‘Well, we’re here,’ Eva said, slightly anxiously, he thought as they reached the entrance to his home.
The customary duo of men with earpieces and suspicious bulges beneath their jackets was leaning back against the wall. He nodded to them. They nodded to him. He didn’t pause to speak. There was something he couldn’t wait to do, and he didn’t need an audience for that.
‘What are you doing?’ Eva gasped as he swung her round and backed her against the door as soon as he had let them both in. ‘Where’s the butler?’ she added nervously, gazing about.
He laughed. ‘Only you could worry about the butler at a time like this. If you want a drink, I’ll get it for you,’ he added huskily.
‘I don’t want a drink.’
She was a little breathless, a little flushed. She was perfect. ‘I think I prefer this new, bashful Eva—’
‘As opposed to the old grouch I used to be?’ she cut in, giving him one of her wry smiles. ‘Just because we’ve had a nice supper, doesn’t give you the right to insult me.’
‘But it does give me the right to kiss you.’
‘Says who?’ she said, frowning a warning at him.
‘Says me. And don’t worry,’ he added dryly. ‘You can be as uninhibited as you like. I gave the staff the night off.’
Arrogant, her narrowed eyes told him. ‘I’ve heard something like that before,’ she said.
‘And as I remember, you weren’t too displeased with the outcome.’
‘Ah,’ she murmured as he brushed her mouth with his.
‘Shall we go inside and continue this in greater comfort?’ he suggested.
‘Yes, why don’t we do?’
His senses roared. One moment she was the innocent, and the next Eva was like no other woman he had ever known. There was only one certainty and that was that he wanted her. And this time she wouldn’t say no. He deepened the kiss and she softened against him. He closed his arms around her and she pressed her body into his. His erection thrust against her. She moved a little, and then with more confidence, taking her pleasure from him. He cupped the back of her head and laced his fingers in her wild, silky hair. She groaned deep in her throat in response. He lifted her and carried her the rest of the way to his bedroom, and when she saw that his bed faced the lights of the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows, she gasped.
‘No history lessons now,’ he warned as he lay her carefully down on the bed.
‘I hope you’re going to join me?’ she said.
‘I’ve got nowhere else to go.’
Laughing, she reached out for him. ‘Am I ever going to knock that arrogance gene out of your system?’
‘I doubt it,’ he murmured, starting on her zip.
Kicking her shoes off, she pushed the jacket from his shoulders and unbuttoned his shirt. He shrugged it off, and by the time he’d slung it on a chair and turned around she’d taken off her dress. He moved back to the bed, and she reached for the buckle on his belt. Unfastening it, she freed it from the loops and then reached for the button above his zipper. They did that at the same moment and their fingers tangled. They laughed, and he left her to it. He stood in low-slung boxers staring down at the woman on his bed, wondering how he ever got so lucky.
‘Are we overdressed?’ she queried, putting a cheeky finger beneath her chin as she stared up at him.
‘You definitely are,’ he said, viewing her bra and pants.
‘And you’re not,’ she said, hooking her fingers into the waistband of his boxers. ‘Do you have something in that nightstand to rectify that situation?’
‘Might have.’
He sat on the edge of the bed, toying with her hair. He didn’t want to rush a moment of this. Tiny auburn curls framed her face and a fan of gold-red hair cascaded across his snow-white pillows. She looked like a promise and a dream all wrapped in one. And, hell no. He was not a born-again romantic. It was simply a fact.
* * *
She wanted him so much and this felt so right that all the fear had left her. Their previous disastrous encounter had faded into oblivion. She had changed and so had he. Roman had deepened. He had revealed more about himself, so she knew now that he was more than a warrior in business, or an irresistible sexual animal—he was a man like any other with all the same struggles and flaws, and that was what made him perfect.
She felt close to Roman in a way she had never felt close to anyone before. But she needed to be closer still. She longed to be one with him. This wasn’t a whim, or a need to prove she could overcome her fears or even a memory to lock away of one night with an incredible man. Her feelings went so much deeper than that. It was something she couldn’t put a name to, unless she called it love. And yes, she was taking an incredible risk with a man who had always laid his cards on the table. She was risking her heart and her pride and her future happiness, but none of that mattered. Nothing added up to this. Only Roman making love to her was important now. Nothing else came close.