She felt a desperation in his kiss she’d not felt before. A possessiveness that reached out and wound around her heart, pulling her closer. Closer.
When he at last pulled away they were both gasping for air. ‘I’ve wanted to do that all day.’ His voice was a husky echo of her earlier words. He rubbed a warm hand over the swell of her suddenly full breasts. Then both hands. Shoving the jersey up and curling his fingers over the top of her bra to find her tightly puckered nipples.
‘And I want to go on doing it all night.’ He lowered his mouth to her breasts. ‘Let me stay with you.’
The words were an aphrodisiac, her body already humming in anticipation, but she didn’t answer straight away. Her head lolled back against the headrest as his teeth teased and nibbled, as the faint pinprick of stubble rasped her skin. ‘You shaved after work tonight to meet my parents.’
‘Yes.’ His tongue swirled around the tips, leaving moisture that cooled in the air. ‘So I deserve to stay.’
‘It’s a single bed—too small for both of us.’
‘We’ll manage.’ He lifted his head, straightened her clothing and sat up. Yanked his tie to one side and slipped the top button free. Then he cradled her face in his palms, raw hunger in his eyes. ‘Say yes, Kate.’
She knew he wasn’t for ever; he’d always been up front about that. But he’d done his best this evening to be the man he thought her parents expected him to be. Why? Had it mattered to him how they saw him, what they thought of him? As her boss, or a partner? And he’d looked so horribly uncomfortable in his suit with the roses and wine.
He’d done it for her.
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
She’d never had a man in this bedroom, never expected to. So she’d decorated it in pink and white and delicate furnishings. She might be thirty, but her little girl’s bedroom was something she’d never had growing up. She’d shared with Rosa and it had been utilitarian white with navy quilts, ugly gold carpet and dark second-hand furniture.
She paused at the door. ‘It’s a bit girly.’
‘I won’t be looking at the room,’ he muttered, already dragging his tie off as he pressed his lips to her neck. He dropped it on the floor, and followed her through the doorway. Darkness enfolded them in its velvet embrace, intimacy surrounded them.
‘Lights,’ he said, his voice rough with desire. ‘I want to see the woman I’m going to make love with.’
She felt her way to the bedside lamp and switched it on. A rosy light warmed the slight chill in the room, or was it Damon’s own heat radiating across the space between them?
A couple of heart-thumping moments later they were naked and breast to chest, thigh to thigh on her rose-sprigged sheets. The lamp’s peachy glow darkened his eyes to deep emerald and painted his tanned skin a healthy bronze.
‘God, I’ve missed you like this,’ he muttered in her ear as he slid inside her with a groan of pleasure.
Her moan of desire echoed his. ‘Same here.’
His lips meshed with hers, his tongue demanding entry inside and she opened to him with a whimper. He tasted of Mum’s tiramisu and dark rich coffee, strength and passion. Easy to forget that today he’d been the impatient boss with a busy schedule and no time. Tonight he was all hers.
The feel of him deep inside, stroking the very essence of her being, swept her up with him to someplace magical where angel wings brushed her limbs and molten gold flowed through her veins.
Riding the peak of passion, she looked into his eyes and her heart seemed to grow and swell until there was no room for anything else. I love you.
And the wonder of that knowledge as she floated gently down while he watched her, his hair mussed and silhouetted against the light, his jaw tight… He slid down beside her in the narrow bed, tucking an arm around her waist and closed his eyes.
That was it? No pillow talk? She reached out to switch off the bedside lamp, leaving only the thin beam of a streetlight slicing between the curtains. A vague disappointment slid through her; they’d barely had time for any personal communication all week.
Was she imagining it or was he cooling off on their relationship? And yet he’d begged her to let him stay. Maybe begged was an exaggeration; she hadn’t put up much resistance. He’d gone to so much effort tonight—had her father put him off? Maybe he’d decided it wasn’t worth getting involved with a woman who came with conservative parents attached. Not to mention an extended family that defied counting.
He shifted slightly, but in the dimness she could see his closed eyes. The past few moments had been like a magical dream, but she forced herself to face reality. She loved him—fact number one. But loving him changed nothing—sooner or later this relationship would be over—fact number two. It was as inevitable as the sun rising tomorrow.