Chapter 38
STEPHANIE
Jeremiah’s penthouse was stunning, and the view was insane. Everything was super modern, yet super masculine. Black furniture with white walls and tiles. A stone fireplace in one corner and one of the biggest TVs I’d ever seen mounted on the wall.
The place was impossibly spacious with large rooms and larger windows. The whole city lay at his feet from up here, literally. I could spend hours studying the view, and yet all I could focus on was the fact that I’d invited myself back to Jeremiah Williams’ penthouse. My freaking boss’s house.
I couldn’t believe I’d done that. How could you have done that?
The only answer I had was temporary insanity. Driven crazy by how badly I wanted him combined with his nearness all night—how right it felt being there with him like that.
And, well… Tux. A good-looking man in a well-tailored suit was never an ugly sight to behold. Jeremiah Williams in a tux was something altogether on a different level.
I didn’t stand a single chance against a man like him dressed in a suit like that. I nearly fainted as soon as I saw him in it, and that was before I spent the night with his warmth seeping into me from my side and his spicy scent permeating the air around me.
“I have red and white,” Jeremiah said, looking up at me from a fridge specifically for wine behind his granite bar counter. “Your choice, unless you want me to surprise you.”
“Surprise me,” I said immediately, trying not to stare at him. He’d taken off his jacket and bowtie as soon as we got to his place, loosened his top few buttons on his shirt and was working on liberating his cufflinks from his sleeves, rolling them up.
If I thought I didn’t stand a chance against Jeremiah in a tux, halfway out of one, it wouldn’t have surprised me if my feet acted on their own and walked me over to him to launch myself into his arms. Swallowing to try to get some moisture back in my mouth when it kept fleeing to my center, I tore my gaze away from him and said, “You can’t go wrong with either. I’m not a wine snob. If it used to be a grape, I’ll drink it.”
“Good to know, then I don’t have to bother buying the expensive stuff in the future.”
I heard a cork pop from a bottle, the soft clink of glasses on the counter and the wine being poured, but I didn’t dare look back at him. In the future? What is happening?
I needed a minute to process, but I didn’t get one. His footfalls were soft as he crossed the room and said, “Here you go.”
Damn. Too soon. I turned, hoping I was successful in appearing unaffected as I took my wine from him. When I faced him though, I wasn’t looking at a man who was unaffected. I’d seen the look he was wearing once before, in his office right before he kissed me.
“You have a breathtaking view,” I said, grabbing onto the first thought I could to diffuse the tension between us. Really, that’s what you’re going with?
“Yes,” he said, his eyes traveling lazily down the length of my body and leaving a path of fire in their wake like each of my nerve endings were being called to attention for his eyes only. “Yes, I do.”
I felt my face flush when my sex-addled brain realized that he wasn’t talking about the view from his penthouse. “Have you lived here long?”
“Long enough.” His eyes burned into mine, shooting off heated sparks that hit me in the chest and ran right down south. “Is this why you wanted to come here, Steph? For more small talk?”
“I… uh.” I cleared my throat, trying to think through the haze. No. It isn’t why I wanted to come here.
Reaching down deep for any hint of boldness I could muster, I set my wine glass down and took a step closer to him. “No. I wasn’t ready to go home yet.”
“You wanted to stay with me a little longer?” He closed the space between us, setting his wine down to hook an arm around my waist.
I melted against him, looking up into his eyes as I nodded. “I had a good time tonight, I didn’t want it to end.”
“I’m glad you had a good time.” He was standing so close to me now I could feel his breath heat my skin. “But I need to understand. I don’t want to make assumptions about what you want, but I want to kiss you now. If that’s not what you want, tell me now.”
Kiss me! Kiss me!I chanted internally, sweeping my tongue across my lips. I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t form the words. Plus, I wasn’t used to guys being so completely in control of the situation with no hesitation. No shyness, no stammering, no groping.
Direct, yet respectful in giving me the opportunity to say no before forcing his lips onto mine. I appreciated that. In response, I leaned forward on my sky-high heels and offered him my mouth.
His free hand came up to weave its way into my hair beneath my twisted bun and then, with as much confidence and certainty as he seemed to approach everything in his life, he kissed me.
Like waves against a cliff in the turmoil before a storm, his lips crashed down onto mine. I reached up and slid my hands onto his chest. His heart was beating just as fast as mine. Every part of me responded to his kiss.
No one had ever kissed me like this before, not even Jeremiah when we kissed in his office. This kiss had a hot, hungry intensity to it that made me dizzy. I sagged against him, and he held me tighter with the arm around my waist.
His lips glided over mine in a rhythmic frenzy. The pleasure of his insistent kiss, the feel of his hard muscles under my hands and the sound of his labored breathing flooded through me. My hair came undone as he ran his hand through it, holding me to him.