“You really did read my bio, didn’t you?” he said with a short laugh. “I wasn’t talking about the dinosaur. Like most boys, I wanted to spend my life digging for fossils when I was in kindergarten. My mom brought me here all the time. But this is the first time I’ve been here on a date with a woman who finds a fossil of a skull with a four-foot jaw ‘magnificent.’”
“This isn’t a date,” she said flatly.
“Oh, no,” he teased. “Drinks, dancing, and a clandestine museum visit—what else would you call that?”
“A business meeting?”
“I spend ninety percent of my time attending meetings. They don’t look like this, Ivy. They don’t feel like this.” He brushed her blond locks off her shoulder with his right hand. Then, in a moment of pure impulse, he dropped his head to her shoulder and ran his lips over her bare skin. A wild, reckless thrill raced through him as he lifted his mouth. And he wanted so much more of this night, of this crazy adventure, of the passionate, determined woman in his arms. He wanted to leave rules and responsibilities beside the dinosaur bones and run away with Dr. Ivy Grant.
“This is a date,” he added.
“That’s not why I brought you here,” she said. He grinned at the breathless note in her voice. “I wanted to show you how science impacts lives.” Ivy waved her free hand at the fossils. “This is my world. Exploring, learning, searching for the answers we need…not dating or romance or love. I’m a scientist.”
My scientist, he thought.
He touched his lips to her earlobe. “Scientists don’t enjoy drinks and dancing?”
“I do,” she admitted as she leaned against him. “But my work…my work always comes first.”
“Not tonight,” he said. He wanted to stop thinking about budgets and shareholders, even if for just one night, if it meant getting to spend time with Ivy, following her scientific quest to the final stop. But her expression was resolute.
“Every night,” she said softly.
“Look at us.” He ran his hand over her outstretched arm to her shoulder. His fingers followed the drape of fabric down her back to the cinched layers of sparkling tulle at her waist. “A pair of workaholics visiting one of New York’s City greatest sites in the middle of the night.”
Finally she turned her head. Her gaze met his. Wrapping his hands around her waist, he turned her to face him.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you from the moment you burst into my office.”
“You didn’t know who I was,” she said.
“I knew that you sparkled.” He raised one hand to her mouth and touched his thumb to her lips. “I knew you were bold and beautiful.”
“Beautiful,” she whispered.
He waited for her to push him away. He wondered if she would capture his hand and draw it down from her mouth. But she simply stared up at him as if seeing the truth for the first time.
Believe me.
“May I kiss you now, Dr. Grant?” he asked softly.
She blinked, as if opening her eyes to the idea that she might be more than just a scientist, but a woman with desires and needs. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, you may.”
Cupping her cheek, he lowered his mouth to hers. One soft touch. He skimmed his lips over hers. Feeling…exploring…returning for another taste. Her lips parted and he was lost. He deepened the kiss, slanting his mouth over hers as their tongues touched.
His fingers pressed into the tulle at her waist, grasping for purchase as he fell deeper and deeper into the kiss. He felt her hands running over his chest.
“Touch me,” he moaned against her lips as he pulled her hips against his.
Her back arched to accommodate her roaming hands. Her fingers teased the edge of his tux jacket before dipping beneath. Her palms pressed against his shirt and he was tempted to strip down.
She rocked her hips against him. There was no way she’d missed the blatant fact that he wanted to take her, right here, against the fossil case.
He pressed her back against the glass wall as he trailed kisses over her jaw. Her head tipped back as she offered her neck. Releasing her waist, he ran his fingers up to the cutout.
“I’ve been tempted all night,” he murmured as his index finger followed the fabric’s edge down past her breast.
“Carter.” She reached for his shoulders and paused.