Blackjack and Moonlight: A Contemporary Romance by Magdalen Braden

and loafers. Her eyes traveled back to his face. He was amused.
    “Forgive me for being a bad hostess, but…” Elise murmured. She reached up and kissed him. A sexy kiss, and when her lips parted his, an even sexier kiss. Oh, yes, the judge was in the house.
    She settled back on her heels, reluctantly removing her arms from around his neck. She was lost in his eyes, gleaming with desire and amusement. “Wine. Red. Got it.”
    When Elise returned, she joined him on the sofa across from the fire. He’d taken off the jacket and seemed calm and relaxed. He studied the flames, but turned to smile at her as she handed him the glass. She was still nervous. She’d poured them both some of the Shiraz she’d bought. She hoped it was good. The guy at the wine store had said it would do for an intimate evening at home.
    He swirled the wine around, sniffed, then took a sip.
    “Are you a big-time wine connoisseur?” She felt awkward about her own ignorance.
    “This is very good wine,” he said gently.
    “I wouldn’t know. I once bought a bottle of wine because the description on the label made it sound like the grapes had a really tough, hardscrabble life. I still had to rely on my boyfr—a guest’s assurance that it was any good.”
    “I’m beginning to see why you pooh-pooh five-star restaurants.”
    “I like to eat but I don’t like all the fuss. Food is food, it seems to me.” Elise could hear the defensiveness in her voice, but she wasn’t trying to impress the guy, so why not be honest?
    They sat in silence for a while. The fire was gradually thawing her out. She stretched out her feet.
    “I guess it was a good thing I didn’t try to greet you in some barely-there lingerie, huh?” she said finally.
    He laughed, a quiet rumble at her side. “Goose bumps aren’t very sexy, no.”
    Elise thought for a minute. Time to get the sex date rolling. “I am wearing a new bra and panty set, though. You get a prize if you can guess what color lace.”
    She turned her head to meet his gaze. Yup, he was interested. She took his wineglass and put it on the coffee table next to hers. She shifted over to straddle his hips and rested back on his knees.
    His eyes were hotter than the fire. “What’s the prize?”
    “I don’t know. What would you like to win from me?” She toyed with the hair at his nape, which was maybe two weeks away from being ruthlessly hacked off. Could she get him to let his hair grow? She liked the black silkiness against her fingertips.
    “Two romantic dates in a row? Friday and Saturday, say?” His eyes gleamed.
    She thought about that. What was the harm? He’d never guess. “Okay.”
    “I have to feel the lace to be sure, you know—tactile color identification methods have come a long way in the FBI labs.”
    She laughed at his solemn tone. “Oh, have they?”
    “Mmm-hmm.” He slipped his hands under her top at the back, where it overlapped her jeans. One hand inched up to the back of the bra, the other slipped into the gap by her backbone. The panties were hipsters, selected because they did super-sexy things for her ass. He skimmed the lace trim on the top of the panties, then moved both hands up her back.
    “A warm color.” He kept his eyes on her face the entire time. It occurred to her that he was doing a cold read, saying things then watching for her reaction, the way phony fortune-tellers did. She tried to block him by imagining the other set of undies she’d bought but hadn’t worn. They were pale shell pink. She concentrated on them.
    “In the red or pink family.” His hands had moved around to the front of her bra. He was brushing his fingertips over the lacy cups. His thumbs strummed her aching nipples, then he trapped them against his palms. That felt amazingly good. She half closed her eyes and arched her back, pushing her breasts harder into his touch.
    The hell with his guessing the color. Elise struggled to keep her eyes on his to make sure he didn’t peek. She