‘So good.’
She wound her arms around him, pulling him close to kiss him so she couldn’t spill her secrets.
She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to trust him. To lean on him.
And she couldn’t.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘THIS PLACE IS so beautiful it doesn’t feel real.’
Jack stirred and sat up to look at her. She was so beautiful it didn’t feel real. Tousled and smiling up at him, tangled in a white sheet, she was an irresistible treat he couldn’t taste enough.
They were resting on the daybed, the forest and pool largely hidden from view by the white drapes. It was as if they were living in a cloud. Heaven.
‘It’s like something in a movie,’ she added in a soft murmur. ‘Everything is so perfect.’
Not quite everything. She was leaving soon and he’d be alone this last night.
‘You watch a lot of movies?’ he asked, clutching at this conversational straw to keep the dread at bay.
A faraway look entered her eyes. ‘I see a few…’
He wanted her to keep talking—anything light and airy that would keep him distracted. ‘I love movies.’
‘They’re your “jam”?’ She rolled over and teased him. ‘You don’t strike me as a movie person.’
‘Why not?’ he asked. ‘I travel on planes a lot—what else is there to do?’
‘Don’t you spend every hour in the air working?’
‘A few hours, sure. But there are some long flights. Work hard, play hard. Movies are play, right?’
‘Women are play for you.’ She stretched her arms out wide on the mattress. ‘A couple of days like this—your holiday flings. I bet you have them all the time.’
‘Not at all.’
She threw him a laughing look.
Indignation rose. He’d never done this—never with a potential business associate. And he’d never had as much fun either.
‘Come here.’ He pulled her flush against him and rolled, trapping her beneath him.
Satisfaction thrummed. This was where he wanted her. Her length to his, with those gorgeous lips within easy kissable distance.
He made the most of it. Again.
‘What is your jam, then, if not movies?’ he asked, still needing to keep it light, keep it easy.
‘Art and design books. I shop online for them. They’re my guilty pleasure.’
She was his guilty pleasure. ‘Online? You don’t browse for hours in some fancy bookshop and decide which ones you want over some complicated coffee order?’
Something shadowed her eyes, but she forced a laugh. ‘I don’t have time.’
Because she was such a busy blogger, always out and about, compiling pictures and data for her lists?
He tried to smile but the dread was setting in. He didn’t want her to leave. He’d spent almost all day not thinking about his meeting tomorrow, thanks to her.
And right now he didn’t care that his muscles ached from the acrobatics of last night. He just wanted to stay locked away with her like this.
His sex drive had roared to life from the moment he’d first laid eyes on her, and now the need was spiking higher the nearer the end loomed.
‘Stay another night,’ he whispered, unable to hide that edge of desperation.
He hated the way she dropped her gaze, shutting him out. He felt tension stiffen her body, and she pushed at his shoulder so he’d shift off her.
‘Don’t worry about the blog.’ He felt certain that whatever it was she wasn’t saying was related to that.
She nibbled her thumbnail and gazed through a gap in the drapes, obviously thinking. Obviously deciding.
All Jack could do was hold his breath. He wasn’t going to ‘torture’ her into saying yes again. He wanted her to want to stay—and to be able to say it.
‘If I sell “The List” to you, there’s nothing more for us,’ she said suddenly—super-decisive. Super-businesslike. ‘And I’ll walk away from the blog entirely.’
His blood chilled. Nothing more for them? Okay. He could take that rejection like a man. There wasn’t supposed to be anything more for them beyond this anyway.
But he’d seen for himself how much she enjoyed interaction with her readers, how dedicated she was to her blog. Was she worried that things might be awkward because of their affair?
He wasn’t letting that happen. She wasn’t walking away from something she loved and had worked hard for because of this couple of days.
They meant nothing, right?
‘You don’t have to walk away from it. If you’re worried about this affecting your work in the future, then don’t. I live in the States. I spend a lot of time travelling. More than likely we won’t see each other again.’