eyes connected and the heat and hunger Dervla saw reflected in the dark surface of his sent a sensual shock wave along her tingling nerve endings.
‘This evening isn’t going where you seem to think it is,’ she blurted, pressing a hand to her breastbone. Behind it her heart was trying to batter its way to freedom.
He arched a sardonic brow. ‘Where would that be?’
She shook her head, finding it hard to catch her breath. ‘I’m not really a one-night stand sort of person.’
‘One night would not be nearly enough.’
The throaty observation drew a faint whimper from her throat that she tried to cover with a brittle laugh. ‘I really don’t think being seen in the right places with me would do your reputation any good.’
‘I’m not interested in my reputation and the only place I am interested in seeing you is in my bed.’
His head tilted to one side, he studied her burning face. ‘I’ve shocked you? You are not comfortable with discussing sex.’
‘I find this entire conversation very uncomfortable.’
‘You would prefer we discuss the weather? We could do but we would both be thinking about sex.’
She lifted her chin and fixed him with a defiant stare. ‘Speak for yourself.’
‘You disappoint me. You did not strike me as a hypocrite.’
The charge drew an angry grunt from Dervla, who stood rigidly upright beside him, her fingers busy pleating the napkin. ‘I’m not a hypocrite, but neither am I oversexed.’
The opposite was in fact true … at least it had been until now. Right now her libido had gone global. She had her hands clasped because she couldn’t trust herself not to rip off his clothes.
He bent his head, his breath stirring the soft downy hair on her cheek. ‘You want me,’ he said, his voice low and thick. ‘And you know I want you and you like that. It excites you. I excite you.’
She shook her head, knowing that if she spoke she might give the impression she wanted him to carry on saying these things, that she wanted him to do a lot of things.
And didn’t she?
She shook her head again, scared rigid by the intensity of the feelings crowding in.
‘I’ve wanted to kiss you for the past week. I’m going to do it now if that’s all right with you …?’
His seductive voice made things shudder deep inside her. He wasn’t asking permission, he was just igniting the sparks and expertly feeding the escalating sexual tension another few notches with his honied voice. He didn’t actually expect her to say no because women had been saying yes to him all his life.
And it looks like I’m no different.
And she wasn’t different—for him this was sex with no obligations. Recognising it didn’t make her feel any the less desperate for him. She made a last-ditch attempt to walk away.
‘It really is very late.’ Even she could hear the lack of conviction in her whispered protest.
‘What’s the hurry? You’re not on duty in the morning.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I checked.’
‘Why would you do that?’
One corner of his fascinating mouth lifted in a lazy smile as he touched his forefinger to her cheek. ‘Information is power, Dervla.’ His hand fell away but the dark itch under her skin didn’t.
She wanted him to touch her.
She lifted her chin and tried to look amused. ‘You’ve got no power over me.’ Shame her hormones were not equally autonomous.
‘Pity, you’ve got me in the palm of your lovely little hand.’ He took her wrist and peeled back her clenched fingers like the petals of a flower. His heavy-lidded eyes lifted to her face as he whispered throatily, ‘A very pretty hand.’
His touch was inflicting terrible, probably irreparable damage to her nervous system. Wide eyes welded with a mixture of fear and longing to his strong face, she released a long shuddering sigh and admitted, ‘I don’t really want to go.’
Something flared deep in his eyes, primitive male satisfaction shot through with something less easily identifiable.
‘Then stay, cara.’
‘But I’m not even sure I like you.’
He laughed, throwing back his head to reveal the strong column of his brown throat. ‘If it makes you feel any better, for the first twenty-four hours I was pretty sure that I disliked you.’
‘You didn’t hide it very well.’ She tried to smile and couldn’t—her throat ached with emotion.
‘I wanted sex with you even when I disliked you.’ His lips twisted into a smile. ‘You look shocked again.’
Her lashes lowered. She felt excited, which was far more disturbing. ‘I am shocked that I’m doing this.’
Her breath came in short painful gasps as he leaned forward and bent his dark head to hers. This close she could see the gold tips on his long dark lashes and the fine texture of his golden skin. As he got closer still things went out of focus like a kaleidoscope and the wild beating of her heart became louder and faster.
Anticipation tightened like a fist low in her belly as her lips parted under the gentle but insistent pressure of his mouth.
As his tongue slid into her mouth Dervla moaned low in her throat and grabbed his shoulders, plastering herself up against his lean, hard, vital body as she kissed him back with an eagerness that was close to desperation.
‘Dio Mio!’ He drew a ragged breath and angled his head to look into her face as they finally broke apart. ‘You are everything I imagined and much, much more.’
The glow of dark desire she could see shimmering in his eyes took her breath away and made her head spin even before his lips began to move once more with sensual teasing persuasion against her soft mouth. His hand moved to the curve of her breast and Dervla’s knees turned to water.
‘Not enough!’ she moaned after a few minutes of this torture.
Gianfranco dragged his mouth away from hers fractionally and, breathing hard, he studied her flushed, aroused features. ‘Not enough of what?’ he asked thickly.
Dervla sighed and ran the tip of her tongue across the sensual curve of his upper lip. ‘You,’ she confided.
‘You want more of me?’
Eyes dilated, she tilted her head back to bring his dark features into focus. ‘No, I want all of you.’
Gianfranco sucked in a deep breath through flared nostrils and,
