held nothing back. Then passion increased and it flooded out the heartache. She longed to give everything to him but she couldn’t. All the while her hips moved sinuously against him with a slow and crazy rhythm. When she freed him from the kiss he was panting, his hands hard on her hips trying to control the tempo and pull her even closer.
She tossed her head back. ‘I’ll stop right now if you don’t agree.’
Who was she kidding? She couldn’t stop now if she tried, her hips seemed to have taken on a life of their own and she desperately rode him harder. He knew. He bucked upwards and she sucked in her breath, unable to stop the answering rotation of her hips. A lazy grin appeared on his face, but the red tinge in his cheeks gave him away.
‘Oh, so you’re playing hardball,’ he mocked.
‘You’ll be the one with hard balls if I don’t get what I want.’ She could do this; she could. It was to be their last time together and it was going to be dynamite.
‘I’ve got what you want and it’s right here, beautiful.’
True, but only for a limited time. Doubt gnawed at her. Part of her would love to believe in him, in this. She pushed the thoughts aside and strove for nonchalance; she was not going to ruin this final coupling.
She raised her brows, moving slowly against him. ‘Cocky.’
‘Very.’ He nuzzled against her breast. ‘I bet I can make you come before I do.’
She pulled back and looked at him. A smile tugged her lips. ‘Well, now, that is a challenge. And the prize?’
‘Where you spend tonight.’ His hot mouth covered one of her hard nipples and sucked on it hard. The desire to ravish him increased threefold.
‘Fine.’ She threw her head back as she savoured the tugging sensation at her breast. God, he was good. But she could be too. She flexed her most feminine muscles, hard, several times.
He whistled slightly as he sucked in a sharp breath. His fingers bit into her hips a second before he shifted slightly beneath her. Then he looked up at her and grinned slyly. ‘You forget—I’m getting to know you, Lissa. I know what you like.’
She pressed her lips together. That was certainly true. She opened her mouth to breathe out heavily. She needed to regroup, but his attentions were proving hard to ignore. She closed her eyes. What was his thumb doing? Pushing all the right buttons. She moved and tightened again, retaking control. She felt him tense and smiled a little. This was one bet she couldn’t afford to lose…
In the finish they tied. It hadn’t been a long race either, the pleasure of giving doubling the pleasure of receiving. They lay sprawled on the sofa, him still half dressed, clothes askew, her completely naked and wanton.
Coldness stole into her. She sat up and pulled on his shirt, wrapping it tightly around her. It was finished. It had to be.
‘I’m going home tonight, Rory. Even if I have to walk there barefoot and break the window to get in. I’m going home.’
He stared at her moodily.
‘You can’t have everything your own way,’ she continued, looking away from the disappointment she glimpsed in his eyes.
‘I want you to stay.’
She jerked her head back. It had sounded suspiciously like a command.
His green irises darkened, drawing her in. ‘We have to talk about this.’
She rose from the sofa, turning her back on him, ignoring his frustrated growl. She needed to keep this light. Not enter into a heavy conversation in which declarations might be made. False promises, the rashness of passion. Better to chalk it down to a fun weekend—one to be walked away from. ‘What would you have me do—stay here for ever as your sexual playmate?’ She glanced over her shoulder at him.
A wolfish grin leapt across his features. ‘Not a bad idea.’
She ignored him and started on her arguments. ‘I’m going back to work tomorrow. I need to get home and sort my stuff out.’
‘I don’t think you should. You’re still pale, you look exhausted.’
‘And who’s to blame for that? You think I’m going to get much sleep here?’
‘What if I promise not to touch you?’
She threw him a sceptical look. ‘Look what happened the last time you promised that. Forty-eight hours later you were ravaging me in the stairwell. I need to get back to work. They’ll be getting a temp in to cover for the temp. I want to go, Rory.’
He studied her and she met his gaze squarely. He looked sombre and she knew she had won.
‘OK, I’ll run you home after dinner.’
‘No, I should go now.’
‘After dinner.’ He spoke abruptly. He looked at her and softened a little. ‘I’ve seen what’s in your fridge, remember?’
She decided to quit while ahead.
They barely spoke through the meal. She tried to eat something but her appetite had vanished. She caught him looking at her several times with knowledge in his eyes and, coward-like, she looked away, trying to buy a few minutes’ more time before she had it out with him. Despite the frenzied love-making they had just shared her body was starting to ache with want again and she knew she needed to get away from him fast.
They drove across London in silence. His car wasn’t too flashy, not a convertible, but big, German and fast with plenty of leg-room. Many women would be wowed. She wasn’t. She didn’t like thinking of him wowing the ladies as she’d joked that first night. She stared out the window, her mind absently ticking off the sights, her heart, for once, not in it. It was occupied by something else. The big, tall hunk of a man next to her she was determined to reject.
He pulled up in front of the estate. He turned the engine off. She made no effort to move. They sat in silence. Her brain whirred.
Finally he looked at her and sighed. ‘Go on, then, say it.’
‘Say what?’
‘Whatever it is that’s been on your mind all evening.’
She stared at him and then focussed ahead on the motorbike parked outside one of the ground-floor units. He was right, time to say it.
‘I wanted to say thank you for being so good to me while I was sick.’
‘And?’ he prompted. He wasn’t making things any easier.
‘And I really appreciate it, I do. And I wanted to thank you for…’ she faltered as she searched for the words ‘…for giving me such a great weekend.’ She could feel the heat from her blush on her cheeks. This was ridiculous; she sounded like a schoolgirl thanking her best friend’s parents for a nice trip to the movies.
‘But?’ he prompted again.
She grimaced at his ability to pick her mood so easily. ‘But I don’t think we can continue this any
