Chapter 11

Every part of Pepper's body came alive. Her breasts ached for his touch, the thick fabric of her bra abrading her painfully tight nipples. She was seized with an uncontrollable desire to rip off her clothes and climb up his body, and all he'd done was kiss her. But, damn, that kiss was potent. His tongue was an electric flame in her mouth, generating enough heat to scorch every one of her erogenous zones. She thrust her fingers into the thick chocolate velvet of his hair, holding his head in place, drinking from his mouth as he was feasting from hers.
He slid one hand down her spine, fingertips tracing the line before he reached down to cup one cheek of her bottom. Her body tightened, her inner muscles clenching with a sudden desperate need. Breaking the kiss, he slid his lips across her cheek and dropped a light string of kisses along her jawline.
Oh god. She wanted him with a sudden, unexpected desperation. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she wanted a man more than she wanted her next breath. This man.
"Pepper?" He raised his head enough to lock his gaze with hers.
"Yes?" She barely got the word out.
"If I'm out of line here, please feel free to tell me. I don't want to do anything to make you mad, but something's happening here. I can't believe how much I want you. Do you feel it, too?"
She nodded, robbed of speech.
"So if I ask you to come upstairs with me, you won't damage my manhood? Toss me out on the street?" He gave her a tiny grin. "Scream for help?"
Pepper managed to find her voice. "No screaming," she whispered. "I promise."
He lifted her down from the stool and took her hand in his strong, warm one. Just that contact lit flames beneath her nerve endings.
She breathed a sigh of relief that no one was coming or going in the lobby as they crossed it, nor did they meet anyone on the stairs as they climbed them. Then it was a short distance down the hall to the door of the suite. Kyle unlocked it, ushered her through, and closed the door behind them. Then he stood for a long moment looking at her, undressing her with his eyes.
"I want to rip your clothes off," he told her in a voice hoarse with desire. "But I want to go slow, too, so I don't miss a thing."
"Slow is good," she whispered, mesmerized by the way his eyes devoured her.
She loved the way he cradled her head as he took her mouth in another kiss, this one tempting and teasing but no less intense. He coaxed her tongue to play with his, licked the inside of her mouth, and fed from her like a starving man. His taste was intoxicating, waking up her pleasure points and spreading to every pulse point in her body.
Lazily, he dragged his mouth from hers and trailed it along the line of her jaw and down her neck. She shivered as he drew a line with the tip of his tongue along her collarbone to the hollow at her throat. The pressure of his tongue against that indentation made her limbs turn to jelly and she had to grasp his arms to steady herself.
"I feel like I'm unwrapping a Christmas package," he murmured as he undid the buttons of her silk blouse one at a time. "Except Santa never left anything like this under the tree for me."
"I hope you aren't disappointed."
"Are you kidding me? This is the best present ever."
With his gaze still locked onto hers, he undid the last of the buttons, opened the blouse, and pushed it down her arms. The fire in his eyes flared hotter when he lowered his gaze to the bit of peach satin and lace that was her bra. He slid a tentative finger along the upper swell of her breasts, a feather-light touch that sent another shower of chills dancing along her skin.
Get on with it, she wanted to tell him, yet, at the same time, she wanted to prolong each and every touch and contact. Kyle skimmed his fingertips over her shoulders, down her arms, and around to her back where he deftly unhooked her bra. The moment her breasts were free, he cupped them in his palms, gently squeezing them and brushing his thumbs over her now very sensitive nipples. The throbbing in the heart of her sex intensified.
Pepper lifted her hands and scraped her thumbs over his cheeks and chin, missing the appetizing scruff of earlier in the day and sorry he'd shaved before dinner. His very masculine scent filled her nostrils, and she couldn't stop herself from rising on tiptoe to run her tongue along the line of his jaw. Yum! He tasted as good as he smelled.
"You're killing me, Pepper," he rasped. "Testing my self-discipline."
Her mouth curved in a tremulous grin. "Mine, too."
As he stroked her breasts and their beaded tips, she tugged his shirt from his trousers and pushed his arms aside so she could yank it over his head. Her mouth watered at the sight of his toned chest with its curls of dark-chocolate hair. Unable to stop herself, she leaned her head forward and ran her tongue over the surface. The little curls were softer than she expected, so she licked again. This time, she dragged her tongue from side to side, finding his flat male nipples and teasing them.
Kyle sucked in a breath at the contact, squeezing her nipples with his fingers. He urged her head up to give him access to her body, reaching for the button and zipper on her slacks, dragging the tab down with painful slowness. His knuckles brushed her tummy, setting off another wave of tremors. When he pushed her slacks down, they slid to her ankles, and she stepped out of them and her shoes.