I looked at my phone and realized it was 2 a.m. ‘It’s late. I should go.’
‘Stay the night.’ His tone was rough and I looked at him, sorely tempted.
Hayley wasn’t home. She’d texted me earlier to say she was staying at Nico’s for the weekend. Also that she was borrowing my favourite shoes because she was accompanying him to some smart lawyer do.
There was no reason to go and plenty of reasons to stay. Like the way Hunter was looking at me and the slow, seductive brush of his fingers over my arm. My skin was super sensitive, my insides melting.
It wasn’t as if we’d exactly denied ourselves. There was no reason to feel this desperate, but still I was desperate.
I’d always thought my willpower was pretty good. I could resist chocolate and biscuits, but it turned out I couldn’t resist Hunter.
He was my weakness.
‘I don’t have anything with me.’
‘I have everything you’re likely to need.’
That was what worried me.
I pushed that thought aside and slid out of bed. Then I picked up the plates and took them to the kitchen, telling myself that it was fine to stay. That I could cope with it. That my emotions were under control.
If you want to justify something, it’s pretty much always possible if you work hard at it. But the only real justification as far as I was concerned was that I wanted to.
I was having the best time of my life.
Why not?
CHAPTER NINE
‘Coffee?’
I woke to find sun streaming through the windows and Hunter standing next to me, a towel knotted around his hips, his hair wet from the shower.
Groaning, I sat up and pushed my hair away from my face. ‘You were up early.’
‘It’s ten o’clock.’ He handed me the coffee. ‘Not that early.’
‘Ten? You’re kidding.’ I reached for my phone, saw that he was telling the truth and felt heat rise in my cheeks. ‘I was tired.’
‘I think I might know the reason for that.’ His tone was a soft mas
culine purr that made me want to ditch the coffee and drag him back into bed.
My muscles ached in places they hadn’t ached for ages. Thanks to him, I was aware of every part of my body.
I sipped my coffee and then put it down on the table next to the bed, feeling suddenly awkward. After last time, I was determined not to do anything that could be defined as clinging. ‘I should get going. I expect you have plans.’
‘My plans include you.’
I probably should have played it very cool and made some excuse about needing to be at home, but as I opened my mouth to speak, I turned my head and the words jammed in my throat. The towel had slipped slightly, revealing even more of the hard, honed abs and the powerful muscles of his chest and arms.
I told myself that any woman who would be able to walk away from that needed therapy.
‘What did you have in mind?’
He gave a slow smile and I smiled, too, because it was obvious how we were going to spend the weekend.
I reached out and tugged at the towel, but he was already coming down on top of me, pulling the covers back, exposing me.