‘Inappropriate to what?’ The smell of crushed grass mingled with the spicy scent of warm male skin, overlaid with a tang of sweet apple as his face hovered sinfully close.
‘T-to our relationship,’ she quavered as his fingertips stirred against her ribs, and watched as a sultry spark began to smoulder in his blue eyes. Now it was his body that was invaded with tension, chasing out some of the playfulness.
‘And what exactly is our relationship?’ His words whispered across her lips. ‘Partners in a hostile deal? Coconspirators? Combatants? Friends?’
‘I—we—’ The stirring of his hips against her slender thigh brought her faltering to a stop, her smoky grey eyes filling with a fatal curiosity that was irresistibly alluring to the predatory male who held her captive.
‘Perhaps it’s time we found out…’
His hand contracted with deliberate intent, surprising a gasp of laughter from her that parted her lips for his sensuous pleasure and he immediately settled in to stake his claim, his hand stroking back up her body to cup the side of her face, guiding her deeper into the kiss, his chest crushing her breasts as he moved over her, slanting his head to seek greater access to her silken surrender.
Anya’s fingers curled helplessly into her leashed palms as her curiosity was stunningly satisfied, and then swiftly transmuted into a fierce craving that arched her trembling body against his dominating weight. She murmured under his mouth and he recognised the heated encouragement of a woman desirous of greater pleasures, his nostrils flaring at the piquant scent of her startled arousal, his tongue dipping further into the moist interior, delicately teasing the slick satin walls of her most sensitive inner surfaces, his hand relaxing on her captive wrists, sliding sensuously down her slender bare arms to fold them one by one around his powerful shoulders.
The sun shone through the leafy branches overhead, creating a dancing dazzle against her closed eyelids as Anya sank beneath rippling waves of ever-widening pleasure, utterly open to his demanding passion, her breasts aching as they rubbed against his chest. Her short, sensible nails dug desperately into the back of his polo shirt and he seemed to know instantly what she needed, his big hand seeking out the slight weight of her breast, cupping it through the thin fabric of her dress, his long thumb circling the hardened nipple, teasing at it until her breath sobbed in his mouth and he rewarded her eagerness with a gentle twist of thumb and forefinger that sent a gush of hot pleasure pooling between her thighs.
In spite of her enthralment she felt a tiny nudge of shock at the intensity of her feelings. For the first time in her life she appreciated the validity of the excuse ‘swept away by passion’. Her eyes flew open to glimpse his, brilliant with reckless male triumph and a slightly dazed wildness that made her heart melt.
‘Scott—’
His hard mouth curved against her lips. ‘Hush…I know…it feels good, doesn’t it…?’ She could taste his rising hunger, hear the husky rasp of his breath, feel the urgent thrust of his desire as he nipped and suckled at her lower lip, his hands moving down to shape her slim hips to his need, his fingers curving into her soft bottom.
It felt more than good. Anya pushed at his shoulders. ‘Stop…We can’t do
this,’ she panted.
For a moment she feared that he wasn’t going to pay any attention to her protest, but then he rolled off her with a groan, lying flat on his back in the grass, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling in a shallow, uneven rhythm.
Anya sat up, shakily rearranging her twisted dress and tidying her hair.
‘Why don’t you take it down?’ Scott had opened his eyes and was watching her with unblinking curiosity. ‘What’s the point of having long hair if you never wear it loose?’
‘It’s cooler like this,’ she said.
‘You mean more schoolmarmy. If you think you’re turning me off you’re mistaken. Or maybe you’re trying to remind me of my historical weakness for schoolteachers?’
His sly reference to Petra’s mother made her flush and his chuckle was low and taunting.
‘You don’t look in the least cool any more. You look deliciously hot and bothered.’
‘You shouldn’t have grabbed me like that—’
‘Why?’ He pushed himself up on his hands. ‘We both enjoyed it, didn’t we? Where’s the harm in a couple of adults having a little harmless frolic in the sun?’
Harmless? Anya felt faint.
‘You have impressionable teenagers around,’ she told him severely. ‘What would their parents say if some of them went home and told them that they’d seen you…that you….’
‘Were rolling in the grass with some brazen hussy?’
‘We’re trying to rehabilitate my reputation, not give people even more to gossip about,’ she reminded him.
He tilted his head. ‘Then you shouldn’t have kissed me back with such enthusiasm.’
She was stumped for a crushing answer. ‘I—you took me by surprise.’
He shouted with laughter. ‘I see, so when you’re prepared to be kissed, you don’t kiss back. That must make your dates with Mark Ransom pretty disappointing for the poor guy.’
How he would crow if he knew they had only got as far as a swift peck on the cheek! ‘What makes you think that he doesn’t surprise me?’