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“I’m glad to hear that.”
She tried and failed not to shiver at the look in his eyes when his gaze collided with hers. She searched frantically for something else to cover the fact that every time he so much as breathed, she had taken to staring at him like a dopey teenage groupie.
“You don’t like my valet.”
His mouth compressed. “I don’t like the hard-on in his eyes when he looks at you. For his own sake, I hope to hell he stays away.”
“Or you’ll stare laser beams into him every time he comes close to me?”
He shrugged. “I have a lot of weapons in my arsenal should the staring not work.”
She laughed. His eyes darkened as his gaze swept over her face.
“Fuck, you’re beyond stunning when you laugh.” Again, he said it in that intense low voice, which vibrated over her senses like the most beautiful musical instrument. Unable to speak around the volatile emotions swinging through her, she started to lower her gaze. He caught her chin in a firm hold.
“No. Don’t look away. You’re going to hear me say that a lot. So you might as well get used to it. You. Are. Fucking. Exquisite.”
“Noah…”
“Do you know what I think of when you say my name like that?”
She shook her head.
“I think of all the bad, fucking filthy things I want you to do to me with that tongue stud. The things I know you want to do to me.”
Fire stormed through her cheeks, the flames rushing through her body all-consuming. It embarrassed the hell out of her that he could produce such feelings in her with the barest effort. It also made her a little irritated.
“You think you know what I want just because we kissed once?”
He regarded her with shrewd knowing eyes that made her want to run and hide. She forced herself to keep her gaze square on his. “I know you’re here for a specific reason, but you’re unsure as to how to get what you really want. But you want to find and conquer it immediately.”
“You reminded me just now that we only have a few short days. What’s wrong with going after what I want?”
The look in his eyes told her she’d asked the wrong question.Hell. She didn’t want him thinking she was some sort of sophisticated bed partner, but neither did she want to put him off with how utterly green she was. Perhaps shutting up was her best option.
“What’s your favorite food, Leia?”
“Italian.”
He nodded. “Think of it this way. Great sex is like waiting in your favorite restaurant for your favorite dish but with all the time in the world to eat it. The breadbasket is yours to devour the moment it arrives. But the first course takes a little bit of time to happen. Then, when you have it, you breathe it in, savor every mouthful. When you’re done eating, you should feel happy and sated, with each nerve ending alive from the experience, rather than discomfort by indigestion because you gorged.”
“A food-sex analogy? Really?”
He shrugged. “I like food. I love sex. I crave control. I tend not to do the first two at the same time, but I can make an exception if you grant me the third.”
“So you’re not the whipped cream, eating-sushi-off-naked-bodies type?”
Intense blue eyes scoured her face. “No. I prefer that nothing come between my mouth and your body. I want your taste pure and undiluted.”
“What if you don’t like what you taste?” Leia couldn’t believe she’d said the words. But she refused to blush again. Or look away.
“I will.” Succinct and confident.
She envied those traits very badly. He intrigued her more by the second. “You seem very sure. What if you’re wrong?”
“I’m not. I can smell you, sweetheart. That need clamoring through you right now? That insatiable craving that no amount of reasoning or ignoring or fucking other people can assuage? It rides me too.”
Her senses jumped at the hard, rough note in his voice. “And you think you can make it go away?”