Luke hunched his shoulders up around his ears as he walked around the house and up the back stairs to the kitchen. Slipping into the room, he blew on his fingers and looked around the empty space. The kettle was on, and a teabag was in the mug next to it...
Luke stepped from the kitchen into the passageway and stood at the bottom of a second simple staircase. In the old days it had been the servants’ staircase, and as a boy the only one he’d ever used.
‘Hi.’
Luke looked up and saw Jess leaning on the short strip of banister on the first floor. ‘Hey. I was wondering if you’d like to have supper with me.’
Jess grinned. ‘What’s on the menu?’
‘Since you cook like a first-year uni student, you can’t afford to be picky,’ Luke told her. ‘Get down here and come see.’
Jess’s smile held enough energy to power a rainbow, Luke thought as she disappeared from view. Two seconds later she was at the top of the stairs and lifting her buttock onto the railing. ‘Jess—no!’
Luke instinctively moved to the end of the railing and held his breath as Jess flew down the railing and practically fell into his arms. Luke banded his arms around her and bent his knees to soften the impact of her slamming into him.
‘Whoomph...’ Jess muttered as they connected.
He held her as they swayed and regained their balance. Jess recovered before he did, because she flung her head back and her eyes sparkled with fun. Luke looked down at her and did what any hot-blooded man would do in the same situation. He kissed her. Hard and fast, with an already beating heart and elevated pulse. He kissed her without thought, backing her into the wall behind her, shoving his knee between her legs to widen hers, rubbing the inside of her thigh with his knee.
Oh, God, she felt amazing. Soft and supple, slim yet strong. Her perfect breasts were pressed against his chest, and he wondered if she realised that she’d tilted her hips, bringing her closer to him. Luke’s hand dipped into the loose space between her back and jeans—that special area above her butt. Her skin was baby-smooth, warm, tantalising... He wondered if she still wore a thong and dipped his hand to find out. Yep, there it was...a thin cord against achingly smooth feminine skin.
Luke shifted so that he was even closer to her—so close that he could feel the thump of her heart, catch those breathy little moans as he tangled his tongue with hers. The scent of her was clean and warm, the taste of her spicy-sweet—and he decided that he’d never been this hot, this quickly.
What was it about this woman that sent him from nought to three hundred miles in six seconds flat? She wasn’t the most beautiful woman he’d ever had his hands on, nor the most built. But she made him spark and then burn. He needed to have her, to taste her sweet mouth, see the brilliance of her eyes, the warmth of her smile. He wanted to see her in his bed, looking up at him, her body flushed with pleasure, legs around his waist, her eyes closing with pleasure.
He felt Jess’s sigh, her breath in his mouth, felt her hands flatten against his chest...
‘I want you,’ he muttered against her cheekbone, and heard the rough desire in his voice.
‘I know,’ she whispered back. ‘But it’s too soon. I can’t...’
‘Why not?’ Luke demanded, snapping his head back. ‘We’re two single adults, mutually attracted. Nothing changes...’
Because he was hip to hip with her, nose to nose, he felt resistance invade her muscles. And heard the reluctance in her voice. ‘I’ve never been good at one-night stands, Luke, and we have to work together in the morning. This campaign is too important to risk messing it up because we want to scratch an itch.’
‘I’ll risk it,’ he growled, nipping her full bottom lip with his teeth.
Jess patted his chest. ‘Back up.’ When he pulled away, she shook her head. ‘More. Seriously—I need room to breathe.’
So did he. Luke moved away reluctantly and slumped against the wall next to her. This woman was going to be the death of him. He’d be the first person ever to die of sexual frustration.
Jess was the first to break the silence. Her voice was forced-casual when she spoke. ‘So, what did you think about my descent down the banister? Seven? Eight?’
‘Five. Average.’ Luke grinned reluctantly. ‘Not too bad. Not good, but okay.’
Jess lifted her eyebrows. ‘And I suppose you’re better?’
‘Miles.’
‘Prove it.’
Was she challenging him? To slide down the banister like a child? Luke started to roll his eyes and then he saw the dare in hers, in that arrogantly cocked eyebrow.