Laci had never had someone as strong yet gentle touch her in such a protective way. She was stunned to realize how nice it felt. It was almost as if he were branding her in some way as his, yet still cherishing her presence. Normally, she didn’t like possessiveness in a man. But the idea of belonging to Sal wasn’t as unpalatable as she wished it would be.
They spoke of general subjects on the ride from the restaurant to her apartment but Laci could feel the tension and wished she could banish it. She didn’t want to feel this way for Sal. He was too handsome, too wealthy, too charming, too stimulating in every aspect of his personality. He had too many women. She also had to admit that she liked his kisses too much.
Besides, he was the opposition. She had to keep reminding herself about that on the ride up the elevator. She told him she didn’t need him to walk her to the door, but he simply smiled and got out of the elevator, following her down the hallway.
At the door, Laci’s hands were shaking so much that she dropped her key and, before she could pick it up, Sal had picked it up off the floor and had it in his hand and stuck it into the lock. But he didn’t turn the key. He looked directly at her.
As soon as their eyes met, Laci knew what was going to happen. It seemed inevitable and her breath caught in her throat, butterflies flittering through her stomach.
Sal took her into his arms and kissed her, this time with all the pent up desire that he had held at bay earlier. Laci thrilled to it, met each kiss with the same intensity. Her arms immediately wound around his neck, her fingers gently touching the hair at the nape of his neck, twining into the softness.
Sal’s lips were not gentle this time. They were demanding. And they demanded that she open her mouth. As soon as she complied, his tongue invaded, enticing her to a higher level of passion. And she was more than ready to meet him there.
He picked her up, Laci’s back pushed against the wall of the hallway. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched into him, feeling his need and knowing she had the same need. With her back and head confined by the wall, and the front of her confined by an equally hard body, Laci was lost in the continuous kiss as his lips moved from her mouth, to her neck, nibbling and making Laci cry out as he found a sensitive spot she never knew existed at the base of her throat.
She pulled his head back to hers, kissing him back and moving her hips, eager to feel more of him, hungry for his touch. Lace felt his hands slip under her sweater and she moaned, her skin on fire where his palm was touching her bare skin.
In the distance, she heard an annoying buzzing sound but didn’t want Sal to stop, so she ignored it. Unfortunately, the persistent noise wouldn’t go away. The buzzing sound woke up her sixty year old neighbor who looked out of her door, complete with curlers and flowered, muumuu robe. “Laci Anderson!” Ms. Crenshaw exclaimed as she took in her lawyer neighbor with her legs wrapped around a tall, strange man’s waist, kissing as if there were no tomorrow.
It took another moment for Laci to realize that someone else had spoken. As soon as she noticed the huge flowered woman looking at them askance, Laci’s face filled with color. She dropped her legs and pushed Sal away. Pushing at her hair, which was now completely disorderly since Sal’s hands had been running through it, she turned around, unlocked her apartment door and sent a small waive to Ms. Crenshaw before slamming the door in Sal’s frustrated face.
Sal put one hand on either side of the now closed door and let his head drop, forcing the sexual frustration to go away. Once he was a little more in control, he pushed away from the doorway and looked around, trying to identify the abrasive voice that had interrupted what could have been a long night of very satisfying passion but was now going to be a night of hell as he thought about what might have been.
He glanced at the woman who was still standing with her arms propped on her hips and a fierce expression on her face. “Have a good night, Ms. Crenshaw,” Sal said and left the door as politely as possible under the circumstances.
Chapter 5
Laci listened for his footsteps on the other side of her door, wishing she could control her erratic breathing. She was shaking and couldn’t move beyond her doorway.
After a few minutes, she heard Sal’s deep voice speak to Ms. Crenshaw then his footsteps as he walked away from her door. Not until the footsteps faded away could she breathe a sigh of relief.
Going through the motions of getting ready for bed seemed to help settle her nerves, but as soon as she turned out the lights, she knew she’d never be able to sleep. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering what it would be like to make love to Sal. Would it be as magical as she thought?
Probably not, she told herself. The first kiss on any date was always nice. She buried her face in her pillow and acknowledged, if only in the darkness, that Sal’s kiss was more than just nice. He was a spectacular kisser. She’d never felt that way with any man. She’d never been so carried away that she’d forgotten where she was. And technically, the hallway scene had been their second kiss.
And why wouldn’t he be a fabulous kisser? According to the gossip columns, he dated only the most beautiful and sought after women. He’d probably learned from the best, and could teach them all something now, she thought, remembering how her body shivered as he touched her.
She punched her pillow and slammed her head back down, wanting to ignore the images that popped into her head. It didn’t matter how he made her feel. But then their conversation came back to her and she laughed again at some of his funny stories. He was a wonderful dinner companion as well. Why couldn’t she find something she didn’t like about him?
She didn’t like his arrogance, she thought and glanced at the moon shining into her window. He probably worked long hours and neglected the rest of his family. He’d probably be a horrible father, she told herself. No one could run a successful business as large as ATI and be a dedicated dad as well.
After tossing and turning into the early hours of the night, it was almost dawn before she finally fell asleep. She’d vacillated between toe curling passion when she thought about how wonderful it would be to make love with Sal, to anger with herself for allowing her mind to keep going down that path when he was not in her league, and was the enemy to boot.
She was extremely irritated when the doorbell rang at ten o’clock the next morning. The sun was filtering through the curtains and that just made her angrier, knowing that it was a beautiful day and all she wanted to do was sleep through it. Laci considered not answering her door. Whoever was out there could just rot, she thought and pulled the pillow over her head. If it was Victoria, she had a key and could get in without Laci needing to get out of her warm bed.