Seduction by the Book. Stephanie Bond

pulse jumped. “Actually, it’s part chair, part bench.”

      “Okay, well, I think I can get it if you’ll hold open the door and show me where you want it.”

      She walked ahead of him as he wielded the awkward piece of furniture, opening doors and clearing the way to her bedroom. When he crossed the threshold, she pointed to an empty corner of the room. “You can set it there.”

      He lowered the item to the floor carefully, then straightened and glanced all around her room, his gaze lingering on the mid-century style bed of pale maple. Just the sight of Mark inside her austere bedroom made her stomach flip. She’d pointed it out to him when she’d given him the initial tour of her home, but he’d never slept over, never spent any time at all in her room.

      He gestured to the wrapped chair. “Don’t I at least get to see it?”

      She smiled and nodded, then retrieved a pair of scissors. But her hand shook slightly as she cut away the tape and packing material to reveal the long contoured, armless chaise-like chair upholstered in supple black matte leather. It was higher on one end, with a deep dip in the center.

      He scratched his head. “That’s an interesting design, but it looks…comfortable.”

      Cassie took a deep breath, then announced. “It’s a tantric chair.”

      He looked confused, then his eyebrows rose. “Tantric, as in…sex?”

      She nodded, holding his gaze.

      His mouth opened slightly, then his eyes went smoky. “If you’re trying to torture me, Cassie, it’s working.”

      The air between them sizzled with electricity. His body language—the softening of his eyes, the hardening of his jaw, the bulge in his pants—told her how much he wanted her. But the clenching of his hands meant he was holding back, hoping she would make the first move?

      It was the moment before Connie Chatterley marched into Mellors’s cabin in the woods and lay down on his bed.