Inescapable

”Luck.”

She shook her head. ”You made me feel so alive. I’ll never forget that.”

“I’ll never forget it either…or this.” He leant in and kissed her, his mouth brushing over hers so tantalisingly, so inquisitively, that her hand instinctively stole around his neck, drawing him closer and opening them both up to it. He responded by tangling his fingers in her hair, locking her to the moment. It made her melt into him, her hands learning him, her body arching to brush against his while it lasted and lasted.

“Longed to do that,” he murmured hoarsely when they drew apart, and she realised they hadn’t kissed properly before.

He inhaled deeply and stretched happily, like a man reprieved. Stunned, Lily eyed him, admiring him. He was fit—not muscular like Seth was, but lean and wiry like a long distance runner—and there was a welcome tinge of amusement glinting in his expression since the night before. He was so much more relaxed than he had been.

That meant it was a good thing, right? Doubts assailed her. This experience was like nothing that had ever happened to her before, in so many ways. Last night’s action had been out of the blue, and whilst it had felt right at the time she wasn’t so sure now and felt horribly insecure about it. “I didn’t think it would happen the way it did, I must confess.”

She wanted to know if he was upset about Seth’s involvement.

“Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.” He pursed his lips, then shifted and shook his head, rolling his eyes. “You

were so bloody hot.”

Pleasure burned in her, and she wriggled against him. “No I wasn’t!”

“You were. I wanted you, always wanted you, but when I came round and I saw you leaning over me, wow. And then my bloody leg gave out. Just as well Seth was there to pick up the slack and show you a good time. I couldn’t have made you that happy on my own.”

Lily was amazed. Did he really think that? “Men!”

“Men what?”

“Always thinking of the physical practicalities.”

“Yeah. We have to keep our end up, keep the ladies happy.” He was smiling and he toyed with her hair while she snuggled against his shoulder on the pillow. “I have to say I feel a hell of a lot less guilty about you being stuck here now, because you enjoyed yourself so much last night.”

Was that why? Guilt?

“Please don’t feel guilty. This situation wasn’t anything you did on purpose, but you’re right, last night was special.” She sighed loudly. “Thing is, Seth forced us to break the ice. It was hard to get it out in the open. How difficult would it have been for just the two of us?”

“We’ll never know.”

She glanced back at him, unsure. “You really didn’t feel bad about Seth getting involved? I did think he was you when I kissed him, back in London.”

He studied her intently before he replied. What did that mean? Guilt stole into her heart again, making it ache. She didn’t plan it, not any of it. It just happened that way, and he had encouraged it, after all. If anyone pushed it along, it was him. But maybe he was reacting to what she’d said, and regretted that now? Either way, she didn’t want him to feel slighted in any way. She liked him, a lot. A heck of a lot.

“Lily, stop fretting. I wouldn’t change last night for the world. To be able to see you like that and learn how you like to be touched, and then what you did, the way you went down on me…you blew my head off, lady.”

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, unsure how to respond. The truth of it was she had got carried away on the moment, on the dynamic between the three of them. Adrian had pressed all the right buttons, and Seth had played into it without reserve. Unleashed, her libido had rolled with every delicious moment.

“I kept thinking you’d do a runner when you met me,” Adrian continued. “In fact it’s kind of fortuitous for me that you can’t actually leave,” he teased.

“AW, you’re even more devious than I thought you were.”

He winked. “Yeah, well, it obviously takes two men to handle a woman like you.”

She prodded him in the chest with one finger. “Not at all. That was a surprise, if I had just met you, we’d have been fine, I’m sure we would.”

“You think so?” Curiosity mixed with the humour in his eyes. He obviously didn’t believe her, but he seemed quite chilled with the Seth angle.

“I think so.” Their eyes locked, and something unfurled inside her, that thing she hadn’t dared think about too much when she’d gone to meet him. She could grow to care for this man, deeply. On the surface he was so level-headed, and yet that hidden streak revealed itself when she was already throwing caution to the wind. How could he make her feel safe and yet out of control at the very same time?

“You pushed me on last night, you can’t deny that.”

“I’m not trying to deny it. It was the best thing in the world, especially after all that…waiting, the perpetual hard-ons you gave me.”