Oh, he made it easy for her to let her feelings run away. He was as attentive and loving as she could hope for. In all things except for the words—the words. But it was silly of her to expect such depth of emotion and the expressing of it after so short an acquaintance.

Wasn’t it?

It was. It was wholly unrealistic and fanciful. It was very much not like herself. It made her pulse race and her skin grow damp whenever she thought of it. Why? She needed no validation outside of herself, so why was she looking for it in him?

Just then the crowd parted and she saw him coming toward her. Her heart immediately jumped with excitement and nothing she could do or say to herself would calm it down. By the time he reached her she couldn’t catch her breath. She had never seen anything quite as gorgeous as he was. It wasn’t even his classically handsome features that did it for her. It was the entire package. The lover. The thinking man. The empath. All of it rolled into one tuxedoed vision.

He came up close to her, his hand falling into the curve of her waist and pulling her forward into the length of his body. He was warm, oh so warm, and she couldn’t help but snuggle closer to him. Even in front of a roomful of people who, in spite of what she had worn in her efforts to blend in, were watching her with fascination. Rumors about her had circulated the room at the signing of the peace treaty. Now they all wanted to get a look at her. The women wanted to talk to her. The men wanted to dance with her. And the reverse was also true. One of the female princes had asked her to dance and she had politely declined. She worried about it every time she declined an invitation. Would they think she was a snob? The truth was, there was only one person in the room she wanted to dance with and he was, at present, holding her very close in spite of all those watching eyes.

“I feel like a prize cow on display at the county fair,” she murmured to him as he bent his head and nuzzled her ear.

“They are merely fascinated by you.” He kissed the shell of her ear. “I think we have been polite enough for the night. Would you like to go upstairs?”

“No, I’d rather stay here and be gawked at,” she said with a chuckle.

“Come with me,” he invited her, taking her hand and threading his fingers with hers. He guided her out of the ballroom and led her to the elevators and as soon as the doors shut, he was pulling her close, drawing her mouth beneath his, gliding his lips over hers.

“I already miss touching you,” he murmured against her.

“You’ve done nothing but touch me,” she corrected with a soft laugh. “You’re always touching me. Even if it’s holding my hand.”

“I stand corrected. I should perhaps define touch a bit more thoroughly.”

His hand curved along the swell of her backside and he used the grip to pull her hips into his. His mouth joined fully with hers and he kissed her with a depth of passion and heat that took her breath away. Her hands clutched at his biceps, the muscles playing beneath her touch, flexing, and he held her near, relaxing when she came to him readily.

He turned them slightly so her back hit the wall of the elevator. As he grew more heated, more urgent, she broke away from his mouth and gasped for breath.

“Not another elevator,” she said breathlessly.

“But I so enjoyed the first one,” he purred seductively.

“So did I,” she said with a moan as his teeth nipped at her earlobe and then nibbled down the length of her neck. “But I like to think we’ve evolved beyond that.”

“Hmm. If you insist,” he said, lifting his head and stepping back a fraction of a step. She immediately grew cold.

“I didn’t say you should stop kissing me,” she said softly.

“You can’t have it both ways,” he said with a chuckle. “If I keep kissing you I’m going to end up taking you in this elevator, the rest of the world be damned.”

“We are just floors away from your apartment. Can’t you wait that long?”

“I suppose,” he said with a beleaguered sigh. “But you’re asking a lot.”

She would have laughed, but he was covering her mouth hotly that very next instant. They were so clinched together that they were unaware of the elevator stopping until it dinged and announced the floor it was on. Renee broke away from him just in time to catch the door and keep it from closing on them. She crossed the elevator’s threshold and he followed behind her. She walked down the carpeted hallway and reached his door first. She pulled out the keycard he’d had made for her and let them into his apartment. As soon as the door was closed behind them, he swept her up against him and kissed her breathless. All the while he walked toward his bedroom and she danced a quickstep backward in order to keep up with his pace. Then before she knew it he was backing her up against the bed.

He suddenly knelt in front of her, kissing her down the center of her body as he did so. He caught up the hem of her gown and slid his hands beneath it, touching her skin. She wore no hosiery, so it was simply a matter of warm skin against warm skin. His hands skimmed up the backs of her calves then up along the backs of her thighs, all the while raising her dress. He reached her hips, his fingertips stroking her backside while his thumbs toyed with her hip bones in front. Then he moved on to her waist, exposing her thighs and panties to his hungry eyes. He looked at her, subconsciously licking his lips.

She reached to thread her fingers in his hair, her other hand stroking along his jawline. He had shaved his jaw, save for his goatee, so it was smooth and clean at the hinge. She had watched him do it. It had been such an intimate thing, watching him groom. She remembered how right it had felt. She had never felt that way before. There had always been something…something that told her to hold back. It frightened her that she couldn’t find that something now, that she couldn’t protect herself with it.

Rafe hooked his thumbs into the sides of her panties and then reversed his track along her legs. He pulled them down and helped her step out of them. Then he gathered her dress and once more brought it to her waist. This time he leaned forward and kissed her bare mound right at the crest where her legs met. He then took a moment to breathe deeply, taking in her scent, letting it ride through him. Renee picked up her dress from his hands and skimmed it off her body the rest of the way, leaving her naked except for her heels. She stepped out to the side, separating her legs, encouraging him forward.

He burrowed his face into her, his lips and tongue spreading over her until she felt as if he were devouring her. The wetness of his tongue delved into the wetness of her labia. He made a sound of pleasure and she gasped when he found her clit and hardened his tongue against it, flicking and fluttering until her knees went weak. He supported her with his hands, then tipped her backward until she was falling onto the bed. His mouth left her only long enough to see her settled and to draw her knees up to his shoulders. He hooked her legs around his neck and back and returned to tasting her, this time with more enthusiasm and more focus.