such indulgences. Instead he’d been allowed to choose which charity he wanted to donate to. ‘I’m warning you now, I don’t do emotion, Lissa.’
‘Fine. We won’t do emotion. We’ll just have sex.’ She stepped out of her shoes.
Still facing him, she took a backward step, up one stair. Slowly, hypnotically, making the little coins on her dress jingle and drawing his gaze up and over her flat belly and full breasts. It also caused the air around her to eddy, bringing her sweet and sinfully tempting perfume to his nose.
The reincarnation of Circe, he thought, seducing him with a feast of the senses. Weaving a spell around him with those captivating eyes. Drawing him closer. Making his hand reach out in front of him as if it belonged to someone else.
But it wasn’t someone else’s fingers that tingled as they touched that warm flesh once more. And it was his hand that burned as it traced an invisible line inside the fabric and up the smooth line of her leg. Ankle, calf, the back of her knee. The long firm length of her outer thigh.
His fingers retraced their journey down to the tattered hem of her dress and closed over the fabric, knuckles brushing her skin and feeling the quiver run through her like a tiny electric current.
Need. This ferocious and urgent and soul-deep need … He’d never experienced anything remotely like it. One yank and he could have her naked. Sprawled on the stairs while he plunged into her, her precious innocence gone in a few seconds flat.
She deserved better. So much better. He closed his eyes briefly, then looked at her. ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
A flash of something lit her eyes and a small frown puckered her brow. ‘What do you mean. hurt me?’
‘You’re a virgin … and this. this. It isn’t—’
Her eyes widened. ‘Virgin?’
‘You mean you’re not?’ He stared at her while his mind reeled and his whole body tightened.
‘Whatever gave you that idea?’
‘You said … Never mind.’
‘Blake.’ A smile stole across her lips. ‘I’m not a virgin. I haven’t been one in quite a while. I’ve had a few lovers in my time—just don’t tell Jared that. You really need to stop thinking of me as that kid you knew.’
‘I don’t,’ he muttered, his blood surging south, pulse hammering in his ears. ‘Believe me, I don’t.’
He wound the lower end of the fabric around his hand, tightened his fingers into a fist and tugged. ‘Come here.’
But she shook her head. ‘I feel like a swim.’ Her smile was wicked as she stepped past him on the step, twirling a circle as she went, the gold strip unravelling like a streamer behind her.
She continued whirling across the room towards the patio, shedding any inhibitions he’d thought she had along with her scarf. He saw that she was wearing a tiny triangle of tarnished gold lace, her luscious breasts spilling out of a matching strapless bra.
She ran out of scarf and jerked to a stop. Blake growled low in his throat and walked towards her, gathering up the fabric. Reeling her in. But before he got within reach she tossed her end to the floor and was off, flinging the patio doors wide.
Her bare bottom flashed in the light spilling from the house as she danced across the slate tiles. At the edge of the pool she turned and met his gaze. Peeled the bra off and threw it over her shoulder. Slid her hands down her hips, taking her gold thong with them.
He felt a momentary disappointment that she’d robbed him of the opportunity to perform the task himself, then again, he shrugged. What a view. He breathed out a sigh. Perfection. Every tempting hollow, every inviting curve.
‘Stay right where you …’ she smiled at him, then stepped backwards into the water ‘.are,’ he finished.
She bobbed up again almost immediately, her eyes laughing. ‘Feels good.’ Her voice was as sultry as the night. ‘Don’t you want to feel good, Blake?’
Oh, yeah. ‘Get out so I can see you.’
‘Sure you don’t want to join me in the water?’
‘Maybe later.’ He beckoned her. ‘Out. Now.’
She shrugged and moved to the ladder, climbed out. Water sluiced off her body, leaving droplets clinging to her skin like diamonds, her dripping hair a dark crimson threaded with gold ribbons.
He didn’t take his eyes off the glorious sight as he quickly stripped down to skin. He saw her eyes widen at the sight of his throbbing erection, felt the hot stroke of her gaze clear across the patio.
His mouth watered at the sight of her glistening nipples puckered up with the pool’s chill. As he watched water gathered at the rosy tips and dripped onto the slate. Urgency whipped through his body like a loosened high-tension wire in a blustery wind, but he refused to hurry.
She was the birthday cake he’d never had and he was going to take his own sweet time over her and indulge. Before they were done he was going to sample every delectable square centimetre.
He stepped onto the soft emerald grass. ‘Come here.’
She moved towards him with that same stunning grace he’d seen when she’d danced. And then she was there, looking up at him with wide turquoise eyes.
‘You’re a temptress, you know that, don’t you?’
‘Uh-huh.’ She was breathing fast, her breasts rising and falling. ‘Did I tempt you?’
‘Oh, yeah.’ He smoothed his hands over her damp shoulders.
She gasped softly at the first contact and her hands slid into his hair. Her musky feminine scent with a hint of chlorine surrounded him, drawing him closer. He lowered his lips to her neck. The taste of her skin was sweet and fresh.
His hands took a journey over smooth firm breasts. Beneath his palms he felt her hardened nipples. He rolled them between thumbs and forefingers, heard her whisper something as he closed his lips over one perfect bud.
‘Touch me again, Blake.’ Her voice had turned from teasing to seriously turned on. She shifted beneath his lips, lifting her hands to tug at pins and ribbons so that her hair fell loose and wet over her shoulders, a wildfire of curls. ‘Come inside me.’
Her impatience urged him to take her now where they stood and his own need chafed at him but he would not be rushed.
Lifting his head, he slid his palms over her hips and let his gaze wander. Naked had never looked so perfect and he drank in the sight before him like a man too long between beers. He could feel the need radiating from her like a blush and lifted his gaze to hers.
Clear eyes stared back at him, drenched with desire, and the air around her shimmered like the gold she’d dusted on her shoulders. His body burned with something more than lust. She was feminine perfection but she was still tiny. And she looked even smaller naked, and so fine-boned and fragile, as if she’d break with one touch.
‘Don’t think
