His glance slid back to her face and when he realized that she’d been following his eyes he straightened his back and cleared his throat. A hint of a flush told her he was embarrassed at being caught.
But she didn’t mind the attention at all. She welcomed it. It was a very encouraging sign.
“Make yourself comfortable.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “You must be thirsty after your walk. I’ll get you a drink.”
When she got to the kitchen she drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly. Staying in control was not going to be as easy as she’d thought. Having him so close – the woodsy fragrance of his cologne, the fact that he was sitting right there in her living room – was sending her pulse racing like she’d just done a five mile run. Even her fingers were shaking. Yikes! She really had to get a hold of herself or he’d think she’d gone batty.
She let a few seconds pass and then, pasting a smile on her face, she exited the kitchen carrying the two chilled glasses of wine. She was surprised when she saw that Stone had found the chess game that had been sitting on top of the bookcase. He'd opened the box and was laying out the pieces as she entered the room.
“You like chess,” she said matter-of-factly. It was not a question. He just looked like a man who would be good at that sort of game.
He shrugged and continued to place the pieces. “I’m competitive. What can I say?” Then he looked up at her and grinned. "Want to play?”
She gave him a crooked smile. “I don’t know…” He looked like he could give her a good whipping and she didn’t know if she wanted to lose to him tonight. Maybe some other time but tonight she wanted to be a winner in every sense of the word. She handed him his glass of wine and went over to sit on the seat across from him then she slid back in the chair, relaxed, and took a sip.
“Chicken?” He gave her a cheeky grin.
“Never.” But still, she didn’t move closer to the board. “I’ll take you up on your challenge,” she said, “after dinner.” With any luck after dinner they’d be too occupied to even remember about a chess game.
Stone seemed unperturbed. He shrugged his broad shoulders and lounged in the sofa, watching her over the rim of his glass as he sipped. With his brown eyes near golden and the dark-brown hair framing his rugged face he could have been a lion basking in the warmth of the South African sun, casually regarding his prey. But she was the hunter, not the hunted. She didn’t like feeling like prey.
“Let’s head for the dining room before our food gets cold,” she said and stood up so he would, too. He complied and followed her out of the living room.
When Stone saw the romantic setting, the meal laid out, the tiny vase with bright orange daisies in the middle of the table and the stout red candle beside it, he whistled.
That brought a blush to Indie’s cheeks. Had she been too presumptuous to make this look like a real date? The man was her employer, after all.
But no, he was looking at the table then at her with nothing but appreciation.
She relaxed then, and they sat down to a meal punctuated with laughter and ribbing until Indie couldn’t even remember what she’d been uptight about.
After that they moved to the living room where Indie was able to convince Stone to try Monopoly instead of chess. With that game choice, she thought, she would have some hope of winning. No such luck. Stone whipped her three times in a row till she threatened to confiscate the board and send him packing.
He only laughed. “Now it’s time for you to pay,” he growled and moved closer to her on the sofa.
“Pay?” Her brows shot up and her eyes widened. “I didn’t know there was a penalty for losing.”
“There is,” he said, his tone unapologetic.
“Since when?” She gave him her sternest look. She was not used to being bullied, especially not by a man.
“Since now,” he said, his voice a sexy whisper.
Indie’s breath caught in her throat. Stone Hudson was trying to seduce…her.
She had no time to dwell on that thought. He was reaching for her and her body, eager as it was for his touch, was leaning toward him, betraying the depth of her desire. And then she was in his arms, her br**sts crushed against his rock-hard chest, her lips pressed against his.
Stone kissed her urgently, plundering her mouth, wiping from her mind everything but the feel of him, the taste of him, the scent of his cologne.
And as urgent as he was kissing her she was kissing back. Indie wrapped her arms around Stone’s waist and held on as they rode the waves of passion together.
When Stone released her lips he was breathing hard. “I want you, Indie,” he said in a ragged whisper. “I want you so bad.”
He reached for her again and just like last time he dragged her onto his lap but this time his lips skimmed past hers and slid down the length of her neck to her collarbone and then to that sensitive valley between her br**sts where his hot breath tickled and tantalized till she arched up to meet his mouth.
Yes, he wanted her. She could hear it in the heavy thumping in his chest, see it in the perspiration that beaded his brow and feel it in the hardness that pressed up into her thigh.
And she wanted him. And when his lips slid even lower to kiss the top of her right breast, she reached up to pull his head down, urging him on, wanting more.
When Stone slid his lips lower and captured her nipple, Indie gasped.
A jolt ran through her body and then she was melting inside as pure pleasure flowed from his lips. She sank against him, her body weak and pliable in his arms. And when his hand slid down to the slit in her dress and slowly ran up the length of her thigh she could only moan at his sweet seduction.
Indie was floating on air when Stone lifted his head then slid his arm behind her knees. He got up from the sofa and, in one smooth move, he had lifted her into his arms and was striding out of the room.
“What?” Confused, Indie clung to his shoulders but when she looked up into his face what she saw left her in no doubt as to his intentions.
In just a few purposeful strides Stone was in her bedroom and then he was laying her gently on the bed. He lay down beside her and his golden-brown eyes flashed as he gazed down at her. “You know what I want, Indie,” he said, his voice hoarse, “but do you want this, too?”