Chapter Seven #3
Sylvie brushed past him and paced the living room floor, trying to rein in her fury.
She hated being blindsided by information she should have discovered herself.
But she still wasn’t one hundred percent convinced this was true.
She turned and faced Jack again. ‘I want evidence and not hearsay from a vindictive bully of a husband who wants out of his marriage. I’d also like a closer look at the financial statements—all of them, once the forensic accountant gets back to us. ’
Jack scraped a hand through his thick hair, one strand falling forward over his right eye.
‘I’ve been involved in cases where even the best forensic accountants haven’t been able to track a client’s money.
Offshore banking, trust funds in other names—you’d be surprised at the lengths some people will go to, to avoid paying maintenance. ’
‘I’m not one bit surprised,’ Sylvie retorted. ‘Hugo Winters is one of many men I’ve come across who punish their ex-wives with poverty.’
The air crackled with a palpable tension that suddenly had nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Sylvie wasn’t sure at what point it changed but the atmosphere took on a new tension.
Jack’s eyes were locked on hers, hers were locked on his.
She took a shaky breath to get control, to steady herself, to regulate her emotions.
But the one thing she couldn’t get control of was her desire for him.
She could feel it building in her body—the uptick of her blood, the thickening of her female flesh, the dewy heat between her thighs.
Jack looked at her mouth at the same time she looked at his.
She wasn’t sure who moved first or if they both moved at the same moment, but suddenly his arms were around her and his mouth was on hers and she was whimpering with encouragement and delight.
It was an angry kiss at first, a kiss that spoke of tensions between them that were not resolved and would not be for some time.
But then his kiss changed, softened, deepened, his tongue meeting hers and mating in a dance as old as time itself.
It was sensual, passionate and yet tender at the same time.
A beguiling kiss between two people who had agreed on one night only but their kiss and their response to each other’s touch told otherwise.
Never had Sylvie wanted a man more than Jack Wilde.
It infuriated her that it was him who had set her on fire.
Who had unlocked her sensuality and caused her to crave him like a potent drug.
She didn’t like that he had such power over her.
She thought she could play the same game he did—the casual approach to sex.
The one-nighter. The fling without strings.
But making love with him once had awakened a fierce hunger inside her that only he could assuage.
She wanted him with a ferocious longing, and she hated herself for it.
Would she turn into her mother? Craving a man who had no intention of being faithful or settling down?
Did she even want to settle down? The questions were flying around her head even as his tongue was doing wicked things to the skin of her neck—licking, stroking, tearing down her willpower like it was tissue paper and not steel.
‘I want you so bad,’ Jack groaned against her lips, his aroused body flush against her, leaving her in no doubt of what he wanted.
It was what she wanted too, and she toyed with denying it…
for about a nanosecond. How could she deny this rush of feeling?
This erotic primal urge that she already knew could be stupendous.
It would be different if she hadn’t already experienced his magical lovemaking, easier to brush off what she didn’t know existed.
But she did know. She knew every tingling moment of being in his arms and she wanted him again. They could keep it casual—she would insist on it. She couldn’t allow herself to turn into a version of her mother, falling for a man who could never love her completely, exclusively.
Sylvie had heard the gossip years ago about Jack sleeping with a married woman.
It went against all her principles and yet, she hadn’t heard Jack’s side of the story.
And now that she understood, fully understood, the intense drives and urges and explosive chemistry that two people could ignite in each other, she felt less inclined to judge.
Lust was something that had slammed into her defences, collapsing them like a house of cards in its hurricane force. It was unstoppable, irresistible and she wanted to feel his body moving inside hers again until she shattered into a thousand pieces.
Sylvie wrapped her arms around his neck, her slight body pressed tightly against him as his arms held her like he never wanted to let her go.
‘I want you too,’ she whispered against his lips, teasing them into another electrifying kiss.
A few breathless moments later, Jack eased away, looking down at her with eyes gleaming darkly as wet paint.
‘What about our one-night rule?’
‘We can make the rules as we go along. I’m not going to ask you to go on bended knee and whip out a flashy diamond. I don’t want that. This is all I want.’ And she put her mouth back on his and was swept away on a tide of unstoppable passion.