“Shh, love,” he soothed her, gently removing his hand from her breast. “I’m not sure what I was thinking, kissing you like that with other people in earshot.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder as his arm slid about her waist. “Maybe I’m a bad influence on you,” she teased. “First earlier today in the dressing room, and now kissing in public.”

Ian laughed, and hugged her close. “Most people would say just the opposite, darling - that you’ve been a very, very good influence on me. I confess to having been a very formal and reserved man up until now. My younger brother would take that a step or two further and call me stuffy, just for starters. But I certainly seem to have a great deal of trouble keeping my hands off of you for very long.” He brushed a soft kiss on the nape of her neck, left enticingly bare by the upswept style of her hair.

Tessa pressed a kiss to his cheek, her eyes glowing with pleasure. “Good. Because it’s exactly the same for me.”

He was within a second or two of kissing her again, not particularly giving a damn who was watching or how loudly she moaned, when the valet drove up with his car. He assisted Tessa inside the low slung vehicle before sliding behind the wheel and driving off.

They were mostly silent during the relatively short drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to his home, but the sexual awareness between them sizzled with ever growing intensity. He kept his eyes focused on the road, belatedly wishing that he hadn’t given Simon the evening off, or that he’d arranged for a limo, preferably one with a privacy panel. He was hard and aching, his body fully aroused, and he could tell from the rather erratic sound of Tessa’s breathing that she felt the same way. He bit down on his lip as he thought back to earlier today when they’d been ensconced in the dressing room at Neiman Marcus, Tessa in various stages of undress throughout the afternoon, and the way she’d looked when she’d knelt in front of him, her fingers deftly unzipping his trousers and drawing out his throbbing cock.

He wasn’t able to fully stifle the small groan that escaped his lips, and she instantly placed a hand on his upper arm.

“Are you all right?” she asked softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes.” He took a deep breath, telling himself they were now less than two miles from the house. “I was just thinking about this afternoon - when we were in the dressing room and you, well, you know.”

“I do know. And I’ve been thinking about it, too,” she confessed in that high, sexy voice he adored. “I hope - I mean, God knows I’ve never, ever done anything like that before. I still can’t quite believe I was so…well, is pushy the right word?”

In spite of his almost painful state of arousal, Ian burst out laughing. “No, darling. The right words are tempting, seductive, irresistible. You are certainly all three of those things, just for starters. And you’re making me so crazy for you that I’m throwing caution to the wind more and more often, doing things I never even thought about. And,” he added, picking up her hand and bringing it to his lips, “you’re making me feel more alive than I ever have before. Not to mention constantly horny.”

“Really?” she asked teasingly, running her fingers lightly up the taut muscles of his thigh. “Would you like me to…”

“No.” He halted the progress of her hand as it would have crept further up his thigh. “At least not here. We’ll be home momentarily. And I’ve already told you about all the years it took me to restore this car. I don’t want to crash it into the nearest tree, which is exactly what would happen if you, er, tended to me at the moment.”

Ian released the breath he’d been holding as Tessa complied and kept her hands clasped in her own lap for the duration of the drive. There was no way he could have handled having her touch him so intimately at this particular moment, at least not without doing some serious damage to the classic Jaguar that he’d spent so much time fixing up. On the drive over to dinner this evening, Tessa had admired the classic car - a light blue,1967 E-type convertible - and he’d related how he had always wanted this exact type of automobile, had finally found one about a dozen years ago, and had spent countless hours and a considerable sum of money restoring it. He didn’t drive it very often, largely because he spent so much of his time being chauffeured around by Simon on business related outings, but the Jag was definitely his pride and joy. The fact that Tessa seemed rather awestruck with the luxurious sports car filled him with a renewed sense of pride and pleasure.

The close fitting fabric of the black dress crept several inches up her shapely thighs as he helped her out of the car, almost revealing the lacy tops of her silky stockings, and he groaned at the blatantly erotic sight. He was again instantly aroused, and couldn’t resist yanking her against his body for a long, luscious kiss. Tessa made a little “mmm” sound, her pleasure more than obvious, and he growled deep in his throat as he practically shoved her up against a wall of the garage. He kissed her savagely, his hands sliding inside the open lapels of her coat to roughly grope her breasts and buttocks, even as he ground himself against the soft notch of her thighs.

What should have been a brief walk inside the house and up the staircase to his bedroom took considerably longer due to the multiple times he continued to sweep her into his arms and kiss her hungrily, his tongue dueling with hers, his hands roving all over her sexy, curvy body. By the time they finally reached his room they were both gasping for breath, so completely turned on and greedy for each other that he wassorely tempted to fling her on the bed and surge as deep inside of her as he could get. But instead he tossed both of their coats and his suit jacket rather carelessly over a chair, took her by the hand, and led her inside the walk-in closet until they were standing in front of the full-length mirror.

Tessa was already quivering in anticipation, and he couldn’t stop the smile that slowly crossed his features to realize she wanted this every bit as badly as he did. She was such a sensual creature, so easy to arouse, and so magnificent to watch as the pleasure took over her body. That was why he intended to have her while they stood in front of the mirror - so that she could see as clearly as he did exactly how their lovemaking affected her.

He pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck, feeling the shiver than rippled through her body as he did so. “I like your hair this way,” he purred, his fingers replacing his lips as he gently massaged her neck. “It gives me easier access to this particular spot.” His knuckles brushed against her flushed cheek. “It also emphasizes this beautiful face, these perfect cheekbones. Everyone in that restaurant tonight was staring at you, love, as entranced by your beauty as I was. But you only saw me, didn’t you?”