you in the elevator a time or two, as well as the cafeteria,” he said and casually wiped the corner of her mouth, where she had a remnant of caramel sauce from the caramel apple he’d bought for her earlier. Lilliana almost wet herself when he had the nerve to casually place his thumb in his mouth and lick the sauce away, as though it were no big deal. And then winked at her. Once again, like all of this was normal.
“I think that’s where I’ve seen you as well,” she stuttered and felt crazy. Here she was, a grown woman, totally thrown off because he licked his thumb after wiping her mouth and winked at her. So what if it was the sexiest thing any man had done to her in a month of Sundays?
“Which department do you work in?”
“I’m in the admin area…what about you?”
“Management,” was all that he’d said. The subject of the job hadn’t come up again, until later when he’d asked her if she’d allow him to take her home. It was dark and he didn’t want her to take public transportation.
She’d agreed, knowing she was setting aside one of Simone’s rules. But her every instinct told her she was safe with Josh. When he’d guided her toward the valet section of the parking garage and led her to the late model Jaguar sedan, she knew that he’d left out how far up in management he had to be to drive a car like the one he was driving.
The drive home, much like the day, was enjoyable and Lilliana was reluctant to see it end, something she hadn’t been expecting.
He’d casually flirted with her, often touching her lightly on the arm, the small of her back, grabbing her hand and running with her toward the Ferris wheel like a kid. Throughout the day he was so casually affectionate towards her that she didn’t even try to tell herself she didn’t like his touch. She loved it, along with the attention he showed when she shared information about herself with him, smiling and carefully listening to her as though she was the only woman in the world.
Not once had she caught him eyeballing some hot young thing at the Pier. Not once did his eyes wander from her to some other woman while they were walking hand in hand toward the next exhibit. The man was smooth. And not superficially smooth like Marcus had been.
She’d known him for less than six hours, but she knew he wasn’t the slick type. At twenty, she’d been too young to recognize the fake slickness in Marcus’s game.
At the age of thirty-four she would run ten thousand miles away barefoot in the snow if she saw it coming her way in any other man. She and Josh had established a connection from the first time they’d really looked at one another, in the elevator ride at the firm.
She hoped he was feeling the same way. He had to have felt the connection as well. She pleaded to the powers that be in heaven that this wasn’t all one-sided.
“I’m glad, Lilliana. I don’t know the last time I had such a good time,” he answered her question and began to lower his head toward hers. She knew what was coming and felt the tingle in her belly as she waited impatiently for his mouth to connect with hers.
Joshua saw the way she waited for his kiss and pulled her unresisting head gently toward his, both palms on either side of her face. He covered her pretty, plush lips with his and groaned.
He knew her lips would feel like this, soft and edible. He placed nibbling kisses over her mouth before he pulled away and licked the seam of her lips, forcing her to open her mouth. When she willingly did, he inserted his tongue inside and licked the inside, searching for her warm, willing tongue.
“Ummm, oh god,” she mumbled around his lips.
He pulled away from her and smiled before he took her bottom lip in between his and gently tugged on the fullness. He loved how soft they were, how good it felt to caress them.
“You taste so good, Lilliana,” he said after several more minutes of licking her lips. “We’d better stop now,” he said because
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