Champagne Cravings Read Online Free PDF Page A

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playboy. I could forget he seemed to have a different girl on his arm every
month. I could forget he practically gave himself whiplash every time a
beautiful woman walked by.
    I could forget he’d break my heart.
    When he finally pulled away, everything inside me had
unraveled and my needs spiraled out of control. Breathing wasn’t really an
option for me. In fact, I felt lightheaded after that scorching-hot lip-lock.
My hand at his back moved to his wide, muscular chest, my fingers curling
around the material of his T-shirt.
    “Whoa,” was all I could say. And it wasn’t of the “back off,
buddy” variety. No, it was strictly the “my thighs just went up in flames and
if you keep kissing me and rubbing my nipple, I’m going to come” variety.
    Mike said, “I knew it’d be hot between us.”
    I didn’t trust my voice. It would betray me. My words would
tell him he should go, but my tone would suggest he take me to bed. Pronto.
    I tried to get a grip on the fluttering sensations in my
stomach. Tried to breathe.
    The corner of Mike’s mouth lifted into another sexy-as-sin
grin that kept my temperature spiking in the red. “I know you want to deny the
chemistry between us,” he said, as though reading the contradictory thoughts
racing through my mind. “But it’s not going to work anymore.”
    His head bent and his lips touched mine. So soft, so sweet.
Not at all demanding and persistent, as I’d expected, given his alpha-male
tendencies.
    God, how I wanted him. He was right—I couldn’t deny it any
longer. I wanted to drag him down to the floor and climb on top of his glorious
hunkiness. Beg him to do things to me that only bad boys like Mike Lucas knew
how to do. I more than wanted him. I needed him.
    I’d lost this war completely.
    I was hooked on his kisses, but found myself pulling my
mouth away to say, “Fuck me.” I craved his touch, plain and simple. To hell
with the consequences. “Just once. One night of sex, nothing more.”
    His smile faded, though he continued to stare deep into my
eyes, the way I liked. Some sort of inner turmoil brewed in his usually
shimmering irises. He gave me another look I’d not previously seen from him and
it caused a bout of panic to rise within me.
    “No, Lace,” he said on a ragged breath before working down
what appeared to be a hard lump in his throat. “Haven’t you been listening to
what I’m saying? I know I’ve hit on you a hundred times before, but now you’ve
finally come around. This is the shot I’ve been waiting for. I don’t want just
one night of hot sex. I want more than that with you.”
    I felt a stab of rejection that cut deep, even though I knew
it shouldn’t. He was doing the right thing, actually saying the right words to
prove he didn’t intend to use me. And hadn’t he said he just wanted to test the
waters tonight? I had to respect all that.
    Maybe it wasn’t so much rejection that tore through me. More
like mortification for having put myself out there when I’d told him what I
wanted from him and disappointment he hadn’t pounced on my offer.
    I couldn’t take it back was the problem. He’d gotten what he’d wanted from me . The invitation he’d been angling for since the day we’d
met.
    Regardless of everything he’d said—again, all the right
things—I still felt stupid for propositioning him. I’d tried so hard for so
long to stay out of his trap but had fallen prey to it anyway. Damn that
champagne and the supermodel. If I hadn’t been turned-on earlier, I might have
been able to stand my ground against Mike. I adored him, no doubt about it, but
I couldn’t take a chance on him. Not the way he was asking me to.
    When he swooped in for another kiss, I stepped away.
    “Hey,” he said in his low voice. “Don’t be like that. You
know I want you. You also know I don’t want you to think I’m similar to Chase
and Brandon.”
    “Then why’d you kiss me?” I had to ask. “Why did you start
something