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Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times. He waited—motionless—to see how this was going to go. She didn’t seem to realise her thighs were sandwiching his hand in a hot, smooth vice and he wasn’t going to make any sudden kind of movement. But the memory of those limbs straddling his hips wasn’t helping him recover his equilibrium. All he could feel were those lush, strong curves. He wanted the rest of him to be in the midst of them again.
She flicked a wild glance around the room and then arrowed all her attention right back at him. ‘But this has to be his room—I counted the doors. The other one was empty.’
He pressed his lips together to stop the chuckle sliding out because he didn’t want to make the situation worse for her.
‘Are you sure you’re in the right room?’ she asked, her eyes still shocked wide.
‘Positive. I got in late last night.’ He’d been so tired it had been all he’d been able to do to stumble from the shower straight to what was definitely his bed. ‘I came to bed and then the best dream ever turned out to be real.’
Only his dream-turned-real lover was now turning fifty shades of red—embarrassment staining her skin in a swift sweep. Her murmurs of pleasure came back to him—her rough claim that she hadn’t known it would be so good. Yeah. The sweetheart had made a mistake. She’d meant that passion for some other guy. A sharp claw of envy swiped his ribs, puncturing his enjoyment of his best ever wake-up. But it hadn’t been some other guy who’d pleased her so much. It had been him.
‘You’re a guest here?’ she asked in a low choked voice.
‘Actually I—’
She didn’t give him the chance to introduce himself; instead she launched into a monologue of mortification and panic. ‘Oh, I can’t believe this. I can’t believe it. I’m so sorry. I am so, so sorry.’
Partly because he wanted to see her reaction, but mainly because he couldn’t resist, he let his fingers stroke—just the once, so very gently—in the hot, damp prison she gripped them in.
The incessant apologies ended instantly on a breathless gasp. Her mouth reddened, her muscles tightened and her temperature sizzled. His eyes locked on hers, watching the blue go brilliant, then her black pupils absorbed that colour as they swelled super fast. Her flush deepened. He felt the spasms before she twisted, releasing him as she scuttled to the far edge of the bed.
‘You don’t need to apologise,’ he said, wondering if he should be the one saying sorry now. But he couldn’t quite regret it. She’d been waking up so wonderfully willing in his arms when she’d thought he was this Nathan, but just then? That had been a raw response to him. She was hot and hungry for him. As she’d been last night when he’d been the one to meet her demands.
A swift glance told him what he needed to know—there were no rings between those white knuckles. No guy had staked a permanent claim and the Nathan guy was a fool for not taking her to bed sooner. The woman was passionate and hungry, literally a dream lover.
He coughed to ease the constriction in his chest. ‘I’m sorry I’m not Nathan.’
Only because he wanted what she’d meant for the other guy—that invitation and pleasure. Hell, he wanted it now. He was stiffer than a steel pipe and feeling her sensual response spike like that had worsened it. But he fought the impulse to drag her close again, wincing at his new-found Neanderthal leanings.
The poor woman was completely mortified and he was all rampaging lust, desperate to sleep with her again. What kind of human was he?
Definitely one who’d been without too long. Because try as hard as he could he couldn’t seem to ‘relax’.
‘Don’t be sorry.’ She emphatically shook her head.
Her deepening discomfort bothered him more than his uncontrollable body. Somehow he had to limit the damage here and help her find a funny side. And nothing smoothed a situation more than some humour.
* * *
Ellie struggled to hide her breathlessness. Shock still had her lungs in a tight grip, but so did desire—she was seconds from orgasm and, frankly, that doubled her shock.
She stared at the complete stranger only a couple of feet from her. The stranger that she now knew so intimately. And just looking at him sent her heart rate through the ceiling.
‘You’re okay?’ The soft query delivered between dangerously curved lips. That gorgeous smile was as natural to him as the stripes were to the tiger. Oh, yeah, he’d been blessed with beautiful lips, upturned at the ends so he looked as if he was always in good humour. Which, given all his other assets, he probably was.
She clutched the sheet closer. Only her action dragged the sheet completely off him and, yeah, this was definitely not Nathan. And his natural assets were...sizable.
‘I’m so sorry this happened,’ she said again, determined to ignore the savage desire rippling through her like some internal beast that refused to be tamed. What kind of depraved animal had she turned into?
‘I’m not.’
She hardly heard him as she apologised another ten times, interspersing the phrase with a few more choice words beneath her breath. Clutching the sheet to her with one hand, she put her now freezing hand to her face.
He sat up, resting his weight on one hand behind him, and spoke more forcefully. ‘You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to.’
That silenced her for all of a second. ‘You didn’t have much choice.’ She looked across the bed at him. ‘I seduced you.’ The guy had been sound asleep and she’d been stroking him all over. Like everywhere.
His smile burst forth again. ‘Yeah, well, it wasn’t like I said no.’ He chuckled. ‘And it wasn’t like I was a virgin.’
Well, no, he hadn’t been that. Ellie bit her lips to stop from smiling. He’d had all the moves. And he executed another now—a languorous stretch that drew her attention once more to his completely fit length.
Hell, she had to move away before she did something stupid again. So she stood, taking the sheet with her. She didn’t care about leaving him exposed, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Whereas all she wanted to do was hide. She tried to wind the sheet around herself, glanced up to see him watching close—with undisguised amusement—and arousal. Man, was he aroused.
‘You’re free to take advantage of me any time you like,’ he said softly, lying back down again. ‘Or, you can come back to bed and let me take advantage of you this time.’
Oh, she so nearly had already and they both knew it. She felt her blush deepen. ‘I really am sorry.’
‘Sweetheart,’ he drawled, but with an underlying hint of seriousness. ‘I could have stopped you if I’d wanted to.’
And there was the question. She looked up from her twisted toga attempt—facing his gaze direct. ‘Why didn’t you want to?’
He roared with laughter, his whole body clenched into an expression of enjoyment. Her gaze skittered south all of its own accord. Built for enjoyment—his clearly defined muscles spelled strength and stamina and gloriously good reproductive genes. And his reaction proved he was such a man. An all-about-fun man. She’d been a sexual toy for the night—as of course he had been for her. A really good toy.
Ellie tried to get her thoughts back on track—berating herself with worst-case scenarios. Imagine if he’d been married. What if he hadn’t been alone in the room? She didn’t know which would be worse. All she knew was that his utterly relaxed acceptance of her mistake was astounding.
‘What were you thinking going along with it? Do women leap on you all the time?’ Actually, looking at him? They probably did.
‘I was asleep. At first I thought it was just an amazing dream.’
‘A 4D dream,’ she said sceptically.
‘Yeah, hot and wet,’ he half groaned, movement rippling down his muscles. ‘You’re sure you don’t want to come back to bed?’
‘Quite sure.’ She clipped out the lie, all of a sudden desperate to get out of there before she threw caution to the wind and went for a repeat of last night’s decadence.
‘Honey, relax. I’m single, you’re...’ He paused, his voice lifting in question, his eyes unwaveringly focused on hers.
‘Single,’ she confirmed.
He paused as his expression seemed to sharpen. ‘So tell me about Nathan.’
‘He’s no one.’ She so didn’t want to go there.
‘He’s not your boyfriend or your benefits guy or whatever?’
‘No.’ She squeaked out an answer from her strangled-feeling throat. She supposed she did owe the guy some kind of explanation but it was just so mortifying. ‘We’re colleagues. He’d been flirting and I... For once I just felt like...’ She trailed off, her toes curling into the plush carpet. Now she wanted to disappear into the sheet completely.
‘Nothing wrong with feeling like it.’ Her naked lover shrugged his shoulders. ‘So it wasn’t because you’re secretly in love with the guy and want to have his babies?’
‘No babies,’ she answered faintly. ‘Don’t worry.’ She inhaled a hit of oxygen for courage. ‘What we did was... It was safe.’
He sat up slowly. ‘I remember.’ His gaze lingered on her mouth. ‘So no babies but you’re not in love with him either?’
She shook her head. ‘I just thought I’d say yes for once. Take the bull by the horns, so to speak.’
‘You like rodeo?’ His irrepressible smile quirked.
‘Actually I don’t think it’s really for me,’ she muttered, all but dying.
‘But you ride so beautifully. Great seat, great rhythm. You’re a natural,’ he teased, chuckling at her baleful look. ‘So you don’t often do random seductions?’
The idea of her being some vixen seductress was so far off the mark it was hysterical. But she wasn’t going to get hysterical herself. No, she took a calming breath and reckoned she could manage to get into the tease zone too. That was the way to handle this. ‘Only on full moons.’
‘Oh, you’re a were-woman?’
She flicked her brows and then dropped the pretence. ‘Honestly, the location helped.’ She fiddled with the sheet and couldn’t look at him. She knew this guy of all guys wasn’t going to get hung up on double standards, but she was still embarrassed.
‘The chateau?’
‘It’s so luxurious.’ She nodded, truly meaning it. ‘All the fabric, the furnishings. It’s beautiful.’
‘Yeah,’ he said slowly. ‘But I’ve never thought of it as an erotic destination. It’s not like there are mirrors on the ceiling, tie-me-down bed ends, or twenty types of massage oil in the bathroom cabinet.’ He glanced around the utterly tasteful room with a perplexed look.
Ellie was smoking-hot over his list of essentials for an erotic destination. She’d never thought she’d be into anything more than vanilla but the man had said ‘tie-me-down’ and she was ready to hunt out the ropes. She banished the image but couldn’t help smiling as she tried to explain it more. ‘It has this kind of discreet decadence. And it was a warm night. I’d had the most amazing shower.’ She put her hand to her head because this so wasn’t enough. ‘And they serve French champagne.’
‘Ah-h-h.’ He nodded as if that explained it all. ‘French champagne.’
She shrugged and gave up at that. She truly hadn’t been tipsy. She’d just been bewitched and decided to please herself.
‘This place was once dubbed Frenchman’s Folly, did you know that?’ he asked softly.
‘No.’ She frowned. ‘No one could call this place a folly. It’s more a fantasy.’
And you had to have a fantastical bank balance to be able to stay here. A guy this fit was probably some elite athlete or something. She wondered if she ought to recognise him.
‘Perhaps people thought his folly was his marriage.’
‘Oh.’ Ellie paused. ‘Shame if he was heartbroken. This isn’t a place for heartbreak.’
Her naked lover chuckled. ‘Only for pleasure, huh? But you and your colleague were here for business?’
‘I wasn’t supposed to come here at all.’ She flushed deeper at the unintended entendre. ‘It’s not one of my files but last minute our boss wanted me to be here for backup.’
‘So what’s the business?’
‘I work as a location scout. You know—finding places to film movies and stuff.’
His brows lifted as he picked up her lack of enthusiasm. ‘You don’t think this would be a good location?’
‘It would be an amazing location,’ Ellie said fervently. ‘And I know it sounds like an amazing job and all—it’s actually really not that much fun.’
‘How can having to spend time in places like this not be fun?’ he challenged her.
‘I don’t get to come on the trips much.’ She coloured again as she saw him smile. ‘I’m usually stuck in the office working on the paperwork. I’ve not been there that long.’ She shrugged. Trouble was she excelled at paperwork—every job she had she’d done too well in the admin department to be let out of it. Frustrating wasn’t the word.
‘And so to make sure you got the most out of this trip, you went hunting for some pleasure as well?’ He was laughing as he said it.
And what could she do? There was no hope in denying it or in explaining the mad moment of need for contact that she’d experienced. So she nodded. ‘Massive mistake.’
‘Yeah, but not a disaster.’
Not a disaster, no—she’d had the best sex of her life. But it had been with a total stranger. They hadn’t even kissed. There was absolutely no emotional connection between them. It just wasn’t supposed to work that way. And she couldn’t want more—could she? She tried to claw back her common sense—because what kind of a guy happily screwed complete strangers? A playboy. With a smile that cheeky and attitude that cocky? Yeah, as he’d admitted, he was no innocent.
She closed her eyes and groaned. ‘Why didn’t I turn on the light?’
‘Given the way you’re clutching that sheet around you, I’m guessing you like it best in the dark.’ He laughed. ‘Typical.’
‘Excuse me?’ Indignance rose, she couldn’t restrain her reaction to his tease.
‘Hiding your body.’ He shook his head. ‘What a waste.’
There was some truth to his accusation. Lights on for sex wasn’t something that did it for her—fast-train to self-conscious. And it was then that she became aware of what she must look like—no doubt her hair would be bigger and more bouffant than some eighties rockstar’s. Oh, fabulous. At least she wouldn’t have panda eyes from smudged mascara. But still, this didn’t really make up for the fact that she’d slept with the wrong guy. The guy she couldn’t tear her eyes from.
He was smiling as dangerously as ever. ‘But then you clearly have a latent wild streak.’
It seemed so. But next time she felt in need of satisfaction she’d mail order a vibrator. She clamped her elbows to her ribs, holding the sheet in place while she tried to cool her cheeks with her hands. She was getting turned on all over again just by looking at the guy. ‘Look, I really should go. Let’s just forget this ever happened.’
She attempted a march to the door. Only her sheet was a liability and his nudity gave him a speed advantage.
‘You don’t get away just yet.’ He leaned against the door blocking her exit, all six feet four inches of bared magnificence. ‘We have some more to talk about.’
Now he was standing up and towering over her, she had the melting sensation so deep it was unbearable. Her fingers itched; she could hardly stand still against the hot pull inside. Secret muscles flexed in excitement. Her heart thundered.
‘Will you put some clothes on?’ she asked desperately. He was too damn hot and she couldn’t think with him like that.
His amusement flared again. ‘Why? I’m not going to hide how attracted I am to you.’
It wasn’t her he was attracted to, it was sex. And his nudity was messing with her hormones too. She’d gone completely animal. She half laughed on a gasp. ‘Just please put some clothes on. Please.’
He shrugged his refusal, his expression one of total tease. ‘I’m comfortable. You’re really not comfortable with baring all, are you?’
What she wasn’t comfortable with was her body’s insane reaction to the sight of his—tall, toned and so sex-ready her insides were curling in on themselves. Her nerves clamoured for the sensation of him sliding in and out of her. This complete stranger had her more insanely excited than she’d ever been in her life. ‘Well, can you please turn around while I get decent?’
‘Really?’ His full lips pouted. ‘I don’t get the peep show?’
‘You’ve had more than enough, okay?’ she choked. ‘Please be the gentleman I know you are and turn around.’
‘What makes you so certain I’m a gentleman?’
