‘Are you getting cold feet?’ He shot her a crooked smile, reading her mind as though her thoughts had been written on her forehead, and that smile sealed her decision.
‘No. Tell me why it would matter if I was a virgin.’
‘You know me.’ And she did, strangely. They worked so closely together and, although their working relationship was still new, he had the feeling that she got him. ‘I’m not looking for...anything. It’s what I tell every single woman I have ever dated and it’s what I’m telling you now. Sex is a pleasurable pastime, but it’s not love and it’s not commitment, and it’s not...going anywhere... If you’re not experienced enough to take that on board...’ He shrugged but his dark eyes were glued to her face. ‘My...past experiences have not programmed me for any kind of commitment.’
‘I’m not a virgin,’ Alice told him abruptly. ‘And talking about this makes it feel like an arrangement.’
‘And that’s a bad thing because...?’
‘Because...’ She faltered, thinking of the right way to say what she wanted to say, and he stepped into the breach without hesitation.
‘Because you’re looking for romance?’
‘No! This is crazy. I’m going to go now. I should never have—’
Gabriel reached forward and circled her wrist with his hand and Alice shivered. Talking was a mood killer, whether it made sense or not. But that touch, the heat of his skin against hers, reminded her why she had stopped him in his tracks before he could enter his bedroom.
‘Come closer and I’ll show you why this might be crazy but why you shouldn’t walk away.’
Mesmerised, Alice leaned towards him and half-closed her eyes. His cool lips against hers sent an explosion through her. She slid trembling fingers through his hair and caressed his neck. She could hardly believe what she was doing.
Was this really her? She wasn’t a risk taker. Her life had been too unsteady for her to nurture the sort of devil-may-care attitude that encouraged spontaneous, careless behaviour. She was cautious, careful...
Yet she knew that she was about to take the biggest risk of her life in doing this and she didn’t want to stop.
She kissed him slowly, drowning in the sensuality of his tongue melding with hers. As she kissed him, eyes closed, she blindly traced the contours of his beautiful face with her fingers. The wrap had slid off her shoulders and his hands were moving along her collarbone.
He drew back and she looked at him, still dazed from sensations she had never felt before.
‘Undress for me, Alice...and don’t tell me that you can’t. Turn around. I’ll unzip you.’
‘I’ve never done a striptease before.’
‘I’ll show you how, in that case.’ He stood up and began undressing. Very slowly, watching her as she watched him, her mouth half-open, fascination oozing from every pore.
Did it get better than this? Gabriel couldn’t remember the last time he had been this turned on. She had the star-struck expression of a kid in a candy shop and it went to his head faster than a dose of adrenaline.
When his shirt was off, he began unzipping his trousers, and he grinned when she half-looked away, then looked back, then looked away again and finally returned her riveted gaze to his semi-clad body.
He was down to his boxers—dark-striped, silk boxers. Alice thought she might pass out. He had the highly toned body of an athlete: broad shoulders and a muscular torso that tapered down to a washboard-flat stomach and lean hips. Even in the most unforgiving of lights, he would still be beautiful.
Nerves gripped her.
What would he think of her? Was she opening herself up to humiliation? He might have waxed lyrical about finding her attractive, but it wouldn’t do to forget that he went for small, voluptuous women with big breasts.
He didn’t take off the boxers. Instead, he sat back down on the sofa and said with a wicked grin, ‘Have I set an acceptable benchmark?’
Alice unzipped her dress herself. It was a long zip and it slid smoothly apart. She took a deep breath and then un-looped first one shoulder, then the other.
Another deep breath then it was off, sliding to the ground, the cool air hitting her bare breasts. He had looked at her with gleaming self-confidence when he had removed his clothes. She had her eyes shut until she heard him warmly, unsteadily tell her to open them.
The gentleness in his voice was like the waving of a magic wand and in that instant she shed her nerves as smoothly and as easily as she had shed her beautiful Cinderella dress.
She walked towards him wearing only her lacy pink panties and breathed in sharply as his hands settled on her hips and he sat up so that he could trail delicate kisses over her flat stomach.