Matt shrugged. ‘There’s nothing to work out. The opportunity to attend the conference in Athens to discuss alternative sources of energy simply cropped up at the last minute, that’s all.’
‘That’s what Antonio said. Very last minute apparently.’
‘It was important.’
‘More important than our meeting to discuss the cost of the work I’m doing?’
Ah. Matt went still. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he agreed, he’d upset her, and that wouldn’t be conducive to persuading her to have a fling, but if he denied it then she’d really wonder why he’d gone.
‘You’re right,’ he said, deciding that focusing on her earlier concerns was his only way out. It had the added benefit of appeasing his conscience. ‘I should have said goodbye. I’m sorry I didn’t.’
Laura frowned. ‘Waking up alone didn’t feel nice. It made everything we’d done seem a bit sordid.’
God. Sordid was the last thing it had been. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said again. ‘Anything I can do to remedy the situation just let me know.’
Laura nodded and bit her lip. ‘There is something you could do.’
‘What?’
She tilted her head and gave him a slow smile that had relief spinning through him and his heart hammering. ‘Give me my goodbye kiss now.’
Matt’s body tightened with anticipation and lust. ‘I could do that. But I should warn you that it probably wouldn’t stop there.’
Her eyes took on a sparkle that he felt in the pit of his stomach. ‘I was kind of counting on it.’
‘What were you thinking of?’ He knew what he was thinking of.
‘Sex. Illicit sex. And lots of it. Without any strings attached whatsoever.’
Matt’s pulse began to thunder. ‘Are you sure?’ She really didn’t seem the type.
‘I’ve never been surer of anything. With my relationship history I don’t want strings and I don’t want complications. A relationship is the last thing on the planet I need right now. I find them stifling and suffocating and I feel like I’ve just started to learn how to breathe. So all I want from you is multiple orgasms. What do you think?’
What did he think? His head was so fuzzy he could barely think at all. Because, God, she really was perfect. ‘I think it’s an excellent idea,’ he said hoarsely.
‘Good.’ She gave him a sexy little smile that had lust pounding through him. ‘So about that shower you mentioned…’
It was a good thing Laura hadn’t been planning to finish that sentence because as Matt suddenly sprang forwards and scooped her up in his arms her breath whooshed from her lungs and lust robbed her of the power of speech.
She’d taken such a gamble. Offering herself to him for nothing more than a fling like that. It was so reckless. So uncharacteristic. But she was sick of being sensible. She’d been there, done that, and had still ended up dumped and jobless and miserable.
And what was so awful about a fling anyway? She’d spent the entire week that Matt had been away thinking about it. Weighing up the pros and cons and driving herself to distraction with her endless analysis.
In the end she’d thought what the hell? A fling was temporary. A fling was hot. Best of all a fling was not a relationship.
And now, thank God, it looked as if her gamble was about to pay off. In spades.
Wrapping her arms around Matt’s neck, she clung on for dear life as he carried her across the room to the bathroom. His heart hammered against her shoulder. She could feel his muscles taut and tense and rippling with the effort of carrying her. Gazed at all that bare brown skin in such close proximity and couldn’t resist planting a hot wet kiss to the pulse pounding at the base of his neck.
Matt swore softly and his arms tightened around her. A shudder ripped through her. She felt an answering one run through him. So she did it again.
He shoved a shoulder against the bathroom door and lowered her to her feet. Clamped one arm around her waist to keep her against him, and reached out with the other to switch on the shower.
Bringing his mouth down on hers, he unzipped her dress, slid the straps down her arms and it fell in a pool at her feet. Laura kicked it aside and grappled with his trousers. Matt unclipped her bra and it fell to the floor. And then off came knickers and shorts and he was backing her into the shower.
Laura gasped as needles of water hammered down over her, making her already highly sensitised skin tingle and fizzle even more.
And then his mouth was on hers again and his hands were sliding over her back, up and down her sides and over her breasts.