I smoothed Joe's hair off his brow. 'It was wonderful. You were wonderful.'
He let out a throaty chortle that drew every eye in the room. Overflowing with excitement, he dropped a kiss to my neck, then my lips, then hugged me close again. Inside his black pirate's trousers, his sex had swelled to full tumescence. The ridge pounded my hip through the leather and I squirmed at the upsurge of lust this produced. The fact that I'd watched him seduce another woman for the last two hours did nothing to quell my hunger. I swivelled forward, pressing my softness against his leg. His erection pulsed more forcefully.
'Bad girl,’ he whispered.
I squeezed his thigh between mine.
Tut-tut,’ he clucked and, before I could evade him, covered my mouth with his. His lips were soft, his jaw hard. Its muscles worked as his tongue breached me, thrusting deep to tease the sensitive nerves along my palate. He sucked my tongue on to the curve of his, a bold, possessive pull that drew me fully into his mouth.
Someone wolf-whistled. Blood flamed in my cheeks but I couldn't break free. Joe's arms wrapped me like steel, flattening my breasts against his half-bare chest. Heat flooded my groin, inconvenient and unstoppable. His chest hair prickled my cleavage. In a motion too subtle to see - I hoped! - he dragged his pecs in tiny sideways jerks across my nipples. Oh, he made me ache. Moisture welled between my labia. A trickle quivered on the verge, then spilt over. I cursed my lack of underwear. With nothing to stop it, the trickle rolled down my inner thigh, threatening to tell Joe's fellow cast members a good bit more than they needed to know. Joe flicked his tongue back into my mouth. My lungs began to ache. When finally he released me, I was gasping like an asthmatic.
I tugged my hem down as far as it would go.
He laughed again, enjoying his taste of power. He slung one arm around Sean's back and the other around my waist. 'Come meet Desmond Gerrard.' He spoke close to my ear, sotto voce. 'He's a Broadway producer.'
I nodded, my face impassive even as dread knotted my stomach. Did Joe have to be discovered his first time out? With an effort, I ordered myself not to ruin the good impression he must have made.
'Desi,' Joe said, pride shining in his handsome face. "These are my good friends, Sean Halloran and Kate Winthrop.'
Desi shook Sean's hand - a single manly jerk - then turned to me. I steeled myself to hide my instinctive mistrust but the twinkle in his eye disarmed me. He pressed my hand between both of his, almost bowing over it. 'You must be Marianne's sister-in-law,' he said. 'She speaks of you often.'
I wondered what Marianne had said to inspire that wolfish gleam. Then again, maybe I was better off not knowing.
'We're treating Joe to a celebratory steak,’ I said, though in fact we'd planned nothing of the kind. 'Would you and Marianne care to join us?'
A tiny gasp from Marianne told me this was not the way she wanted the evening to unfold. A cosy circle involving her, Desi and Joe, was my guess - with her queening it over both of them.
'We'd be delighted,’ said her escort, without so much as a glance to consult her. 'But you simply must let me treat.'
'My cousin Frank has a steak joint across the river,’ Sean said. 'You like pool?'
Marianne responded to that suggestion with a ladylike sniff, but once again Desi overrode her. 'I adore billiards,’ he declared, and I almost believed he meant it.
He certainly was charming. I just hoped charm wasn't all there was to him. I'd hate to see Joe hurt by some smooth-talking New York power broker.
Joe was too euphoric to worry. He clapped his hands to get the attention of the crowd.
'Okay, everybody out,’ he said. "The star needs to change into street clothes.'
He earned a few cat calls for that, and a few offers to help, but the room cleared without much delay.
'Not you.' He caught Sean and me by the back of our collars. 'I have plans for you.'
He propped a cracked vinyl chair beneath the doorknob. Sean and I smiled at each other. Little Joe was ready to roll, and we were happy to oblige.
Sean walked his fingers up the gap in Joe's pirate blouse. 'I hope you've got something quick in mind. You don't want to keep Mr Broadway waiting.'
'I can't think about him now.' Joe shook his shoulders free of the shirt and yanked his hands from the ruffled cuffs. The white cloth hung over his waistband, draping the snug black leather. My mouth went dry at the sight of his perfectly honed torso. Dark hair circled his coppery nipples, then dived into the enticing shadows beneath his navel. I'd never seen him look so male, so dangerous.
Our eyes connected. Joe's colour deepened. He mouthed, ,’ want you. A shiver rolled down my spine and he smiled, very slowly.
'Come here,’ he said. His fingers brushed my wrist