grin.
“What other classics are you partial to?” she asked, sipping her martini.
“I’d try ‘Haven’t we met before?’ since there’s something hauntingly familiar about you, but if we’d met, I’m sure I’d remember.”
He wasn’t sure what caused the alarm in her eyes, but whatever it was quickly passed. So quick he thought maybe he’d imagined it.
“I’d hate to think I was forgettable,” she shot back, her smile teasing. “Or that that particular line actually works for you.”
Actually, lines were used on him a lot more often than he tossed them out. But he didn’t think his telling her that and sounding like a cocky ass was going to make the impression he was hoping for.
“Vanna, you’re a lot of things. Beautiful, sexy, intriguing. But forgettable doesn’t make the list,” he said, his tone flirtatious and his smile just this side of wicked.
Her eyes flashed. Luke’s smile dimmed. Was that hurt? Once again the look was gone too fast for him to be sure.
Curiouser and curiouser.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he offered.
She lifted one brow and then her hand to show off her glass. The same one she’d been holding all along.
So much for reeling her in. Luke grimaced, offering an apologetic shrug. “I’m usually smoother than this.”
“Yeah? What’s got you roughing it tonight?”
Her.
There was something intriguing, almost confusing, about her. She was familiar, but he’d swear he’d never seen her before. She dressed like a modern-day version of a ’40s bombshell movie star.
And she looked at him as if she wanted to suck Jell-O shots off his body, but she wasn’t making the typical moves.
Yeah. Totally intriguing.
“Maybe I’m having an off night,” he finally said in answer to her question. “Or maybe I’m not very good with women.”
She laughed hard, then bit her lip as if trying to hold back her amusement in case it offended him. She took a deep breath and, with her smile still wide, shook her head.
“No,” she said simply.
The music changed, slowing.
Perfect.
“Dance?”
She gave him a long, probing look at odds with her sexy persona. Then, as if she’d found whatever she was searching for, she set her drink on an empty table and took his hand.
Luke led her down the steps to the glossy floor, letting the crowd push them together as he took her into his arms, his hands sliding along her slender waist.
Her hands curled into his shoulders, her nails biting for just a second. Then she smoothed them higher to cup the sides of his neck.
Luke let the music and the noise of the crowd wash over them for a minute, focusing on their bodies. Their movements were perfectly in sync. As if she could sense his timing, match his rhythm.
He wanted her.
Desire wasn’t a new feeling. But desire this intense, bordering on craving…that was unfamiliar.
“So what brings you here?” he asked, needing a distraction from the demands his body was trying to make. Demands that’d have them both naked and putting on a floor show pretty damned soon.
“Here, where? To Vegas? To the Bellagio? Or to the club?” she clarified.
“All of the above.”
“Actually, I’m here to live out a little fantasy,” she spoke so quietly that her words were almost lost in the music.
“Yeah? What kind of fantasy?”
Her eyes were endless, with lush lashes so thick they were like a fringe and so much emotion in them that Luke felt as if he were drowning.
Emotion usually made him run. But whatever was going on with Vanna had him hooked.
She wet her lips, a quick swipe of her pink tongue over that glossy red.
Luke’s temperature spiked.
Horny as hell.
“Actually, my fantasy is of a sexual nature,” she told him, a flash of nerves in her big brown eyes before her gaze locked on his mouth.
The nerves, as much as the fact that her stare was like a caress over his lips, were a major turn-on.
“You don’t say. Is this a fantasy you’d care to share?”
“Maybe. With the right guy.”
“What’s it take to qualify?” Whatever it was, he’d do it.
“Imagination, boldness and the ability to follow directions top the list,” she said. Then, as if testing the strength of the passion between them, she shifted closer so her full breasts brushed his chest. “What do you think? Are you up for the job?”
His body hitting a flame hotter than he’d ever felt with clothes on, Luke grinned at the woman in his arms.
“Babe, I’m all yours,” he promised.
“You sure? Because I have a pretty specific outline of what I want.” Her words were light and teasing, and her eyes were hot and promising. But he could feel her fingers tremble against the back of his neck.
Luke’s hands swept down, cupping her hips so his fingers could curl along the sweet curve of her ass. He pulled her closer, bringing her body flush against his.
Her breath caught, doing amazing things to the glittery fabric of her bodice. The stare she gave him was part enticement, part hope. Luke wasn’t sure which was the bigger turn-on.
“I’m pretty good at implementing plans, as long as you’re open to a little initiative on my part,” he told her.
“Hmm, what kind of initiative?” A small smile played at the corners of her mouth and her eyes danced in delight.
Figuring he’d rather speak in actions than words, Luke leaned down. His eyes never left hers as he brushed his lips in a whisper-soft caress of her mouth.
“That kind, maybe,” he said when he straightened.
She stared, her eyes glazed with passion and her lower lip trembling just a little.
Then she gave a shaky breath and shook her head as if trying to clear it.
“I’m sorry. I can barely hear you in here,” she apologized, tilting her head toward one of the speakers surrounding the glassed-in dance floor.
“You want to go somewhere else?” he suggested. “We can talk.”
Her eyes were like smoke, hazed with desire and promise. Her lips curved, full and juicy, as if begging him to take a bite.
She gave a soft moan that he felt rather than heard. Then, untwining her fingers from the back of his neck, she slid her hands over his shoulders and down his chest, her nails scraping his nipples.
Going rock hard with just the flick of those fingers, Luke almost growled.
He didn’t have to hear her giggle to know she liked his reaction. The delighted look on her face said it all.
Then, giving him a wink and a tilt of her head toward the exit, she stepped away from his body. For a second, he wanted to pull her back. He wanted her closer. Tight against him.
She took a deep breath that did more amazing things to that dress, then slid her small hand into his and led him from the floor and out of the club.
Well, then.
Boredom definitely wasn’t an issue anymore.