As soon as his lips touched hers reality receded and took every one of his brain cells with it. Especially when instead of pushing him away as he expected her to do she curled her small hands into the front of his jacket and pulled him in even closer.
She kissed him back as if she’d been dreaming of him as much as he had of her and all his reasons for staying away from her just dissolved in a puddle of need. He widened her mouth with his and thrust his tongue deep, mating with hers—all his frustration and irritation and anger of the past week pouring out of him and into that kiss.
Only half aware that they were in a crowded bar, Lukas pushed his hands beneath the hem of her red shirt and caressed the silky skin of her waist. She was soft and pliant and she just seemed to melt into him, her breasts thrusting toward his chest and grazing the hard wall of his abdomen. Growling deep in his throat Lukas slid one hand around to her butt and cupped her, raising her onto her toes so he could settle the weight of his aching erection between the cradle of her thighs.
She let out a breathy little moan and the sound was like the time he’d thrown gunpowder on a bin fire and nearly burnt himself alive. He just went up in flames and his greedy mouth slid down the slender column of her neck and lapped at her honeyed skin.
‘Poluchit’ nomer!’ A gruff voice called from behind him, laughing.
Get a room?
Bozhe!
Pulling back Lukas waited for Eleanore’s glazed eyes to open before he let her go. He needed to adjust the front of his pants but fortunately the lighting of the bar was low enough that he hoped he got away without doing so. ‘I’m going to pick up your tab. Wait here.’
Dazed, Eleanore stared after Lukas’s broad back as he wound his way through the crowd of people. She touched her tongue to her kiss-swollen lips and glanced around. A few men near the pool table gave her suggestive looks and she wanted to die of embarrassment. How had she gone from anger to passion in the space of seconds?
And what was she doing waiting here like a good girl for Lukas to come back and get her? The man had just proven that he was the egotistical arrogant jackass that she knew him to be. And she wouldn’t kiss him again if her life depended on it!
Furious with herself and with him and completely unnerved by the strength of her response to him, not to mention the tingling sensation that remained from where he’d pressed his so-large-it-had-to-be-fake erection between her thighs, she didn’t wait to see where he was but rushed out of the bar.
It was dark even though it must have been barely six o’clock and a blast of cold air bit into her face and scythed the thoughts from her head.
Digging into her pocket for her gloves and hat she realised that she had left the beautiful coat Lukas had chosen for her back on the shelf near the pool table. Not that she cared. So what if he’d chosen something she loved. Arrogant ass. She didn’t need it anyway. Much.
She peered down the street in search of a cab but saw only a stream of evening traffic and a bunch of pedestrians hurrying in and out of shops. Remembering that they had visited this particular bar last because it was close to her apartment building she took a second to get her bearings. Then she saw a shoe store she had been meaning to investigate and knew which direction she needed to go and headed along the snow-covered pavement toward the sanctuary of her apartment.
She only wished she’d remembered to change into sensible boots before leaving the office earlier. After the sultry heat of Singapore it was fair to say she still hadn’t adjusted to the wintery conditions in St Petersburg.
Five minutes, she decided, and she’d be home and she’d thaw out under a hot shower. That decided she tucked her chin into her suit jacket and quickened her pace.
Within a block she realised she’d turned the wrong way down a quieter street and pivoted on her heel to backtrack only to hear the faint mewling of a young child down an alleyway. Or was it an animal?
Immediately wary of the darkness she peered into the alley and saw a small kitten not too far down clawing at the snow as if it was trapped between two garbage cans. ‘Oh, you poor darling. It’s okay.’ She didn’t even think twice before she approached the pathetic little thing and crouched down so as not to scare it. She saw immediately that one of its back legs was wrapped in string.
It was so tiny and it was shivering with cold, its fur all matted and wet. Reaching forward she gripped the scruff of its neck so that it didn’t bite her and tugged on the string. It came away easily in her hand and she only realised why when a dark shape rose up from behind the garbage cans and reached out for her. Instinctively Eleanore grabbed the kitten close and fell backward onto the dirty snow, screaming as the plastic garbage can fell on top of her, spewing out its contents.