groaned into the side of her neck, his scruff scratchy, no doubt leaving its mark on her skin. ‘Give me ten minutes.’ He disengaged from her and helped her down from the table.
The narrow space between them widened. Harley pulled up the cups of her bra, wishing she’d chosen a less sheer design, and yanked up her panties, which were tangled around one ankle.
He stood in her entranceway, his urbane clothing rumpled and dishevelled, his softening cock still wrapped in latex and his clear blue eyes still touching on her near naked body with impressive hunger, considering the wall-banging session that had just taken place.
Harley reached for her purse and handed him a tissue.
What now? Invite him in? Offer him a drink? Suggest he stay the night?
The chill of the dark apartment infected her, and she sought her likely ruined dress while Jack tucked himself back inside his pants.
‘There’s a washroom there.’ She indicated a door to the right, grateful for the few seconds of reprieve while he disposed of the condom.
He opened the door and flicked on the light. While Jack binned the evidence of their coupling and washed his hands, Harley dived for her dress, holding it in front of her nakedness in a ludicrous display of modesty that left her cheeks hot.
She’d just come like a supernova around him, touched herself in front of him, allowed him to fuck her on an antique table she’d inherited from her grandfather. Now she back-pedalled?
Jack returned, scooping his wallet from the floor and pocketing it before reaching for her hand. He made no comment on the dress shield, slanting her a crooked grin as he tugged her closer and swiped his mouth over hers with surprising ardour.
She opened her mouth, her tongue sliding over his. Her arm came around his neck, the dress barrier forgotten as she indulged in another of those drugging kisses.
‘Harls? You home?’ A disembodied voice blasted from the intercom next to the entrance door.
Harley jumped away from Jack, her eyes wide and her heart hammering in her throat. She darted to the intercom, pressing the button to speak to her brother.
‘Yes.’ Harley winced, clutching her dress with one hand, her temples with the other. She turned her back on Jack, head bowed. Why hadn’t she just ignored Ash? Her back burned and she clenched her butt, hoping the heels she still wore presented her ass to its best advantage.
‘You alone?’ said Ash. They often got together late at night, sharing a nightcap and tales of their day.
Damn. What could she say? No, I’ve just fucked the enemy on Pop’s antique table... If she told the truth, tomorrow she’d have her brother here for breakfast on a fact-finding mission. And then she’d have to confess she’d messed up the Morris deal, too. Another dose of humiliation.
‘Yes, of course.’ Shoulders high, she scrunched her eyes closed, the lie raising the stab of a thousand pinpricks over her exposed skin. She could practically feel the chagrin pound her back in waves. Or perhaps it came from within.
‘Pour me one. I’ll be down in two.’ The ominous silence from the intercom started a deafening countdown. Harley turned to face Jack, an apology bubbling up in her throat.
He’d already donned his jacket and buttoned his shirt, his face blank.
She clutched her dress tighter, holding it to her sides with rigid arms.
‘I...’ What could she say?
I didn’t want my brother to know I just had the best sex of my life with Joe Lane’s son.
Manhattan was small enough. With a little digging, Ash would easily discover Jack was the head of Demont Designs. That he’d re-entered her life. Crashed back in, bells, whistles and horns blazing more like.
Jack stepped closer, one finger brushing the hair from her cheek.
‘Bonsoir, Harley.’ His hand dropped to his side, and he slipped the other hand into his pants pocket, a casual move that reassured her and irked her at the same time.
She swayed towards him, her eyes begging him with words she couldn’t articulate.
He stepped aside, turning at the door. ‘You’d better look in the mirror—you look well fucked...a look I personally like, but one I doubt your brother will appreciate.’
With those parting words and a blank expression, he left.
JACK SLID THE scissors under the wide red ribbon, his smile finding the handful of camera lenses aimed his way. The hospital administrator gave him the nod and he cut the ribbon to a round of applause from the small crowd gathered outside the new wing of the Bronx Hospital for Children.
While the sense of pride he felt for donating his professional time for free to certain worthy projects warmed him, his face ached with the pressure of maintaining a benign smile. He despised ass kissing, both dishing it out and receiving it, preferring to judge and be judged by action.
His usual tolerance for making polite small talk deserted him. He blamed last night. Harley’s abandon to their explosive chemistry had shifted something in him, a piece he hadn’t known was out of sync until she’d entrusted him with her body and her orgasm.
The memory of her splayed under him, hair wild as she teased her pert breasts, her languid stare trained on him as he’d pounded them both to completion made his cock twitch. She’d unfurled before his eyes, stunning, uninhibited, claiming her pleasure like a goddess.
He’d been right. The sex between them had surpassed his imaginings. He’d planned to spend the entire night making her come. Reacquainting himself with her body and discovering every facet of the fully fledged woman she’d become.
And then she’d dismissed him. Again. Her denial to her brother as good as kicking him out of her apartment before the sweat had dried or their heart rates had settled to normal.
Hadn’t that been a knee in his still-throbbing balls? But it shouldn’t have bothered him. After all, he’d got his revenge fuck, hadn’t he? And while spending the night between her shapely thighs might have been a pleasant added bonus, he’d always planned to walk away—she’d simply expedited matters.
He choked down the bitterness, the contrast of her perfect abandon and her awkward brush-off still grinding his teeth. But it was a timely reminder that, although physically they were thoroughly attuned, she’d abandoned him once before.
With a fixed smile on his face, he accepted several handshakes from hospital officials, the mayor and patient representatives, his encounter with Harley souring the morning. He cast a discreet eye around the parking lot for Trent, keen to get out of here now he’d done his ribbon-cutting duty.
His eyes slammed to a halt.
Harley stood to the side of the lot, her big stare on him and her fine wool coat flapping open in the light breeze. Seeking him out for the third time in two days? Damn, she just couldn’t get enough.
At his small nod
