He leaned close, so suddenly I almost jumped in my seat like a frightened rabbit. “What?” I asked almost defensively.
“Why did you run?”
I blurted out, “Why didn’t you run after me?” As soon as the words were out, I cursed myself nonstop. Shit. Idiot. Dummy. Why did I have to give myself away like that?
Incredulity shone in Constantijin’s eyes, and I gazed back at him challengingly, warily. I tensed when he started to speak.
“Because I don’t.” His answer shouldn’t have surprised me but it did, his voice implacably hard when he spoke those three little words.
“I want you, Yanna.”
Still more than a little hurt at his rejection – because that was how it felt to me – I said stiffly, “Well, you can’t have me.”
His voice became seductive. “You and I both know that’s a lie. But I don’t want to force you. I want you to come to me willingly and I’ll do whatever---”
Unable to bear hearing more because I knew they were all true, I cut him off desperately. “Constantijin---”
“I love it when you say my name,” he breathed.
I love it when you say mine, too, I thought sadly. Too much so, and that was the problem.
I gazed at him, this time not bothering to hide the plea in my eyes. “I’m not in your league, Constantijin. I don’t do one-night stands. I don’t do affairs. I’m just…not like you,” I ended helplessly.
“I know what you’re saying, schat,” he answered, and the way his eyes burned through me made me swallow. Oh God. His eyes told me that right now he was hard – had been from the start. For me.
Moisture formed between my legs in response.
Triumph blazed from his eyes. “But it’s too late. The moment you walked into my office, with your pink suit and sunny smile – the way you talked to me without flirting, the way you entranced every man in the room without even being aware of it---”
His words made my body so heavy with desire I couldn’t breathe. He was painting a woman I didn’t recognize and yet the way he was staring at me so intensely told me I was her.
“I want to be inside you very badly, Yanna, and I will have you.”
I wanted to look away but couldn’t. His gaze had once again enslaved me, and it was all I could do not to lean toward him and beg for his touch. In a last-ditch effort to save myself, I said shakily, “Can’t we just be friends?”
Without warning, I found myself being yanked forward from underneath the table, and I let out a soft gasp of shock as I felt his hand go under my skirt.
I stiffened.
“Sssh, darling, or people would know,” he whispered.
I tried inching away but he retaliated by cupping my throbbing core, his hand large enough to brand every inch with his touch. “If you keep moving, I’ll tear your---”
“I won’t move!” I half-gasped the words out even as I glared at him.
But this only made his grin widen.
Then I felt his fingers going under the lacy fabric and my back shot up even straighter. “No, Con---” I bit back a moan when his fingers drew a straight line against my flesh, parallel to its folds, before he pressed his thumb ever so softly against the tiny nub of flesh that even I had never touched myself.
“Do you want me to make you come?” His teasing words were accompanied by movement from his fingers, its tips darting in and out of me but never really going inside.
Driven crazy by need, I actually found myself inching forward as if by doing so I could trap his fingers inside me. Oh God, what was happening to me? Constantijin Kastein was a stranger by almost all accounts. Yet here I was, craving his touch like an addiction I couldn’t live without.
“Yanna.”
“Yes,” I whimpered.
“You have to promise to keep quiet, though.”
I nodded, unable to say anything more because his fingers were moving again, going up and down against my sheath.
“Are you ready?”
“Ye---” My mouth parted in a silent scream of agonized pleasure because Constantijin had again taken me by surprise, sliding his finger in and out in a rhythm that made a huge shudder go through my body.
“Quiet, schat.”
I nodded, gripping the tablecloth desperately with one hand as I did my best to prevent my body from meeting the thrusts of his fingers. I was so wet and crazy for desire for him that even this very first penetration of my body didn’t hurt. If anything, it just left me wanting for more and more.
“Do you want it faster?”
I nodded, and closed my eyes when his fingers thrust in and out in increased speed, making me catch my breath.
“Harder?”
I nodded again, not wanting to speak. I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, I’d end up moaning my pleasure instead.
His fingers f**ked me harder and faster this time, and I nearly buckled in my seat when a second finger penetrated me. Oh, oh---a third finger? This was too much.
“Yanna.” His voice was thick with desire now, almost guttural again.
I had to force myself to open my eyes.
“I want you to come now.”
My breath hitched.
“I want you to come by impaling yourself with my fingers – get it as deep as you can inside you. All right, sweetheart?”
I could only gaze at him in muted desire.
“Say yes,” he gritted out.
“Yes.”
“Then do it now.” And almost as if we had rehearsed this a thousand times, he shoved his fingers in just as I lifted my h*ps to meet his thrust. I bit my lip hard as I convulsed around him, aware of the wetness trickling out and to my upper thighs.
Dizzy with pleasure, I watched Constantijin take a handkerchief from his pocket and dip it in water. After a moment, I felt the cold touch of the fabric on my thighs. My legs parted on its own as Constantijin efficiently cleaned me under the table while his other hand drummed a lazy beat on the table, his golden gaze burning bright with satisfaction.
“You are right, sweetheart,” he murmured when he pulled his hand away, seemingly satisfied with how he’s cleaned me up. His lips curved in a knowing smile when he heard my legs immediately snapping shut the moment he withdrew his hand.
Still trying to keep my legs from trembling and wondering if I could actually walk a straight line after the very first orgasm I had in my life, I asked shakily, “I’m right about what?”
“This friendship of ours.” He came to his feet in a fluid movement, utterly gorgeous and unflappable, not one bit of him betraying the fact that he had just gotten me into engaging in a public act of sex with him.