wished he could bring back that sunny smile of hers and the twinkle in her fine eyes.
‘Is there anything else on your never list?’
Alice opened her mouth then closed it again. A flush of pink rose to her cheeks. Instantly his interest piqued.
‘Alice?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s nothing.’ She leaned forward, reached for her coffee and, seeing the mug empty, sank back.
‘You might as well tell me what it is you haven’t done. I promise to keep it to myself.’
Was he really so curious about her?
To his surprise, Adoni discovered he was.
She fidgeted. ‘I’m doing all the talking. Shouldn’t you tell me something?’ Just as if she hadn’t barged uninvited into his private suite. Yet Adoni hadn’t enjoyed a woman’s conversation so much in a long time.
What did that say about the women he dated?
‘What do you want me to say?’
She shrugged, melting even further into the sofa. ‘Anything you like. Tell me something you haven’t told anyone else. I promise to keep it to myself.’
The idea was absurd. Why share with a complete stranger? Yet as he sat in the mellow lamplight, watching Alice Trehearn’s easy smile and expectant look, he found himself tempted.
Because he wasn’t accustomed to sharing anything truly personal?
Because she was a stranger he’d never see again?
That, and the surprising tug of attraction, must be why he even considered playing along. And why he’d allowed her into his space when he was notoriously private.
His mood had been odd all evening. Restlessness had kept him on edge. Remarkably, it was only since she’d inserted herself into his presence that he’d begun to relax.
‘I don’t like weddings.’ The words came suddenly. Adoni was surprised how good it felt to admit it.
‘Really?’ One fine eyebrow arched. ‘Any particular reason?’
He took another mouthful of coffee. It didn’t taste as rich this time. ‘I was nearly married once. I suppose weddings bring back memories.’
Of rejection, disbelief and disappointment. But he’d been young enough to learn his lesson well. These days, apart from his hand-picked managers, he didn’t put his trust in anyone but himself. It was safer that way. When those closest to you could turn so viciously against you, trust was the first casualty, along with love.
Absently he rolled his shoulder, releasing a stiffness along the collarbone.
‘I’m so sorry.’ She leaned forward, her hand lifted towards him as if to smooth away the frown he felt settle on his brow. Then she sank back, regarding him seriously.
He waited for the inevitable, a question about why his marriage hadn’t proceeded, but again Alice Trehearn surprised him. Even inebriated she had enough delicacy not to trespass further. ‘Tonight must have been a trial.’
He shook his head, automatically rejecting sympathy. ‘It was fine. It was no big deal.’ Time to change the subject. ‘So what is the other thing you’ve never done? I told you my secret. It’s time for you to share too.’
She blinked, staring back at him with a look he couldn’t interpret. Annoyance? Embarrassment? Certainly the colour in her cheeks warmed to rose madder.
‘Alice?’
Her mouth tightened and then the words tumbled out. ‘Never had an orgasm, if you must know.’ For an instant she looked as regal as a young swan, stretching her neck higher and tilting her chin, trying to hide what he guessed was embarrassment.
Then something unexpected flashed in her eyes. ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to help me with that?’
HELP HER HAVE her first orgasm? Adoni tried and failed over the next hour to put Alice Trehearn’s words from his mind.
The idea was so outrageous it was laughable.
A woman, clearly the worse for drink, propositioning him so clumsily.
A woman without glamour or any of the usual seductive skills he expected in a lover.
A woman in an ill-fitting dress the colour of bile, with her hair hanging damp around her shoulders and not a scrap of make-up. She didn’t belong in his world and shouldn’t be in the least attractive.
Yet Adoni couldn’t banish the provocative idea of giving Alice her first orgasm.
Was it the idea of initiating her to pleasure that snared his imagination and wouldn’t let go? Or was it Alice herself?
The rose-pink colour of her cheeks would spread across her breasts. Those dark eyes would glitter and that decadent mouth would open on a gasp, or perhaps a scream as he toppled her over the edge into rapture.
The image of her naked beneath him, trembling with satiation, was so vivid it had him rock-hard in an instant.
The chirp of his phone, an urgent call from his North American manager, had saved both him and Alice from the embarrassment of a response. Then, when he’d ended the call and turned to tell her she needed to leave since he had work to do, Adoni had found her asleep.
Suspicious, he’d initially wondered if it was a ploy, especially as she looked ridiculously cute curled up, hands beneath her cheek and bare feet pale against the cushions. But her occasional tiny snuffles proved him wrong. They were too close to dainty snores for any would-be seductress to countenance.
Now, sitting at his desk on the other side of the room, reviewing the contract his manager had just sent, Adoni directed a darkling stare towards the woman lying on his sofa.
How dare she make such an invitation then go to sleep? She rolled onto her back, the too-big bodice pulling askew to reveal the gentle curve of one pale breast.
The pulse in Adoni’s groin pounded hard and fast as his gaze traced her slender figure. His mouth dried as she shifted and the edge of the fabric strained, close to revealing one nipple. Her skirt was rucked up above her knees from the way she’d twisted. Even so, most of her was covered by that appalling bridesmaid’s dress.
She shouldn’t look attractive, much less seductive. Yet Adoni registered the heaviness in his lower body, the restlessness, the powerful hunger.
Maybe it was that sultry mouth, those lush, slightly downturned lips, surely designed for sin. He looked at her and thought of those lips on his body and it was no wonder he couldn’t concentrate on the document before him.
Perhaps it was the novelty of not knowing what she was going to say next. Her cheerfully frank assessment of how she looked in that dreadful dress, or the apparently artless combination of guilelessness and insight.
