When I'm With You: Part VII by Beth Kery Page B

were still slightly swollen, flushed and sensitive from the nipple chain. Lucien played with them gently while they bathed, his gaze hot and admiring. She loved seeing Lucien like this, relished his unguarded manner, sultry stares, and fond teasing, and she treasured the knowledge that he’d loosened his self-restraint enough to show her more of his true self.
    That required trust, didn’t it? she speculated hopefully.
    When she noticed how full and firm his penis became as they showered, she reached to stroke him, but he halted her with a hand on her wrists.
    “We’ll let it build,” he said, softly cupping an aching breast and tweaking a nipple before he released her. Something about his husky voice and steamy stare sent a thrill through her. At one time, she would have taken his response as a rebuff, but not anymore. He’d proven his desire for her exceeded her wildest dreams. His methods of restraint only served to mount the friction so that the final release was all that much more explosive.
    “I’d like to take you somewhere,” he said as he dried her off with a towel a while later.
    “Where?” she asked.
    “You’ll see,” he replied quietly. “Dress in riding clothes. We’ll go see Jax and Kesara afterward and ride.”
    Her curiosity piqued, she dressed in dark brown jodhpurs, boots, and a cream-colored short-sleeved blouse. As she buttoned up the shirt in the bathroom, she noticed that her nipples were still very sensitive, the material of her bra abrading them slightly. It was a pleasant, welcome sensation, a constant reminder of her night spent with Lucien. When she glanced at herself in the mirror, she saw that the peaks protruded from the fitted shirt, showing even through the light padding of her bra. She brushed her fingertips over a stiff nipple. Wincing, she pressed her hand between her thighs to staunch that sudden, sharp ache.
    It was as if her body had sprung a billion more nerve endings beneath that starlit sky and Lucien’s touch.
    She let her hair dry in natural waves, combed it, and pinned back her bangs with a white and yellow daisy clip. The decoration matched her sunny mood. They shared a smile when they rejoined in the bedroom after dressing, Lucien’s gaze running down over her appreciatively . . . possessively. He cradled her jaw and brushed his thumb over her cheek. He looked outrageously handsome in a pair of khaki-colored breeches, light blue cotton shirt, and scuffed, supple leather dark brown riding boots. What Lucien did to a pair of riding pants ought to be considered illegal, in her opinion. She was about to tease him by saying so but paused, her lips parted, when she saw the intent way his gray eyes ran over her face.
    “You’ve bloomed overnight,” he murmured, kissing her so softly, so persuasively, she closed her eyes and lost herself for a moment. He finally lifted his head and took her hand, and they left the penthouse together. He said little once they’d gotten into his sedan, but Elise was divinely relaxed and happy as he maneuvered smoothly through the busy city streets. It was strange, this elevated feeling, this contentment. Her whole life she’d chafed a little inside her own skin, always longing, always striving for the electricity of the perfect moment, maneuvering and pushing herself without really understanding where she wanted to be, or precisely what she wanted to be doing.
    So amazing, to realize that she’d arrived, that she was precisely where she wanted to be in that precious moment. She glanced at Lucien’s classic profile and told herself to savor every delicious second as it came . . . and not think about tomorrow.
    Lucien pulled in front of a nineteenth-century redbrick building with beautiful, stone-carved ornamental decoration. It was about fifteen stories, built in the French-chateau style. The street on which they’d parked reminded her more of Paris than Chicago, with its brick townhomes and trees that created a canopy over the