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Her pulse rate escalated.
Her mind turned to mush.
The warm fragrant night air cast its spell of seduction around her, making her forget everything but the way his mouth had felt on hers. She felt the hard tug of attraction deep in the pit of her belly, pulling her towards his body like a magnet does a tiny iron filing.
‘I should get you home,’ he said as he stepped back from her.
‘Yes…I’ve taken up far too much of your time as it is.’
Kitty was acutely aware of him sitting so close to her inside the confines of his car. Her gaze kept tracking to his tanned arm as it worked the gear shift. And his muscular thigh as it bunched and released when he pressed down on the clutch. She imagined those muscles in the throes of passion. She imagined those hands exploring her body, touching her in places that made the breath hitch in her throat. She remembered the intimate stroke of his tongue and wondered what it would feel like to have it lick and stroke her breasts or between her thighs. She had never felt comfortable enough to allow Charles to explore her so intimately. But somehow she sensed that nothing would be offlimits to Jake Chandler. He would be a masterful and exciting lover—and a demanding one. She had felt it in that disturbingly erotic kiss. Her body had responded with such fervency to the head-spinning experience of his mouth commandeering hers. It had probably been just another kiss to him, but to her it had been a revelation. It had shown her how out of control her needs could be given the right inducement.
She had never thought of herself as a particularly passionate person. She had put her lacklustre love-life with Charles down to a mixture of long-term familiarity and the exhausting demands of their careers. But in Jake Chandler’s arms she had been transformed into a wild woman with even wilder needs. She thought again of what would happen if she gave in to those needs. So many young women her age enjoyed casual flings. It was part of life these days. She was becoming a bit of an anachronism with her white picket fence and pram mentality. Why couldn’t she have the same freedom as other girls her age? It wasn’t as if she had to fall in love with him. He was hardly likely to fall in love with her. Could she be brave enough to step out of her comfort zone and live a little?
Jake’s phone rang and he answered it via the Bluetooth device on the steering wheel. ‘Jake Chandler.’
‘Hi, Jake, it’s Tiffany. Remember me?’
‘Tiffany…’ He scratched his jaw. ‘From the gym, right?’
The woman gave a tinkling laugh. ‘That’s the one,’ she said. ‘Are you up for a drink some time?’
Kitty rolled her eyes and looked out of the window, a fist of jealousy clutching at her insides. What a silly fool she had been to think he would wait patiently for her to make up her mind.
Of course he wouldn’t wait.
He probably had a waiting list of potential lovers. She was just a temporary diversion from his usual list of candidates. Her temporary appointment at St Benedict’s gave him a perfect get-out clause—a three-month affair with no strings.
‘Yeah, why not?’ Jake was saying. ‘How about tomorrow at Brad’s place? Shall we say around nine?’
‘Lovely,’ the woman said. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’
‘See you then, Tiffany,’ he said. ‘Ciao.’
Kitty threw him a look of disgust. ‘You could have at least waited until I was out of the car before you planned your next seduction.’
‘We’re just meeting for a drink,’ he said.
‘You don’t even remember who she is, do you?’
‘I can picture her,’ he said, frowning as if trying to recall. ‘Blonde hair, long legs, nice smile.’
‘Have you slept with her?’
‘Not yet.’
Kitty’s insides clenched again. ‘What’s stopping you?’
‘There’s the little matter of a thousand bucks, for one thing,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to lose a bet like that unless I’m sure it’s going to be worth it.’
Did he think she would be worth it? Kitty wondered. Could it be possible that he found her just as exciting and tempting as she found him? It had certainly felt that way while he was kissing her. She had felt the powerful charge of his desire. His body had left an imprint on hers she could feel even now.
‘And the other thing is I like to be the one who does the chasing,’ he added.
‘Isn’t that a little old fashioned of you?’
He flashed her a quick grin as he swung his car into the car park. ‘Look who’s talking, Miss Nineteenth Century.’
As soon as the car drew to a halt Kitty opened the passenger door. ‘Thank you for taking me,’ she said stiffly. ‘I hope I didn’t disrupt your plans for tonight too much.’
‘It was fine,’ he said. ‘I enjoyed myself.’
‘Goodnight.’
He waved a hand. ‘‘Night.’
CHAPTER TEN (#u8d0850a1-6236-520e-8515-12a32ce49e0b)
‘STUPID, stupid, stupid,’ Kitty berated herself as she cleansed her face in her bathroom a few minutes later. ‘What were you thinking?’ She grabbed a bunch of tissues and savagely wiped off her cleanser. ‘Miss Nineteenth Century. What a jerk!’
The doorbell sounded.
Kitty tossed the tissues in the bin and went down to open the door—to find Jake standing there with her violin case.
‘You forgot something,’ he said, holding the case out to her.
‘Oh…’ She took it from him with a sheepish look. ‘Thanks.’
‘I called my mate about your car,’ he said. ‘I told him I’d drop it off at his workshop once I get the battery charged.’
‘Thank you, but I don’t want to put you to any more trouble.’
‘No problem,’ he said.
Kitty went to close the door but he put a foot out to stop it from closing. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me in for a coffee or something?’ he asked.
‘I’m sure you’ve had much better offers this evening,’ she said with a speaking look.
‘Phone’s been running hot, but I thought I’d have a quiet one tonight.’
‘Good for you.’ She pushed against the door again. ‘Do you mind?’
His gaze ran over her teddy bear pyjamas. ‘Am I keeping you out of bed?’
‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘It’s not even eleven o’clock.’
‘Then let’s have a nightcap,’ he said. ‘You owe me one for driving you all that way tonight.’
She stepped back from the door. ‘You said it wasn’t a problem.’
‘It wasn’t. But then I found your violin case. The least you could do is offer me a drink for delivering it to your door.’
She blew out a breath of resignation. ‘What would you like?’ she asked.
‘What are you having?’
Kitty hoped he couldn’t see the milk and choc-chip cookies she had laid out on the table for her supper. ‘I was thinking about a glass of wine,’ she said, surreptitiously blocking his view of the kitchen. ‘Do you like red or white?’
‘What have you got open?’
‘Nothing as yet,’ she said. ‘I’m not a big drinker.’
‘Then don’t open anything on my account.’
‘I have a bottle of red one of the patients gave me,’ she said. ‘They dropped it off the other day.’
‘It’s nice when they do that,’ he said. ‘We patch them up and move them on, but now and again someone recognises what we actually do.’
Kitty handed him a glass of the wine. ‘It’s one of the downsides of working in A&E,’ she said. ‘We only see them the once and they move on.’
‘I think it’s one of the good sides,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to get too involved.’
She studied him for a moment as he took a sip of his wine. ‘Your professional life has a lot in common with your private one,’ she said. ‘Both are full of brief encounters where no feelings get involved.’
‘Works for me.’
‘Don’t you get tired of that sea of nameless faces coming and going in your life?’
He took another measured sip of his wine. ‘Nope.’
‘But it’s so selfish and…and so pointless,’ she said. ‘How can you not feel something for the women you sleep with?’
One of his shoulders rose and fell in an offhand shrug. ‘Guess I’m not built that way.’
‘So it’s just sex,’ she said with a disparaging look. ‘Nothing more than inserting Item A in Slot B.’
His mouth tilted. ‘I have a little more finesse than your charming description allows,’ he said. ‘But then, perhaps your own experience has somewhat limited your outlook.’
Kitty felt a blush steal over her face and neck. ‘I have enough experience to know that sex is not just a physical connection,’ she said. ‘It’s a deeply emotional experience.’
‘Clearly your boyfriend didn’t find it so emotionally satisfying, otherwise why did he find someone else?’
She threw him an arctic glare. ‘I think it might be time for you to leave.’
He held her look with a cynical glitter in his eye. ‘You need to grow up, Kitty,’ he said. ‘You’re a young, fanciful girl in a woman’s body. Life isn’t a fairytale. There are no handsome princes out there who’ll declare undying love for you and carry you off into the sunset. There are no fairy godmothers to make everything turn out right in the end. There are no genies in bottles, no magic spells, and sure as hell there are precious few happy ever afters.’
Kitty folded her arms imperiously. ‘Are you done?’
The air crackled with electric tension as dark blue eyes warred with grey.
‘No,’ he said, eyes glittering as he closed the distance between them in one stride. ‘Not quite.’
She took a step backwards as he came towards her but the sofa was in the way. She gave a little startled gasp as his strong hands gripped her by the upper arms, pulling her to him. Her body jolted with sensual energy when it came into contact with his. It was like a dead battery being plugged into a power source. Currents of energy flowed through her, kick-starting her senses into throbbing, pulsing life. His mouth came down and blazed with furnace-hot heat against hers. As the kiss progressed in intensity raw need licked along her flesh like trails of runaway fire. Desire pooled in her belly, hot and liquid, melting her to the backbone. His tongue thrust boldly into her mouth, commanding and conquering, demanding and deliciously, dangerously male.
For a moment, a mere nanosecond, she thought about resisting. But the feel of his tongue weaving seductively around hers was her undoing. She wound her arms around his neck, leaning into his kiss, giving back, responding in an unabashed way she wouldn’t have believed possible just a few days ago. Red-hot need rose in her like a hungry beast waking after a long hibernation. It roared from deep within her, great primal bellows of unmet wants that refused to be ignored and denied or suppressed any longer.
Her fingers delved deep into the thick pelt of his hair. His hard chest wall abraded her breasts as she pressed herself closer and closer. She felt the swelling ridge of his erection against her feminine mound, a tantalising reminder of his power and strength and her primitive need to yield to it.
One of his hands pressed against the small of her back and the other went to her hair, his fingers splaying against her scalp as he kissed her deeply and urgently.
Her tongue played cat and mouse with his. She brazenly teased and tantalised him with darting, flicking movements of her own. He took control back from her with another shift in position. His hand went from her hair to her breast, cupping it possessively, his palm moulding its contour with sensual expertise.
Kitty was breathless with escalating need. She hadn’t realised her breasts could feel quite so sensitive. The nipples were tight, and aching for more of his touch. As if he read her mind, or indeed her body, he glided his hand up under her pyjama top and captured her naked breast. Lightning bolts of desire zapped through her body at that shamelessly intimate contact. Her nipple budded into his palm; she felt the delicious pressure and wanted more. His thumb moved over the tight nub, back and forth in a mesmerising motion that set every nerve singing.
And then, most shocking of all, he bent his head and took her nipple and its areola into his hot, moist mouth. She clung to him as the world spun, soft little whimpers coming from deep inside her throat as his tongue stroked her into mindlessness.
He moved to her other breast, taking his time over exploring it, teasing it with his teeth and tongue. A shiver scuttled over her flesh—how could her body not have known such exquisite pleasure existed? How could she not have felt such earth-shattering sensations before?
He worked his way back to her mouth, lingering over the sensitive skin of her neck until he claimed her lips once more. This kiss had an undercurrent of desperation to it. She felt his need building, a rampage of want that thundered through his blood. She felt the potent power of him surging against her body. It awoke a primal need inside her to open to him. Her body pulsed and vibrated with a longing so intense it made a mockery of anything she had experienced before. She had never felt such powerful, all-consuming desire. It took over every thought. It blocked out every resistance. It was as if he had unlocked a part of her being she hadn’t known existed.
How could it be her hands greedily seeking his naked chest underneath his T-shirt?
How could it be her mouth responding to his with such reckless abandon?
How could her body be rubbing up against his like a shameless wanton?
Suddenly it was over.
He put her from him almost roughly. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
Kitty took umbrage at his attitude. ‘Me?’ she asked. ‘You started it!’
He raked a hand through his disordered hair, his breathing still heavy and uneven. ‘I know, and now I’ve stopped it,’ he said.
She crossed her arms over her chest. ‘I would have stopped it before it went too much further.’
His eyes were like a laser as they held hers. ‘You were taking your merry time about it, sweetheart.’
Kitty shot him an icy glare. ‘You caught me off guard. It’s late and I’m tired and not thinking straight.’
His lip curled mockingly. ‘Still think sex is all about emotion?’
She felt her cheeks radiate with colour. ‘We didn’t have sex.’
‘We weren’t far off it.’
‘I would never have let you make love to me.’
He came up close again, capturing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, his eyes holding hers in a hot, tense little lockdown that sent a shudder of reaction all the way down her spine. ‘I could’ve had you flat on your back and screaming all the way to heaven and back and you damn well know it,’ he said.
