I shift again, and this time I feel my heel connect with Calder’s cheek. He sucks in a breath, and I cough to cover up the sound.
Dad’s frowning. Great, he must have heard.
But no—he’s shaking his head. “Didn’t you have dinner plans with a friend?”
“Yes. Yes I do.” I smile. “I was just about to change.”
Dad’s smiling again. “Good. You’ve been working too much these past few weeks.”
“I could say the same of you.”
It’s true, but if I’m being honest, Dad looks the best he has in months. When the Frazer Center for the Arts was on the brink of closing, he was a mess. I’ve never seen him look so old, so tired, so haggard. But now he might be a decade younger. He’s smiling more—laughing, even—and, as cheesy as it sounds, the sparkle is back in his eyes. We’re not completely out of danger yet, but we’re moving steadily in the right direction, and that positive energy has been enough to make Dad excited about this place again.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” he says. “You have fun tonight, honey.”
“Will do.”
No sooner has he turned away than Calder grabs my hand and yanks me down beside him—or, more accurately, on top of him. I squirm as he wraps his arms around me, holding me hostage.
“That was an interesting welcome,” he murmurs against my hair. “First you forget about our date—”
“I didn’t forget,” I insist. “I just got caught up in—”
“And then you hide me from your father like we’re in high school or something.” His arms tighten around my waist. “Are you embarrassed by me?”
“No! Of course not! I just haven’t told Dad about you yet. He’s not—I mean, I don’t think he hates you or anything, but he…” I try to wriggle out of his grasp, but instead he flips me over so that I’m beneath him. His face looms over mine, but I don’t get a chance to read his expression before he dips his head and nuzzles my neck.Z6Npa
“You mean he won’t exactly be happy to know you’re dating the guy who almost brought this place down around your ears,” he murmurs before attacking my throat with his mouth.
I nod, too distracted by the thing he’s doing with his tongue to answer immediately. When I agreed to let Calder pick me up at work, I’d planned to meet him outside.
“Plus,” I manage after a minute, “he’s going to wonder how it came about, and I never exactly told him the truth about that weekend.” Ah, yes—those three days I spent trapped in the Cunningham mansion playing cat-and-mouse with Calder, letting him tease me and taunt me and give me the most intense sex I’ve ever had in my life. Even now I shiver at the memory.
But it’s not exactly something you tell your dad. Especially when the sex god in question is the person responsible for the near-ruin of his nonprofit arts center. And that’s exactly what makes our current position on the floor of my office especially compromising.
But Calder has noticed my body’s reaction, and he’s not about to let this opportunity slip out of his fingers.
“What, you don’t want your father to know what dirty, dirty things you’ve done?” he whispers against my throat. He grabs my skirt and begins tugging the fabric up toward my hips.
“Calder!” I rasp, batting at his hands. “Not here.”
He ignores me. His fingers slide up the backs of my bare thighs, moving to the lacy edge of my panties.
“Calder…” This time it doesn’t sound like much of a warning. God, when did I lose complete control over my body?
His hand slips beneath the thin fabric of my underwear and skims across my bare ass. I writhe against him, but my attempts to get away only backfire, judging by the bulge I feel in his pants. He starts to pull my panties down my legs. If I don’t do anything quickly, he’s going to have me right here on the floor of my office.
Not that my body seems to mind the idea. I’m trembling, aching for that touch I’ve missed these past weeks. When he slips his fingers between my legs, I just about lose it.
“What about dinner?” I ask him frantically.
“Screw dinner.”
“I still have to change.”
“Go naked.”
“If you think I’m going to have sex with you while my dad’s in the next room…”
“That just makes it more… stimulating, doesn’t it?” His finger brushes against my clit, and I suck in a breath.
Part of me wants to just give in, to surrender myself to the pent up sexual energy that’s consumed me since the last time we saw each other. But fortunately, the rational part of my mind hasn’t completely jumped ship just yet.
“Martin’s expecting us,” I remind him.
At the mention of his family’s former chef, Calder sighs. His explorations of my body cease, and his grip loosens on my waist.
“Martin was always quite the cockblock,” he growls. But he moves his fingers across my sensitive nub a final time, and amusement flashes in his eyes when I let out a soft whimper.
“Tonight,” he promises, “you’ll be begging me for it. And I’m going to fuck you until you can’t even remember your own name, let alone annoying little things like dinner plans.”
His words send a thrill through my core, but I can’t let him see how much they affect me or we’ll never get out of here. I wiggle once more beneath him, and he sighs and rolls off of me. I give him a playful hit as I sit up. If we’re going to be on time for our reservation, I don’t have much time to change and freshen up my makeup.
“Just stay down there for a minute,” I say, glancing around once more for my bag. “I’m going to run to the bathroom and change.”
He pushes himself up on his elbows, grinning. “Or you could just close the door and change in here. I promise I’ll behave.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute. Besides, you’re not supposed to see me naked before the first date.”
His eyes darken. “I think we’re already past that barrier.”
“You know what I mean.”
He chuckles, but his eyes continue to burn into mine. “It won’t stop me from trying to get your clothes off.”
If we didn’t have a reservation—and if my dad weren’t right next door—I would just give into his teasing. But we aren’t locked away in his mansion, shut off from the rest of the world. We’re in the Frazer Center, and we have a very important reservation.