The Final Seduction

‘Because you were living with another man!’ he ground out incredulously. ‘What the hell did you expect—that I would walk in and drag you from his arms? Sorry, kitten, but that’s just not my style!’

She opened her mouth to answer, but found herself gazing helplessly at him instead. And the only thing which seemed to matter now was whether or not it was too late for them. ‘Drew?’ she managed eventually.

She read the look in his eyes which made her dare to hope, and then suddenly she was wrapped in his arms so tightly that she could barely breathe.

‘And please don’t ask me if I still love you,’ he whispered harshly, ‘when I never stopped! Though God knows it wasn’t for want of trying!’ And with that he brought his mouth crushing down on hers in a kiss that made her want to melt into him and never be prised apart.

It took some time for him to tear his mouth away, and when he did he cupped her face tenderly with his hands.

‘As for that woman you saw me with at the party—’

‘You don’t have to justify anything to me.’

He carried on as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘I knew you were there,’ he said softly.

Shelley stilled, still sensitive to the possibility of… betrayal? ‘Y-you saw me?’

‘Sure I did. I saw you watching her kiss me.’

‘You kissed her back!’ she accused.

‘I was a passive participant,’ he argued. ‘Not an active one.’

‘And you think that makes it all right?’

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t stop her—that was the extent of my involvement. But if you’d hung around you’d have discovered that I rejoined the party minutes later and wondered where you’d gone.’

‘You must have known damned well where I’d gone! That I couldn’t stay there seeing you with someone else!’

He nodded. ‘Yes, I knew what you must be thinking. I knew your mind must have been working overtime, as mine once did when I saw you with Marco. Don’t you realise, kitten, just how powerful the imagination can be? And how dangerous? That it can be both weapon and tool? That’s what I wanted to show you. All those times you shrugged your pretty shoulders and said, “Oh, Drew—it was just a kiss!” It’s never just a kiss! You’ve always thought that I completely overreacted all those years ago—but you’re guilty of exactly the same reaction, Shelley!’

He was right. She looked up at him, slightly shame-faced. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘I stormed out and took all that money out of the bank! I didn’t even think of Jamie, I’m ashamed to say. All I could think of was how much it would infuriate you!’

He nodded. ‘Both kisses were innocent—logic tells us that—but logic doesn’t have much of a role to play when it comes to love. Passion dominates logic.’ He gave her a long, searching stare. ‘And I think it’s about time we gave passion a little room in our lives, don’t you, kitten? It’s been waiting for long enough to come in.’

She grazed a finger across the rough, dark shadow of his chin. ‘You need a shave,’ she whispered.

‘I need more than a shave. I need you like I’ve never needed anything or anyone in my life before. But not here.’ He gave a slow smile that made her cheeks glow pink, then looked around the room. ‘I don’t want to stay here.’

‘Why not?’

‘Too many…memories. Come on.’ He took her hand and kissed it. ‘Let’s go home to bed.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE moon rose high in a sky of flawless navy velvet and silver light flooded in through the uncurtained window, illuminating the rumpled sheets and the two tangled bodies which lay amidst them.

Drew listened to the subsiding beat of her heart before he moved away so that she was at arm’s length. More importantly, so that he could see her.

‘So why didn’t you tell me, Shelley?’

She let her eyelids drift open and yawned. She wasn’t going to pretend not to know what he was talking about. ‘It’s a difficult topic to bring up. I couldn’t think of the right time.’

‘You could have told me any time. Especially before I…before we…’ Suddenly he couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off his face ‘…made love.’

She propped herself up on one elbow and raised her flushed face to his with a sleepy smile. ‘I didn’t want to tell you then.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it would have made too big a deal of it—’

‘Hell, Shelley—it is a big deal—or rather it’s supposed to be! Taking a woman’s virginity is one of the biggest—’ His mouth quirked when he saw her expression. ‘Stop it, will you? I’m trying to be serious! Do you want to tell me…just tell me how you’re still a virgin?’