‘If you were hired again you wouldn’t be liaising directly with me. Or Jake. Tonight was a one-off.’
‘I know that.’
‘Well, then, what’s the problem?’
‘I have to work this afternoon.’
‘What does that have to do with now?’ he asked, his gaze roaming slowly, sensuously, over her features. ‘All I’m suggesting is a kiss.’
Yeah, right. As if they’d stop at a kiss. As if she’d be able to. A kiss would be the beginning.
‘You have a reputation,’ she said, now beginning to sound as if she were clutching at straws, which she was because the longer she looked up into those mesmerising eyes, the more she was starting to forget her own name. He was overwhelming and she was floundering, drowning, way out of her league, her depth, her mind. And for someone who liked to be in control the knowledge that she wasn’t was deeply unsettling.
‘Doesn’t everyone?’
‘Yours is for being cold, ruthless and emotionally devoid.’ The opposite of everything she believed in, in fact, and somehow, somewhere in the dim recesses of her mind, that seemed important.
‘So?’
‘Doesn’t it bother you?’
‘No. Does it bother you?’
‘It doesn’t do anything to me,’ she said breathily. ‘You don’t do anything to me.’
‘Don’t I?’
She shook her head and swallowed and wondered dizzily why she was still here when it would be so easy to leave. ‘Not a thing.’
‘See, now you’ve bruised my ego.’
‘I dare say it’ll bounce back.’
‘I’ve no doubt it will. But in the meantime you make me want to prove you wrong.’
‘What are you?’ she said, her mouth bone dry and her heart pounding. ‘Twelve?’
‘Thirty-two.’
‘Old enough not to have to prove anything to anyone, I’d have thought.’
He inched closer, so close she could feel the heat of his body, smell the scent of his skin, and her breath caught. ‘True,’ he murmured, and ran a finger down her cheek, making her shiver and burn at the same time. ‘Nevertheless, before, when we were looking at each other and couldn’t stop, I saw the desire in your eyes. I heard the subtle change in your breathing and I saw the blush in your cheeks. I want you and you want me and I don’t see any point in denying it. Do you?’
Abby couldn’t speak. All she could do was shake her head because, oh, what the hell, he was right, there wasn’t any point at all. Not any more. Because he didn’t do anything to her? Who was she kidding? She was a wreck, practically quivering with need, and it was blindingly obvious why she wasn’t going anywhere.
‘Therefore the only question that remains,’ he continued in the same soft, seductive voice, ‘is, what do you want to do about it?’
Even though her head was spinning with great big warning signs Abby knew exactly what she wanted to do about it. She wanted to tackle him to the floor, tear his clothes off, and hers, and then spend what was left of the night getting hot and sweaty with him.
And honestly, it was way too late to pull back now because she wasn’t going anywhere and they both knew it. The time for fleeing had long gone. Kissing was inevitable. It had been since the moment they’d laid eyes on each other.
And as her resistance began to crumble beneath the force of the thrills that were racing through her Abby gave in. After all, it was only a kiss. What harm could come of a kiss? It wasn’t as if she’d never kissed anyone before, was it? She had, loads of times, and the world hadn’t stopped, so, honestly, what was she so worried about now? And what had she been doing thinking that one kiss would necessarily lead to something more? Of course it wouldn’t. She was made of strong stuff. She could easily walk away afterwards if she wanted to. Easily.
‘Oh, go on, then,’ she said huskily with a mock dramatic sigh as desire began to thunder through her. ‘If it really matters that much to you. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for your dented ego.’
‘Such enthusiasm,’ he murmured with a smile.
‘It’s sufferance.’