She set her teeth together and trembled. ‘Sex isn’t enough for me.’
‘I could make it enough,’ Roel informed her huskily.
‘I value myself more.’
‘Yet you didn’t four years ago. If I’d snapped my fingers then you would have come running.’
She was devastated by that crack. For an instant she was torn from the present and plunged back into the past. She had been so desperately in love with him and without hope. She had been young and foolish and she would have done just about anything to get a chance with him. To be forced to accept that he had known exactly how she felt then and yet still walked away from her was unbearably painful.
‘You bastard…’ she framed jaggedly. ‘You were attracted to me too but you wouldn’t do anything about it—’
‘I was too sensible—’
‘Too much of a snob,’ Hilary contradicted with wounded and angry blue eyes. ‘I bet if I’d been some spoilt little debutante you would have given me a spin!’
‘I’m not a snob. I have expectations in certain fields and I don’t apologise for them—’
‘You’re the guy who was born with an entire silver service in his mouth. All your life you have had the best and you looked at me and you felt the same attraction I did…I know you did!’ Hilary stressed in a mixture of furious and hurt accusation. ‘Because you admitted that to me while you had amnesia—’
‘I walked away because you couldn’t have handled me. You were too young—’
‘You walked away because you have a brain that functions like a deep freeze—’
‘Is that your definition of common sense?’ Roel drawled silkily.
‘—and because I didn’t fit the right image—’
‘You still don’t…yet here you are.’ Dark drawl razor-edged, Roel curved controlling hands to the shapely curve of her hips and drew her to him.
‘You think kissing me is somehow going to make me less furious with you?’ Hilary threw at him tempestuously.
He did it anyway. He crushed her soft mouth under his and then lingered to demand a greater response. He teased at the full curve of her lower lip and she shivered, abruptly leaning forward to brace her hands on his hard, muscular shoulders. He stopped teasing, hauled her close and plundered the tender interior of her mouth with driving explicit strokes that made the blood drum through her veins at an insane rate.
‘I can’t wait until seven tonight,’ Roel growled thickly, pausing to nip at the lobe of her ear with his teeth before burying his carnal mouth in the hollow of her neck.
‘Oh…’ In reaction to that contact, an incredibly erotic sensation darted through her and she snatched in a startled breath. He wasn’t supposed to be kissing her, she reminded herself. She was angry with him, she reminded herself. But she curled her nails like talons into the expensive fabric of his suit jacket and found his tempting masculine mouth again for herself.
Roel released the back zip on her dress and cool air washed her spine. She fought to catch her breath while the lace fabric shimmied down over her hips into a pool at her feet. ‘No…you can’t do that!’ Hilary gasped in shock.
‘Too late…’ Roel framed thickly.
Hilary whipped up her hands in a genuine effort to cover herself. She was in a panic. ‘We’re in a bank…any minute now someone might come through that door!’
‘It’s locked…we’re safe.’ With single-minded purpose, Roel tugged her hands back down to her side. He tipped back his handsome dark head to better appreciate the sight of her luxuriant curves embellished by a frivolous bra and panties. ‘But you’re not…’
As Hilary began to stoop to reach for her dress Roel lifted her up into his arms with easy strength. He brought her down on the desk and flipped loose the catch on her bra. ‘Roel!’
‘Irresistible…’ Roel surveyed the pouting perfection of her pink-tipped breasts and groaned out loud.
Smouldering golden eyes met hers and the raw hunger she saw there shook her. His uninhibited desire lit a fire inside her. He might not love her but his passion was very real. Emboldened, she angled up on one elbow and tugged him down to her by his silk tie.
Lean, strong face hard with male need, he vented a roughened Italian imprecation. ‘Inferno! You’re in my blood like a fever.’
He curved his hands to the ripe swell of her breasts, making her moan soft and low. He rubbed her tightly beaded nipples and she gasped in helpless response. Liquid heat started to gather at the apex of her thighs. He let his expert mouth wander at will across her sensitised flesh and all thought was suspended. Her hips gave a restive upward surge and he sank his hands beneath them to bring her even closer.
A phone began buzzing. He swore, reached behind her and the noise stopped. He laced long fingers into her hair, holding her to him while he drove her lips apart with the demanding force of his passion.
‘I want you,’ she muttered, snatching in a frantic shallow breath, her whole body thrumming with passionate need.