She took a deep breath. “No.”
His lips quirked. “You afraid?”
Oh yeah, she was afraid. Afraid of where this might lead. Or rather, how it would threaten the relationship they had now, if things went too far. “Of course not.”
“Prove it then.”
She could do this. This was Jake, her friend. Besides, she never backed down on a dare.
Her gaze flickered to his mouth and her own went dry. She swallowed and took a step closer. Now she had to tilt her head to look up into his face. His eyes were half-closed, gleaming behind his thick lashes. He didn’t make any move toward her, just waited for her to come to him, and she took the final step. Now, she could reach out and touch him.
“What sort of sample were you thinking of?” she asked.
“A kiss?”
For a moment, she thought he meant her to kiss him, and she didn’t know if she could. Then he curled his hand around her neck and tilted her head up to him. He stroked his other hand down her cheek. She couldn’t have moved now. Not for anything. With one long finger, he traced her lower lip, and the skin tingled under his touch.
She kept her eyes open as he lowered his head to hers, her stare fixed on his mouth. At the first gentle touch of his lips, something inside her twisted up tight. The muscles of her belly locked.
“Relax,” he murmured against her skin. “This won’t hurt at all.”
Then he slanted his mouth over hers, and unbelievably, Jake was kissing her. She kept herself very still. He nipped at her lower lip, and then soothed it with his tongue. “Open your mouth, Kim.”
“Oh.”
As her lips parted on the word, he pushed his tongue inside like hot, wet velvet stroking her, and the knotted muscles in her belly unraveled. How could she feel a kiss low down in her body?
His hand on her neck held her in place as she started to kiss him back.
She wanted more. She didn’t know what. Well, she did—she wasn’t that naive—but she didn’t know how to go about getting it. Or even if she should. This was still Jake. Her friend. But his kiss felt so indescribably good. As though his mouth had connections with the rest of her body, awakening nerve endings she hadn’t known existed.
When he pulled away slightly, she barely managed to hold back her groan of dismay. She stared up at him blinking. “Wow.”
He chuckled. “More?”
He stepped away as if to give her space to think, but she was beyond thinking. And they were only kissing. What harm could it do? Even if in the end, she did the sensible thing and told him no, a few little kisses wouldn’t hurt.
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
He stepped toward his desk. Leaning across, he pressed the button to lock the door. She heard it click, and her heart fluttered like a trapped hummingbird.
His eyes gleamed as he moved his hands to the buttons of his shirt. He flicked one open, and her breath caught.
He didn’t need to take his shirt off to kiss her, did he? But she couldn’t get any words past the breath lodged in her throat. Instead, she stared as he slowly unfastened his shirt, baring vast amounts of smooth golden skin. She’d seen him work out in the gym wearing little more. There, she’d been able to objectively appreciate him. Here, locked in the office, just the sight sent heat flooding through her body. “Is this more of the sample?”
“Well, I don’t think you can get an idea of what it will be like between us unless you touch me.” He picked up her limp right hand and rested her palm against his chest. His skin was hot and smooth, and his heart thudded against her hand. She stroked him with her fingertips, scraping over one flat male nipple, and his breath hitched. Intrigued by the response, she repeated the action.
Unbelievably, her touch affected Jake. She trailed her hand down his chest to where the thin line of black silky hair bisected his lean-muscled belly. When she reached the waistband of his pants, she lost her nerve.
Sliding both hands back up his chest, she rested them on his shoulders. She wanted him to kiss her again and tugged him down. This time her mouth opened beneath his straightaway. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, tasting him, hot and slightly spicy.
Her body trembled against him, and he smoothed his hands over her back, soothing her, exciting her. Then he flicked open the fastener of her sports bra. He achieved his objective with obvious skill and without breaking the kiss and eased the straps down her shoulders, peeled the material from her breasts, and dropped it to the floor between them.
She was naked from the waist up. In Jake’s office.
With Jake.
There was something definitely wrong with that, but her brain couldn’t process what.
Just a little more. Then she’d stop him, and go away, and consider the implications, and make an informed decision…based on the sample.
In a little while.
But her whole being smoldered with anticipation. Waited for his next move.
His kiss slipped from her lips, down the line of her jaw, her throat, the spot where her neck met her shoulder, so sensitive she trembled under his touch. Then he kissed the tops of her breasts, his dark head bent over her, and her breasts ached with need. He had to touch her there, and soon, or she might spontaneously combust. Finally, he slid his hands around and cupped her in his palms. Her small breasts fit easily. She couldn’t take her eyes from the picture—her skin so pale against his dark hands. The nipples tight with need. He grazed the pads of his thumbs over them, and the sensation resonated at her core.
Then he lowered his head and licked across her nipple and fire roared to life in her belly. He peered up into her face, his eyes midnight dark, as he took one swollen nipple into his mouth and sucked.
A pulse throbbed between her thighs in rhythm with his mouth at her breast. Now hard, and then soft. He moved to her other breast and repeated the process until both glistened and moisture pooled at her sex. Her hips jerked, and he shifted his hands to her waist.
“Are you sure?”
Why the hell was he asking now? When all rational thought had vanished for the foreseeable future? She nodded.
“Absolutely?”
He was teasing her. She ground her teeth, and he laughed, almost triumphantly, then cupped her fleetingly between the thighs. “I’m going to kiss you here,” he said, and she gasped at the image that flashed in her mind.
He slipped his hands beneath the waistband of her sweatpants. Shock flared as he sank to his knees in front of her, dragging the material down over her hips, taking the black cotton panties as well.
She was naked. In Jake’s office.