sympathised. She’d never had someone get close. And now Cormac was here, saying all the right things, doing the right things…but was he feeling the right things?
Did it even matter?
‘Why don’t you sell the house?’ Cormac suggested in a brisker tone. ‘Perhaps you held on to it when Dani was around, for stability, but now…you’re an attractive woman. A young, attractive woman. There’s a whole life in front of you.’
‘It doesn’t always feel that way.’ She got up from the bed and dumped her plate back on the tray. She couldn’t bear it if he felt sorry for her. She couldn’t stand pity, not when she wanted something deeper.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you.’
‘You just spoke the truth,’ she said when she trusted herself to speak. She turned around, looked at him. He was sitting in the chair, his plate on his knees, a look of quiet, thoughtful compassion on his face that was just about her undoing.
‘Cormac…’ she began, and he waited. She licked her lips, tried again. ‘Cormac…’
‘Yes?’ His voice was tender, filled with unspoken promise. Lizzie looked at him, the set of his shoulders, the way his mouth quirked in a smile, his steady gaze.
Who was this man? And what she did want from him?
She wanted something more, and yet something less. She wanted to feel, and not to think. To be touched if not loved. To just be…with him.
She wanted out. She wanted in. She laughed shakily, spread her hands out in plaintive appeal. ‘You’ve said you’d stop, and I don’t want you to.’
There. It was said. She stood there, quivering, waiting. Wondering. Wanting.
He cocked his head, eyed her thoughtfully. ‘You don’t want an affair.’
‘Maybe I do.’ And more than that, but it was a start. A start of something. Wasn’t it?
‘You’d get hurt.’ He paused, and then said quietly, like a confession, ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
Lizzie’s heart squeezed, expanded. ‘You won’t.’
He pushed his plate aside, shook his head. ‘Lizzie…’ She didn’t know whether it was a plea to stop or begin, and suddenly she didn’t care.
‘Don’t. Don’t tell me no when all weekend you’ve been wanting yes. Don’t change your mind.’ Her voice broke, and she sucked in a desperate breath. ‘You’ve said you want me. I want you. I want to feel…’ She shook her head, not willing to admit the truth.
She wanted to feel loved. Loved.
Cormac leaned forward. ‘I just don’t want there to be any regrets,’ he said.
‘There won’t be.’
‘I don’t…’ He raked a hand through his hair. ‘Lizzie, I don’t know how much I can offer you…the things you’ve said you want.’
‘Love?’ she asked in a wavering voice, and he lowered his head.
‘I just don’t know.’ He lifted his gaze, gave her the ghost of a smile. ‘We could just see what happens.’
Hope buoyed her lighter than air. ‘We could,’ she agreed.
She took a step towards him and stopped. That was as far as she could go. She needed him, wanted him to take control. To show her what to do.
‘I’m rather new at this,’ she said when the silence had stretched on too long, and Cormac gazed at her with dark, fathomless eyes.
‘I’ll show you,’ he said, and moved towards her.
They stood facing each other, inches apart, quivering with awareness. Hesitantly Lizzie smoothed her hands over his chest. She felt the bump of his heartbeat against her palm.
‘You see what you do to me,’ he murmured, and a little laugh of surprise escaped her. His hand caught in her hair.
‘Lizzie…’
‘Show me.’
In one fluid movement he pulled her dress over her head; she stood there, naked, her skin washed in the soft glow of the lamp. Cormac’s eyes roamed over her body slowly, taking in the small, neat breasts, the dark blond curls between her thighs, the fact that she was trembling.
Lizzie could feel herself shake; she was afraid. Even now. Especially now.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he said softly. He shrugged off his shirt and trousers; in a moment he was naked. Lizzie’s eyes widened at the sight of him—bare, bold, beautiful.
Hers. For now.
Easily, effortlessly, he scooped her into his arms, brought her to the bed and laid her down gently.
‘You’re sure this is what you want?’ he asked, and she nodded.
Yes.
He stretched beside her, his hands skimming her skin, teasing, toying, but she wanted more. More. She wanted deep, tight, hot, close.
More.
‘Cormac…’
‘We have time, Chandler,’ he said with a little smile. ‘Lots of time.’
His hand drifted lower, to the apex of her thighs. He cupped her breasts in his hands, kissed her navel. Moved lower. She shuddered.
He was wicked with his tongue—wicked and wonderful. She gasped as he touched her, tasted her where no one had ever been before, the very centre of her, melting with sensation…
She’d never felt so much before—piercing, painful, too much to bear. Too wonderful.
And yet…
‘Cormac…’
‘Yes.’ She felt him smile against her middle.
‘Look at me.’
He paused, and then Cormac kissed her again, deeper, his tongue so knowing, so clever…
She arched instinctively, her hands threaded through his hair. ‘Cormac,’ she gasped, ‘I want to see you. I want to see your eyes.’
He stilled for only a second. Then, as if he hadn’t heard her, he began his delicious onslaught again. She couldn’t keep the waves of pleasure from racking her, a sweet torment she didn’t want to stop.
But she wanted to see his eyes. She didn’t know why, only felt. Felt it with an instinct, a deeper need than even what her body craved.
She pulled on his shoulders and, with a little laugh, he kissed his way upwards, his head bent, his face averted.
‘Cormac…’
‘Just
