stroking continued, stoking a fire within her body she could feel deep and throbbing in her core. ‘What about your celibacy pact?’
‘I’ve proven my point to my friend. Besides, I think she’s going to break it herself this weekend. She’s going to be within arm’s reach of her ex. Always a dangerous prospect for her.’
‘Whose idea was the pact?’
‘Mine mostly,’ Kat said. ‘I just got tired of getting involved with men who were shallow and not interested in me as a person. Or ones who told blatant lies.’
‘Well, if it’s any comfort, I’m not married, haven’t been and was only engaged for forty-eight hours eleven years ago,’ Flynn said. ‘Every other relationship—and I use that term loosely—has been temporary.’
Kat stroked her fingertip over the blunt end of his thumb, watching as his dark ink-like pupils flared with molten heat. Even the candle on the table flickered, as if it was tired of competing with the flame of attraction glowing between them. ‘So...if we get involved what will we call it?’
His mouth slanted in that spine-tingling manner. ‘How about a flingsationship?’
She gave him an answering smile. ‘I’ve never heard of one of those. What does it involve?’
He winked at her. ‘Let’s go back to my place and I’ll show you.’
IN THE CAB on the way back to Flynn’s house Kat could feel desire flooding every inch of her body like the wash of a warm tide. Flynn was holding her hand against the strong muscles of his thigh, an intimate anchoring of her to him that made her fingers itch to creep closer to the hot, hard, tempting heat of him. He glanced down at her with a teasing glint in his eyes. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ he said in a sexy undertone. ‘There are security cameras.’
Touching him was all she could think about. Touching him, stroking him with her fingers, licking him with her tongue. Tasting him. She communicated it with her gaze, a kind of visual foreplay that made his pupils flare and his hand tighten over hers. ‘Just wait till I get you alone,’ she said.
‘You’ll have to be gentle with me. I’ve got fractures.’
Kat bit her lip as she glanced at his bandaged foot. ‘Will it make it...?’
‘Awkward but not impossible,’ he said, holding her gaze.
She saw the hunger there, the need, the longing. For her. Had any of her partners looked at her like that? As if she was the only woman in the world he wanted to make love to? ‘When was the last time you...?’ She left the question hanging open.
‘September.’
Kat raised her brows. ‘Why so long between drinks?’
He kept his eyes trained on hers, the heat in his fuelling the fire already raging in her flesh. ‘Because when I set my mind to something I don’t allow distractions to take my focus off my goal.’
Kat licked her lips with a quick dart of her tongue. ‘How long were you prepared to wait?’
‘However long it took.’
‘What if I didn’t play ball, so to speak?’
‘I knew from the moment we met you would.’
It wasn’t just hubris on his part. Kat had known it too. Deep in her body she had known he was the one man she would not be able to resist. She reached up with her hand and stroked his lean and tanned cheek, his light stubble catching on her fingers. ‘I hope I’ll be worth the wait.’
Something softened in his expression. ‘Is that a lack of confidence I hear again?’
Kat puffed out a little sigh. ‘It’s easier for guys. Simpler. For women it’s a little more complicated...or at least, it is for me.’
He cupped her cheek with his warm hand, his eyes holding hers in an intimate lock. ‘I’ll make it good for you. I promise.’
‘Even with crutches?’
The look in his eyes made every knob of her spine shudder in anticipation. ‘Count on it, baby.’
* * *
Keeping Cricket out of the bedroom proved to be more of a challenge for Flynn than getting her into it, Kat thought wryly as she listened to the little dog whining and scratching on the other side of the door. ‘Do you think he’ll settle down?’
Flynn reached up to loosen his tie. ‘I’m not making love to you with a dog breathing down my neck.’
‘But he sounds so miserable.’
‘He’ll get over it.’ He tossed the tie to one side. ‘Now, come here so I can undress you.’
She looked at him balanced awkwardly on his crutches. ‘Maybe we should switch it around. I’ll undress you.’
His dark eyes gleamed. ‘Be my guest.’
Kat made him sit on the bed and knelt down between his spread thighs to unbutton his shirt. She peeled it off his broad shoulders, leaning into him to press kisses to his warm, tanned, muscular flesh, from the base of his neck to the tightly whorled cave of his bellybutton.
She heard him snatch in a breath as her tongue circled his navel, but he put his hands on her shoulders to stall her from going any lower. ‘That’s not the way I plan to do this,’ he said. ‘You’re pleasure is my priority. My goal.’
Kat shivered at the steely intent in his gaze. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Take your clothes off. Slowly.’
Kat got to her feet, balancing on one foot and then the other as she removed her heels. She slid her tights down from beneath her simple black dress, letting them fall in a twisted heap on the floor next to her shoes, all the while holding that dark-as-night, hungry gaze. She reached behind her back to pull down the zipper on her dress, letting the fabric shimmy down her body before it too landed in a puddle at her feet. She lowered one bra strap and then the other, her breasts still cupped in their black lace. She unhooked the back of her bra and watched as his eyes devoured their shape. She had body issues, just like any other young woman her age, but somehow standing in front of him in nothing but her knickers made her feel as if she was the most beautifully proportioned woman he had ever seen.
Cricket gave a piteous whine from the other side of the door, scratching at the woodwork as if he was determined to dig his way through to his beloved master.
Flynn muttered a curse. ‘I can’t freaking believe this.’
Kat laughed at the agitated look on his face. ‘Let him in. I don’t mind. Really.’
He mock-glowered at her. ‘I’m not having a threesome with a dog.’
She moved closer to the bed, hooking one finger under the edge of her knickers.
