here he’d been well on the way to spreading those lovely tanned legs wide and taking her against the slate wall. For God’s sake. She should think so little of him.
Gritting his teeth against his throbbing erection, he backed off. Carefully. Her virginal dreams no doubt included love and commitment. Not being taken against a damn wall. No way.
Lissa dragged in some much-needed air. Needed because he’d just kissed her as if the world were coming to an end and sucked her oxygen clean away. She felt as if she were waking from a dream just when it was getting to the interesting part.
Her sensitised nipples were begging for more of that attention he’d been paying them. Why had she stopped him? Calling a halt to the most exciting sexual experience of her life and with the man she’d most wanted to experience it with?
Because at this point in time she needed something more.
She didn’t know Blake well enough for this intensity. But she knew of his reputation.
‘This is going way too fast,’ she said, still struggling to catch her breath. ‘Right now I’m more interested in an income than. anything else. I can’t risk any distractions getting in the way of that. So priority one: I need to focus on this room makeover. Okay?’
He didn’t return her smile, possibly because she wasn’t even sure she had smiled. Her tingling lips felt as if they belonged to someone else.
‘Understood.’ He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. ‘I’ll organise for the arrangements to be detailed in writing immediately.’ He spoke as though he were chewing on scrap metal and his brows lowered over eyes carefully blanked of all that emotion she’d seen only seconds ago. He backed away as if he couldn’t wait to be gone.
‘Great. The sooner, the better.’ Her hand itched to reach out and touch his morning-stubbled jaw and tell him … what? That she’d changed her mind and wanted him to finish what he’d started and to hell with everything else?
‘I know a solicitor.’ His voice was as stiff as the painful looking bulge in his pants. ‘I’ll check whether she’s still in the area and give her a call now.’
Chewing on her still-throbbing lips, she looked away quickly down to her hands in front of her. ‘Right. Okay.’
He turned on his heel and left the room.
Lissa watched him go, her pulse still galloping from here to eternity. She touched her mouth, still damp from Blake’s. With him she was still that naive girl who didn’t know any better and who hadn’t learned that she didn’t choose wisely when it came to men.
Right now her career future was more important than getting intimately involved. If it went wrong between them she could lose this chance to makeover his room and any future financial backing.
And yet … he’d not taken her without care. He’d stopped when she’d asked. He’d considered Jared and spoken of honour. How many men spoke of honour, for goodness’ sake? He was a decent guy. Those rumours had to be wrong.
Todd was the reason she didn’t trust men’s motives. His dark good looks had hidden an even darker side. The Toad had lied to her about his past and manipulated her feelings for him. A man of deceit and no morals. The opposite of Blake in every way that counted.
But she wouldn’t think about how right and perfect Blake’s body had felt against hers or the taste of his kiss. oh, no, she would not. That road led to certain heartbreak. Because he could be gone at any time.
She picked up her dropped paint samples. She was counting on Blake not telling Jared about the boat’s problems or their agreed partnership until she gave the nod. She’d concentrate on his generous offer, pay for the repairs from the income she made and work her backside off to show she was worthy. To show him, and herself, and then her family that she could be the successful career woman she wanted to be.
First up, she’d impress him with her transformation of his living room. With renewed enthusiasm, she shimmied towards the wall with her paint samples and a swatch of gold-coloured fabrics.
Blake poked his head through the doorway catching her mid-shimmy.
‘Can you be ready to leave in thirty minutes?’ His gaze drifted from her hips to linger on her breasts where her T-shirt still bore the damp circles from his mouth.
A flush crept up her neck. ‘I’ll be ready.’
Her reply finally drew his attention to her face. ‘Great,’ he said, and disappeared again.
Lissa glanced at her tell-all top and jeans. But not in these clothes.
Blake returned to the study, pleased with the ease with which he’d been able to organise the solicitor. Deanna Mayfield was an old school friend from Surfers who practised law in Mooloolaba. She was twice divorced and had been delighted to hear from him. She’d even juggled appointments to fit them in.
Next, he arranged for a plumber and an electrician to come in the afternoon, then searched the local area for men’s clothing stores on his laptop.
It kept his mind occupied and therefore off Lissa and what had happened in the living room. That had been his intention, except that he could still taste her, could still smell her scent on his clothes.
He’d made her a business offer in one instant and kissed her to kingdom come in the next. Only he hadn’t stopped at a kiss. He’d been so blind-sided it hadn’t registered that she might be a virgin. How many twenty-three-year-old virgins were there these days?
Was she keeping it for Mr Right? Or was it because she hadn’t she found a guy with enough power and vigour to light her fire? He preferred the latter. He was no woman’s Mr Right and he’d already glimpsed the smouldering evidence in her eyes.
He drummed restless fingers on the desk. Trouble with virgins was they attached too much emotion to the sexual act and the last thing he needed was an emotional female who expected more. He had a gut feeling Lissa would be a woman who expected that ‘more’.
She was Jared’s sister. Getting physical with a mate’s sister was one thing, but when said sister was a virgin? No way. No how. Out of bounds.
He needed to remember their agreement and maintain his focus on the goals they’d set and his hands off her body.
Her vivacious, voluptuous, virginal body.
His gaze flicked to the Titian-haired reclining nude in a Pre-Raphaelite original painting, titled ‘Chastity’, on the wall and wondered vaguely why his father hadn’t tried to sell it. Had to be worth a quid.
Disturbed by the maidenly beauty and its similarity to a certain redhead, he averted his eyes and glared at the computer screen. Perhaps he and Deanna could have a drink later, catch up on old times.
He thought about the six-foot-tall blonde who’d won the Miss Sunshine Contest at seventeen when he’d been a gangly star-struck sixteen. Maybe he could suggest they … what?
On an oath, he shut down his computer. The thing was … the mystery was … he had a churn-in-the-gut feeling that no woman was going to take the edge off his need unless that woman was Lissa. The sooner he had the business plans drawn up
