LITMIR.BIZ

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the accuracy of his perception and at the same time let him know that she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. No matter how glorious it had felt at the time, the aftermath of her flirtation with fantasy had taught her that she wasn’t cut out to be a spontaneous wild-child.

      ‘I’m not shy. I know it was just a one-time thing, that it didn’t mean anything,’ she said, trying to sound crushingly sophisticated.

      His cheek nuzzled against the side of her throat. ‘Are you sure about that?’ His hands slipped under the edge of her top, his palms skimming up over her bare skin to cup her breasts in their silky-fine casing of stretchy fabric. ‘Don’t you remember how good it felt when there was nothing between your skin and mine … when we were naked with each other and I touched you like this …?’ His fingers feathered across the centre of her breasts, circling the betraying tightness of her nipples, drawing them out to prominent points against the seamless tee-shirt bra, and capturing them between thumb and forefinger. He turned his open mouth into her neck and scraped her lightly with his teeth and sucking at the thrilling sting. ‘Don’t you remember saying how you wanted this feeling to go on for ever,’ he said huskily, applying delicate pressure and rolling her throbbing nipples between his fingers, ‘how you moaned when I took these in my mouth and tasted you for the first time, how you melted with pleasure when I showed you just how exquisitely sensitive you are here, how violently responsive to the lightest stroke of my tongue …?’

      Veronica shuddered, arching helplessly back against him as his hands contracted, compressing the pleasure into a dangerous thrill of forbidden delight.

      His mouth moved up behind her ear, his breath as hot as his words as he confided how much her eager delight had pleased him. ‘It gave me such an incredible rush when I made you come just by devoting myself to your gorgeous breasts, licking and sucking on these sexy, pointed nipples until you went wild in my arms …’

      He ignored her choked cry; one of his hands abandoned its lavish attentions and moved down to smooth over her hip and push between their bodies, tracing the generous curve of her bottom to its bisecting crease. ‘And here, where you’re so lush and round and womanly …’ his velvety whisper paused as he sank his teeth lightly into her fleshy ear lobe, his hand adjusting her so that she could feel the thick shaft of muscle lying against her resilient flesh ‘… remember how I kissed my way down your spine to this highly sensitive spot, the one just here … and then …’ Using darkly intense language, he described what he had done with an explicit eroticism that made her squeeze her thighs together in an effort to control the hot pulse of arousal that threatened to melt her into a submissive puddle at his feet.

      The involuntary clench of her buttocks gripped him in an intimate clasp, and she felt his groan vibrating from his chest.

      ‘Oh, yes, you liked that, didn’t you?’ he said thickly, his fingers plunging under the smooth edge of her bra to find her distended nipple while his hips pushed his engorged manhood against the cleft of her bottom, creating an exciting friction in both places that edged her even nearer to a total meltdown. ‘You liked everything that we did to each other,’ he purred, nibbling at the nape of her neck. ‘The trouble was, it was all over so fast we hardly had time to savour it …’ He strung a series of light, teasing kisses to the tip of her shoulder, at odds with the simmering tension in his body. ‘But here there’s no need for us to rush our love-making. We can explore the sensuous side of passion … see if we enjoy slow and lazy as much as fast and furious. Just imagine how much more exciting it could be if we take the time to learn each other’s most erotic, most intimate secrets …’

      The mention of secrets made Veronica flinch. Where before the romantic fantasy of a mysterious lover had been thrilling, now she knew that where there was no knowledge there was no trust. The real Lucien Ryder was still an enigma to her; a wealthy, worldly sophisticate, prone to high-risk behaviour and embroiled in some nameless trouble. He might not be the psychotic killer of her foolish fears, but he could still turn out to be extremely dangerous to her emotional health.

      Now that he had satisfied himself that Veronica wasn’t a threat to his own security, Lucien had evidently decided to take advantage of the fact that she was convenient and available, and spin out their one night of ‘no regrets’ into a ‘no strings’ holiday affair.

      Of course it wouldn’t occur to him that she might not be interested in acquiring the questionable status of his temporary lover, she thought, desperately trying to whip up a defensive anger. He talked very persuasively of passion and exploration, but there was no mention of any desire for emotional intimacy in his suggested affair. While he might be able to retain the necessary detachment, Veronica was less sanguine about her chances of walking away with her heart intact. A few hours in his company had already caused her as much turmoil as pleasure, filling her with conflicting doubts and yearnings. She was afraid that with continued exposure she could very easily fall under the spell of his forceful, charismatic personality and end up with a guaranteed heartbreak when he vanished back to his rarefied world.

      If she didn’t murder him first!

      She angled her head away from the ravishing series of kisses he was planting on her bare throat and somehow found the strength to wrench herself out of his seductive embrace.

      ‘I think I asked you to leave—’ she rasped, backing hastily away, her shaking hands pulling her clothing straight as she tried to claw back her composure.

      To her fury he looked undaunted by the sharp rejection, if anything a hint of amusement entering his dark, brooding gaze. ‘Are you saying you’re not interested?’

      She pushed back her hair, feeling the strands pull where they had clung to the throat he had dampened with his kisses. ‘No—’ She saw the carnal flame leap in his eyes and quickly corrected herself, ‘I mean, yes, I am saying that …’

      His gaze fell to her swollen breasts, heaving with each shallow, gasping breath, the tightly furled nipples prominent against the thin cotton. His eyelids lowered, covering the glitter of savage satisfaction.

      ‘I think your body begs to differ,’ he murmured.

      She wanted to wrap her arms over her chest and shield herself from his knowing eyes, but knew it would be seen as an indication of weakness. ‘My brain is what runs my life, my body doesn’t get a vote,’ she said proudly.

      His mouth curved sardonically as he took a step forward. ‘Oh, no?’

      She threw up a desperate, staying hand. ‘I don’t want you touching me!’

      He obediently halted, and looked ruefully down at himself, hooking a casual thumb in the empty belt-loop of his crumpled trousers. ‘Well, I guess you can see what I want …’

      In spite of the fact she knew it was an intentional goad, she couldn’t help following his gaze to the bold erection outlined by the white fabric pulled taut over his groin. Just looking at it made her feel hot and dizzy and her lips parted as she sucked in a gulp of sluggish air. To her fevered shock his hand dropped from his belt-loop to adjust the stiffened bulge, easing it to one side of his zip, allowing her to see the outline visibly growing thicker under her fascinated stare.

      Cheeks flaming cherry-red, her eyes ripped guiltily back to his face, to find his eyes lying tauntingly in wait.

      ‘Sorry, but I was afraid I was in danger of permanent damage from the teeth of that zip,’ he said with extravagant insincerity. ‘Of course, if it was your teeth around me I’d consider it well worth the risk. It’s something we never got around to, but I’m anticipating that might change. You were rather looking at me as if you’d like to eat me up …’

      Shock nailed her to the spot. ‘I was not! I wouldn’t—I’ve never—’ Her mouth snapped shut as his sultry expression changed to one of electrified curiosity.

       ‘Never?’

      She gave him an excoriating look and stalked to stand beside the door.

      When she turned to indicate she was waiting for him to leave he was looking after her with a

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