheekbones seemed suddenly more prominent, evidence of the tension that grip him. "I can't joke about this."

Holding is gaze with her own, she said absolutely seriously, "What makes you think I'm joking?"

The moment seemed to last a very long time. Breaths were held. Limbs quivered. And the. Tyler lowered her slowly to her feet, letting her slide down him, and covered her mouth with a kiss so perfect, so special that it bright a lump to her throat.

She hadn't intended to give him her heart. It was the only part of herself she had planned to hold back. But damn if he hadn't slipped through her defenses and stolen it, anyway.

She'd been infatuated with Tyler Hamilton when she was fifteen. A lot of things had changed since then, but her feelings for Tyler felt very much the same. Maybe they were even more serious now that she was mature enough to understand how very much was at stake.

She had so little to offer him then. He'd been the golden boy—with so much ahead of him, so little lacking in his life. But things were different now. She sensed a deep need in him—an aching hole—and she thought she just might have what he needed now. At least for a while.

The tender kiss finally ended. Jane reaches up to cup his face between her hands. She smiled tenderly when she asked, "What do you want now? Sandwiches or sex?"

He gave a quick, startled laugh, his grim expression suddenly easing. "Damn it, Jane."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Was that an answer or just a expletive?"

Though her hands still rested on his face, he shook his head. "How can you look so completely serious when you say things like that?"

"Because I was completely serious," she said, secretly pleased that she'd coaxed even a little laugh from him. He needed laughter as much—if not more—than he needed physical release.

"I came here today to have lunch with you. I wasn't expecting anything else."

"Neither was I," she said. "And—in case you get the wrong idea—wed isn't something I indulge in very often. In fact, I haven't indulged in quite a while. But the offer still stands."

"You don't know how much I want to take you up on it," he almost groaned. "But I think we'd better eat our sandwiches today. I have to get back at the office for a one-thirty meeting."

"Cola or iced tea?" She asked without a pause.

He blinked, then mentally caught up. "Uh, cola's fine."

Dropping her hands to her side, she moved toward the refrigerator. No way would she let him see the extent of her disappointment—or the faint relief that they hadn't yet complicated their relationship to a point where her life would never quite be the same.