Marissa didn’t like the determined look on his face and her whole body started to tremble. She feared that this Zeke-on-a-mission attitude might put him in danger with her father. “There’s nothing to tell,” she said, but immediately she felt the pain shoot from the back of her neck to the front of her forehead.
Zeke saw her cringe involuntarily. “What’s wrong?” he demanded, instantly alert.
Marissa shook her head and took a deep breath, praying that the pain would go away. “I’m fine,” she replied, pasting a calm smile over her features and forcing her shoulders to relax. A migraine? Great! Just what she needed!
Taking a deep breath, she relaxed her shoulders and as many muscles as possible. A hard thing to do when Zeke was near. She could get through this, she told herself mentally. This latest incident would not crush her.
The vehicle drove into the parking garage of a tall building and Marissa looked around, her worry increasing. “Where are we?” she asked, staring through the darkness and seeing several other cars, but nothing that would give her a clue as to where he’d taken her.
“I live here,” he said and took her hand, pulling her out of the limousine behind him. “Come along.” He didn’t wait for her response but guided her over to an elevator. Once inside, he pressed some buttons and, a moment later, they were zipping to the top. Marissa’s stomach dropped and she gripped the wooden railing of the elevator.
“Why are we here?” she asked, staring at the number indicating the floors they were passing. “And why can’t you live on one of the lower floors?” she demanded with a great deal of irritation. It wasn’t that she was afraid of heights. She just didn’t like them.
Zeke chuckled and moved in closer so he was blocking her view of the numbers. “Because there wasn’t enough room in the units on the lower floors.”
She glared at him. “You’re just one man. How much room do you need?”
He shrugged one of his massive shoulders and leaned closer. “I like my privacy. I also entertain a great deal for business and this place has great views.”
She didn’t like how close he was. “So is it space or privacy that you need more of?” If she kept him talking, he couldn’t do anything else, right? Like kiss her? Her eyes dropped to his lips, her mind wandering back to that moment several days ago when she’d felt his lips on her neck and her ear.
“Both.”
She blinked when he spoke, losing the thread of the conversation. Both what? Oh, space and privacy. She needed to keep up, she admonished herself silently.
She started to put a hand to his body intending to push him away, but she didn’t want to touch him. “Then why don’t you respect my space?”
He laughed and took her hand that was still fluttering at her side, placing it right in the middle of his chest. When she tried to pull it away, he covered her hand, pressing her fingers against his shirt. “You don’t really want space from me.”
She opened her mouth to say something but the elevator stopped and the doors opened. “That’s where you’re wrong,” she snapped at him and quickly slipped around his amazingly large and deliciously muscular body to get out of the small confines of the suddenly tiny elevator. Or more specifically, get away from his large, warm body that was heating her skin and making her feel…strange things. Things she didn’t understand and definitely didn’t like.
She stepped out into a lovely wood paneled entryway with a gorgeous crystal chandelier twinkling over a huge bouquet of fresh flowers. Her father was an extremely wealthy man and she’d lived in luxury her whole life. But her entire bedroom could fit inside this entryway. “You’re…” she started to say something, but whatever it was, she stopped when she felt his strong, unrelenting hands encircle her waist.
“I think we’ve been missing something in this relationship,” he said a moment before his mouth covered hers.
He was kissing her? Marissa couldn’t believe the shock of his lips against hers. She’d wondered what it would be like to be kissed by him, even moments before in the elevator, her mind had gone down that road. But nothing could have prepared her for the scalding, moist taste of him on her lips or the instant surge of lust the moment his mouth touched hers.
His mouth was hot! And it was gentle but firm, not giving an inch and demanding that she give up everything. She resisted, or at least tried to resist, which worked for perhaps a fraction of a second. And then it was all over. She wasn’t even aware of her body melting against his, her hands grabbing his shoulders and hanging on tightly. Bending one leg, she pressed herself against him, instinctively and unknowingly, wanting to eliminate all space between them.
She heard something that sounded like a cat, but she couldn’t focus on the sound. The only reality she could concentrate on was his mouth and the way his tongue teased hers, tantalizing her into participating in the kiss. The instant she did so, there was so much more. She felt his hands on her back, sliding up and down, touching her in places no man had ever dared to touch. She wanted more, her body starting to demand more. She wanted his hands…yes! When his hand moved higher, his fingers touching her breast she thought she might just melt into a puddle of sizzling steam. And then one hand moved lower, cupping her bottom and an ache started, grew from her stomach outwards as she felt the hardness against her abdomen. His hand on her bottom pressed her, moved slightly and she gasped at the contact, not sure what was happening or why her body was doing what it was doing.
“Zeke!” she gasped, her toes curling with a strange restlessness that caused her body to curl into his, to shift against him.
He lifted his head and looked down at her, thinking that his timing was pretty horrible. He’d just wanted to kiss her, to show her that she couldn’t make statements like wanting to maintain space because they were a lie. He hadn’t realized how strong the passion between them would ignite, how it would flame up out of control. Right now, he was holding onto his lust for this woman with a fine, very tenuous thread and he wasn’t sure if he could maintain that control. If it had been any other woman, he would have moved into his bedroom and spent a very pleasurable afternoon exploring this surprising need. But this was Marissa. And there was something about her that kicked in when she was near him. He didn’t just want sex with her. He suddenly realized that he wanted so much more.