Perfect Strangers

‘TLC,’ she whispered.

‘I need to get beaten up more often,’ he chuckled, then winced, holding his side.

‘Should I call a doctor?’ she said, hating to see him in so much pain.

‘Nah, I’ve been roughed up worse than that back in Edinburgh.’ He smiled.

She sat down on the bed next to him.

‘I don’t understand. Why did they let us go?’

Josh shrugged.

‘If they saw us at Miriam Asner’s, maybe they assumed we were being tracked. I bet Sergei and Uri are in enough trouble without having the SEC seeing us going into the Kaskov compound alive, then turning up dead the next day. Besides, they probably think they might still need us.’

Dead. Sophie’s mind jumped back to that scene by the pool and she reached for his hand.

‘Josh, I thought they were going to kill you,’ she said, her voice cracking.

‘Hey, come on,’ he said. ‘I’m tough as old boots.’

‘We shouldn’t have gone to see Sergei; it was so stupid.’

‘We had to, Soph,’ said Josh. ‘Those guys would have kept coming after us until they got what they wanted. Now they have it, we’re safer than we were.’

‘I guess. But now they can find the money and none of Asner’s victims will ever see a penny of it. It’s all going to go on Sergei Kaskov’s polo ponies and manicures.’

Josh gave a weary laugh.

‘Sorry,’ he said more seriously. ‘I’ve let you down.’

She shook her head.

‘No you haven’t.’

‘But you wanted the money.’

‘Not for myself,’ she said firmly. ‘I wanted the money for the old guy who lost his life savings. I wanted it for the family who lost their children’s college fees, I wanted it for all those people who worked really, really hard and thought they were doing the right thing to safeguard it by investing it. I didn’t even want it for my dad. He shouldn’t have hidden it, whatever reasons he had.’

Sophie paused for a moment.

‘You know,’ she said softly, ‘when we lost everything, I really thought my world had fallen apart. I actually cried when the Mulberry bags went to the dress agency and I was almost inconsolable when I had to leave my Chelsea flat. I was a spoilt little bitch.’ She gave an embarrassed grin.

‘I can’t say that the Asner scam was the best thing that ever happened to me, but having money made me think I was happy when really I wasn’t. People think money is security, it’s freedom, and for many people I guess it is. But for me, it was just insulation. I was drifting. I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t think I was good at anything – I can see that now. If you need designer bags and exotic holidays to be happy, then I’m not sure that counts as really being happy.’

Josh looked at her for a long moment.

‘So what does make you happy?’ he asked.

‘You.’

The word hung in the air between them, but Josh didn’t move. What’s stopping you? she pleaded silently, wondering whether she had read the signals completely wrong. But I couldn’t have, could I? And then he reached for her, his hand brushing her cheek, his fingertips barely touching her skin, the most tender thing she had ever felt. He moved closer, and she began to babble.

‘We should phone the SEC,’ she said. His lips brushed hers and then pulled away teasingly. ‘Tell them everything we know,’ she added, her voice trailing off into a moan. And suddenly he was kissing her – urgently, passionately. She could taste blood on the corner of his lip and wanted to be gentle with him, but her desire was as strong as his. Her whole body ached for him. Unable to wait any longer, she lifted her dress over her head as he snaked his arms around her back to unfasten her bra. Her breasts sprang free, and he pressed himself against her, taking her head in his hands, planting soft kisses on her lips as if he were drinking her in like sweet nectar he had been long denied.

‘You are so beautiful,’ he growled, his voice full of desire, and Sophie pulled him in to her harder, smiling. She felt on fire, every nerve ending alight, every sense, taste, touch, smell heightened, her lust making her dizzy. She reached down to unbuckle his belt, impatiently tugging his trousers down and off, wanting, caring for nothing but to feel him inside her.

Josh couldn’t wait either. They fell on to the bed and he spread her thighs, pulling her sheer panties to one sid