Читать книгу Modern Romance October 2016 Books 5-8 - Ким Лоренс, Kate Walker - Страница 18

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘WHERE’S YOUR FATHER, LIA? Not ill again, I hope?’

Lia felt like hitting the smug smile off the face of one of her father’s biggest competitors, who was making it very obvious that he did hope her father was ill, but instead she smiled beatifically and said, ‘Of course he’s not ill, George.’ Her smile stayed fixed as she went on, ‘He’s actually too busy to be here this evening—which is why I have to say I’m surprised to see you here. Didn’t you know that this evening is the construction union’s annual winter party?’

The man’s already florid face grew redder as he blustered, ‘Well, yes, of course I did...but I wouldn’t normally think of going to one of those events—’

Which is why you’re only a fraction as successful as my father, she thought to herself privately, even as she said a placatory, ‘No, of course not. Most people don’t. He will insist on going, though—every year—and his employees seem to love him for it.’

The man was backpedalling away from Lia so fast that she nearly laughed out loud. It was a little mean of her, she knew, to tease him like that. But in fairness her father had put in an appearance at the union party largely because it wouldn’t be filled with vultures ready to pick him apart to see just how robust he was.

She’d just been informed that he was back, via one of his usual slightly ham-fisted texts, which was all in caps.

I’M HOME NOW. DON’T WORRY. HOLD THE FORT FOR ME, DARLING. DAD. XX

Lia sighed. That was what she felt as if she’d been doing all her life. Holding the fort for her father, who had never really recovered after her mother’s abandonment of them both. But she pushed that moment of uncharacteristic self-pity out of her mind now. She didn’t want anyone here at this exclusive London charity bash to suspect for a second that everything wasn’t absolutely fine.

So she pasted on another bright smile when she saw two more of her father’s biggest rivals bearing down on her, with glints in their eyes. But just before they reached her something in her peripheral vision made her look to her left and her heart stopped beating. Almost literally stopped.

It was Benjamin Carter, standing at the main doorway, dressed in a classic black tuxedo, scanning the room as if looking for something. Or someone. His bright blue gaze—visible even from where she stood—landed on her and stopped. Lia felt its impact immediately, deep in her body, like an electrical shock.

Everything dropped away. She was aware of voices from nearby, aware that she was meant to be responding to something, but had no idea to what.

It felt as if seconds had passed since she’d seen him, but it had actually been a week.

A week since she’d left this man lying on his bed amongst tangled sheets, with her heart pounding so hard she’d been able to feel it. It started again now, as he walked towards her, and she drank him in helplessly. He looked taller, darker, and more handsome against the backdrop of this much paler British crowd.

For an awful second she wondered if she was hallucinating—she’d believed she’d never see him again, and had done her best all week to repress the memories and images. But at night her subconscious hadn’t been able to stem the tide, and each morning she’d woken hot and sweaty, with the sheets tangled around her body after X-rated dreams.

He closed the distance between them with long strides, the crowd parting like water and hushed whispers following his progress. He reached Lia and she was struck mute.

Without taking his eyes off hers, he said, ‘Gentlemen, please excuse the interruption, but I have some unfinished business with Miss Ford.’

And then he reached for Lia’s hand, taking it in a firm grip, and started walking back out of the room, taking her with him. The lust that flooded her body at the touch of his hand told her that she wasn’t hallucinating—as did the excitement mixed with shock in her blood.

Lia had to lift her long black silk dress in one hand, afraid of tripping. She caught sight of herself and Ben in a long mirror and saw that she looked tiny behind him, her shoulders bare in the long strapless dress, her hair upswept into a rough chignon.

Panic flooded her system as the reality sank in that he was really here. If he guessed for a second how deep he’d sneaked under her skin... The panic intensified. She dug her heels in and tried to pull her hand free, but his only tightened.

He stopped and turned around, a fierce expression on his face. Gone was the civil, suave man she’d first met. He was angry. But instead of feeling intimidated she found her anger matched his. Anger at him for coming into her world like this. For upsetting her equilibrium again.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she snapped. ‘You’re on my turf now.’

Ben arched a brow. ‘Oh, forgive me, Lady Ford, do you own this hotel?’

She flushed. ‘No, of course not.’ Then she arched her own brow. ‘Do you have a private plane stashed on the lawn at the back? Are you planning another little kidnap stunt?’

He kept her hand firmly in his and faced her fully, his free arm snaking around her waist and pulling her close. She went on fire when she felt his burgeoning erection between them. His eyes gleamed when he saw her reaction. Lia was acutely aware of the audience around them, and cursed herself for not waiting to confront him until they were somewhere more private.

‘You asked me a question.’

Lia frowned. ‘What question?’

‘In that kind note you left, you said—and I quote—‟This was never going to go beyond the weekend, was it?”’

Lia flushed hotter. ‘That was a rhetorical question.’

Ben shook his head. ‘Not any more—because I believe I’ve just answered it.’

‘How?’

He moved against her subtly, explicitly, leaving her in no doubt as to what he meant. Then he said throatily, ‘I suggest you come with me right now—unless you want to treat your peers to the kind of show they’d prefer to watch in private or on pay per view.’

Some emotion Lia didn’t want to name surged through her as the knowledge sank in—she wasn’t dreaming. He was here and he still wanted her. And, heaven help her, she wanted him too... She’d run scared in Brazil, but right now she couldn’t exactly recall why it had been so imperative to get away from him.

Displaying his uncanny ability to read her mind, Ben was making the most of her hesitation and continuing on his journey out of the room, leading her into the hushed lobby of the very exclusive London hotel.

A lift door opened nearby and Ben diverted suddenly, pulling her in with him just as the doors closed again, almost catching Lia’s dress. The lift started to ascend. And suddenly in the confined space, with Ben taking up most of the room with his big body, the panic returned. He really was here. And now she really had nowhere to hide.

‘This is crazy, Ben! You can’t just remove me to wherever you like, whenever you like.’

She watched as he hit a button with the palm of his hand and the lift shuddered to a halt. Between floors. He finally let her hand go, and caged her in with a hand on either side of her head.

‘I have issues with your note,’ he said, in a low, deep drawl that impacted Lia right between her legs.

The panic was draining away, to be replaced by something hot and illicit in her blood. And, more dangerously, the memories she’d been repressing all week were starting to break free of their moorings, flooding her brain with images and rising desire.

‘Primarily,’ he continued, oblivious to her inner turmoil, ‘the bit where you assumed that our...liaison wouldn’t last beyond the weekend.’

Lia was feeling breathless. Was it her imagination or were the mirrors in the elevator starting to steam up? She struggled to recall what he’d just said, and then asked, ‘Is that what it was? A liaison?’

Again, as if she hadn’t spoken, Ben said, ‘Do you really think I spent all that money just to get you into my bed?’

Lia wanted to squirm. Of course she didn’t. Not any more. But that was where the danger lay...in thinking about what he wanted from her outside of this insane heat. Or, worse, what she wanted. When she’d protected herself for so long—even going so far as to agree to a marriage of convenience.

She shook her head now. ‘No, I don’t think that.’

A slow, sexy grin spread across Ben’s face and Lia’s legs immediately felt weak. The tension thickened between them. He wasn’t going anywhere.

The giddy recklessness she’d felt in New York came back. Maybe he was here to finish what they’d started in Brazil. One more night? Two? And then he’d go back to his own life. After all, she reminded herself through the gathering heat in her brain, Ben didn’t do relationships, did he?

And neither did she. She shouldn’t have panicked in Brazil—it could have burnt out there. But she had. And now he was here. So maybe it would be okay to just...let it burn out. Here, as opposed to there. Did the geographics matter?

The fevered circling thoughts all led to one conclusion: Lia giving herself permission to stop fighting the inevitable. Resistance melted and she dived into the fever growing in her blood.

‘Kiss me, Ben.’

Stop the chatter in my head, a small voice begged.

He smiled, wickedly accepting her capitulation—again—and then he cupped her face in his hands, tilted it up to his, and kissed her, stroking his tongue into her mouth, deep. Reminding her of the exquisite pleasure he’d given her, and the gift of the knowledge that she wasn’t cold inside.

That alone made emotion surge again, and Lia wrapped her arms tight around his neck as if that would contain it. He’d flown all the way across the world to kiss her like this, deep and hot and wicked. And she would take it—because this was finite.

She arched her body into his, her blood throbbing in time with her heart when she felt the very masculine evidence of his arousal against her. His hands moved down her sides to her buttocks, where he cupped her through the slippery material of the dress.

He pulled back long enough to speak as he lifted her up, instructing, ‘Wrap your legs around my hips.’

She did it mindlessly, her dress sliding high on her thighs as he lifted her effortlessly. She hooked her legs around his waist. Kissing her again, Ben slipped a hand underneath the dress and explored between the lace of her panties and her bottom, caressing her bare skin. She moaned into his mouth, dizzy.

Her bare upper back was against one mirrored wall of the lift, and Ben angled his hips so that the bulge of his erection pressed against her, between her legs, where she was wet and hot.

Her dress felt too tight. But even as she was thinking that Ben was sliding his fingers under the top of it and pulling it down, so that one of her breasts was freed. He pulled back from the kiss, and stared at her. He looked drunk, dazed.

Lia was vaguely aware that the only things holding her up were the wall and Ben’s hand on her bottom. Because now he was thumbing her nipple and she was biting her lip.

‘Please...’ she begged.

He looked at her, and some hair flopped forward onto his forehead.

She brushed it back, feeling inordinately tender. ‘Touch me...like you did before.’

He smiled, and it was wicked. He lowered his head and flicked his tongue against her straining nipple. He looked back up, all innocence. ‘Like this?’

‘Yes...’ Lia growled, feeling even needier now. ‘Damn you...more.’

His eyes flashed and he lowered his head to her breast and took her nipple deep into his mouth. Lia tensed, to try and hold off falling over the edge, but Ben was remorseless and his hips were making thrusting movements against her... All he’d have to do would be to slide her panties aside and free himself and he’d be inside her, where she needed him so badly.

Shocked at the completely wanton direction of her thoughts, and at how desperate her desire was, Lia’s eyes snapped open.

In the reflection of the mirror behind Ben she saw her long pale legs, wrapped around his slim hips, and his dark head at her breast. She saw her own flushed face, blue eyes glittering fiercely. Her hair was mussed and her mouth was swollen. And they were in a lift.

She tensed even more and gripped Ben’s hair, pulling his head up. ‘We can’t make love here—in a lift.’

Ben looked about ready to refute that statement, but then he seemed to come to his senses and straightened up, removing the delicious friction of his body from Lia’s. She immediately felt bereft.

‘Actually,’ she said, feeling reckless and changing her mind abruptly, ‘I’ve never made love in a lift...the idea is growing on me.’

Ben looked stubborn. ‘No way. You’re right. I’m not going to be the crass American caught in flagrante delicto in one of London’s most exclusive hotels.’

Lia felt a little shard pierce her. He was not crass—at all. Ben unhooked her legs from his hips and helped her stand again. She was wobbly on her feet and only belatedly realised her breast was still exposed when the lift started moving again. Ben efficiently covered her up, his fingers brushing against her sensitive skin.

Just in time, too, because the doors opened and an older couple with severe expressions got in, muttering about how long they’d had to wait for the lift. Lia had to stifle her giggles and Ben took her hand, gripping it tight.

The lift came to a halt again and she followed him out, not having a clue where they were going until he stopped outside a door and unlocked it with a hotel key. The fact that he’d booked a room at the hotel made something bloom in her chest—something she hadn’t allowed room to breathe since she’d taken that flight from Salvador, back to New York and then home.

Hope.

The door shut behind them and Ben had her lifted against it with her legs around his hips before she could take another breath.

‘Now,’ he said throatily, ‘where were we?’

* * *

Dawn was breaking outside when Lia awoke. For a few seconds she lay there, blinking, taking stock of all the pleasurable aches in her body. She was aware that her dress was hanging precariously off the end of the bed, and that there was a trail of destruction along the floor from the doorway to the bed, of her underwear.

She blushed when she thought of the urgency of their lovemaking against the door of the suite...and then the much more languid second time...and the third.

She turned her head to see Ben sprawled in unashamedly masculine splendour. Déjà vu made her feel momentarily dizzy and her heart hitched. Instinctively she started to move, but those blue eyes snapped open and before she could take another breath he had her trapped under one powerful thigh, a hand on her breast. Lia’s blood leapt, and her sleepy body was awake and humming in seconds.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’

His voice was deliciously rough. Lia could feel her nipple peaking under his palm and he moved it so that he could flick it with his thumb, rousing it to a sharp point. She almost groaned, but forced herself to put her hand over his—which didn’t really help.

All her bravado, and the justifications she’d used in order to acquiesce to Ben’s lovemaking last night, felt flimsy in the cold morning light. Her emotions were too raw all of a sudden.

‘I should go.’

Ben ignored her hand on his and continued torturing her breast. He also subtly moved his thigh, so that his erection nestled close to the juncture of Lia’s legs.

‘I think that’s a very bad idea.’

Ben bent his head and started to press kisses along the exposed shoulder nearest to him. His hand deftly dislodged hers and he pinched her nipple between his fingers, just as his hot mouth found and started torturing her other breast.

Not able to hold back the groan this time, Lia felt all resistance fade as Ben’s hand smoothed its way down over her belly to between her legs, pushing them apart so his questing fingers could seek and discover for himself how much she wanted him—again. Already.

He lifted his head and smiled smugly. A surge of irritation at her own weakness galvanised Lia to move and she took him by surprise, coming up to straddle him, her hands holding his arms back behind his head. She knew he could break free easily, but it was still momentarily heady to have him at her mercy, however illusory.

She moved her body back until she could feel the head of his erection against her and, keeping it between them, slowly started to move up and down, sliding her body along his thick length, seeing his face flush and his pupils dilate.

‘Witch,’ he ground out, and she could feel him lengthen and grow harder under her.

Their breathing became more laboured as Lia obeyed the dictates of her body to go faster, press down harder. Ben lifted his head and captured her nipple, biting gently with his teeth. It sent a shudder all the way down to between Lia’s legs.

And then, proving how little control she really wielded over him, Ben moved and she was flat on her back, trapped under him again. He reached for protection and expertly rolled it over his erection, and then, before Lia could take another breath, he was sinking deep inside her, his eyes on hers, not letting her escape for a moment.

The climax that broke over them came swiftly and was brutal in its power, washing everything else away. And in the shuddering aftermath, when Ben pulled Lia close and wrapped his arms and legs around her, something inside her just...melted.

* * *

Lia was feeling marginally restored as she belted a thick robe around herself after taking a quick shower. When she’d woken again Ben hadn’t been in the bed and she’d spied him in the living area, dressed in dark trousers and a long-sleeved thin grey jumper that did nothing to disguise his muscles. He was pacing up and down while talking on his mobile phone, so she’d taken quick advantage, locking herself in the bathroom.

She’d avoided looking at herself in the mirror, not wanting to see the aftermath of their cataclysmic night and morning. She’d also avoided letting her mind stray to dangerous thoughts like, Why did he come here really? And, What happens now? She’d decided she was just going to nip it in the bud now because sleeping with Ben again had only reinforced her fears about not being as emotionally detached as she’d like to be. As he undoubtedly was.

When she padded into the living area of the plush suite, Ben was seated at the table, reading a newspaper. He put it down as she approached and that blue gaze swept her up and down. Even under the thick robe she could feel herself respond.

‘I’ve ordered some clothes for you to change into.’

For a second she felt inordinately touched at his consideration and relief for the fact that she wouldn’t have to do the walk of shame out of the hotel, into the glaring London daylight. ‘Thanks, I’ll pay you back.’

His eyes flashed at that, but he let it go as she sat down and looked at the array of breakfast/brunch items laid out. ‘I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I ordered a selection.’

Lia slid into a chair, avoiding his eye. Her pitifully few experiences of morning-after situations with her ex-fiancé had been sterile, dispassionate affairs—she’d never experienced this intense level of awareness before.

‘Coffee will do for now.’

Ben reached for a tall slender pot and poured fragrant coffee into a cup. She couldn’t take her eyes off his hands: large and masculine, yet elegant, too. She fought back a blush as she thought of how they’d felt on her skin, and took a quick sip of coffee to try and dislodge her lurid memories.

When she felt able, she looked at him. ‘So...what’s your plan while you’re here in London?’

Ben looked at her and a small smile played around his sensual mouth. ‘You, Lia. You’re my plan.’

To hear him confirm that he really was here just because of her was seriously disarming—and overwhelming. Emotion swelled and it made her want to push him back.

She put down her cup with a jarring clatter of porcelain. ‘You can’t expect me just to drop everything to accommodate you. I have a life here...work.’

Ben’s eyes narrowed on her. ‘Work for your father? Like you were doing last night...being his emissary?’

Lia felt immediately defensive. ‘It’s a family business.’

‘But what about your plans for your own work?’

She immediately regretted telling him all that she had. ‘I don’t think you’re here to discuss my career options.’

Ben inclined his head slightly in concession. ‘Not really, no. But as it happens I have an office here in London. I’m taking advantage of the trip to check in with my team on the ground. We’ve got several projects in development, and they’re setting up some meetings for me while I’m here.’

Lia cursed herself for not guessing that he had an office in London, or checking.

He leaned forward then. ‘But, more importantly, I want to get to know you better, Lia. That’s really why I’m here.’

Her silly heart hitched as trepidation warred with that illicit sense of hope. She’d run from this in Bahia and he’d chased her down. She was afraid that she wasn’t strong enough to walk away again. And he knew it.

* * *

Ben felt a surge of triumph when Lia didn’t immediately jump up from the table at his declaration that he wanted to spend time with her, and tried to hide it from his expression.

Even though she’d acquiesced to him last night, he’d known she’d be prickly in the morning—no doubt 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.

He was a man who exerted control in all things, and he would make sure that didn’t happen again. There was no room for failure here. Lia was an acquisition he couldn’t afford to lose now.

* * *

‘What day is it?’ Lia said sleepily into the pillow as she felt a finger trace the bones of her spine.

Amazingly, her body tingled and she groaned. She heard a deep chuckle and wanted to scowl, but she didn’t have the energy.

Mustering all the strength she did have, she turned over, dislodging Ben’s hand and pulling the sheet up over her body. She glared at him balefully.

He held up his hand, his face a picture of innocence. Well, if you could call his stubbled gorgeousness innocent. Which, of course, he wasn’t—remotely. He was wicked, and he had made her do unspeakably wanton things for hours and hours; night had melted into dawn and then day, and then dusk and then night... And now it was getting dark outside again. The world might have ended and Lia wouldn’t know.

‘You didn’t answer my question.’

Ben put his hands on either side of her body and leant over her, his chest broad and bare. ‘It’s Sunday evening—and I don’t think I can take another Room Service meal.’

Lia reeled. She’d known what day it was—of course she had. But still... To hear him confirm that they’d passed almost three full days gorging on each other in a feast of the senses was overwhelming. She now knew, indelibly, that under Ben’s expert touch she’d discovered her own sensuality and had learnt to revel in it. For that alone she’d lost a part of her soul to him.

She seized on his words, glad of an excuse to get out of this far too intimate space. ‘I know a place near here...’

Ben smiled, and before Lia could stop him he’d whipped the sheet from her body. She squealed as he effortlessly lifted her into his arms. He strode into the bathroom and put her down to switch on the shower. She shivered with anticipation, unable to help herself.

Under the powerful spray of the water moments later, as Ben lathered shampoo into her hair and massaged her skull, Lia was glad she was facing away from him so he couldn’t see her face. Because suddenly she felt bereft. It was Sunday evening and their weekend was almost over.

She’d left him behind in Bahia because she’d known that he’d slid under her skin...and now? Lia closed her eyes, as if that could help block out the suspicion that sliding under her skin was only the half of it. She was afraid she’d lost a whole lot more than a piece of her soul to Ben Carter.

He turned her around then and she kept her eyes closed, desperately telling herself, as his clever hands explored her slick body, that this was just lust clouding her brain and making her think crazy things.

For a moment she felt almost angry—that he’d managed to seduce her soul as well as her body so easily. Damn the man. She’d never wanted to go the way of her father—crippled by rejection. Not that Ben would even reject Lia—oh, no, she couldn’t imagine him being so crass. He would do it with a silky touch and a devastating kiss and leave her reeling, wondering what had just happened...

But now Ben was sliding his hands between her legs, finding where her body was her ultimate betrayer and saying, ‘Look at me, Lia.’

So, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she welcomed the distraction from her whirling, dangerous thoughts and assured herself that she would be fine. And she opened her eyes and kept them on him even as he tipped her over the edge and she screamed out her release...even as she was afraid that her worst fears would manifest in spite of everything.