Combustion by Elia Winters Page B

fuck. Eli jumped backward as if stung, his mouth falling open, one hand automatically moving to his chest, then clenching into a fist. He wasn’t going to touch his own nipple right in front of her. Astrid still wore that devious smile, and as he looked at her, he began to understand. Images ran through his mind: Astrid lying on her bed, naked, that same little cylinder pressing down between her legs, her back arching in ecstasy. No wonder she didn’t tell people about her business. Machines for women, indeed.
    Regaining his composure, he stepped back in closer. If she was going to play dirty, then he could be her match. As he took the device from her, her eyes widened in surprise.
    He turned the still-buzzing cylinder over in his hand and watched it gleam in the firelight. “So this is yours. You make these?”
    â€œAnd others like it. A whole range.”
    â€œI see.” As he felt the vibrations, he knew he wanted some turnabout, to unseat her as she’d unseated him. His cock was throbbing against his pants, and when he drew closer, he wondered if she’d notice and found that he didn’t much care.
    â€œI’ll bet it gives nice massages.” He touched it lightly to her neck, and her mouth opened a bit, as if she couldn’t believe what he was doing.
    â€œIt does.”
    Was it his imagination, or did her voice tremble a bit? Without breaking eye contact, he moved the toy down, sliding it inch by inch over her breastbone, then down her corset, past each hook in the front, tracing it all the way to her skirt. How much would she let him get away with? How much did he have the nerve to try? When he brushed the juncture of her thighs, she grasped his lapels to steady herself, her eyes fluttering closed in a way that sent even more blood to his impossibly hard cock. It seemed she wasn’t going to stop him at all.
    Before he could let himself go too far, he pulled away and switched off the vibrator, pressing it into her hand. “You have quite a naughty little toy there.”
    Astrid blinked up at him through heavy-lidded eyes, gathering her composure. “I have more.”
    Was that an offer? He opened his mouth, ready to ask to see them, then paused as sense came flooding back. He was a respectable businessman, a member of the London Business Council, a prominent and upstanding citizen. Could he really afford to get involved in something like this? He wasn’t the kind of man who threw tradition to the wind and jumped on board with a new business venture. Ideas had to be drafted, refined, tested, proved. Astrid was unpredictable, wild, adventurous…everything he wasn’t. His throat seemed to close up.
    Seeming to sense his hesitation, Astrid dropped the toy back into her handbag. “So now you know why I can’t ask a businessman to endorse me. Like you, they’re all prudes.”
    â€œI’m not a prude.” While he argued back, though, he wondered if it were true. No, he wasn’t a prude. But he had decorum and decency, qualities Astrid Bailey seemed to lack, even if he couldn’t help wishing he had her creativity. “But these devices are scandalous. They might even be illegal. I can’t be mixed up in something like that.” What would the London Business Council think?
    â€œThey’re not illegal.” Astrid drew herself up to her full height, which was not very significant compared to him. “And the only reason they’re scandalous is because the stodgy London business owners like you are still living in the last century.”
    Eli hesitated, rubbing his beard. Was he actually going to lend his good name to an enterprise such as this? Would this be the thing that ruined him, sending him into destitution as his father always feared?
    And yet, what was his alternative? It was already May 2nd. The deadline to enter the World’s Fair was only ten days away, and he was no closer to an idea of his own than he had