Page 28 of Manhattan Kiss

“Even if I don’t want you to?” she asks, as we step outside.

I turn to face her. “Aurora, I’m not planning to force myself on you. I want to make sure you get home safely.”

“I didn’t think that.” She fiddles with her hands.

“Okay, good. Then what’s the problem?”

She frowns a little. What’s going on inside her head? “I’m not some frightened wallflower. Okay, so I haven’t traveled much and I’ve never lived abroad before, but I can get myself home.”

“I have no doubt that’s true. I think you’re capable of most things you set your mind to.”

She scoffs, and I stop what I was going to say.

“You don’t think you’re capable of anything you set your mind to?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I just don’t think anyone has said something like that about me. It’s not really how someone would describe me.”

“Then maybe they don’t see you like I see you.” I say the words without thinking, then realize that I’m probably right. Just as I confessed things tonight that I’ve not spoken about for years with anyone but my family, I bet a lot of people put Aurora in a box and don’t really look at her. She’s lived in the same village her entire life. People see her the way they always have. And they’re not looking closely enough.

That delicious blush is back.

“You don’t know me.”

“No, not very well. But I know you are gracious and poised. You could have told me to stuff my apology up my arse, but you didn’t. I know you work hard and are good at your job. Avril and Poppy are no dummies. If they got you to come over from the UK, you must have really impressed them. I think you’re funny and good company over dinner. I think you’re beautiful and…”

I don’t know if it’s her long lashes or the unexpected brightness of the green of her eyes, but all I can think is that she’s sultry and complicated and someone I’d like to know better. I trail my eyes down her curves, taking in every dip and hollow. The outline of her breasts is almost too much. Everything’s covered, but everything’s on display at the same time. The way her waist flares out at her hips? It’s breathtaking.

“Fuck, I think you’re dangerous walking around with that body.” My gaze flits back up to her eyes.

Her blush deepens.

“Yeah, I think you could do anything you set your mind to. But all I want to do is walk you home.”

She looks up at me, a teasing smile pulling at her mouth. “Okay, well, when you put it like that, you can walk me home. I’m just around the corner.”

We walk in comfortable silence for a few steps, then she says, “I think it’s better that we don’t tell people about…this…this dinner. I’m not going to lie, but I’m not going to offer up the information either.”

“You don’t want housekeeping knowing that the guy in Room 325 thinks you have a killer body?”

She laughs. “Something like that.” She glances across at me. “But seriously, you’re a regular guest. I haven’t read any rule about…having dinner with guests out of hours, but I can’t imagine it’s encouraged.”

“It’s up to you what you say. No one’s going to ask me.”

“Right,” she says. “It’s up to me.” She says it almost like she’s talking to herself. Maybe she is. I wish I could hear all the things she didn’t say out loud.

“This is me,” she says, as she turns to me.

I can’t help but laugh. “That’s such a British turn of phrase. I haven’t heard it in a while.”

She cocks her head and grins back at me. “You have a pretty smile,” she says. “And also…a killer bod.”

It’s like someone’s struck a match and set me on fire. I step forward, so close that we’re almost touching. She takes a step back, and I step forward again, backing her up against the wall of her building. She looks up at me, her breaths coming heavy and fast.

“I’m not going to fuck you,” I say. “Not tonight. Tonight, I’m going to kiss you.”

I cup her face with my hands and my gaze flits between her eyes and her mouth. I don’t know if I can stand not to be looking at her the first time I kiss her. I graze her mouth with mine…then press my leg in between her thighs and devour her.

My tongue pushes into her mouth and finds hers. She gasps and lets out a small whimper. I groan at her noises. It’s like she’s found my personalized manual and knows exactly how to turn me on. Our kiss deepens and her hands smooth down my chest and around to my back, like she wants to see if I feel as good as she thinks I look. The thought sends all my blood rushing to my cock and my erection presses against my zip.