man had really done a number on her, he thought, and along with that thought came another, which was that the first thing he would do, provided the deal went through, was to sling Powell out on his backside.
Whatever experiences she had had before the guy, he had clearly been the one she had set her sights on for a permanent relationship, and throwing herself into something only to find it was built on lies and deceit would have hit her hard.
For all her feisty, strong-willed, argumentative personality, she was a romantic at heart and that probably stemmed from her background. Sure she would have enjoyed herself as a girl, would have had the usual sexual experiences, but she would have kept her heart intact for the man she hoped to spend the rest of her life with, and it was unfortunate that that man happened to have been a married guy with a penchant for playing away.
‘You may think that I don’t have the sort of high moral code that you look for,’ Lucas told her seriously. ‘But I have my own code. It’s based on honesty. I’m not in search of involvement and I don’t pretend to be. You were hurt by Powell but you could never be hurt by me because emotions wouldn’t enter the equation.’
Katy looked at him dubiously. She was surprised that she was even bothering to listen but a Pandora’s box had been opened and all sorts of doubts and misgivings about that high moral code he had mentioned were flying around like angry, buzzing wasps.
‘I’m not the type you would ever go for.’ Lucas had never thought he’d see the day he actually uttered those words to a woman. ‘And quite honestly, I second that, because I would be no good for you. This isn’t a relationship where two people are exploring one another in the hope of taking things to the next level. This is about sex.’
‘You’re confusing me.’
‘I’m taking you out of your comfort zone,’ Lucas murmured, yearning to touch her, only just managing to keep his hands under lock and key. ‘I’m giving you food for thought. That can’t be a bad thing.’
Katy looked at him and collided with eyes the colour of the deepest, darkest night. Her heart did a series of somersaults inside her chest. He was temptation in a form she was finding irresistible. Every word he had said and every argument he had proffered combined to produce a battering ram that rendered her defenceless.
‘You’re just bored,’ she ventured feebly, a last-ditch attempt to stave off the crashing ache to grab hold of what he was offering and hold on tight. ‘Stuck here without a playmate.’
‘How shallow do you think I am?’ Lucas grinned, his expression lightening, his eyes rich with open amusement. ‘Do you think I need to satisfy my raging libido every other hour or risk exploding? I’m tired of talking. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time trying to persuade a woman into bed with me.’
‘Should I be flattered?’
‘Most definitely,’ Lucas returned, without the slightest hesitation.
Then he reached out, trailed a long finger against her cheek and tucked some strands of coppery hair behind one ear. When he should have stopped and given her time to gather herself, because she was all over the place, he devastated her instead by feathering his touch along her collarbone then dipping it down to her cleavage.
Gaze welded to his darkly handsome face, Katy remained rooted to the spot. Her nipples were pinched buds straining against the bikini top. If she looked down she knew that she would see their roused imprint against the fabric. Her eyelids fluttered and then she breathed in sharply as he stepped closer to her and placed both of his big hands on her rib cage.
He had been backing her towards the bed without her even noticing and suddenly she tumbled back against the mattress and lay there, staring up at him.
She was about to break all her rules for a one-night stand and she wasn’t going to waste any more time trying to tell herself not to.
EXCEPT KATY WASN’T entirely sure how she was going to initiate breaking all those rules. She’d never done so before and she was dealing with a man who had probably cut his teeth breaking rules. He’d made no bones about being experienced. Was he expecting a similar level of experience? Of course he was!
She quailed. Mouth dry, she stared at him in silence as he whipped off his shirt in one fluid movement and then stood there, a bronzed god, staring down at her. She greedily ate him up with her eyes, from his broad shoulders to his six-pack and the dark line of hair that disappeared under the low-slung swimming trunks.
Lucas hooked his fingers under the waistband of the trunks and Katy shot up onto her elbows, fired with a heady mixture of thrilling excitement and crippling apprehension.
What would he do if she were to tell him that she was a virgin? Run a mile, was the first thought that sprang to mind. Katy didn’t want him to run a mile. She wanted him near her and against her and inside her. It made her feel giddy just thinking about it.
In the spirit of trying to be someone who might actually know what to do in a situation like this, she reached behind her to fumble unsuccessfully with the almost non-existent spaghetti strings that kept the bikini top in position.
Lucas couldn’t have been more turned on. He liked that shyness. It wasn’t something with which he was familiar. He leant over her, caging her in.
‘You smell of the sun,’ he murmured. ‘And I don’t think I’ve ever wanted any woman as much as I want you right now.’
‘I want you too,’ Katy replied huskily. She tentatively traced the column of his neck then, emboldened, his firm jawline and then the bunched muscles of his shoulder blades. Her heart was thumping hard and every jerky breath she took threatened to turn into a groan.
He eased her lips apart and flicked his tongue inside her mouth, exploring and tasting her, and setting off a dizzying series of reactions that galvanised every part of her body into furious response. Her small hands tightened on his shoulders and she rubbed her thighs together, frantic to ease the tingling between them.
Lucas nudged her with his bulging erection, gently prising her legs apart and settling himself between them, then moving slowly as he continued to kiss her.
He tugged at her lower lip with his teeth, teasing her until she was holding her breath, closing her eyes and trembling like a leaf.
Katy didn’t think that anything in the world could have tasted as good as his mouth on her and she pulled him against her with urgent hands.
She wished she’d rid herself of her bikini because now it was an encumbrance, separating their bodies.
She wriggled under him, reaching behind herself and, knowing what she wanted to do, Lucas obliged, urging her up so that he could tug free the ties. Then he rose up to straddle her and looked down, his dark eyes slumberous with desire.
Katy had never thought about sex without thinking about love and she had never thought about love without painting a tableau of the whole big deal, from marriage to babies in a thirty-second fast-forward film reel in her head.
Big mistake. In all those imaginings, her body had just been something all tied up with the bigger picture and not something needing fulfilment in its own right. The fact she had never been tempted had
