Ruby grabbed his wrists, unsure if she meant to dislodge his hold or press it closer. ‘Because it doesn’t make sense... Because nothing good can come from it... I don’t know.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t think straight when you’re this close to me. All my good sense seems to fly straight out the window.’
‘Mine too.’
His lips came down over hers in a hard, hungry kiss that whispered of hot nights and silk sheets. A kiss that seduced and mastered at the same time as it tempted. Ruby sank into it, a low moan vibrating up from deep inside her. His tongue swept into her mouth, bold and confident, sending sensual sparks to every available nerve ending in her body. Her fingers forked into his thick hair, her body arching into his. This was what she wanted. What she craved.
‘Yes,’ he murmured, his hand rising to cup her breast, his thumb tracking over her aching nipple. ‘Yes, Ruby, kiss me like that...just like that.’
Ruby quivered against him, her fingers slipping beneath the hem of his T-shirt to flatten against his taut abdomen. Her body hit sensual overload as the memory of how good it felt to have him inside her collided with the reality of dense, rock-hard muscle in the flesh.
At her quicksilver response the kiss grew even hotter, becoming more like a duel between two highly strung adversaries. A duel of competing desires. Punishing and claiming. Demanding and giving. Fierce, and yet sweetly tender at the same time.
Sam’s hands on her body were sure and strong as they shaped her, his mouth sucking at her neck and making her skin pebble with greedy anticipation. Her own hands were busy learning his shape, working over his chest and revelling in the feel of all that taut, hot muscle.
‘Sam—’ Her voice broke as he bent and gently bit down on her nipple through her silk nightshirt, her body aching with a primal need that threatened to overtake her.
Sam muttered something under his breath, an oath, and then suddenly he was pushing her away.
‘Dammit it, Ruby.’ He held her at arm’s length, his breathing as uneven as hers as he fought to get himself under control. ‘I want you badly but I distinctly told you that the next time this happened it would be because you asked for it.’
Ruby blinked up at him, her passion-drugged senses taking longer to come online than his.
‘Is that what you’re doing?’ he said gruffly. ‘Are you asking me to kiss you? To make love to you?’ He stabbed a hand through his hair. ‘Because there’s only one place this is headed, and if that’s not what you want then you’d better let me know now while I still have self-control enough to stop.’
Ruby’s lips felt swollen and tender, her nerves strung so tight they vibrated beneath the surface of her skin. She did want this. But she didn’t. The conflicting desires made her feel as if she had a split personality. One telling her to go for it. The other telling her she was heading for a fall.
Sam shook his head, clearly reading her indecision for what it was. ‘Don’t bother answering that. It’s written all over your face.’
‘Where are you going?’ she asked as he stalked away from her.
‘To call a charter company to come and take you back to Sydney.’ He looked at her over his shoulder. ‘That is what you want, isn’t it?’
He didn’t wait for her answer and Ruby paced the large kitchen space, her bare feet slapping against the cool, hard tiles. What she wanted was about ten hours to pull herself together. And then another ten to give herself a stern talking-to. Her body still throbbed from where he had touched her, her legs as wobbly as an uncooked pudding.
She knew she was doing the right thing in not giving in to her desire for Sam, but that feeling was difficult to maintain when her heart went into overdrive every time he walked into a room. He was everything she shouldn’t want and did. And when she was in his arms she simply forgot that she worked for him and that he would walk away from her when he was done. She forgot that he got under her skin like no man before him and threatened everything she thought she knew about herself.
‘When?’ His harsh bark sounded loudly in the silent room. Ruby turned to see him stalking towards her, his phone to his ear. He stopped well short of her, his cool gaze holding hers as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line, his strong thighs braced apart, muscles taut, a brooding scowl drawing his brows together. He looked like a walking advertisement for a gloriously pumped-up demigod in his prime.