Could their marriage work...?
No, it would be no good to think that way. Things had started well when they’d first met, when it had been all about the lust holding them together, before he’d dropped to one knee and pulled out the enormous diamond ring now locked securely away.
Their time limit meant this could be the fling their relationship should have been, the fling that should have ended with the summer and remained a beautiful memory.
A peace settled on her as she came to terms with the fact that she was no longer a hostage against her will but a full participant. Did she really want to waste the next few months, holding a part of herself back from him out of a sense of outrage that served nothing?
She lay back again and allowed her mind to drift away, images of their lovemaking filling her senses. If she concentrated really hard, she could feel the weight of his body upon her, the flicker of his tongue...
Suddenly she sat back up, sloshing water over the sides of the bath in her haste, as a deliciously naughty thought came into her head.
‘Unless you want to come here and take me in my office...’ Raul had said.
If she was going to be a full participant in this, then it was time to let Raul know, to put their relationship on the equal footing it deserved.
And she knew just the way.
* * *
Raul sipped at his water, forcing himself to concentrate on the letter he was dictating straight into his laptop for his PA and trying not to think of Charley at home alone, trying to rid himself of thoughts of finishing early to return to her.
The phone on his desk buzzed.
He paused mid-sentence and frowned down at it. His executive team knew he was dictating and not to disturb him.
He pressed the offending buzzer and spoke into it. ‘Is there a problem?’
‘Your wife is here,’ came the voice of Ava. ‘She says it’s important she speak to you.’
Immediately his mind went into overdrive, imagining all the things that could have driven her here, something icy clutching at his heart. This could not be anything good.
‘Let her in.’
The past month, things had been good between them. Better than he’d dreamed they could be, even when they’d first exchanged their vows and their whole future had been a blank canvas waiting for them to paint with glorious colour.
Too good. Highs were always followed by lows.
The door opened and Charley stepped in, dressed for the awful weather in a long black trench coat.
He rose from his seat. ‘Whatever’s the matter?’
A serene smile on her face, she closed the door quietly behind her.
‘Sit down,’ she said softly.
Raul would be the first to admit that confusion rarely entered his vocabulary, but right then... ‘What?’
Her hands went to the belt of her trench coat.
‘I said...’ her voice was quiet but knowing as she tugged the belt loose ‘...sit...’ her hands went to the lapels and pulled them apart ‘...down.’
Under her coat she was as naked as the day she’d been born.
Shrugging it off, she sashayed towards him in high black heels, her breasts moving with the motion, her nipples drawing his attention.
He blinked, suddenly certain he’d fallen asleep at his desk.
She placed a hand to his chest and pushed him back onto his chair, the height of her heels lifting her so his face was almost level with the top of her thighs.
The effect on him was instantaneous.
Her smile had lost its serenity, had become something heavy and sensual.
Placing a hand on his shoulder, she hooked a leg over his lap to straddle him, keeping her shoes on the ground so she was elevated over him. The only part of her touching him was the hand on his shoulder and her inner thighs. Not a single inch of her touched his bare skin yet he felt scorched by her touch.
Her hand slipped round his neck and she leaned forward to breathe into his ear. ‘I thought I would take you up on your offer.’
With the heavy weight of her breasts pressed against his chest and her warm scent clinging to her like a cloud, coherent thoughts were a world away.
‘Which offer?’
She moved her lips across his cheek until she reached his mouth while tracing a hand over his shirt-clad chest and down to the belt of his trousers.
‘To take you in your office.’
Her mouth didn’t move from his as she worked at his belt then unzipped him, with just a whisper of her lips touching him. He placed a hand on her waist, the warmth and softness of her skin deepening the burn in his loins.
He didn’t think he’d ever been aroused so quickly and so deeply as he felt right now or ever been as aware of the sound of his blood pumping.
A sudden urgency rippled through him and he reached down to help tug his opened trousers and boxers down enough to free him. Immediately she took hold of him.