‘Can you really leave it at just one night?’ The question slid out of him—and wasn’t at all an example of the cool way he’d planned to play it.
Her brows lifted. ‘One night was all I needed.’
Never. ‘What about what I needed?’
‘Oh, Seth,’ she answered slowly. ‘You’ve got a zillion other options to get your needs met.’
True, but that wasn’t the point. ‘Maybe I don’t want other options. I want you to meet my needs.’ He frowned, struck by a nightmare thought. ‘Have you got other options?’
‘No,’ she snapped right back. ‘But maybe I don’t have the same level of need as you.’
He laughed—hard—before thinking better of it. ‘No, we both know your needs are way greater than mine.’
Her jaw became more defined, her chin pointier. ‘You’ve got the wrong impression.’
‘I don’t think so.’
She might be gritting her teeth and his balls ought to be frozen by the dry ice steaming from her eyes, but he was committed now. He saw her bite harder on her lip.
‘Relax, Lena.’ He took her hand and smoothed his fingers across her cold knuckles. ‘Tense doesn’t suit you.’ He knew what did.
‘I’m not tense.’
Her pulse slammed into his fingertips, fast and furious. Her wanting—her not wanting to want. He didn’t really want to want her quite like this, either, but he wasn’t as into denial as she was. Surely she knew if they gave into it, it would go away. It always did. He glanced down and saw she’d curled one foot around her other leg, so she was standing in a weird flamingo kind of way. Totally closed off, with her toes curled in the ends of her sandals. Toe curling was a good sign, wasn’t it? Toe curling meant she was holding something back. Satisfaction made him smirk but she saw and jerked her wrist free.
‘You know, you’re supposed to be highly intelligent, but the most boneheaded rugby boy has got it before you. I’m saying no.’
‘I am highly intelligent,’ he answered patiently. ‘So I can see straight through what you’re trying to do.’
‘Oh, what do you think that is?’
‘You’re playing me, keeping me dangling on your string.’
‘You think I want you on my string?’ she muttered. ‘Your arrogance is something else.’
‘Yeah, but I’m right. Women like to manipulate. You play hardest to get when you want it most, as if somehow it’s wrong to want it so badly and putting up a fight makes it more acceptable.’ He moved closer, needing to be near. ‘But there’s something about a woman who’s honest about wanting it, and who wants it as much as I do. Be honest with me again, Lena.’
‘You’re wrong,’ she said firmly, her ice-chipped eyes unwavering. ‘Not all women play those kinds of games. I don’t. I mean what I say.’
‘But a massive part of you doesn’t want to say it.’ Her toe curling was giving it away. He hoped.
‘You think?’ She glared at him, her ice dissolving in anger. ‘You’re actually a no-means-yes, take-it-willing-or-not brute?’
‘You can try to be as insulting as you like but it isn’t going to work.’ He grinned. ‘You can’t manipulate me into getting angry and walking away.’ He’d literally fought to learn to control his emotions—it took a hell of a lot for him to give way to anger now. And he was miles off angry at the moment, more like amused. Her lashes lowered and he waited expectantly, eager to see her next move.
‘It’s all about the game for you, isn’t it?’ She peeped a look back up.
He smiled because she couldn’t resist that little look. And, yeah, she had his number, but he’d get hers, too. He’d tease it out. ‘I don’t think you can deny this, Lena. You were so hot the other day you exploded at first touch. How long had you been on the boil?’ He angled his head, leaning closer, deliberately trying to bait her because it was working. ‘I don’t actually think it’s me. Clearly working around all this testosterone gets you het up and after a while your safety valve blows. Best it blows with someone like me rather than one of those boys, though, right? You wouldn’t want to get messy in the workplace, would you?’
She went pale. Seth’s radar zeroed in. Oh, that was interesting—was that why she was so stand-offish with the team? She’d once had a messy office affair? His curiosity raged. Yeah, there was the thing. This wasn’t just about getting her back into bed; he wanted to know all about her. Most of all he wanted to know what else would make her laugh.
Lena drew breath and forced history back to the past. Seth thought she’d been horny from hanging with the rugby guys? He was crazy. Those boys were beautiful, but they didn’t light her fire. It was all him. Something in him called to her, something she feared was more than skin deep. But she was happy to let him keep his wholly wrong idea. The sass only Seth sparked bubbled up and she leaned forward, reckless. ‘It’s a once-a-year thing,’ she whispered. ‘Can you hang on that long?’
‘Once a year?’ He laughed, predatory sharpness defining his features once more. ‘You haven’t a hope in lasting that this time. You’re still thermonuclear.’
She pulled back, putting both feet down to stand her ground. ‘And you’re delusional.’
‘No.’ He shook his head slowly. His lashes lifted and the azure-blue eyes gleamed at her thoughtfully. ‘What I am is honoured.’
‘I’m sorry?’ He’d lost her totally now.
‘An annual event at most,’ he said, utterly serious. ‘Given you were worried you’d forgotten how, I’m honoured that you picked me the other night. And as it was such a rare experience for you, I take it to be a real privilege. And a compliment.’
She ground her teeth. ‘The other day you were making out like I was in here getting the entire team off.’
He nodded. ‘Amazing how wrong that first impression was, huh?’ He sidled closer with a snaky smile. ‘What was your first impression of me?’
‘That you’re an arrogant jerk.’
‘See?’ He beamed widely. ‘So wrong.’
She stared at him for a second and then couldn’t help but laugh. Her chuckle deepened as the tension eased. It felt good. ‘You’re…you’re…’
‘Ready when you are,’ he quipped. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’
She kept shaking her head but couldn’t pull back her smile. ‘Incorrigible. Unrepentant. Impossible. Please give up.’ She really meant that.
‘I can’t believe you’re asking me to.’ He dropped his joking manner and moved back in on her, closer than before.
Her skin tingled, threatening to burst all over with goose bumps. Oh, he was good. Temptation shook her foundations.
‘Yes,’ he whispered, stepping closer and holding her gaze captive.
Was he saying yes for the both of them?
She swallowed, but she couldn’t stop her honesty. ‘Okay, I won’t deny I’m attracted to you. But it’s more intelligent to walk away.’ And she was so determined to do the intelligent thing, the right thing for her this time.
‘How can that possibly be more intelligent? You know it’ll be good.’
‘I told you.’ Her chest ached while her belly burned. ‘Too much of a good thing leaves you feeling bad.’
‘So we won’t have too much, then.’ He shrugged. ‘Just a little more.’
It wouldn’t work that way for her. She’d fall quickly, deeply, uselessly. It would take nothing to fall hard for Seth.
‘Look at me,’ he said quietly, but with an undertone that made her nerves screech. ‘Just for a second.’
Seth really needed to see into her eyes to try to fathom what she was thinking. Except when he did he still had no bloody idea.
‘I don’t want to have a fling with you,’ she said softly.
He paused, knew he had to be honest with her. ‘Lena, I’m a lifetime off marriage.’
Her eyes flashed. ‘I’m not exactly painting the nursery, either.’
‘Okay, but let me tell you why I’m not.’