Рейчел Бейли – Claiming His Bought Bride / Seducing the Enemy's Daughter: Claiming His Bought Bride / Seducing the Enemy's Daughter (страница 10)

Damon closed the door behind them, then leaned back against it, a hungry smile stretching his features. But his eyes were on her, not the food.

An answering quiver raced through her body. She couldn’t let the false intimacy created by their paper marriage alter her decision to not sleep with him. And from the look on his face, he would turn every inch she gave him into a mile and then some.

Trembling, she turned back to the food, fussing with the place settings with unmanageable fingers.

“No need to be scared of me, sweetheart.” She imagined—felt—him walking up behind her. When he spoke next, he was right behind her, his breath lifting the sensitive hairs by her ear. “I’m not the big bad wolf.”

Oh, how wrong he was.

The heat from his body seeped into hers, turning her bones to warm honey. If only their relationship was un-fettered—as it’d been before the will, before her pregnancy, before he’d broken her heart—she would be free to lean back into him and take what he offered. The pleasures he could bestow went beyond anything she expected to experience again. She shuddered with the desire her body remembered too clearly. If only she could have just one more sample—

As if reading her thoughts, Damon placed a butterfly kiss behind her ear, sending a delicious shiver across her skin. Then another kiss and another shiver. She opened her mouth, knowing she should protest, but before she could speak, he nipped at her earlobe and sucked it into the decadent heat of his mouth.

Lily stifled a groan, almost lost, barely able to form the thought that she should move away, but his warm breath rippled sideward to her cheekbone, and she caught the fragrance of toothpaste—fresh mint mingling with his own scent.

“God, what you do to me,” he whispered.

What she did to him? Within short minutes of his ministrations she was ready to fly to the moon with him. She leaned back against his body, desperate to learn he was as affected as her. Just for a moment, she told herself. And, oh, he was. His arousal pushed against the small of her back.

“Damon, I—”

He raised a finger and placed it over her lips but it did more than silence her. The pad of his finger traced a leisurely path across her bottom lip before dipping into her mouth. Breathing choppy, body aflame, she welcomed the finger, closed her lips around it, sucked ever so lightly, intensifying the mounting tension pulling at her core.

Light-headed, she grasped for his arm in an attempt to steady herself so as not to miss a single delicious moment.

He swore under his breath then slowly withdrew the finger and placed a chaste kiss on the top of her head. “First things first,” he rasped before clearing his throat. “I need to feed you.” He took her elbow and guided her to one of the ornate white lacquered chairs. “Sit.”

The room slanted at his change of direction but she sank down and let Damon push her chair in, trying to counter her disorientation. How had that happened? She bit down on her lip. Thank heaven now she had time to rebuild her defenses—make them impenetrable.

He sat in his own chair, toweling robe displaying a proud V of solid chest dusted with hair, golden forearms peeking out his rolled-back sleeves letting her see their muscles contract and flex as he lifted the lid off the first dish. The spicy aroma filled her senses and she reluctantly dragged her gaze from Damon to the food, still a touch dizzy.

“I ordered a selection. This one’s Asian stir-fry vegetables.” He held out his hand for her plate. She complied, realizing how hungry she was, and not just for Damon, then took the plate back after he’d spooned a portion onto it.

After scooping vegetables onto his own plate, he lifted the second lid revealing a cheesy topping covering something enticing underneath.

Again he held his hand for her plate. “I ordered the three dishes on the menu with cheese—you need calcium. But I made sure there was none of the soft cheese you can’t have while pregnant.” He looked up, one corner of his mouth curved in a lazy grin when he saw her surprise. “I’ve done some research.”

Touched that he’d given so much thought to the ordering, she watched as he lifted lid after lid, working through the dishes he’d ordered for her. A lump grew to fill her throat.

By the time he came to the sixth dish, her plate was piled so high it resembled more a small mountain than dinner.

She laughed and threw up her hands. “That’s enough. I’ll never be able to eat all of this.”

He nodded and continued piling new dishes onto his plate. “Just eat what you can. You and the baby need sustenance.”

She waited for him to finish serving himself before tasting. The food was divine, just like the other five-star places Damon had taken her when they’d dated. But more than the food affected her.

Watching Damon eat, dressed only in a bathrobe, kept her blood simmering and her senses on high alert. The robe’s wide gap at his chest gave her an unobstructed view of his strong, cleanly shaven throat, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.

He held out his fork to her. “Try this. It’s one you don’t have.”

Lily hesitated, breath catching in her chest. He’d fed her from his fork before, and occasionally from his fingers, like the night he’d fed her mango slices in bed. The memory of the sensual delights that night had brought dropped her mouth open and she accepted his fork.

The light-as-air pumpkin soufflé melted on her tongue. “Mmm, fabulous.” Her eyes drifted closed to make the most of the flavor, licking her lips for any remnants.

“I’ll tell you what’s fabulous,” Damon said in a husky voice. “That licking noise you’re making. Here, try this one.”

Her eyes flew open as she realized how it must look from his position. She felt the blush creep up her neck. “Ah, no thanks. I have enough here.” It wasn’t fair to tease him, lead him on, when she had no intention of sleeping with him. Heaven knew, she certainly shouldn’t have let him kiss her ear earlier. Her guard had to stay in place.

Then again, a voice taunted in her mind, Damon never needed encouragement. He always knew what he wanted and right now he wanted her.

“Well, let me try some of yours. I didn’t get any of that creamy cheese dish,” he said, pointing to the side of her plate. “I left it in case you wanted seconds.” His lips sat parted for a second before he added, “Just a taste.”

The rasp in his voice called to her and without thinking, she lifted her fork to his mouth. She instantly regretted it when his lips clamped around her fork. He held it between his teeth, his eyes intense as they captured hers as surely as he’d captured the fork.

Then he let the clean fork slide free, chewed leisurely and swallowed. “I’ve dreamed of tasting you again. Your lips … your skin. Your essence.”

Lily couldn’t speak, could barely breathe. She was baking inside, melting, needing his touch. She’d never had so skilled a lover as Damon, one who so thoroughly reveled in her body and in her pleasure. What she wouldn’t give to experience that again. Just for one night.

No! She flinched at the physical pain of breaking eye contact, as if she was being torn in two. It took everything she had to take another mouthful and chew, pretending she was unaffected when she was ready to combust. Damon knew her weakness for his body. She suspected he knew that any woman would have a weakness for his skills once they’d experienced them. And one thing she knew about her new husband—he wouldn’t hesitate to use any means at his disposal to get what he wanted.

And what he wanted was his father’s company … and that meant keeping her with him until their baby was born so it would be legitimate. He’d use any means at his disposal—including seduction—to keep her in the marriage until then. Her heart clutched tight. She must be strong. Not put one night’s passion ahead of her baby’s needs, or she’d risk her child’s future, the chance for her baby to have a stable and secure childhood—something that meant more to her than anything.

On autopilot, she kept eating—food on her fork, chew, swallow, repeat. With nerves jangling, the taste of the dishes no longer registered; all she was aware of was the man across from her. Without looking, she knew he watched her, could feel his gaze as a physical touch.

“You seem tense.” His voice was so low it was almost a growl.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she focused on her food, the only hunger she could safely assuage.

With slow, deliberate movements, Damon stood and moved behind her chair. “I can help with that tension in your shoulders.” His hands gently kneaded her shoulders, and his heat seeped through her satin pajamas and robe as if he’d touched her bare skin.

She twisted away. “Damon, we’ve talked about—”

He maneuvered her back against the chair and cut off her words. “It’s not the time for talking.”

His fingers massaged deeply, with wonderful pressure and sensuous movements, spreading heat across her tired muscles. The relaxing rhythm of his hands through the slippery material lulled her into a place of mindless, sensual bliss. No one had touched her this way since … Damon. Her body, starved for warmth, soaked up his attention.