Stone Romance (Stone Passion #2) (4 page)

When her mouth fell open, he laughed, pushing her chin upwards
with the tip of his finger
. “I trust that isn’t a problem?”

She sucked in a sharp breath at his touch
,
his boldness
; h
e probably threw lines like that out all of the time hoping to get a nibble.
She knew that i
t was foolish to respond to words so blithely given
, even when accompanied by proof of his attraction,
but she was unable to summon the energy to be offended, especially when she was just as intrigued as
he was.
Unfortunately, she
also
couldn’t prevent her nipples from pebbling or her belly from tingling as if he was serious and he truly wanted her. It depressed her to realize how
very
much she wanted his flirtation to be real and she suddenly felt very old and alone. “You’re either very confident or… well, there is no or. I mean, look at you; why wouldn’t you be confident? You’re the most gorgeous man I’ve ever met.”

He smiled that devastating smile of his and she was pretty sure he could make a woman orgasm with little more than that smile. “You’ve never met my oldest brother.”

She made a weird face and shook her head in bewilderment; there was no way his oldest brother could be even more gorgeous than Rhys. She opened her mouth to tell him so when the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Crinkling her nose at him, she stepped out and saw that
her sister and Daughter had abandoned her to the supremely attractive Rhys’s keeping
. “I’m going to strangle Lenni.”

A solid arm slid around her waist a
nd
a hot body pressed against her side a
s
Rhys’s
warm, masculine scent washed over her.
Her belly tightened and her thighs quivered in response; she was highly aroused and very horny. Desire so powerful swept through her, surprising her with its strength, and she realized that she wanted this man, this stranger, more than she should. She wouldn’t do anything about it because she was no longer reckless. It would hurt to indulge in a few fantasies, however….

Urging
her forward,
Rhys
said, “I figured this would happen when
Lenni
invited me to tag along tonight.
She
has been talking you up for weeks,
throwing out blatant hints
that you and I should get together.
Your sister
is very determined, you know.”

“Try sharing a womb with her,” Jenna ground out,
dizzyingly
pleased that her sister was playing matchmaker, even if the man standing next to her was
more than she could have imagined. Oddly, he was exactly what she wanted and she knew that sex with him would be decadent and all-consuming
.
And completely consigned to her fantasies.
“Growing up she was always pulling me into a closet and pretending it was the portal to a magical world.
When I was younger I could enjoy her stories but then I grew up and she preferred the closet.
”

“Well, that would explain her ability to live in a shoe box,” he
replied
,
amusement
lacing his voice. “I’d become claustrophobic living in her apartment.”

“I don’t know,” Jenna grinned, enjoying the easy banter,
the hum of arousal that heated her blood
. “I think living at the castle would be
amazing
; the architecture alone is
phenomenal
. Of course, only Lenni would find the perfect apartment when she wasn’t even looking.”

“I
t was fate,” Rhys
murmured
, staring ahead as if he could see Melanie and Vaughn
, a thoughtful expression on his handsome face
.

“It’s Melanie; she walks through life
secure
in her own little world and everything just sort of falls into place. I would say she was a changeling but Ferris is exactly like her.”
S
he
heaved a theatrical sigh and smiled
, “They both have that spark, that bit of
magic
,
that
seems to elude us lesser mortals.”

“
You
have that spark,” he
said,
his voice
soft with conviction
as he stopped her in her tracks and took her hand in his. Holding her gaze, he quirked a smile when she rolled her eyes, “I’m serious; you have that spark but it has been
buried; being here together is fate.”

Her breath caught in her throat as his assessment, wishing for it to be true and knowing he was only saying what she wanted to hear. It didn’t matter; he made her want to experience life again and that was a miracle in and of
itself
. “I don’t know if I believe in fate; I think that sometimes we have to create our own fate.”

He nodded his head in solemn agreement even as his eyes danced with laughter
and in that moment she wanted to jump his bones.
“Or maybe that is just Fate’s way of getting us to do what she wants us to do in the first place.”

It was inappropriate and wrong in so many ways but it was a feeling that she welcomed. Instinctively she knew
that he would be a wonderful lover and she wanted him more than her next breath. Ignoring the temptation, wondering where it even came from,
Jenna’s lips split into a wide grin, “Then let’s just say screw fate and have sex, right here and now.”

He stopped abruptly
, a stain of color spreading over his cut cheekbones as his brown eyes bore into her
. Licking her lips, she forced herself to meet his gaze and ignore the way her heart pounded furiously in her chest. “Oh,
gosh
, that’s not what I meant to say.
It’s not that I don’t want to have sex with you because I do I just didn’t want to blurt it out like that because w
e barely know one another and it would be incredibly stupid to just jump into bed with each other and I’m babbling… make me stop babbling, Rhys, before I say anything else.”

He looked over his shoulder at the interior of the building and frowned, an expression that seemed out of place on his handsome face. When he remained silent, she turned her head to see what held his attention but didn’t see anything out of place. It was the same opulent atrium that had overwhelmed her senses the first time she visited Melanie at her apartment all of those weeks ago. Granted, it was gorgeous, with the intricate stone work and soaring ceilings; it was like an enchanted castle ou
t of long forgotten fairy tale but there was nothing out of place.

The
only other person there
was a strange little man behind the counter who was watching them with an eager smile
and she wondered if he had heard her blunder.
What could she have been thinking, to proposition him like that? She really needed
to work on her flirting skills.

With a sigh, she pushed a strand of black hair out of her eyes and twisted her head around so she was looking out the door, to the real world where she didn’t make a fool out of herself in her first attempt at dating since Jeremy. It wasn’t that she was throwing out the possibility of sleeping with the man; it just wasn’t smart to just blurt it out like that. The hot rush of desire that had been coursing through her veins must have fried her brain because she
never would have stumbled so badly. Plus, she would have waited until they had gone on a few dates.

She shouldn’t even be thinking about Rhys in a sexual manner at all; he hadn’t even asked her out. Not that there had been a lot of opportunity to ask her out; they barely met and she was obsessing over something that probably meant nothing to him. Prettier girls than her undoubtedly threw themselves at him all of the time; he probably felt sorry for her and wasn’t sure how to reply.

And the longer he remained silent, scowling at nothing in particular, the more foolish she felt. Instead of explaining her huge momentary lack of speech control, she found he
rself staring at the ground and muttering
, “Unless you’re not interested….”

“Sweetheart, I am very interested,” he rasped, his voice rough with emotion. His warm palms wrapped around her upper arms and she looked up and
when she
saw the desire flaming in his hot, brown eyes she had to remind herself to breathe.
H
is eyes gleamed as he looked down at her. “You have no idea how very interested I am; but it would be a bad idea if we didn’t at least think about it.”

“Why?” Oh, god; why couldn’t she just let it
go
? If he decided to take her up on her offer she’d have to explain that she didn’t mean it. Except there was that
throbbing
hum of desire that spiked in her belly at the thought of just giving in to madness and sleeping with him….

“Your sister is… dating my brother,” he said in way of explanation, which was a weak excuse. At her frown, he smiled wryly, “Their relationship is complicated.”

Jenna snorted at that, “Oh, please; they’re made for one another; the world simply disappears when the two of them look at one another. Theirs is possibly the least complicated relationship I’ve ever seen.”

Rhys’s lips curled upwards into a sexy but humorless smile, “Appearances can be deceiving, sweetheart. There are things you don’t know….”

“Just forget it,” she exhaled in frustration and humiliation. If he didn’t want her, he could have just told her
instead of trying to spare her feelings with a ridiculous tale. She took a step to leave when she found herself
surrounded by
his arms,
his body,
staring into the chocolate depths of Rhys’s eyes.

Her own eyes widened as he stared down at her with naked hunger, as his thumb brushed over her lower lip, lingering this time. Lightning cracked through the walls around her heart and her stomach dipped with excitement. He bent his head until his breath mingled with hers and she thought, she hoped, that he was going to kiss her. He didn’t.

“If things were different,” he
rumbled,
his voice low and
fervent
as he held her so close. “If I wasn’t what I was and you weren’t Melanie’s sister I would have you back upstairs, naked and on your back and tied to my bed. I would torture you with pleasure until your body was weeping for release and then I would fuck you until your brain exploded in ecstasy. And then I would start
over
and do it all again.”

The air rushed out of her as she exhaled, her body softening to accept what his eyes
and voice
were promising. Her tongue flicked out and touched his thumb, tasting the spicy clean flavor of him. His eyes slid closed for a moment as he let out an anguished groan. It was all the encouragement she needed, “Maybe just one night?”

He opened his eyes and they glittered in the darkness, “One night would never be enough, Jenna. And if I have just a
taste
of you, I’d want it all.”

She swallowed thickly, staring into the endless depths of his eyes and thinking that they were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. The feelings that were swamping her were similar to how she felt when she drank too much wine only she hadn’t had any wine in months. Her head was spinning and she just wanted to kiss him and lose herself in sensation; she wanted to have sex with him, a virtual stranger, just to fe
e
l alive.

Shaking her head,
needing to break the spell he had unwittingly cast,
she stepped out of his embrace. She laughed uneasily as she pushed her hair out of her face once more, “You’re r
ight; of course you’re right; giving into this craziness would be so wrong.
”

“
It wouldn’t be wrong
,” he
countered, confusing her. H
olding his hand out
towards her in silent entreaty, he smiled ruefully, “But it wouldn’t be wise, not yet.”

She laughed in earnest now, slipping her hand into his and welcoming the jolt of electricity that reminded her that she hadn’t died
almost
seven years ago, that life did go on. “It’s
alright,
we don’t want to do anything we’ll regret….”

“We wouldn’t regret it,” he grumbled, his lips quirking upwards in a dazzling smile, making him look like Loki, a mischievous god among mere men. Bringing her hand up to his lips, he kissed her knuckles once more in that courtly way of his and his eyes sparkled, “Just so you know, I fully intend on getting you into my bed.”

She crinkled her nose as she chuckled softly, “
Then I will
look
forward to that day.”

“Night,” he corrected.

“Night.”
She laughed as he pushed open the door and they stepped out into the frigid Minnesota winter. The only drawback of a festival in winter was the fact that it took place in winter. Rhys wrapped his arms around her and the cold wasn’t so bad, even if her heart ached with what could have been.