She clutched at the back of the seat for support with one hand and curled the other into a fist, digging her nails into her palm in a desperate attempt to focus on something other than the desire clawing at her stomach. But at the devastation he was wreaking on her, at the mercy of such exquisite need, she didn’t stand a chance. She groaned and leaned into him, and then Will was hauling her onto his lap, pulling her closer and anchoring her against him as he devoured her mouth.
Bella twisted slightly so that her torso was plastered against his, wrapped her arms around his neck and felt her mind go blank. All that existed was the two of them on the back seat of his car and the scorching heat they seemed to generate.
He broke away and slid his mouth along her jaw to her ear. ‘This was just supposed to be a kiss,’ he whispered raggedly.
‘It still is.’ And as long as it stayed that way she’d be fine.
‘You think?’ The warmth of his breath on her skin made tiny shivers scuttle all over her.
‘Absolutely.’
‘So stop me,’ he muttered, tugging at the tie that secured her dress so that it loosened enough for him to slip a hand beneath the flimsy fabric to find her breast.
Bella gasped as his hand cupped her there and his thumb brushed over her nipple. ‘In a minute.’
‘In a minute you might not be able to,’ he said, dropping a trail of searing kisses down her neck and over the slope of her chest. He pulled aside the lace of her bra and took her nipple in his mouth and Bella bit her lip as a million tiny electric shocks shot through her veins.
And it was all too much. The feel of his body hard against hers and the wet heat of his mouth devastating her senses. The sizzling of her skin from where he’d kissed it. The scent of him winding up her nose and the rocking motion of the car. The way he’d been utterly impervious to her stroppiness and the confident ease with which he’d been prepared to apologise. And the fact that despite all earlier appearances to the contrary he seemed to want her as much as she wanted him.
God, it was all much too much. She wanted him to touch her everywhere. Needed him to touch her everywhere. ‘In a minute I might not want you to,’ she said hoarsely, somewhere in the depths of her mind thinking she must be mad but too far gone to care.
And then as lust began to pound through her Bella gave up thinking and gave in to instinct. She threaded her fingers through his hair and dragged his head up. Their mouths met and a shower of sparks darted through her as his tongue delved between her parted lips and tangled with hers.
Her hips twitched and she tilted them closer. When she felt the hard length of his erection press into her she moaned and the kiss spiralled out of control in seconds. The back of the car filled with her breathy groans and Will’s ragged pants and the sounds made her excitement rocket.
He put his hands on her knees and slid them beneath her coat, beneath her dress and up her thighs and Bella shivered.
Until he stopped, jerked back and muttered a low oath.
‘What?’ she said, pushing her hair back and dragging in a ragged breath.
‘Stockings.’
‘Is that a problem?’
‘I didn’t think of stockings,’ he muttered.
‘Huh?’
Colour slashed along his cheekbones. ‘Nothing.’
Will made an aim for her mouth but she moved back out of reach and tilted her head. ‘Tell me.’ He might not have been thinking about stockings but he’d definitely been thinking about something else involving her in this kind of a scenario, and the knowledge unravelled what was left of her brain.
He gave her a smile that she could feel right in the marrow of her bones, while his fingers continued to create havoc on the bare flesh of her upper thighs. ‘On the way to the bank I imagined you doing this.’
Bella’s eyes widened. ‘You did?’
‘Mmm.’
‘But you were on the phone.’
He arched an eyebrow. ‘Why do you think I was on the phone?’
She blinked. He’d felt it too? Way back then? So she hadn’t imagined that flicker of desire in his eye when she’d stumbled …
The realisation that he’d been thinking about this as much as she had made her brain start up again and absorb this revelation. Her pulse leapt. All relationships had to start somewhere, didn’t they? And yes, maybe dinner, a date or two, was the conventional method, but where had conventionality got her? Higher up the shelf, that was where. Her heart began to hammer as a
thrilling notion planted itself in her head and took root. She’d done demure and sensible, and she was still single so why not throw caution to the wind, locate her inner vixen and start with sex? She couldn’t end up any worse off, could she?