lambasting herself for her weakness. And he knew that a large part of why she’d succumbed had been because he’d all but ambushed her.
He was still reeling from the effects of seeing her again after a week. He had intended to come to London, find Lia at the charity function where he knew she’d be, and woo her. Show her how determined he was to get to know her. But he’d taken one look at her across that crowded room and something inside him had turned feral. He’d had to have her. And then he’d morphed into some kind of caveman, all but dragging her into that lift, and if she hadn’t stopped them when she had...
But he could see now that her expression was closing off, becoming shuttered. Those beautiful eyes becoming unreadable.
He shook his head, ‘Don’t do that, Lia.’
She looked slightly alarmed. ‘Do what?’
‘Retreat behind that prim wall you put up.’
He reached for her, taking her hand and pulling her out of her seat and over to him before she could object. He tugged her down into his lap and stifled a groan when she came into contact with a still sensitive part of his anatomy. The hunger he felt for her was alarming...he was used to it diminishing with a lover. But what he felt for Lia was getting stronger.
Ben knew that if he hadn’t been there because he wanted to woo her into considering a very long-term arrangement with him, then he would most likely be running from the intensity he felt when he was around her.
He assured himself that it was all part of the plan. Lia was important to him because of what she represented. The fact that they were combustible in bed was a bonus he had every intention of exploiting to its full potential.
She looked at him, with a wary expression on her face that made Ben wonder if she was reading his mind.
‘What are we doing here, Ben?’
If any other woman had asked him that question Ben would definitely be running. But right now the last thing he felt was an urge to leave.
‘Well, for a start, we’re not leaving this hotel room for the whole weekend.’ He could see Lia’s immediate reaction to that—rejection—and he said quickly, ‘Look, neither of us is what the other expected—would you agree?’
Slowly, she nodded her head. ‘I guess so.’
Ben started moving his hand in small circles on her back. His other hand was on her thigh and he exerted slight pressure, seeing how her eyes flared with heat. He would use everything in his arsenal if he had to—unashamedly.
‘I want to know more about you. And there’s too much heat between us to walk away yet. Spend the weekend with me.’ Ben mentally assured himself that by the end of the weekend Lia would be his—in more ways than one. Didn’t women find whirlwind affairs romantic?
His hand explored underneath her robe to find the silky skin of her bare thigh. He felt the immediate reaction of her body.
She put her hands on his chest. When she spoke again, her voice was breathy. ‘Look, I—’
She stopped and bit her lip when Ben’s hand delved between her thighs, opening them slightly. She tried to glare at him, but it didn’t entirely work as her cheeks had gone pink.
‘Damn you, Ben.’
He smiled, feeling wicked. ‘So, what do you say?’
His hand was moving higher now, closer to the hot juncture between her legs. He was ruthless—but she wasn’t stopping him from pushing her legs further apart.
He could feel her heat and smell her sweet, musky arousal, and the friction against her pert bottom only made things more acute. He shifted slightly, so that she could feel what she was doing to him.
By now her breath was choppy. He could feel the tension in her body as she fought not to give in to him. ‘Just the weekend, you say?’
Ben wanted to growl at her insistence on putting boundaries in place, but he resisted the urge. In another couple of days all those boundaries would be gone.
‘Yes, just the weekend.’ He ignored his conscience. He’d seduced this woman into his bed—he could seduce her into marriage.
She looked at him for a long moment, with such intensity that Ben almost wanted to hide from her searing gaze, and then, abruptly, she moved. For a second Ben thought she was getting up to leave, but then she was lifting a leg over his lap and coming back down to straddle him.
Her robe had parted marginally and she moved her hips against him in a small undulating movement that made him bite back a curse as he felt her naked flesh press hotly against the erection straining against his trousers.
She cocked her head. ‘Well, for starters, you’re way too overdressed for a weekend of debauchery...’
And with that she reached for the hem of his top, pulling it up so that he had to raise his arms, and then it was off, landing on the floor.
She’d taken him by surprise again. Ben was so taken aback at her capitulation that he could only sit there for a moment, and then she grinned at him, bright and sudden, and he felt it like a punch in his gut. He also felt something constrict in his chest but he pushed it down, focusing on the physical.
He dislodged her hands with ease and pulled at the rest of her robe, baring those beautiful breasts to his gaze. He cupped them, dragging his thumbs across her stiffening nipples, and heard her sharp intake of breath.
By the time he’d licked and sucked those peaks to sharp wet points Lia was lifting herself up from his lap and fumbling with his trousers, freeing his aching arousal from its confinement. By the time he was sheathed with protection and embedded in her snug embrace they were both breathing as if they’d run a marathon, a glow of perspiration coating their skin.
Lia’s robe was off, on the floor behind her, and Ben didn’t even have any recollection of pushing it to the ground, the conflagration between them had been so swift and sudden. He surged up into her body, over and over, his arms welded tight across her back.
Lia pushed him right to the edge, and over, every time. Her face was flushed, she was biting her lip, and her eyes were glazed with passion... Ben realised with satisfaction that he was seeing her come undone, exactly as he’d imagined when he’d looked at her that first evening they’d met.
Except his sense of satisfaction was short-lived. Nothing in his imagination could have prepared him for this reality, or the sheer strength and awesome power of the climax that ripped through them within minutes of their bodies joining.
For a long moment in the aftermath Ben’s head rested helplessly on Lia’s breasts. She had her hands on his head, fingers funnelled deep into his hair, holding him there. He was still embedded deep in her body and he could feel the rhythmic post-orgasmic flutters of her body along his length.
He realised that even if he’d wanted to pull away from the embrace he couldn’t.
When he finally was able to move he lifted his head and looked at her. The fact that she seemed similarly shattered was absurdly satisfying, but that was almost immediately followed by a sensation of uneasiness as Ben realised that whenever he’d believed he had her where he wanted her before, she’d eluded him.
