An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret

Edie wanted to prick the arrogant well-worn cynicism he wore so well. ‘You’re saying you’ve never been hurt?’

He shook his head and a hard expression settled over his features. ‘Let’s just say I learnt at an early age not to expect too much.’

‘How do you know I haven’t learnt the same?’ Edie riposted.

Sebastio reached out again and trailed a finger across her jaw. Her breath hitched.

‘Because I can see it in your eyes, Edie. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just not for me.’

Edie felt foolish for trying to prove something to him. He was right. She would ultimately expect something more and that would be emotional suicide with a man like this.

His finger was trailing down from her jaw to her neck and he rested it on her pulse-point. She could feel the blood pulsing against the slight pressure he was exerting.

‘I want you, Edie. More than I’ve wanted a woman for a long time. I propose that we explore this mutual chemistry until it burns itself out.’

Until it burns itself out.

Edie shivered with awareness. That knot of tension tightened in her belly. She looked up at him, as if she might find the answers to questions she didn’t even know she was asking written in his features or in those impenetrable grey eyes.

She’d always wanted to find someone she could connect with on a deep level. Not just a physical one.

As much as her parents had smothered her, she’d always envied their strong and supportive bond. Yet in spite of their bond, and their love for her, she’d never felt as isolated as she had during her cancer treatment.

She’d felt if she was behind a glass wall, looking out, unable to connect with anyone, having no one with whom she could share the depth of her fears and anguish. She’d always longed to feel a sense of connection that would eclipse that awful sense of isolation.

And she had felt it that night in that club. When her eyes had locked with Sebastio’s. As improbable as it might have been. With one glance it had been as if Edie had known on some deep and instinctive level that Sebastio could understand and empathise with her sense of isolation, and she’d felt connected to someone else for the first time in a long time.

And here she was, standing in front of him again with that sense of connection surging through her blood. Obliterating all the reasons why she shouldn’t be tempted by him.

Because indulging in an affair with Sebastio Rivas would come at a cost.

What Sebastio was offering was anathema to her, because she knew she craved a deep and lasting connection with a man.

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And yet she ached for him. Only him. Even though he was only offering her this. A moment out of time.

The last thing she should be doing was thinking of saying yes, but it beat through her body like an inexorable wave. Yes, yes, yes.

This man had spurned her gauche advances once, but he’d set the bar so high that she’d never allowed another man to get close. She had a chance here to rewrite history. To fulfil the fantasy she’d had in her head since that night. That he hadn’t turned her away.

Was she going to remain a virgin for ever? Maybe she needed this to move on with her life?

Doubt entered her mind then. Was she crazy to be contemplating this? If he discovered she was a virgin he’d run a mile. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him...but something was stopping her. Something illicit and rebellious.

She wanted this. Even if it was for only one night. She would worry about the repercussions later.

‘Edie...?’

Sebastio’s voice cut through the maelstrom in her head. Edie shut it out. She obeyed the beat in her blood and took a giant leap into the unknown.

‘Yes... I want you, Sebastio.’

Sebastio heard Edie’s words but it took a second for them to sink in. Any kind of finesse he might have had before seemed to have deserted him. His blood surged and he stepped forward, cupping Edie’s jaw, stroking his thumb across silky skin, feeling the hectic pulse against his hand.

‘Are you sure about this?’

She nodded, biting her lip. Her vivid blue gaze dropped to his mouth and Sebastio couldn’t wait any longer. He had to taste her again. Now.