fact was he wanted to spend more time with Lissa. And not just time in bed. She was beautiful, smart, funny and he loved the way she teased him. He loved the way she laughed at his lame jokes. He found her zest for life intoxicating. She was fun to be around. And then there was the sex. Spectacular. He’d known she was passionate but, flu or not, she was amazing. Every waking moment of that weekend she’d been at him. It made him want to throw his head back and roar like a lion. It made him want to stake his claim big time. He wanted to go exploring with her. He wanted to tag along on her tourist outings. Laugh with her about being ripped off by ice-cream vendors in Italy. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t been to Florence. He wanted to take her there. Stand with her when she saw Botticelli’s Venus for the first time, wink with her in front of Michelangelo’s David. Drink wine, eat lots and make love morning, noon and night. It was as if he’d come home to a holiday romance.
His heart beat faster with every step nearer her desk. She was looking magnificent in a red suit, the jacket buttoned up. She’d swept her hair back into a severe style, the golden tresses locked away. He grinned. She looked the über-professional ice queen. She would. She didn’t look up as he approached. Only when Gina said, ‘Hi, Rory,’ did her head fly up. He watched her intently. No mistaking the flash of fire in her eyes. She quickly dampened it but he took perverse satisfaction in watching a slow tide of colour rise in her cheeks. An uncomfortable silence prevailed.
‘How can we help you?’ Gina finally broke it.
He thought about his reply a second, wishing he’d had the nous to actually think up an information request before charging up here.
Lissa suddenly stood. ‘I’m going to sort out those CDs,’ she muttered.
Rory wasn’t sure to whom. She marched down to the other end of the room behind the book stacks to where the search computers were. So she wanted to get away from him did she? Tough. He couldn’t help but watch her as she moved. Her red skirt ended just above her knee. He mentally slid a hand under the skirt, imagining the stockings and suspenders he knew he’d find underneath. He drew in a sharp breath and studied the painting on the wall nearest him. Geometric blocks of colour sploshed haphazardly over a white canvas. Thank God. A nude or even a still life with ripe, round fruit would have been a problem. He needed to think neutral thoughts or he’d be in big trouble.
Equilibrium restored, he turned to follow Lissa. He found her viciously shoving CD cases back into their respective shelves.
‘You know—’ he forced himself to speak lazily ‘—for someone who wants to avoid attracting gossip, you’re going the wrong way about it.’
She didn’t look up. ‘If you’re wanting some information, Gina can help.’ Her hands continued sorting the CD-Roms.
‘I don’t want information.’
She hesitated. ‘Then—’
‘I want you,’ he interrupted. He watched happily as she stood breathing shortly in front of him. Puffed from handling a few CD cases? No, that was him; this thing between them. Electric. How it had always been. He stepped closer, she didn’t move away.
‘I missed you.’ He spoke honestly. He didn’t know what else to do. He saw indecision on her face and offered a smile.
‘Rory, please.’
She didn’t smile back; if anything she looked more distressed. Then he recognised it—fear.
After a couple of false starts he managed to say the words he hoped would reassure her. The words he meant with all his heart. ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’
Her lashes swooped down, hiding her response.
He didn’t know if it had been a dumb thing to say. He waited another second, watching the tide of colour in her cheeks flow and then slowly ebb.
She opened her mouth and suddenly he knew he didn’t want to hear what she was going to say. He put his fingers on her lips and before he could stop himself he swooped and stole a quick kiss. It blossomed immediately. His heart thundered. He felt her soften and he swore he heard a soft moan escape her. His hand lifted to hold her head to his and he felt her tremble. Hurriedly he pulled back. They would go from naught to two hundred in a nanosecond, but not here.
She stared up at him. He watched as emotions warred within her. He decided to relent for now. He’d found out what he needed to. The rest could wait. She’d come to it soon enough. There was no reason they couldn’t be together until she left. They needed to have a big talk, preferably one that ended up in bed, but now was not the time.
He smiled at her. ‘That was a freebie. Next time you ask. See you ‘round, beautiful.’
He turned and walked away, only just winning the battle not to swing back and take another look at her. It might only be lust, but she couldn’t deny that she had feelings for him and those feelings would win out. Rory one, Lissa nil.
Having the most orgasms in her life in a three-day period had the most unfortunate after-effects for Lissa. It was as if now she’d been switched on she couldn’t be switched off, walking around in a permanent state of semi-arousal. It took only the slightest friction or most fleeting thought of Rory to result in a flood of heat and the mad desire to go find him, press against him and take him in. She could only be thankful that their two-week period confined in a room was over. There was no way she could hold fast to her resolve if he were in such close proximity. She tried to concentrate on the information request before her, but every time someone entered the information centre she looked up—the original rubberneck.
She tried to blame her struggle for concentration on the after-effects of the flu, but her heart knew better. She kept replaying that morning’s all too brief kiss with Rory at the other end of the library. He’d completely ignored her call to end it. He wasn’t giving up on her. The knowledge made her giddy. He’d sought her out and proved to her that he could move her. What the hell was she going to do? The fact that they could have been seen by anyone wandering in the library hadn’t occurred to him. Maybe the thought of people knowing they were an item didn’t bother him. Grant would never have taken such a risk. In a perverse way this pleased her. Here was Rory, the one and only, the guy who never fooled around in the office, messing with her, Lissa, the temp from New Zealand.
He’d said he wouldn’t hurt her and maybe he genuinely meant it. But he would hurt her, whether he meant to or not. She was already hurting and the only thing she could do now was lessen the severity.
Gina and Lissa logged off simultaneously and called into the bathroom to fix their hair and make-up. Lissa refused to spend these last few weeks moping. She was going to go out tonight, drown her sorrows and resurrect her party spirit. She was going to plan some mini-breaks for her last few weekends and see some of the sights and she was determined to enjoy it. She would not let her flingette with Rory ruin her last weeks of tourism.
Gina turned to face her and shook her hair. ‘Am I OK?’
Lissa appraised her. She was wearing a baby-blue pencil skirt teamed with a white roll-neck cashmere sweater that hugged her curves in all the right places. She’d applied a soft pink gloss to her lips and brushed her curly blonde bob so it shone. Her blue eyes sparkled and silver earrings hung from her ears. She shone from the inside out. A petite firecracker. ‘You’re a doll.’
‘Yes, but am I a sexy doll?’
Lissa laughed aloud. ‘Absolutely. What about me?’ She adopted a mock-model pose for inspection, smoothing her hands down the black
