CHAPTER THREE

Moonlight bathed the patio at the Venetian. Slivers of silvery light reflected on the turquoise waters as he led her across the terrace to a secluded corner, behind planted palm trees, low stone walls, and hedges that framed the array of small pools.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

He nodded to the farthest corner, which boasted a tented cabana. “The after party for the benefit will be here on the private pool deck. But it doesn’t start for a little while, so it’s all ours for now.”

“Except for the bartender setting up, and the waiters and waitresses,” she whispered, gesturing to the bar they’d passed near the front entrance of the deck.

The patio was lush with greenery and fountains, like a New Orleans hotel courtyard. A warm July breeze stirred the foliage as Colin walked past, focused intently on his goal. He’d spotted the cabana only seconds ago, when they’d entered the pool area. He hadn’t mapped out a location for an evening tryst. If he had, this would never have happened. With Elle, he had to take things as they came, moment by moment.

Luck and improvisation were his companions when it came to this woman.

That, and privacy. The cabana was all the way on the other side of the deck, away from the set-up crew.

Glancing behind him to make sure the coast was clear, he held open the flap to the cabana, and she walked in, turning in a circle, taking in the dimly lit tent with a handful of lounge chairs centered around a glass table. “Are we allowed to be here as they get ready?”

“No clue,” he said with a shrug. “But I’m not afraid to break a few rules.”

“You’re trouble,” she said, shaking her head.

“Yes, but you know that about me. Besides, you like trouble.”

“Too much for my own good,” she mumbled.

He pressed a finger gently to her lips. “Not tonight. No talk tonight of why we’re a bad idea.”

She bit her lip then flicked her tongue against his finger. A mischievous look flitted across her eyes.

He nodded, encouraging her to let go. “That’s right. Tonight we’re a good idea. Because tonight I’m going to make you feel things you’ve never felt before.”

She inhaled sharply. Her skin shimmered with the flush of desire. It was a good look on her. “Like what?”

“You’ve worked hard to make a ton of people happy, and to make an incredible thing possible with the center. The next thirty minutes are all about you, and you’re going to feel what it’s like to be with someone who is obsessed with your pleasure. Every ounce of it, every inch of it, every second of it.” He ran his other hand down her arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps in his wake.

“Colin,” she said, as if she were trying to resist him. Trying futilely. “You say these things…” She trailed off as she seemed to collect her thoughts. “You say these things that make it so hard to resist you.”

“Nah. That’s not what makes it hard for you to resist me. This is.” He tugged her body to his, letting her feel his erection through their clothes.

She laughed. “Fine. You win for best innuendo of the night,” she said then pressed into him, her voice turning feathery, the way it did when she started to melt for him.

“Excellent. Let’s see if I can win at making you want to come more desperately than you’ve ever wanted to in your life,” he said, and her eyes widened, giving him a yes, telling him she wanted all the same things. To come hard in his arms.

God, he fucking loved getting her off. And taking his sweet time doing it.

He brushed his thumb over her top lip, tracing a soft line, and she parted her mouth, closing her eyes. But he didn’t kiss her. He had something else planned. He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, “How sensitive is your neck?”

“This isn’t fair,” she moaned in a feathery voice as he spun her around and sat her down on the end of a lounge chair. He stepped back a foot, so he could look in her eyes as he stripped off his jacket and tossed it on the back of the chair. The way she watched him sent bolts of lust through him. From the edge of her seat, she stared unabashedly, with hunger in her amber eyes.

“What’s unfair about me giving you what you want?”

“Because you know I’ll do anything if you touch me there,” she said, raising her hand to the back of her neck as he unknotted his tie.

“Anything?” He arched an eyebrow. “Anything at all?”

“Pretty much.”

“Anything sounds damn good to me. Besides, if you truly wanted me to do nothing, you wouldn’t be here,” he said, always ready to give her an out. In whatever capacity she was going to be with him, she had to be with him. To choose him. To want him.

She held out her arms and shrugged. “I want anything. Anything and everything with you.”

“You can have it all with me.”

He unbuttoned the cuff of his right shirtsleeve. His every nerve ending fired for this woman. How he felt for her was physical and so much more. Her passion for her work, her drive to make a difference, her heart that gave and gave and gave—all of it had spurred on his feelings. But then this—her body, her desire, her fucking fantastic face—she drove him wild. He was confident he did the same to her. He rolled up his other cuff, each fold of the crisp white shirt revealing the art that adorned his forearm. A sentence in curling script: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. It suited his job, but it had little to do with how he made a living. It was his mantra. It was how he lived. It was his mission in life ever since he’d taken the biggest chance years ago and gained so much in return.

“So tell me something,” he said, moving closer, dropping his hand behind her to touch her lower back, then tracing a line up her spine with his fingertips. She arched into him, vertebra by vertebra.

“Yes?”

He bent his head closer to her ear, and whispered hotly, “Did you wear your hair up for me?”

She exhaled deeply, as if it cost her something. “Yes.”

He dragged his index finger up the back of her neck, as he rested one knee on the lounge chair, positioning himself behind her so he could devote all his attention to her neck. “When you were getting ready at your house, were you thinking this might happen?”

She nodded.

“So you came here tonight already wanting me?” he asked as he stroked her skin.

“More than I should,” she murmured.

“You think you shouldn’t, but you’re giving into it, aren’t you? It sure looks that way to me.”

“I am. You know I am,” she said, and he could hear the fevered desperation in her tone. He was going to reward that wanting.

“Give in,” he whispered. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

Lowering his mouth to her shoulder, he licked the line of birds up her neck and to the edge of her hair. She shuddered.

He smothered her neck in kisses. Up, down, across. Over her shoulder blades and back up her spine.

Every kiss unleashed another moan from her, a sexy gasp, a needy sigh. Noises that were only a prelude of what he wanted to hear from her tonight.