She tingled everywhere they touched and felt the buzzing to her toes. The hunger for more deepened. She threaded her hands through his hair, holding him as tightly as he held her, holding his lips to hers. She couldn’t get enough of him—so big, so strong, so hot.
In the blink of an eye she was ready to agree to anything—ready to demand. Burning up, she yearned to be naked.
His kisses lengthened, intensified, kinked. His tongue worked wicked sensual magic. She mewled when he stroked the roof of her mouth, when he swirled deeper.
So not chaste. So hot. So good.
Breathless now, she clung to him with both lips and hands, holding him so he could take more from her. Give her more.
Kiss after kiss after kiss.
‘Stephanie…’ he muttered suddenly.
She wasn’t sure if it was a warning or a caress. She didn’t care. She just wanted more kisses. More everything.
He groaned against her and pulled back. ‘This is…’ he breathed out harshly ‘… crazy.’
Not the word she’d have chosen. Not what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear only groans, sighs. She wanted to dive again into those bottomless pools of sensation, of touch and taste. She wanted to feel his hot, hard strength against her, pushing her towards ecstasy. Right now she wanted it all, wanted to reach oblivion.
Just for once.
‘Stephanie?’
He gently shook her in his arms. Belatedly she realised she’d been leaning against him breathlessly, like a heaving-bosomed heroine in a period drama. Only she couldn’t blame her breathlessness on a too tight corset. It was all him.
Now a droplet of ice ran the length of her spine and she made herself open her eyes.
He’d tensed, but to her relief that inferno was still within him. He was gazing down at her with that ravaging hungry look. Her toes curled in her kitten-heeled shoes.
‘This is a bad idea,’ he said.
But even as he spoke he swept his hand from the small of her back over the curve of her butt, pulling her hips flush to his again. His erection rammed against her belly.
She trembled at the touch. Relieved, craving.
‘Yes.’
He frowned. ‘But I want to—’
‘Yes.’
He shook his head at her interruption, and a wisp of a smile crossed his face before frustration edged it out. ‘You don’t understand. I want to do… everything.’
‘Yeah, I’d kind of guessed that from your body language…’ She let her words trail, rocked her pelvis against his.
His hand on her butt tightened. His lips quirked again. ‘Cute. But—’ He broke off to frown again. ‘I don’t want complicated.’
‘That’s fine—because I don’t do complicated,’ she muttered.
In truth, she didn’t do anything. Boyfriends hadn’t been forthcoming since Dan’s illness. Truth be told, they hadn’t been forthcoming prior to that trip either. After her one flop of a relationship she’d chosen to focus on other things. Now it had been so long since she’d had sex she wasn’t sure she could remember how. All she knew was that she didn’t want this moment to end—not yet. What harm were a few kisses? Maybe a little more? Maybe everything if they so wanted. Okay, she so wanted.
Just quickly. Just once. Just now.
He gazed at her. She could see him thinking, wavering, deciding.
‘While we’re here we don’t talk work,’ he said, suddenly brusque. ‘Not here. Not now. Not tonight.’
‘Fine.’ She nodded, running her tongue over her dried lips. ‘No work talk ‘til Melbourne.’
She’d not expected him to offer her a deal at this first meeting anyway. And truthfully she didn’t want to have to be ‘Steffi Leigh’ right now. She just wanted to indulge.
‘This… excursion… is off the record. For both of us. I won’t let this affect any decision I take on your blog, okay?’
He still looked too serious for her liking.
‘We can keep it simple?’ he asked.
Like she hadn’t got it already? ‘I’m not stupid,’ she groaned.
‘Yeah, but we need to know we stand with each other.’ His hand pressed on her curves again, letting her know exactly how he was standing.
‘Let me see if I can figure it out,’ she drawled. ‘You come—you go. Right?’
‘Right.’ He nodded slowly, a rueful expression entering his eyes.
‘But in this case I’ll be the one going.’ She smiled guilelessly. And that was good. She could indulge this once in passion but do no harm. There was no threat of an all-consuming affair in which she’d lose her soul.
He studied her for a heated moment, then swiftly bent and kissed her.