I turn around when the door opens, half surprised she didn’t leave me standing out here.

“I thought yo—,” I see what she’s wearing and words are the last thing on my mind.

“I need to buy ten more of these things if that’s what it does to you.” She smooths a hand down the skirt of the blue and white two-piece thing she’s wearing.

There’s about an inch of her stomach visible and it’s the most tantalizing inch I’ve ever seen.

“You’re stunning.”

“Thank you.” She smiles a little and closes her door behind her. I grab her hand and we walk to the elevator and wait for it to come up.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“What’s the fun in that?” I motion for her to go ahead of me into the elevator and wait for the door to close. Then I pull her to me and kiss her like I’ve been wanting to do since I saw that pink tint on her lips.

I love the way she reacts to me. Like the minute I touch her, she gets weak in the knees and falls into my body and my touch.

A reaction like that does wonders for a man’s ego.

“That’s how I wanted to greet you.” I pull back, but she follows my lips and kisses me again, delving her tongue into my mouth until I have a hand fisted in her hair and her lips are swollen and completely bare of any products.

“Damn.” I murmur, only moving away when the elevator doors open and we need to go into the lobby. She winks and grabs my hand again as we walk out.

I think I might be in love.

* * *

“Oh my god.” She breathes as we walk into the small gallery I’ve brought us to. A waiter comes by with glasses of champagne and I pick up two, passing her one. “These are beautiful.”

“I thought you’d enjoy this artist. I came across her stuff a few years ago, and when I found out she was doing a small showing here, I couldn’t pass it up.”

“I love going to random galleries sometimes. I suck at painting, but seeing the different ways people are creative has always filled me up with something.”

“You’ve come up with some of your lingerie designs though.”

“Yeah, but that’s drawing. And I took lessons. Painting eludes me.” We stop in front of a painting of a woman in a bathtub with flowers around her, a peaceful expression on her face. It looks incredibly lifelike until you’re standing close and see the paint strokes.

The next is a couple, wrapped around each other so much that they look like one person. I can’t imagine how long it took to get the details so precise.

“Is it bad that this picture’s making me a little aroused?” She mutters, sipping from her glass, and I swat her lightly on the ass.

“Behave.”

“That didn’t help.” Her green eyes sparkle with mischief as she backs away from me and turns on her heel, walking towards the other end of the room.

I watch her and shake my head, wondering how I’m going to last the night and keep my hands off of her.

* * *

We make it through meeting the artist, buying a small print of one of the paintings, and talking with other guests about similar artists and modern painting styles.

All bets are off when we get back to Mickey’s place.

There’s just something about elevators.

The minute those doors close, she’s on me this time, digging her hands into my hair and pressing her lips to mine.

We’ve both had a few glasses of champagne and the kisses aren’t neat, but damn they’re still amazing.

We freeze when the doors open, expecting it to be people getting on, but we’ve made it to her floor. I hitch her legs around my hips and she laughs as she holds on, burying her face in my neck.

She passes me her keys and I open the door around her body, pressing up back against it the minute it’s closed.

“I like you too much.” She murmurs, gasping when I press my erection against her.

“No such thing.” We both groan when she moves against me, the thin barriers of her skirt and underwear doing nothing to disguise how hot she is. How heated we both are.

My phone starts to ring and I ignore it because there can’t be anything important that people need me for right now.

She’s breathing hard against my mouth every time we part, moving her hips restlessly against me.

But my damned phone won’t stop ringing.

“Answer it, I’m not going anywhere.”

It’s one of the clients I consult for and when they tell me there’s been a security breach and they need my help with how to go forward, I silently curse.

“I’ll get the team together.” I sigh and end the call, leaning my forehead against hers. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Go do your saving peoples livelihoods thing.” She smiles, kissing me quickly. “I had a really good time tonight. I still don’t know if I’m ready to move forward, but…I’m closer.”

“Good, that’s all I need to hear.” I kiss her one more time before I make myself pull away.

“Bye.” She leans against the doorway and I can’t resist kissing her one more time before I go. I don’t pull back until she’s breathless again.

“Have a good night, Michaela.”