‘So when did you contact them to let them know you were arriving a day early? And with a guest?’
Because hadn’t they put their phones in the glove compartment and made a bet not to use them?
He didn’t answer. But his guilty expression couldn’t be hidden.
‘You called them.’ She struggled to work it out. ‘When I was asleep in the car.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘You cheated.’ She couldn’t believe it. ‘Now you owe me, you realise?’
‘I do,’ he conceded, without looking remotely apologetic. ‘And I was going to confess.’
‘When?’
‘When the time was right.’
‘Like next century?’
‘Like the second I remembered what you’d asked for.’
Her muscles thrummed.
‘Two hours’ hard labour.’ He sent her a smouldering look and started to unbutton his sopping shirt. ‘How would you like me to pay up?’
There was a beat. The air seemed to be sweltering, making it impossible for her to breathe. To get badly needed oxygen to her brain. To think. Except she didn’t want to think any more. She wanted only to feel. To enjoy this escape.
‘You know already.’
This was why he’d been so keen to ensure her pleasure. To make her say yes and yes and yes again.
‘Tell me.’ He shrugged off the shirt and started on his trousers.
She couldn’t.
‘Did you want me to kiss you some more?’
Slowly she nodded. ‘I want you to work very… hard.’
‘I will do all the work. And I’m already hard. I’ve been hard since the second I first saw you.’
‘You looked like you hated me.’
‘No.’ He kicked his trousers off. ‘I didn’t want to want you.’
‘Why not?’
‘I had… other things on my mind.’
‘What’s on your mind now?’
‘Nothing but you.’
‘This is why you brought me here? You decided back then?’
He frowned. ‘I didn’t bring you here expressly to—’
‘Didn’t you?’ she challenged huskily. ‘Am I not here to distract you? To be your entertainment?’
Something flashed in his eyes. ‘Actually, I want to entertain you.’
‘Oh, that makes everything okay, then.’
‘I will please you. For more than two hours. For all the night.’
‘Show me how you plan to do that.’
He smiled a promising smile that was more than a touch wicked. ‘I’ll satisfy you until you can’t scream a second longer.’
‘Then you’d better get on with it.’
She walked to the bed and climbed onto it, stretching out in the very middle of the wide, white expanse. Her heart hammered as she watched him divest himself of the last of his clothing. Then, fully naked and arrestingly handsome, he walked about the room, taking the time to light a couple of the candles that had been placed in discreet corners. The scent was fresh and subtle. With no hesitation he opened a drawer and pulled out a box of condoms.
Stephanie’s mouth dried as she watched him sheath his rigid length. She could only watch, awed at the beauty of him.
The candles were perfectly positioned to reveal the shadows and angles of his hewn body. The ache inside her intensified. Despite those two orgasms, she had more energy pent up in her body than ever.
Strong and hungry—she wanted his total touch. She wanted to feel him flush against her—bared, bucking against her. Into her.
She let herself fall into sensuality. Not caring about anything but gleaning every last drop of pleasure to be had with him this one night.
He paused to gaze at her. ‘You’re beautiful.’
Wordless, she shook her head slightly. ‘It’s the make-up.’
‘It’s your eyes—not what’s painted on their lids. Anyway, the make-up is…’ He chuckled. ‘Smudged.’
‘I have panda eyes?’ she mock shrieked. ‘Is that what you’re telling me? And that’s beautiful? You want to bonk a bear?’
He threw back his head and laughed.
She went to move, only he grabbed her and stopped her, falling with her back onto the bed. In that instant she no longer cared about her looks, only about what she was feeling.
‘No, don’t move—don’t spoil it. Let me…’ With his thumbs he wiped gently under each eye, then held them up to show her the faintest marks of black. ‘Not so panda, really.’
That there was humour in this intensity just made her want him more.
He trailed his fingertips down her arms, following the movement with a hot gaze. She knew that he, like her, was willing to lose himself in touch. In sensation. To make the most of this moment. It was only about physical delight and satisfaction.