to shake up my life, I guess. I’m divorced. Officially, now. Things weren’t too great and now I find myself thirty-two—’ She levelled her gaze at him. ‘And see, I’m not saying that like it’s old. This time.’
He grinned at her.
‘And I’m alone and I’m in this life-living rut. I just have the same day over and over again. Until now.’
‘Now when you walk in a classroom full of artistically tortured souls, drop your robe and knock everyone’s socks off.’
She gave a snort of disbelief and quickly tried to cover with a cough. ‘Not quite.’
‘Oh, quite.’ His finger was tracing the edge of her hand again and Dani found herself shifting on her oversized bar stool. She didn’t know that someone touching her in such an innocuous place could make her feel like she was going to burst out of her skin. Or burst into flames.
‘Thank you,’ was all she could think to say.
He leaned toward her so smoothly she didn’t see it coming until it happened. He kissed her. His lips were soft and warm and when they touched hers her entire body seemed to melt into goo. Dani parted her lips and his tongue touched hers ever so gently. A featherlight stroke of tongue on tongue. His big hand, smudged in places with graphite, cupped the back of her head. Holding her tightly but not so tightly she felt the need to extricate herself.
The kiss deepened and, when her head was swimming and her body felt like one big heartbeat, Buck pulled back and said, ‘I know it’s incredibly forward, and feel free to smack me and storm out, but I’d love to take you home with me, Dani. I have to say, I don’t usually see a woman’s naked body before I decide to court her. I know we did this backwards, but I have to admit something—’ He regarded her with those deep dark eyes and her breath stuttered.
‘What? Admit what?’ She sounded a little more eager and desperate than she cared to, but it was out there. Nothing she could do about it.
‘I’ve been thinking of nothing but you since Monday. The way you stand up there. The way you look entirely stoic and entirely terrified at the same time. The curve of your hip …’ He reached beneath their small round table cluttered with cocktail debris, and swept his finger along the curve he was describing. ‘The length of your neck …’ The finger moved and caressed her from just below her ear to her collarbone. ‘Everything.’
‘Yes,’ she said, her voice a small, excited thing.
‘Yes?’
‘Take me home. Now,’ she said, saying it quickly before she could talk herself out of it. Even though she wanted it, wanted him, talking herself out of things that made her blood leap was her modus operandi. She didn’t want to give herself time to unravel her want.
His lips curved into a smile. ‘I was really expecting the slap and the storming off.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you,’ she said.
‘Oh, you’ve done anything but. Trust me.’ He waved his finger at the waiter for the check and paid him in cash.
‘Will you show me?’ she asked.
He cocked an eyebrow at her as he held the door and she went out into the cool night air. ‘Show you?’
‘Your sketch. Of me.’
‘Ah, now you want to see. I will, if you’re nice to me.’
Dani laughed. Her heartbeat was a palpable thing in her chest, her ears, between her legs. She planned to be very nice to him. She hoped he’d be very nice to her.
Buck’s apartment was a huge studio on the top floor of a building in the city. The décor didn’t reek of money but the fact that this space was what he called home did. It was in a part of the city that the newcomers were breathing life back into. Refashioning the neighbourhood with small boutique businesses, renovations and community efforts. She stood at the foot of his bed and looked through the wall of glass at the harbour lights. From here the shadow skeletons of the big ships were visible. The line of restaurants with their neon shone like beacons.
‘Pretty nice view, huh?’ He walked in behind her with two glasses of wine and handed her one.
‘It’s amazing.’
‘It’s why I took this place. I had a small place closer to the school a while back and I was perfectly content. But my folks bought this building and another one a block or so away. They showed me this place and I was all set to say no and put my foot down. My place was much smaller but I’d made it home.’ He put his arms around her waist from behind, pulled her against him so that her back was nestled against his chest, and kissed the back of her neck.
‘But?’ Dani asked, laughing softly. ‘There’s a but in there.’
He subtly pressed himself against her so that he was fitted flush against her ass. When he chuckled, all the fine hairs along her nape tingled.
‘There’s definitely a butt …’ Another laugh and he kissed her shoulder this time. Goosebumps peppered the skin of her upper arms and she barely managed to tamp down a shiver. ‘But my mother is clever. She knows what buttons to push. So when they brought me here to see the place, she made sure they brought me at night. One look out at that and I was toast. I lost all my will power, forgot all my arguments and caved to their desire to have someone inhabiting this building until the lower floors could be redone.’
‘I think you got a sweet deal, to be honest,’ she whispered. A small light, possibly a police boat or a lighted buoy, bobbed in the harbour water. The whole thing reminded her of Christmas, invoking a warm and cosy feeling.
‘I think so too.’ Buck released her and turned her slowly so they were face to face. ‘Sweeter still now that you’re here.’
She hummed softly as he kissed her. His mouth pressed to hers, his tongue slipping softly between her lips. That big hand was on the back of her head again, tethering her to earth, keeping her from floating away. Buck was a good kisser and then some.
Her nipples stiffened and, when his fingers brushed slowly over the bodice of her dress, they sought out the lace of her bra. Dani pressed her body to his. Leaving not a lick of space between them. She felt his cock, hard and eager, pressing against her. Her stomach took on that tumbling, free-fall feeling so when he took a step back she sucked in a breath.
‘Can I just …’ He let the sentence peter out as he unbuttoned her dress. She felt the cool kiss of air, and then the warm kisses his lips dropped on her skin as he bared it. His fingers were deft as he popped the front clasp of her bra and let the lace fall free of her breasts. Then his mouth was on her and her eyes drifted shut, her mind’s eye supplying the fairy lights of the still awake city below this sky-top studio.
He sucked her nipple hard, drawing on it so that she felt the pressure from her breast down to her pelvis. It was the feeling of excitement. The feeling of anticipation that bordered on sickness but stopped just short of it.
She opened her eyes as he moved to the other breast, his tongue dragging a hot wet trail across her chest.
‘Can I just …’ She smiled slightly as she mimicked his words. He looked up at her, straightening. Dani reached up and pushed her fingers into his dark bun. The hair an artfully tousled mess. She found the elastic that held it and tugged until it uncoiled and set his dark hair tumbling free.
Dark hair, smooth and silken under her fingers, fell around his rugged face, brushing the top of his wide shoulders. He was a Viking warrior, a hero, a wild man.
‘You have gorgeous hair,’ she said.
‘You have gorgeous everything,’ Buck countered, drawing her back to him. This time as he kissed her that soft hair brushed her cheeks.
He