She swallowed, suddenly burning with all kinds of emotion.
‘I can’t believe you think so little of me—like I’d do that?’ He pushed down on the mattress, making her bounce the once. ‘What’s worse is that you think so little of yourself, because you’d actually put up with that.’
She was so livid she went light-headed. ‘You kissed me as a total stranger and we had sex after a bare ten minutes of talking,’ she snarled.
‘And we both know that’s not something you usually do, so why can’t it be something I don’t usually do, too?’
She stared up at him, furiously waiting for him to answer that one all by himself.
‘Okay, maybe I’ve not been as celibate as you in recent months,’ he growled. ‘But I want you and no one but you and I respect both of us enough to keep it that way until those feelings change. I’m not going to lie to you and I sure as hell expect the same from you. No other women, no other men. Agreed?’
‘Fine,’ she snapped back.
Seth was rock hard and overwhelmed by a primitive urge to conquer her completely. So that when she wanted, when she begged, it would be only him she begged for. Never any other man. He hated the idea of her with someone else. Never had he felt possessiveness bite so deep. Damn it, he wanted to know what the hell was going on in her head.
He lunged forward, throwing the weight of his body over hers so she couldn’t escape. He grabbed her wrists, lifting them high above her head so her breasts were thrust up and she was back at his mercy. He looked down at her rich, vulnerable curves and took a second to debate just how he was going to make her pay.
He felt it ripple in her body. Her response rising to equal his. Her legs parted; he felt her curl one around his hips, trapping him as much as he’d trapped her.
Oh, yes, while he imprisoned her with his hands and weight, she imprisoned him with her legs—and then her sex. She arched quickly, her legs clamping, sheathing him wholly and holding him tight. And then she moved—furiously milking him for the pleasure she wanted. Thirsty, hedonistic, wanton.
His challenge to answer, and heaven help him, he loved it.
The tone changed as the exquisite sensations neutralised anger and enhanced nothing but that sublime need. He told her exactly what he wanted and she purred right back at him—what she wanted, how she wanted, now. Their words slapped together as explicitly as their bodies were. Hot, rough, honest.
Her demands drove him harder, further inside her silken web. Fast, breathless, beautiful. Until finally Seth saw her down and made her scream as he savagely poured his whole strength into her—the woman who was as wild, as proud and as playful as he.
CHAPTER NINE
WHEN Lena woke she couldn’t bear to turn and face Seth for a moment as she remembered all the things they’d said and done through the night. At his wicked insistence, she’d expressed every single one of her most secret, physical desires. Desires she’d never dared whisper aloud even to herself before. He’d met her need, matched it and made the reality so much better than fantasy. And now? Now there were even more fantasies.
But she was older, wiser, stronger than the naïve girl she’d been eighteen months ago. She now knew sex didn’t equal love. And having sex wouldn’t make someone fall in love with you. It didn’t work that way. Seth was an extremely generous, adventurous lover but his determination to fulfil her every sensual desire meant nothing more. And while her non-exclusive offer might have been a mistake, he was still a sophisticate. He was not the let’s-get-married long-term kind of guy. She had to hold on to that. She had to protect her heart. But, oh, she couldn’t say no to this fling now.
For the next few days Seth steered clear of her as much as he could at the stadium. But the second that Andrew had loaded the boys back into the van and driven them off to their homes, he was in his car, impatiently waiting for her to join him. He took her out to dinner—traded stories, jokes, and tried to break through the barriers that he knew were still there.
He might be back in her bed but it wasn’t enough. An uneasy hunger remained. He decided the best way to deal with it was to be with her the entire weekend—the best way of getting to know her more, the best way to get rid of the desire that still crunched his bones at the mere thought of her. So on Friday night he took her to his apartment. The big space he liked to keep to himself. But this was necessary.
He scooped up the pile of guff that had been posted through the slot in the door over the past few days and that now blocked their access to the stairs leading to his loft. He’d only raced in each day to grab clean clothes and then headed to the stadium, gone to her house each night. But bringing her here now made him feel as if he could control the duration—he figured she couldn’t kick him out of his own apartment.
‘You get the newspaper delivered?’ She chuckled, watching him balance the fat rolls of newsprint and the advertising circulars and lead the way upstairs. ‘You don’t read it online?’
‘You can’t do the crossword online,’ he answered with mock horror. ‘Not the same.’
The husky note in her laugh deepened.
Stupidly happy, he got to the top floor and dumped the armload of papers and circulars straight in the bin by his worktable. He wasn’t going to have the time to go near any crossword in the next few hours.
‘Wait, there’s a letter tucked in with that.’ She reached down past him and pulled out the envelope.
Seth frowned. Most of his mail came electronically and what didn’t went to his business address. He glanced at the writing. Damn. He took it from her, trying to keep casual. It wasn’t the first, but he’d hoped the woman would have got the message. Because he’d never opened her past notes and he wasn’t going to now.
Lena was watching him. He realised he’d been quiet too long.
‘I get a lot of begging letters.’ He dismissed it, tossed the thing back in the bin. And that was exactly what it would be. His father’s wife wanting money. He saw Lena’s gaze linger on it and he kicked the bin further under the table.
‘So.’ He turned his back on old history to take advantage of a far more enjoyable moment. ‘Wanna see my bedroom?’
Her smile went wicked. ‘What, you’ve got no flatmates to introduce me to?’
Of course he damn well didn’t. Looking at him, she laughed. Because of course she damn well knew it.
He hauled her into his arms and marched to his bedroom. Planned to keep her with him until he was bored. Surely it wouldn’t take that long? He’d always got bored by spending too much time with one girl before. Pretty quickly, too. But despite seeing her every day and night for the best part of a week already, he was so very far from bored. He set her on her feet, watched her turn to face him with her head high and her eyes gleaming. Definitely not bored, he was right back to spellbound.
‘Lie down.’ She stood proudly, seeming to size both the bed and him up.
He sent her a long look letting her know that whatever he did would be his decision, not her order. But he now understood that she had a real need to feel as if she was in charge of their affair. He just wished she’d trust him enough to tell him why. Then he might admit to her that he didn’t think it was within either of their control any more. But she already had a condom in her hand, so he figured that conversation could wait a few minutes yet.
He let her ride him slow, smoothed down her back with the heels of his hands and watched her arch to meet his touch. He adored her lush enjoyment. She was fearless of their physical passion at least. She muttered his name again and again, her rhythm lifting. He cupped her breasts, coasted a caress down to her narrow waist, dying inside as she rocked and twisted. Oh, she knew how to squeeze and tease him. He couldn’t think, couldn’t resist a fierce thrust up, taking her hips in a tight grip and urging her faster and harder.
‘Oh.’ She complied with his guidance—so much faster and harder than he’d dreamed. ‘Seth!’
He really needed to silence her because every time her husky voice sounded he wa
s shoved another metre to the edge. But in a heartbeat and a hiss he was submerged in hot, wet flames of ecstasy. It was for ever before he realised that the long groan of delight was his.
As he blinked he felt her shaking. He pulled her close and breathed heartfelt thanks she’d come the second after he had. Only, in that actual second, he’d been too out of it to know and he didn’t want to miss out on seeing and feeling her that way.
He flipped her over and spread her legs, sliding down and sucking so the sensations within her wouldn’t stop. He reached up to cup her breasts again, palming her tightly budded nipples while he ate her hot, wet sweetness. He teased with his lips and tongue, couldn’t get enough. He wanted it to go on and on—this tension that put her at his mercy.
She twisted, screaming his name, shuddering as she gave in. Her shoulders lifted, her hands clawing air, as he wrung her passion free. He loved her ability to slide from one orgasm to the next. He loved to see just how far he could push her. But he still couldn’t seem to get as close as he wanted.
In the morning Lena pulled herself out of his bed and went in search of food. She found bread and toasted some. Seth wandered out and snagged a piece from her plate and refilled the toaster as he ate. Munching, she walked around the giant open-plan room. She liked his apartment. It was in the old industrial side of the inner city—a number of bars and boutique fashion shops had opened post-earthquake, fairy lights strung through the narrow lanes that had once been back entrances to big, dirty warehouses, art installations filled spaces between reconstruction. She knew he was responsible for much of the redevelopment. His personal space was very hip, very big and very sparse. Other than the sofa and a big table and some chairs, there wasn’t other furniture. And while he did have the obligatory boy toys of stereo and computer, games console, there was one obvious gadget missing.