Champagne Cravings Read Online Free Page A

sake.
    Trusting anyone with my heart, however, was an
entirely different matter.
    Releasing my lip, I said, “I’m not calling you a schmuck.
I’m just not traveling a path outside of friendship with you.”
    “And you’re never having sex or a relationship again?”
    I stared at him, taken aback. His interrogation was much too
personal. Not the subject matter, per se. We’d discussed this before. Many,
many times before. It was the way he touched me while he spoke, his thumb
skimming over the thin material of my dress where his large and oh so warm hand
gripped my hip. It was the way he leaned in, his breath teasing my skin, his
lips dangerously close to mine. It was the way he stared deep into my eyes,
making it impossible to look away. All of these things caused my heart to
hammer in my chest and my pussy to continue to throb with an intensity I’d not
felt before.
    In fact, it seemed as though a palpable shift had just
occurred in the universe. Or at least in my small dressing room. He’d never
pushed me this far and I’d never let him. He knew to keep his distance,
physically. But even his eyes held a different emotion, one he’d not shared
with me before. Curiosity mixed with…the inevitable. Like something profound
and inescapable had just clicked in his mind.
    I knew better than to ask what he was thinking. Instead, I
finally said, “I’m not banning either one eternally. I’m just…taking a break.”
    “Long break,” he mused. “Three years?”
    “Safer this way.”
    “Actually, it’s a damn shame.”
    My eyes closed. He had no idea what a shame it was, but such
was the bane of my existence.
    “I’d give up the women, you know,” he said in a low voice as
his hand moved slowly up my side, until the skimming thumb brushed the
underside of my breast. Back and forth, it swept across the full swell of
lightly covered flesh, making my nipples even tighter. “If you’d just give me
the time of day.”
    His admission was a shocking one. But it explained the look
I’d seen in his eyes, the shifting of tides I’d felt a moment ago as he’d gazed
so intently at me.
    Unfortunately, I didn’t know if a man like him was capable
of keeping his promise. Experience told me no, though I’d never heard of Mike
cheating on his past lovers. He moved on quickly, which was almost the same as
being unfaithful in my book. No one held his interest for long. I’d always
believed I had because I seemed to be the only single woman in Manhattan who
hadn’t succumbed to his sexy grin and sinfully delicious body.
    Until tonight. I was doing a piss-poor job walking the walk
when it came to not crossing that critical line I’d drawn in the sand years
ago.
    I should have pushed his hand away. I should have moved from
his reach. I should have kicked his ass out. I did none of those things. The
physical contact and intimate connection with him was addictive and,
admittedly, welcomed.
    That realization, and his ability to make my desire climb
the charts, caused alarm to skitter through me. Every second I stayed in his
web of seduction made it more difficult to untangle myself from the sticky
bonds.
    Even knowing this, however, I couldn’t rally the strength to
shove him away.
    He said, “I keep trying to find a woman who will help to get
you out of my head, but they all leave me wanting more. They leave me wanting you .
That’s why it never lasts. I know you’re scared, so I don’t push. I try to find
someone to counteract how I feel about you, but she’s just not out there,
Lace.” This was all startling news to me. I’d thought all he’d ever wanted from
me was sex. He added, “That’s a fact I’m willing to face, and I’ll do whatever
I have to in order to prove I’m serious.”
    “Don’t say that,” I whispered as my eyes opened. There
wasn’t much protest in my voice. I’d about reached my resistance threshold with
this man. And quite clearly, he’d reached the end of his rope as well, making
the