“You too.” I tightened my grip and used his help to step into the back. “Thank you,” I added as I got into my seat.
When Anthony had picked me up earlier, I hadn’t realized he was Lance’s personal driver; I just thought he’d sent a car service. But knowing he’d taken that extra step was protective in a way I’d never felt before.
“Anthony, we’ll be taking Chloe home,” Lance said as he sat next to me.
I waited for Lance’s eyes before I said, “Thank you for the ride.”
Before I’d even put my coat on at the restaurant, he’d told me he was taking me home. I hadn’t argued. It would give us more time together, and that was what I wanted.
He reached across the small space between us and clasped our fingers together. His skin was so warm even though it was chilly outside. “My pleasure.”
His stare was too much with his hand on me, especially when thoughts were beginning to build in my head, ones that involved the way he would wrap around my body. So, I turned my face and glanced out the window, watching the Back Bay pass by the glass.
But I wasn’t there for more than a few seconds when his fingers tightened around mine, and he asked, “When are you free?”
“I leave for Colorado in two days, and I’m going to live at the office until my flight. How about when I get back next week?”
“I’d like that.”
He lifted our hands and set them on his thigh just above his knee. My palm went flat against his jeans, his running over the back of mine.
He was sending shivers through me.
“Just so you know …” I took a deep breath, realizing how hard that was getting. “I really wish I could see you sooner.”
He lifted the same hand up to his mouth where he softly kissed across my knuckles and then placed us back in his lap, and we stayed like that for the rest of the drive.
When we arrived at my building, Anthony parked out front and opened my door.
“I’ll walk you out,” Lance said from behind me.
I climbed outside, thanking his driver again, and I heard Lance behind me as I unlocked the front entrance. Once I had the door open, he reached above my head and held it for me, and I walked into the small lobby.
“Thanks for being my fun today.”
His hand slid higher on the doorframe, the heat in his stare growing. “I want more than a second date, Chloe.”
The tingles had fully taken over my body. “What do you want?”
“A kiss.”
I smiled as his words simmered down my throat. “That you can certainly have.”
His hand moved through the air, landing on my waist, and he pulled me over to him. I loved the feeling of his fingers, the sensation of being so close, how his chest felt under my hands when they pressed against him.
His mouth didn’t immediately take mine. Instead, his gaze deepened, reminding me of the intensity between us. His hands slipped under my jacket, and I could feel the heat from his fingers through my shirt.
“I’ve thought about this since you walked into the restaurant.” His lips were almost on mine. “What you were going to feel like.” He dipped in a little closer, his nose grazing my cheek, and I felt a wave of goose bumps rise across my body. “What you were going to taste like.”
His words were like foreplay, and I was bending from each one, arching, anticipating what his breath would feel like when he whispered across another part of my face.
It happened when he said, “If kissing you once would be enough.”
Those words lingered right above my mouth because that was where his was.
“Lance …” My voice was so soft, and I was unable to say any more.
But I didn’t need to because, within seconds, he was kissing me, his mouth moving in a way that showed me his hunger and desire, and the way his hands gripped me only emphasized it.
All I could do was take—the slow, deliberate slides of his tongue, the grinding of his fingers into my muscles that were making me so wet. And just as I was swallowing his warm exhale, he pulled away.
My lips instantly prickled.
“I should have known,” he said, his beautiful navy gaze holding mine so steadily, “kissing you once would never be enough.”
Twenty-Six
Once Lance shut the lobby door behind him, I took out my phone and hurried up the stairs to my apartment, calling Molly before I was even inside.
“Tell me everything,” she said as she answered.
After making plans with Lance, I’d replied to her text and told her about his call. She’d made me promise I’d phone her the second I got back from our date.
“Oh. My. God.”
“Chloe, why are you whispering?”
I locked our door and took off my purse, hanging it on the back of the chair. “Because I feel like he’s so far inside me that he can hear what I’m about to say.”
“I hope you’re talking about his dick, and we’re about to have a whole different conversation than the one I thought we were going to have.”
I laughed as I took off my jacket. “I think we both know that didn’t happen this morning.”
“Then, what did? I’m mimosa’d and ready to hear it all.”
My voice returned to normal as I groaned, “Molly … that man.” But it didn’t matter how loud I made myself; the words just weren’t there. I could come up with as many adjectives as I wanted, and those wouldn’t even dent him.
“Is he all kinds of wonderful?”
I took a deep breath. “In every way.” I walked over to the window, pushing my shoulder into the glass, looking between the street and the tiny living room we’d shared for the last four years. “He’s perfect.” I glanced down at my hand, feeling the way it tingled, wondering if the feeling would ever return or if Lance would permanently cause my body to feel this way. “He kissed me, Molly … and … I couldn’t breathe.”
She sucked in her own air that I heard so clearly through the phone. “Once I saw the way he was looking at you at the bar, I knew, done-zo for you both. When are you seeing him again?”
“Ugh, not until I get back.” I pushed myself away from the window and headed into my room. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m excited about the trip, but the timing is just awful.”
“Like, the worst ever.” She laughed. “By the way, you’re welcome for canceling brunch.”
I made a noise that almost sounded like a snort. “Bring home pizza for dinner. Love you, bye,” I said, still laughing when I disconnected the call.
In my room, I stripped out of my clothes and covered myself in a robe. I went into the bathroom to fill the tub. I dropped in some salts and oils Molly and I always kept on hand and lit the few candles we had in the room. And then I turned on some music and stepped into the water, stretching my body across the tub. My eyes closed, and I relaxed into the lavender-scented warmth.
I hadn’t been soaking for more than a few minutes when I heard a text come across my phone.
I leaned out of the water and looked at the floor where I’d placed my cell on a towel. I saw Lance’s name on the screen, and a whole different kind of warmth began to fill me.