CHAPTER FOUR
O H , SHE ’ D DARE ...
But she didn’t. Old habits were hard to break. She just had to back away slowly. Take the exit via the beach.
‘You can’t go yet,’ he said softly.
‘Why not?’ She glared at him.
‘You really have to ask?’
A moment of searing tension strung her out before she shook her head sceptically. While she was thinking wildly inappropriate things about him, he was merely toying with her. That was what he did. ‘Oh, please.’
He stood very, very still—his hands still in his pockets—as a faint flush coloured his sculpted cheeks. He was insanely handsome but he didn’t mean anything in this moment. He could turn his charm off and on like a switch.
‘I didn’t get a thank-you,’ he said eventually.
‘You’d be satisfied with a mere thank-you?’
‘Yeah, no. You’re right. Actions do speak louder than words.’
What kind of actions was he thinking of? She glared at him. ‘You want a ticker tape parade for acting like a decent human?’
‘Maybe you might offer to get me a drink,’ he said.
‘You’re thirsty?’
His smile appeared. ‘You have to agree it’s very hot out here.’
She shot him another withering look, but she was the one withering inside. Run.
‘Still no thank-you?’ he said after a moment. ‘When I rescued you so gallantly?’ He tut-tutted. ‘You do intrigue me, Skylar.’
‘Am I supposed to be pleased about that?’ She folded her arms across her chest and wished for inches.
‘You’re saying you’re not?’ His grin widened. ‘But maybe you’re not quite as polite as you’ve always appeared.’ His eyes gleamed. ‘Maybe you sometimes like to get dirty too. In fact, I’m sure you do.’
Her breath stalled. She couldn’t answer that.
‘Thanks or not, I’m glad I was here to help,’ he added. ‘Your hair is stunning. It would be devastating if it were damaged.’
Devastating? She felt an absurd pleasure that he liked her hair. And it was absurd, because she also knew this was just another of his lines. ‘You really can’t stop yourself, can you?’
‘Stop myself from what?’
‘Flirting.’
The corner of his lush mouth curved. ‘You think this is me flirting?’
Die. Again. Just die.
He walked so close that she had to step back. And she kept stepping until the backs of her legs hit the sun lounger. That’s when she was forced to stop. But he didn’t stop. Not until he was less than a breath apart from her.
‘You definitely weren’t at this party last year,’ he said softly. ‘You’re never at these sorts of parties.’
She tossed her head. ‘What makes you so sure?’
His voice dropped. ‘I’d have noticed.’
Her temperature rose. She dragged in a searing breath. ‘No you wouldn’t—’
He reached out and gently flicked a wisp of hair from her face. His hand landed on her waist when he lowered it.
‘What are you doing?’ she stammered.
He smiled indulgently, his blue gaze intent on her. ‘This is me flirting.’
‘This isn’t flirting, this is just you...crowding me.’
‘Too close?’ he breathed. ‘Shall I step back?’
His ice blue gaze locked on her for a long moment. She was toe-curlingly hot and she couldn’t possibly be wanting what she was thinking. She was supposed to be here to ask him about Helberg—only suddenly she didn’t want to think about any of that. Suddenly she didn’t want to think about anything at all.
‘I don’t think you want me to step back,’ he whispered. ‘I think you want me to stay right where I am.’ He cocked his head. ‘I think you want other things as well. So let me dare you again, Skylar... ask me .’
She swallowed. She should shut this down right now but she simply couldn’t, such was his potency. ‘You get what you want far too easily,’ she muttered feebly.
‘And?’ He slid that hand around her waist, his broad palm spread wide and flat on her back. The heat and strength of him through the thin silk was both arousing and oddly reassuring ...
She’d been here before and once more she couldn’t move. He was the biggest tease and she was falling for it—letting him all over again—because yeah, just like that, she was a yes .
‘Do you want me to walk away?’ he challenged her huskily.
But he was serious. She realised that with one word from her, he would leave. He would not look back. Once again, it would be like this moment had never ever happened.
And suddenly she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t lie and send him from her. Because this was every unfinished fantasy she’d ever had. And she was furious about it.
At university years later, she’d tried to find this fire with someone else. She’d let another guy kiss her. It had left her cold. She’d kissed a different one. Same deal. She’d wondered if maybe her father catching her had caused some shame that she needed time to get over. It had been a relief to think that. A relief not to try anything more with anyone else ever.
But now it destroyed something in her to realise that it wasn’t that at all. Because she still responded to Zane . Right here. Right now. She was aroused. And maybe that wouldn’t happen with anyone else while he was still in her system. How hideous that he was the only man who she responded to in this insanely intense way. That had to be fixed.
In this second, what happened with Helberg Holdings was irrelevant. There was no one around to interrupt them. No one to tell her not to dare...
She needed to get over this stupid hang-up. And maybe that was by having what she wanted from him. As galling as it might be to add herself to his list of conquests, maybe she’d be free of her fixation on him at last.
‘Stop teasing me,’ she snapped jerkily. ‘So far you’re all talk.’
Surprise flashed in his eyes, followed swiftly by a flare of satisfaction. Both were engulfed in the blue-black heat of engorged pupils. He didn’t wait for her to change her mind. His hand at her back firmed, pushing her close so they were suddenly belly to belly and he’d proven he wasn’t all tease. He promised very real passion. She gasped as he anchored her to his hard body and as she did, he lowered his head.
‘Will you taste of raspberry candy this time, Skylar?’
She shook her head. She’d not had raspberry candy in years—it was too associated with him. ‘I prefer lemon.’
‘Right,’ he muttered. ‘Apparently you’ve become a little acid drop.’
Taking total advantage of her parted lips, he kissed her—deeply, intimately, endlessly.
Boom . Combustion of epic proportions.
She threw her arms around his neck and held on, tangling her tongue with his, pressing her pelvis closer to his. Power surged and she was out of control all over again. But he didn’t press his forehead on hers and croon her name beneath his breath this time. His hands didn’t tremble as he ran them down her arms. He just demanded her response—and devoured her.
But one thing remained the same. She felt wanted. Absolutely, utterly wanted . And she wanted him right back. Wholly sexually, right?
Wholly unbearably.
He pressed her closer still, grinding her body against his. She had no idea how long they were plastered to each other, frantically kissing. It was an inferno in seconds, every kiss better and better until her whole body quaked with desperation.
Of course he was a complete philanderer. Good for all those women who’d enjoyed this experience. She wasn’t going to deny herself just to teach him a lesson he was never going to care about. She was going to take what she wanted. And that was this. Him. Now. Nothing else mattered. The kissing went on—hotter, more erotic, more hungry. She wriggled, helplessly aching and restless. Until he suddenly tore his lips from hers.
‘Don’t you want to know what I want?’ he growled breathlessly.
This should be a two-way thing, but now he’d found that split in her skirt and his fingers were sliding up her leg—skin on skin—and she was so overwhelmed, so afraid of him stopping, she didn’t want to admit how much this suddenly mattered.
‘Do you think I care?’ she asked.
He laughed, and the vibrations resonated deep in her belly and turned her on even more.
‘Oh, I know you care,’ he teased, and kissed her again as if it were all reward. ‘Bleeding-heart little pleaser like you can’t help caring .’
She leaned back, letting her pelvis grind harder against his even as she glared at him. ‘For the record, I do not care about you .’
‘You think you dislike me as much as I dislike you?’ But his hand hit her panties as he taunted her. His fingers twisted. With total strength, he tore the lace so he could target her... there . ‘You annoy the hell out of me, Skylar,’ he growled.
But his fingers teased, skilful, utterly intimate little strokes that matched the magic he worked with his mouth as he pressed lush kisses across her face and neck. She began to tremble, and that’s when he leaned closer still. His whisper was hot, his lips brushing just beneath her earlobe on that ultra-sensitive skin of her neck. ‘So I want to see you crumble.’
His blistering focus—his irritation with his own attention on her—pulsated within her. Deeply. Their antagonism was real and couldn’t be resolved. The fact was she didn’t like him. And he didn’t like her.
‘Then make me,’ she dared.
‘It’ll be my damned pleasure.’ He lowered his lips that last millimetre back to her skin and licked his way down to the neckline. ‘There’s no one around to stop me now. And I know you won’t.’
Skylar shivered, breathless and hot as he kissed beyond and below—all the way to her breast. He didn’t care about the silk. He sucked on her taut nipple straight through it as his fingers twisted and slid right inside her.
She came. Hard. Bucking her hips, she writhed on his hand and arched her back so he could mouth more of her breast. She was greedy. Fortunately, so was he.
His arm was an iron rod at her back, but even so, she barely remained upright. He lowered her with a rough laugh, straight onto the sun lounger behind her, and followed her.
‘Oh, you do like it fast,’ he muttered. ‘Even faster than I’d expected.’
Bliss pulsated in rivulets down her body but that cord of sexual tension wasn’t yet severed. ‘You’re a supercilious jerk, you know that?’
He nuzzled his way back up her neck. ‘And you’re a sanctimonious swot.’ He reared up and looked into her eyes. ‘So what? We’re still going to have sex.’
And there it was. She stilled, staring up into his eyes and seeing the intent. The invitation. The opportunity of a lifetime. His pelvis dug into hers so she had no doubts about whether he really wanted this. But she registered his hesitation—his query. If she were her normal self, she’d say no instantly. But she wasn’t just tempted nor just curious—she was so unbearably turned on there wasn’t time to think about it. ‘Of course we are,’ she snapped. ‘Just hurry the hell up!’
His laugh this time was low and exultant and he dropped back down to kiss her—pure reward, pure tease.
‘Not so fast, this time.’ He reached up and freed her ponytail from the tight elastic. He ran his hand through the thick length of her hair in an intensely intimate caress. It felt like he was worshipping her. But surely not—it was just that he was pure hedonist. A sensualist who enjoyed all touch. And right now, so did she.
‘You’ve changed, Skylar Bennet,’ he muttered as he pulled at the ribbons of her halter neck.
For the first time nerves fluttered. ‘Not so much, I’m as f-flat-chested as ever...’
He glanced up, wide-eyed but laughing.
‘Wouldn’t want you to be disappointed.’ She flushed with annoyance at the self-conscious wail that had escaped her before she could stop it. But the man had had a million lovers.
‘Not gonna be,’ he said. ‘Vexed by your mouth, maybe. Never, ever disappointed by your body.’
The silk finally slid, exposing her breasts. He just stared and she felt him take in a deep breath and harden even more against her. To her total mortification, as he pressed closer, she just came all over again. Shivers of sensual bliss shook her.
‘Hell, Skylar...’ he hissed. ‘Should’ve known you’d be exceptional in everything you do.’
She was too far gone in her bliss bubble to be able to answer. But he thought she was exceptional?
‘Don’t think you’re done,’ he whispered. ‘Not done yet. Not without me.’
He rose to his knees and reached into his pocket. He had protection with him. Other than a quick feeling of relief, she didn’t give that fact a second thought. There was no time for thinking. Only feeling. Moving. Teasing with a kind of anger that came from someplace she didn’t really understand. But she suddenly wanted him to feel this as urgently as she.
He didn’t bother stripping entirely. He just unfastened his trousers and yanked his boxers down enough to roll on the condom. There was no time to get her completely free of her dress, so he just slid her skirt up. Her panties were little more than shredded lace on a waistband and were no obstacle at all.
He paused for a moment, his hand flat on her lower belly, and shook his head as he stared at her. ‘Skylar—’
She growled and shifted restlessly beneath him and with a groan he just kissed her. A second later, his full weight was on her and it was everything. He grabbed her thigh with his big hand and lifted her leg over his hip to make more space for him. And then he was there. She shuddered as he breached her virgin body with his.
‘Hell,’ he choked. ‘I’m gonna—’ He broke off with a groan and gritted his teeth. Lodged hard and deep inside her, his muscles bunched beneath her hands. ‘I want—’ He broke off again. ‘You—’
He was so breathless, panting hard as if he faced a battle he knew he couldn’t win. His struggle for control snapped hers. Heat surged, chasing away the tiny pinch of pain that had halted her breath when he’d first pushed inside her. She grabbed his hips, suddenly hungry for more, and writhed beneath him. She desperately needed him to move.
‘Damn it, Skylar!’ he roared. ‘You’re not making me—’
He pulled right out of her and she moaned at the loss in agonised frustration. But he half laughed before drawing in several steadying breaths.
‘ My pace, princess,’ he finally said as he held her fast and slowly reclaimed his place deep inside her.
There was no pinch this time—only a sensation so intense that she could scarcely sigh as he leisurely rolled his hips and slid fractionally deeper with each powerful thrust.
‘That’s it,’ he muttered. ‘Stay with me now.’
Oh, she was with him—imprisoned in his embrace, impaled on his shaft—it was the best torture ever. With slow decadence he moved within her. The pull and drag of the friction between them was the most exquisite sensation of her life. She’d always felt so awkward around others that any kind of physical intimacy had felt impossible. But this with him was simply effortless . And so exciting. Which was also so annoying.
‘I hate you,’ she muttered breathlessly even as she clutched him closer, instinctively arching her hips to meet his over and over in this dance.
Humour-laced passion glittered in his eyes. ‘Want me to hurry up and finish?’
She helplessly mumbled a meaningless denial. She sighed and stirred, matching his moves with the answering arch of her hips. It was fun. And good. And now she really did want it faster. And harder. And more all over again.
His choked laughter was followed by an explicit curse. She slid her hand into his hair and kissed him. His hands tightened and his movements roughened, his possession deepened even more. She broke free and gasped and as her orgasm rushed upon her, she realised he too had finally lost it.
There was no kissing in those last frantic moments. Only his harsh whispers—his intentions of dirty and deep possession savagely and repeatedly sworn. It was so hot that she shook in ecstasy all over again.
The last thing she heard was her name—uttered as if it were a curse as he came hard inside her.