Читать книгу Two Against the Odds - Joan Kilby - Страница 9

KISSING HIM was like touching her lips to a live electrical wire. A current flowed through her, lifting her off her chair and onto her feet. Rafe surged upward, too, his hands framing her face as he pressed his mouth to hers in a long breathless kiss. She slid her arms around his neck. He gathered her close, pressing hot kisses to her cheeks, her nose, her neck. Then his mouth found hers again and his tongue plunged inside, flooding her with heat and sensation…

Her hands slid down his shirtfront, pushing against his chest. “Stop,” she gasped.

Instantly, he released her, breathing hard, eyes wild. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Aghast, Lexie fled down the hall to her bedroom. She slammed the door shut and paced between the end of the bed and the closet. Rafe was a government tax accountant here to audit her, not to…to…

She breathed in deeply and slowly, taking the air all the way to her stomach. Then she let it out through her mouth. Normally that would calm her. Not quite.

Another breath. She would go back out there, act normally and not do anything dumb. Shoulders back and down, she opened the door.

Rafe was standing on the other side, fist raised to knock. Face-to-face. She stared. That mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, the words tumbling out. “I don’t know what came over me. That was inappropriate. Please forget it ever happened. I’ll go out to my studio. Stay out of your way. I go a little crazy when I’m not working. Please don’t think anything of it.”

She paused for breath.

“What just happened out there?” He looked shell-shocked, as if he hadn’t taken in a word she’d said.

“That’s what I’m trying to explain,” she babbled. “I didn’t mean to kiss you. Well, obviously on one level I did. I’ve been thinking of it all day. And yesterday—”

“I’ve been thinking about nothing else.” His dazed eyes settled on her mouth. “I only know two things. I shouldn’t be doing this. And I don’t want to stop.” He kissed her again. “Tell me to stop.” His voice was low and rasping. Almost pleading.

Holding his gaze, she took his hands and settled them on her hips. The heat of his fingers burned through her thin cotton yoga pants. He drew her closer.

Rafe glided the tip of his tongue into the hollow behind her ear. His mouth moved over her neck, his breath warm against her skin.

“I don’t want you to stop.” Easing back, she met his hot dark eyes and melted. “I want to go to bed with you.”

He went still. Lexie felt every hair on her body stand on end. She held her breath.

“I should not be doing this,” he said again, stripping his shirt off. Underneath he wore a white T-shirt that accentuated his tanned shoulders and strapping chest.

If he was prey to her cougar, he was willing prey.

Her nerves jumping, she stepped back, pulling him toward her by his belt. Kissing him as he stumbled forward. Her breath got stuck somewhere between her throat and her chest as she worked his buckle.

And then he was shucking off his gray trousers and tossing them, along with his shirt. Lexie drank in the sight of him. Her last lover had been in his for ties with the beginnings of a paunch and a softening jawline. Although a hard body wasn’t everything, Rafe’s smooth skin, sculpted muscles and erection were just…wow.

She practically tore her clothes off, trembling with need, almost unable to stand. She pushed down his black boxers as he fumbled her bra off. He cupped her breasts in his hands, sucking hard on one nipple, as he slid her panties over her hips. They were both naked, pressing against each other, so hot she could swear she heard her skin sizzle against his.

“Oh, hell,” he groaned into her ear. His hands tightened. “I don’t have any condoms. Do you?”

“No. But I have an IUD.” She rested her fore head against his chest, breathing hard, praying they weren’t stopping now. “I’m healthy.” She glanced up, searching his eyes. “You?”

He met her gaze straight on. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Growling low in her throat, she pulled him down on top of her on the bed in a tangle of limbs, tongues and hands. She was aching to feel him inside her. His biceps tensed as he poised over her. His thighs nudged between hers. So much power, so much heat. Lexie ran her restless hands over his hips, urging him.

Thick and hard, he plunged. Lexie thrust her hips upward until he filled her completely. She savored the delicious sensation, her legs trembling with strain.

He thrust again, grinding into her, his breath hot against her cheek. “Tell me if I’m too rough.”

She was so aroused she couldn’t speak.

His low voice rumbled next to her ear, saying wicked things that made her laugh and gasp. And all the time he was moving, pumping, hard and fast.

She climaxed quickly in a white heat that obliterated everything but the waves of pleasure pulsing through her. Dimly she was aware of Rafe, every muscle taut as he strained above her. And then an unearthly groan as he spilled himself into her.

RAFE OPENED his eyes. In the dim light of Lexie’s bedroom he could see her tangled blond hair, a bare shoulder and a small square of pillow. He nuzzled her neck, breathed in her scent.

He rolled over onto his back. She stirred sleepily and rolled with him, draping an arm across his chest.

Suddenly he felt very cold.

What the hell had he been thinking?

Obviously, he hadn’t been thinking.

He didn’t want to think. He wanted to bury himself in Lexie again. To trace the whorls of the shell tattoo on her hip with his tongue, to dip lower, licking his way up the slender muscle of her inner thigh. He was getting hard again just thinking about it.

Larry didn’t have to hear about this.

Not if Rafe did the audit properly, everything aboveboard. No fudging to save Lexie money. No going easy on her, overlooking the odd painting sale to reduce her income. After all, she wasn’t expecting anything like that—

Was she?

He felt even colder. Could she have seduced him so he’d reduce her taxes? People tried offering much less with the same expectation.

Nah. That was crazy. She wasn’t the type.

On the other hand, how well did he really know her?

LEXIE PEERED over the mound of files between her and Rafe. The best sex she’d ever had, bar none. This morning, though, he was ignoring her. He’d barely looked at her.

“Can I claim video rentals?” she asked.

Rafe kept his head down, the calculator clicking nonstop. “Did they inspire you to paint?”

“Everything inspires me.” She frowned at the receipt in her hand. “Except doing my taxes.”

“Claim the video.”

She dropped it on the Save pile.

Theirs was just a fling, she knew that. Rafe was a government tax agent. She’d known him for all of two days. As soon as the audit was over he’d be hitting the road.

Anyway, he was too young for her.

“Dinner at the pub?” she asked, moving on to the next receipt.

“Not unless it was a meeting with a gallery owner or a potential buyer or somehow business-related.”

She tossed the receipt in the rubbish bin. Going through receipts was the most boring thing in the world. Her gaze kept drifting to Rafe. She wanted to go over there and wrestle him to the ground and kiss him until he cried uncle.

She rose restlessly, and paced through the living room, coming to a halt at the bookshelf. The quietly ticking skeleton clock caught her eye. She carried it back to the table.

Lexie laid her chin on her folded hands and studied the series of linked wheels of decreasing size. In the time it took the largest wheel to turn a quarter of the way around, the next wheel had spun a full circle and the next one down had gone around five times. The final wheel turned a spring that was coiled in a loose spiral that expanded and contracted with each click of a cog.

Like a heartbeat.

The minute hand ticked over to twelve and the hour hand pointed to three. There was a whirring noise and a tiny hammer struck a chime.

She glanced up to share her delight and found Rafe watching her. Finally, he was looking at her. “Do you want to…” She nodded in the direction of her bedroom.

A red flush spread across his cheeks. “I have to get this finished.”

God, what was wrong with her? She shouldn’t have been so direct. She was scaring him. But they couldn’t just act as if nothing had happened. Last night they’d stopped long enough to eat dinner then had gone back to bed. He’d gotten up before she awoke and went back to his B&B.

“I know what’s going on,” she said. “You’re feeling guilty because you’re not supposed to sleep with clients.”

“Something like that.” he muttered.

“That doesn’t mean you have to ignore me,” she said matter-of-factly. “Last night was amazing. Can’t we just accept that we have this freakish natural chemistry and enjoy it until you have to ride into the sunset?”