Читать книгу Pleasure Payback - Zara Cox - Страница 9

I tried.

Fought to resist her.

When I couldn’t, I wanted to punish her for reminding me of everything I wanted to forget. For tempting me enough to break the rigid rules I’d ring-fenced my life with for twelve long months. Most of all, I wanted to punish her for unwittingly re-enacting that sordid little scene downstairs.

The one that reminded me of the worst moment of my life.

That reminded me of why I was here on the wrong side of the pond when I yearned to be back in London, in the place I thrived and loved the most.

The part of me that knew it was irrational to take things out on this woman whose brazenness shouldn’t have been a turn-on—and yet had touched parts of me I’d thought were withered and dead—winced. But hell, I was drowning beneath the bitterness and vitriol festering inside me.

And she...

I tossed her on the bed, watched the most beautiful woman I’d seen in a long time beckon me with a come-hither smile.

She was irresistible. Just enough for my needs. Because after that phone call, after hearing the anger and bitterness and disappointment, I’d wanted to dive into a bottle of whiskey. I’d wanted to forget that I’d betrayed the one person closest to me.

Gideon Mortimer.

My flesh and blood. But more than that, my best friend.

But even that avenue was now closed to me.

A casual drink at a bar was what had started my descent into hell.

But Neve Nolan wasn’t off limits. She was wide open and willing, a tangible port in a black sea of despondency and frustration.

I intended to take with no regrets.

Just for tonight, I would break my own rules. And if regret came in the morning, I’d toss that too into the seething abyss that was my life.