Chapter 6 #3
It was no worse than a bit of fantasy about, say, a movie star, wasn’t it?
It was the realm she’d always allocated to Oliver Dawson, and it wasn’t as if she was going to do anything about it.
He wouldn’t have a clue. She was quite safe while he had his back to her, and she would steal away before he could turn.
Just a few seconds more.
Bella had no idea she had been slowly licking her lips until she touched them with her fingers and found them wet.
* * *
Oliver could feel the burn in every muscle in his body, but he wasn’t going to stop. Not yet.
Not when he could see Bella reflected in that mirror through the open dressing-room door.
When he could see the way she was looking at his body.
Wanting him.
He should be used to women looking at him like that. Maybe not in quite such an obvious fashion but Bella probably had no idea he could see her so clearly, and it was irresistible not to keep going a little longer because it was like eavesdropping on someone’s thoughts.
The way she was leaning on the wall like that, so loose limbed and relaxed, her arms bare in that singlet top and her tight jeans moulding her hips – did she have any idea how attractive a picture she made?
And when she licked her lips and then touched them… Dear God… the flame of a reciprocal desire was well and truly ignited for Oliver.
Not that he was going to act on it, of course.
That would be totally inappropriate, not only because she was being employed to care for his mother but because she was so totally unlike any woman he’d ever allowed into the inner circle of his life.
Whoever said that a class system didn’t exist in New Zealand had never been involved in the kind of social circle he would be a valued member of later this evening.
To choose to be with someone like Bella Graham would be a form of rebellion, and he had never done rebellion, had he?
Was that what he’d been missing out on all these years? What had propelled him prematurely into middle age?
The sun was sinking rapidly now and the light was fading more with every passing second.
Any moment and Bella would realise that his workout was over and he’d turn around and she’d be busted.
Any moment now and she would probably slip silently away.
Exactly what she would do if she saw him start to turn around, too.
So Oliver didn’t turn around. He spoke to the reflection he could see in the mirror.
‘Was there something you wanted, Bella?’
* * *
Oh… God…
How long had Oliver known she was standing here? The embarrassment was excruciating.
‘I… um… I’m looking for your mother’s necklace. I think it must be somewhere in here.’
‘Come in, then.’ Oliver picked up a towel that had been draped over the handlebars of the treadmill. He mopped the sweat off his face and then the front of his chest. ‘Don’t mind me. I’m about to hit the shower.’
Bella tried not to watch Oliver towelling himself off. Or think about him sluicing that body with soap and water in a nearby shower. She could have scuttled back upstairs but the determination to salvage something from her day included more than finding that necklace.
She forced herself to walk closer to Oliver.
‘I’d like to apologise,’ she said quietly. ‘I’m absolutely appalled at what happened this evening. It won’t happen again, I promise.’
She looked up then, hoping she could convey the genuine message that Oliver could trust her to care for his mother.
He seemed to get it. He nodded slowly. He stepped closer to Bella.
So close that her mouth went dry. He seemed to have stepped so close that any barriers between them, invisible or otherwise, had simply vanished.
He knew, she realised. Somehow, he knew exactly what she’d been thinking when she’d been standing there so absorbed in watching his body.
The thought should have been horrific, except for the intensity with which Oliver was looking at her. The eye contact that went on… and on… The interest she could sense coming from him.
Was it remotely possible that he found her as attractive as she found him? Judging by the way the air seemed to be crackling in the space between them, Bella had to believe it was possible.
And more exciting than anything had ever been in her whole entire life.
The subtle movement of her body was instinctive. She barely felt herself tilt forward in invitation, but she was aware of her lips parting. Of her tongue coming out to moisten them because they felt so incredibly dry. And she could see the way Oliver’s gaze dropped as he watched her tongue.
She wasn’t sure what happened next. When she thought about it later, it was simply a blur of excitement intense enough to be blinding. One moment they were standing there with the air about to ignite and then she was in Oliver’s arms, being kissed like she had never, ever been kissed in her life.
It was overwhelming. A solid mass of an almost naked, perfect male body that was touching Bella with a hunger that made her feel like the most desirable female in existence.
She could smell the heat that still came from his body after a punishing workout.
She could feel the way his tongue moved against hers, withdrawing and then thrusting, stroking the fires of need for it to be the real thing instead of an imitation performed by their joined mouths and dancing tongues.
She could feel the slick of sweat on his lower back that made it so easy to slip her hands beneath the elastic of his shorts. Could feel the rock-hard evidence of his desire pressing into the part of her that wanted more. More…
She must have whispered the plea aloud because Oliver groaned.
‘No condom,’ he growled.
‘I’m safe.’ Bella’s words came out in a gasp as she pressed herself closer and moved to close the gap that had appeared between their mouths.
She was safe. She’d been through the routine screening offered to medical personnel at St Pat’s.
She’d never been exposed to a sexually transmitted or blood-borne disease.
Oliver’s hands were moving. He was cupping her breast.
‘You’re on the Pill?’
‘Oh…’ His thumb was grazing her nipple and Bella’s knees almost buckled. ‘Oh… yes…’
He was undoing her jeans now and that meant he wasn’t stopping.
Thank God for that…
Somewhere in the back of Bella’s head, a warning bell was sounding.
He thinks you’ve said that you’re on the Pill, a small voice whispered. Stop now. This is dangerous. You don’t know what could happen. This is quite probably the most irresponsible thing you’ve ever considered doing.
Bella had had plenty of practice not listening to that little voice.
Besides, she knew what could happen, but what were the odds, really?
Pretty darned small and… and she could go for a swim afterwards and that would probably wash any risk away.
If that didn’t work, didn’t she have a dose of the morning-after pill tucked away from a time it hadn’t been needed after all?
And… the risk would be worth it, wouldn’t it? She might never have this opportunity again.
Oliver’s hands were against bare skin now. Touching the very core of the blinding heat of her need.
‘Oh…’ Bella gasped again. She was touching him now, too. Could feel the velvet over steel that her body was desperate to enfold. The past was irrelevant. The future ceased to exist.
‘Now…’ Bella pleaded. ‘Oliver… please… now…’