Page 11 of First Touch

God, he was alpha male through and through. If I didn’t know without a doubt that Amber would never have put up with a true dominant then I might have pegged him for the master/slave type. My guess was that, at the very least, he was bossy when it came to his women, just like it seemed he was bossy with everyone in his life.

“You initiated dinner,” I offered, hoping that would console his obvious irritation. Hoping it would relieve me from the violation of those eyes.

It didn’t. “You wanted me to ask you to dinner.”

“I wanted to see you again.” My voice wasn’t as sure as I would have preferred. I was losing ground. I felt it slipping away underneath me. Desperate to gain it back, I added boldly, “I wasn’t necessarily aiming for dinner. I was more interested in dessert.” I skated my gaze down his body, accentuating my point.

“To be blunt, Emily, I’m usually uninterested in women who are so forward.”

But forwardness had gotten me the date in the first place. And despite his words, his shoulders pushed back and his chin lifted, obviously pleased with my interest.

Besides, my body was really the only weapon in my arsenal that I knew how to use. “Usually,” I repeated, standing as I spoke. “That means not always.”

He cocked his head. Watching me.

Then I knew with absolute certainty that he wanted to kiss me. That if he did, he’d take every last bit of power I had.

I couldn’t let that happen. I had to act first.

With a burst of resolve, I closed the space between us and settled my palm at the front of his pants. My breath caught as my hand closed around the thick outline, surprised he was already hard. “It seems it also means not right now.”

His cock twitched as I tightened my grip, but otherwise Reeve remained still. It was a stark contrast to the way I felt inside – nervous, agitated, infested. Aroused. I stroked the length of him, my heart pounding as he grew harder beneath my touch. Falling to my knees was natural and my hands fumbled at his buckle with a desperate urgency that had little to do with finding Amber.

I’d barely undone the clasp when my upper arms were seized and I was pulled roughly to my feet. I struggled to get loose, but my hands were pinned securely behind me. I managed to twist enough to see the person holding me was the bodyguard who’d met me at the door.

I turned toward Reeve who still leaned calmly against the pit wall. The hint of a wicked smile on his face sent a bolt of trepidation through me. Had this been planned? Was this a trap after all? Or was Reeve a kinky guy who let his staff participate in his sexual acts?

After a moment, he spoke. “I probably should have warned you this could happen. My men usually insist on doing a body search on anyone who spends time alone with me. I told them to skip it with you, but that, of course, made some of them even more wary.”

A misunderstanding, then. My pulse settled slightly. “I wasn’t going to hurt him,” I said over my shoulder. “Just the opposite, actually.”

“That may be true,” Reeve said. “But as I’m not used to having women come on to me, neither are they. Like I said, I always do the initiating.”

Reeve exchanged some words with his bodyguard in a foreign language – Greek, if I had to guess. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t wanted to speak it to me, because it was the language he used to communicate with his security team. I waited for them to finish, for Reeve to explain and for the guard to let me go.

Instead, the grip around me tightened.

Reeve stood, the corners of his lips turned down in an insincere frown. “I know this is awkward, Emily, but Anatolios insists on having you patted down now. To make you more comfortable, he’s agreed to let me do the honors.”

At the moment, I would have preferred the bodyguard. Even just the thought of Reeve’s hands wandering over me made my belly twist and flutter, and right now I didn’t want to be turned on by him; I wanted to be pissed. I was pissed. Because I didn’t buy for a moment that this wasn’t all part of Reeve’s game. I didn’t buy that anyone could ever let Reeve do anything. He was a man who did what he wanted.

So, as he crossed the two steps between us, I tried to find comfort in the fact that he wanted to be touching me. Like I wanted to be touching him.

His guard – Anatolios – shifted his hold, pushing me forward as if he were a loyal servant presenting a gift to his master.

Reeve looked me in the eyes. Oh yeah, he was enjoying this. “This will only take a moment, Emily. No need to be worried.”

I didn’t speak. Anything I had to say would likely only get me in trouble. Best to just let the man do as he pleased and hope that my cooperation would earn me more of his trust.

He started with his hands at my neck, his touch fiery on my skin. Then he swept them down over my collar and outward across the line above my chest. Under his fingertips, my nerves awakened, spitting into flames that licked and burned in the tracks of his path. He glided down the sides of my torso, cupping under my breasts, lingering before he drew back to my waist. Then over my hips. Down the outside of my thighs, his eyes were heated and never left mine. He didn’t pat down like the security at the airport looking for a hidden weapon. He caressed. He teased. He tortured.

He bent to continue his trail to my ankles. There he paused, throwing a glance to Anatolios. Next thing I knew, my legs were kicked apart from behind, forcing me to widen my stance. I swore under my breath, but didn’t fight. Reeve resumed his torment, this time moving up the insides of my shins, past my knees, higher, to the sensitive section of my inner thighs where each centimeter of skin crossed made me fidget and squirm, finally landing at the crotch of my panties.

I drew in a shuddering breath. I was on pins and needles, my arousal so spiked that it was itchy and agonizing and infuriating.

Reeve straightened to his full height while keeping one hand positioned at my center. His eyes glistened as he registered the dampness of the material. “I like this, Emily. It makes me happy to know that at least a portion of your interest in me is sincere.”

Fucking asshole. “It’s all sincere,” I said through gritted teeth.