‘Why not?’ Hannah asked. ‘Georgie would love it, wouldn’t you, Georgie?’
‘Um … I …’
‘I bet you’d love to have a ride on one of our horses,’ Hannah said. ‘And Ben could show you around some of the vineyards in the area.’
‘It sounds lovely but—’
‘It’s not like it’s a date or anything,’ Hannah said. ‘Anyway, it’s me inviting you, not Ben, so how about it?’
‘It’s a lovely offer, Hannah,’ Georgie said, ‘but I think I’m on call next weekend.’
‘What about the one after that?’ Hannah asked hopefully.
‘I’m sure Georgie has a hectic social life in the city. No doubt a weekend in the country would be far too boring for her,’ Ben put in as he examined the menu.
‘On the contrary, I can think of nothing better than a weekend in the country,’ Georgie said, sending a reproachful look in his direction.
‘Well, that’s settled, then,’ Hannah said dusting her hands as if a particularly difficult mission had just been accomplished. ‘The weekend after next it is.’
‘Thank you for dinner,’ Georgie said later that evening as Ben walked her to the entrance to her apartment while Hannah waited in the car, busily texting a friend on her mobile phone. ‘I had a wonderful time.’
He gave her a wry smile. ‘Thank you for putting up with my sister’s not-too-subtle attempts to find me a wife. I hope you weren’t too embarrassed.’
‘Not at all,’ she said, feeling her cheeks grow warm as his dark blue gaze rested on her face.
The silence began to stretch, second by second, the air starting to crackle with tension as Georgie found her eyes slowly but inexorably drifting towards his mouth. His lips were so tempting she wanted to stand on tiptoe and press her mouth against them, to stroke the tip of her tongue across the seam of his mouth, to push in and find the sexy rasp of his. She felt her heels start to come up off the floor, her body tilting towards him, her eyelashes starting to come down.
The first brush of her mouth against his sent shooting sparks of heat right through Ben’s body. He felt it in every limb, vein and artery. His groin leapt to attention, his heart ramming against his chest as his tongue met hers as he took over the kiss.
He had kissed a lot of women in his time but never had he kissed a woman with as much passion as Georgie. She didn’t just kiss with her mouth—she kissed with her whole body. He could feel it pressed up against him, her breasts crushed to his chest, her legs between the brace of his, her arms flung around his neck to keep his mouth on hers, her hot, dancing little tongue duelling with his. He relished the taste and feel of her, the energy of her body awakening the sleeping dragon of need he had suppressed for so long. Hot tongues of flame licked through him, scorching him inside and out, making him so hard he couldn’t think about anything but getting her to the nearest flat surface so he could drive himself into her honeyed warmth.
‘I shouldn’t be doing this,’ he groaned as he pulled his mouth off hers to nibble on the soft skin of her neck.
‘Neither should I,’ she whispered back huskily as she gently nipped at his bottom lip, her tongue flicking where her teeth had caught him. ‘I’m not supposed to dating.’
‘This wasn’t a date,’ he said returning to her mouth to press a series of kisses to its cushioned surface. ‘We just went out to dinner with my kid sister as chaperone.’
Georgie kissed his lips once, twice, three times. ‘Maybe we should stop now.’
‘Yeah,’ he said, and, smothering a groan, crushed her mouth beneath his again.
‘Ahem.’ The sound of someone clearing their throat came from the front door of the apartment block.
Georgie sprang out of Ben’s arms, her cheeks going pink when she saw Rhiannon looking at her with her arms folded reprovingly.
‘It’s not what you think,’ Georgie began.
Rhiannon ignored her to introduce herself to the tall, silent figure standing to one side. ‘Hi, I’m Georgie’s flatmate, Rhiannon Taylor.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Rhiannon,’ he said politely, offering her a hand. ‘Ben Blackwood.’
‘I’ve heard a lot about you,’ Rhiannon said with a cryptic smile.
‘I hope it wasn’t all bad,’ Ben said with a little glance in Georgie’s direction.
‘On the contrary, it was all good,’ Rhiannon said. ‘Jules Littlemore, your intern, is a friend of mine, and Georgie’s, too, actually. Jules has told me how much he enjoys working with you.’
‘It was kind of him to say so,’ Ben answered. ‘He’s a hard worker.’ He pushed a hand through his hair and added, ‘I’d better be going. Hannah’s probably run out of friends to text by now. Nice to meet you, Rhiannon.’