His Rules: Ludlow Nights - Book1 (A Ludlow Nights Romance) by CC MacKenzie Page A

create a little bit of space between them. Now her smile went wicked, as did her blue twinkling eyes as she looked her fill at him, too. And, he could tell, she liked what she saw. Olivier wasn't a vain man, unlike some sports super-stars, but he was incredibly thankful he was fit. Very fit.
    "Look at those amazing abs. You are one gorgeous man, Olivier Conti." Her hands slid over said abs to the edge of the waistband of his jeans and he sucked in his quivering belly. "So hard, as if carved from stone. It's enough to make a woman weep with gratitude." She played with the top button of his jeans, her knuckles rubbing against his belly doing outrageous things to his shaft.
    He smoothed his hands over her soft and silky shoulders, slid them down her slim arms until his hands found hers and he placed them palm to palm. His mouth twitched, he couldn't help it, at the contrast. Pale skin on gold skin and it thrilled him. She considered their joined hands with a small smile that told him she saw it, too. He wove his fingers through hers and lifted his hands wide so that he could look his fill at her beautiful and tight little body.
    "You are not ready for what I want to do to you," he murmured.
    "Probably not," she admitted, her eyes shy as she studied him the way he was studying her. "Something tells me I'll need to be at my best before we go to bed."
    "You are absolutely right," he said in a low voice. "You will let me know when you are healed and ready for me to love you?"
    "If and when I am ready I will." And then her mouth took his in a kiss so deep and so amazingly tender he moaned under the outpouring of emotions that filled him. She eased back and took a big shuddering breath. "It's too soon for this, Olivier."
    He knew that and he also knew she was not just talking about her injuries, she was talking about their relationship. But then she teased apart her grasp on his hands, arched her back as her pelvis rocked against his and any control he might have held onto shattered and vanished under a surge of intense pleasure. Now his hands touched her, fingertips whispering over her full and round breasts, skimming across dusky pink nipples down to her navel, over the silky material of her tiny panties as he scraped his knuckles very gently across the area where their bodies merged. She shuddered as a gasp of pleasure escaped from her throat as her hands covered his to stop him going further. Then his mouth feasted on her trembling lips, the place where her pulse was going crazy in her throat, her breasts, and everywhere his mouth touched she gave out a sigh, a tremble, a whimper of pleasure.
    "God, Olivier, we need to stop."
    His mouth was on her navel and he took a huge shuddering breath before he placed a tender kiss on her flesh and rested his forehead there. He closed his eyes and simply inhaled the scent of a woman. His woman. She was aroused and damp and his need for her was killing him. But as he battled his way back to logic and common sense, he realized that Anastacia had given him a tiny piece of herself this morning. A piece that he'd forever treasure. But she was right, neither of them were ready to take the next step. It was too soon, too early in their relationship. And he couldn't afford such a distraction before the big game.
    The European Cup Final.
    Shock made him blink.
    How the hell could he have forgotten about the game?
    He made ready to move, but then...
    The doorbell rang.
     
    Saved by the bell, Anastacia decided, torn between a heady relief and a bitter disappointment. It worried her a lot that she was sending him mixed messages, hell she was sending herself mixed messages.
    Olivier shifted and lifted her with gentle hands until she was sitting on the bed.
    Then he gave her a quick possessive kiss on the mouth, grabbed his T-shirt turned and walked out.
     
    Anastacia was up like a jack-in-the-box, pulled on his white T-shirt and followed him to see who was at the door.
    When she heard the voices of Danni