Married for the Tycoon's Empire

Ben wanted to growl at her insistence on putting boundaries in place, but he resisted the urge. In another couple of days all those boundaries would be gone.

‘Yes, just the weekend.’ He ignored his conscience. He’d seduced this woman into his bed—he could seduce her into marriage.

She looked at him for a long moment, with such intensity that Ben almost wanted to hide from her searing gaze, and then, abruptly, she moved. For a second Ben thought she was getting up to leave, but then she was lifting a leg over his lap and coming back down to straddle him.

Her robe had parted marginally and she moved her hips against him in a small undulating movement that made him bite back a curse as he felt her naked flesh press hotly against the erection straining against his trousers.

She cocked her head. ‘Well, for starters, you’re way too overdressed for a weekend of debauchery...’

And with that she reached for the hem of his top, pulling it up so that he had to raise his arms, and then it was off, landing on the floor.

She’d taken him by surprise again. Ben was so taken aback at her capitulation that he could only sit there for a moment, and then she grinned at him, bright and sudden, and he felt it like a punch in his gut. He also felt something constrict in his chest but he pushed it down, focusing on the physical.

He dislodged her hands with ease and pulled at the rest of her robe, baring those beautiful breasts to his gaze. He cupped them, dragging his thumbs across her stiffening nipples, and heard her sharp intake of breath.

By the time he’d licked and sucked those peaks to sharp wet points Lia was lifting herself up from his lap and fumbling with his trousers, freeing his aching arousal from its confinement. By the time he was sheathed with protection and embedded in her snug embrace they were both breathing as if they’d run a marathon, a glow of perspiration coating their skin.

Lia’s robe was off, on the floor behind her, and Ben didn’t even have any recollection of pushing it to the ground, the conflagration between them had been so swift and sudden. He surged up into her body, over and over, his arms welded tight across her back.

Lia pushed him right to the edge, and over, every time. Her face was flushed, she was biting her lip, and her eyes were glazed with passion... Ben realised with satisfaction that he was seeing her come undone, exactly as he’d imagined when he’d looked at her that first evening they’d met.

Except his sense of satisfaction was short-lived. Nothing in his imagination could have prepared him for this reality, or the sheer strength and awesome power of the climax that ripped through them within minutes of their bodies joining.

For a long moment in the aftermath Ben’s head rested helplessly on Lia’s breasts. She had her hands on his head, fingers funnelled deep into his hair, holding him there. He was still embedded deep in her body and he could feel the rhythmic post-orgasmic flutters of her body along his length.

He realised that even if he’d wanted to pull away from the embrace he couldn’t.

When he finally was able to move he lifted his head and looked at her. The fact that she seemed similarly shattered was absurdly satisfying, but that was almost immediately followed by a sensation of uneasiness as Ben realised that whenever he’d believed he had her where he wanted her before, she’d eluded him.

He was a man who exerted control in all things, and he would make sure that didn’t happen again. There was no room for failure here. Lia was an acquisition he couldn’t afford to lose now.

* * *

‘What day is it?’ Lia said sleepily into the pillow as she felt a finger trace the bones of her spine.

Amazingly, her body tingled and she groaned. She heard a deep chuckle and wanted to scowl, but she didn’t have the energy.

Mustering all the strength she did have, she turned over, dislodging Ben’s hand and pulling the sheet up over her body. She glared at him balefully.

He held up his hand, his face a picture of innocence. Well, if you could call his stubbled gorgeousness innocent. Which, of course, he wasn’t—remotely. He was wicked, and he had made her do unspeakably wanton things for hours and hours; night had melted into dawn and then day, and then dusk and then night... And now it was getting dark outside again. The world might have ended and Lia wouldn’t know.

‘You didn’t answer my question.’

Ben put his hands on either side of her body and leant over her, his chest broad and bare. ‘It’s Sunday evening—and I don’t think I can take another Room Service meal.’

Lia reeled. She’d known what day it was—of course she had. But still... To hear him confirm that they’d passed almost three full days gorging on each other in a feast of the senses was overwhelming. She now knew, indelibly, that under Ben’s expert touch she’d discovered her own sensuality and had learnt to revel in it. For that alone she’d lost a part of her soul to him.

She seized on his words, glad of an excuse to get out of this far too intimate space. ‘I know a place near here...’

Ben smiled, and before Lia could stop him he’d whipped the sheet from her body. She squealed as he effortlessly lifted her into his arms. He strode into the bathroom and put her down to switch on the shower. She shivered with anticipation, unable to help herself.

Under the powerful spray of the water moments later, as Ben lathered shampoo into her hair and massaged her skull, Lia was glad she was facing away from him so he couldn’t see her face. Because suddenly she felt bereft. It was Sunday evening and their weekend was almost over.

She’d left him behind in Bahia because she’d known that he’d slid under her skin...and now? Lia closed her eyes, as if that could help block out the suspicion that sliding under her skin was only the half of it. She was afraid she’d lost a whole lot more than a piece of her soul to Ben Carter.

He turned her around then and she kept her eyes closed, desperately telling herself, as his clever hands explored her slick body, that this was just lust clouding her brain and making her think crazy things.

For a moment she felt almost angry—that he’d managed to seduce her soul as well as her body so easily. Damn the man. She’d never wanted to go the way of her father—crippled by rejection. Not that Ben would even reject Lia—oh, no, she couldn’t imagine him being so crass. He would do it with a silky touch and a devastating kiss and leave her reeling, wondering what had just happened...