His Manhattan Midnight Cinderella - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The elevator seemed to creep its arduous way to his floor, so desperate was Felicia to get there.

Leander’s hand was hot and tight around hers as he led her out, not that she needed directing—Felicia could have found her way to his bedroom in her sleep.

And frequently had.

In fact, she barely registered that she was back in his penthouse apartment. Leander could have taken her to a tent if he so chose, because even as the door closed already they were busy kissing.

All that mattered was that they were finally alone.

Leander kissed her as if he had missed her for every minute of their time apart, and Felicia’s kiss returned the sentiment, for how she had missed him…

His mouth was both thorough and tender, and the feel of his solid body pressed against hers was sublime.

She was back in his apartment, back in his arms, back to familiar…

Yet, mindful that her gown was on loan, as he ruched up the skirt and as his hands seemed more than willing to rip at the fabric just to get closer to her, Felicia reined him in with regret in her breathless tone. ‘Mind my dress.’

She swallowed his hiss of frustration, and it was a familiar one.

It had long been a bone of contention between them. Leander could not know that her wardrobe was borrowed, but he pulled back and she looked at his gritted jaw as he restrained from shredding her dress.

Yet.

Time had changed him, because instead of a roll of his eyes, he looked deep into hers, and instead of complaint, he took her hand and lifted her arm far more tenderly than Jacinta had.

And way more sensually, for he kissed the sensitive pale flesh of her inner arm, slowly and softly.

‘Hold it there,’ Leander said, and removed his grip. She held her hand up high.

It was a gentle torture and Felicia shivered as he undid the tiny clasp at the top of her zipper, biting her lip in self-imposed frustration as he pulled the zipper down.

‘Stay still,’ Leander warned. ‘We don’t want to ruin your dress!’

He turned around the eccentricities that once had irked. Leander made them a game, undressing her slowly till she stood naked and burning as he carefully placed the scarlet gown over a chair.

He walked toward her and, with the dress taken care of, she could no longer resist. Her hungry mouth sought his, but as she went for his jacket he gave her a taste of the very medicine she had just inflicted… ‘Mind the suit,’ Leander warned.

‘Stop it.’ She laughed, accepting the tease.

But Leander was serious. If clothes were so important to Felicia, then two would play at that game.

‘Hang my jacket up,’ he told her.

Her breath hitched and she could feel his eyes as she crossed the bedroom. At work Felicia hung clothes all day long, but the simple task proved near impossible under his scrutiny.

He stood stock-still as she walked back toward him, but his breathing was ragged. Without a word she now dealt with his tie and shirt, and Leander offered no help. She went to kiss him as she unknotted the bow, but he jerked back his head and denied her.

With haste she dealt with the shirt.

Her breasts felt too heavy and her nipples ached for his fingers to soothe, but he stood absolutely still as she revealed his torso. Leander had caught the Al-Zahan sun and almost did not belong in the midst of a New York winter. His stomach was flat and tensed as she ran a hand lightly over it, but he caught her wrist as she went for the buckle.

‘Shoes first,’ he instructed.

‘Leander…’ she said, and it was a plea, because she wanted to hasten this game.

‘Hell, isn’t it?’ he offered by way of response and pushed her head down.

Yes.

For there were his shoes.

His socks.

Felicia was naked and kneeling and dizzy with lust as she went for his belt.

And he could play this game no more. Leander stripped the last remnants off and scooped her up without protest. He just unfolded her from kneeling so that she was held against his body, unresisting, and he kissed her all the way down onto the bed, where he paused and knelt over her.

Felicia lay, both squirming and warming to his slow perusal of her body, and his words made her quiver on the inside.

‘I never stopped missing you,’ Leander said.

With others he was sometimes aloof and, reportedly, cutting; with Felicia, never so. She should not want to cry, yet those words made her throat close on salty tears, for Felicia had never stopped missing him, either. She put a hand up to the back of his head and pulled him down onto her, reveling in the feel of Leander against her naked skin.

They rolled on the bed, and she knew again the bliss of looking down on him as his hands toyed with her breasts.

And she was privy again to the low-in-the-stomach thrill of sheathing Leander as he moved up on his elbows and watched.

Then the ultimate pleasure—of Leander no longer biding his time and flipping her onto her back and then pinning her down—was hers again. He kissed her cheeks and then down to her neck, letting go of her hands and exploring her body as he reacquainted his mouth with her skin. And she felt every sensual move of his lips and every lick of his tongue.

‘God, Felicia,’ he said between deep kisses to her stomach, as if he had craved the taste of her skin.

The fingers of one hand she dug into his shoulder as the other one bunched the thick cotton sheet that she lay on as he kissed down, ever down. He stroked her thighs open and he stroked her within and he knew, because he knew her, that the noises she didn’t make were the most telling—the sumptuous pleasure he gave she took in silence, until finally she caved and cried out at the skill of his knowing touch. He took her then, crushing her with his body and allowing for no time to regroup as he drove in hard.

‘Leander!’ She choked out the word, almost in rebuke, because it was beyond intense, but he did not adjust his thorough strokes.

Like the morning sun blazing in, but at midnight, there was nowhere to hide from the fierce glare of his passion as every nerve in her body surged.

And then he summoned her to join him. ‘Felicia.’ Leander said it as he had on the dance floor, in the tone he generally reserved for when deep inside of her, and her center pulled tight at his summons and she came to his breathless shout.

It was delicious to lie there with him on top. To try to drag air into her lungs as Leander fought also to catch his breath. And to then smile at each other in sheer joy at the pleasure they both gave the other and made.

It was after they made love that she braced herself, certain as they pulled apart that the questions would start.

But for all she’d remembered about Leander, she’d forgotten how quickly he could fall asleep.

It was, she knew, only a temporary reprieve, but for now Felicia decided she’d take it.