Ignoring her struggle, he dragged her into a room across the hall.
Shutting the door behind them, he spun her round. Her back butted against the door. Placing his hands above her head, he caged her in and a familiar surge of heat soared up her torso to ignite her cheeks and send her senses into turmoil—right alongside her emotions.
‘Lukas! You don’t have time for this,’ she said, trying for exasperated but getting breathless instead.
His brows slammed down in a furious frown. ‘You little... You planned this deliberately, didn’t you?’ he growled, his juniper and pine scent surrounding her now—rich and evocative and far too enticing.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said, attempting to duck out from under his arm, frantic to escape before the heavy weight in her sex, the sharp tug of arousal overrode her flight instinct again.
‘The hell you don’t...’ he said, planting large palms on her hips and holding her firmly in place. ‘You knew I wanted to talk to you this morning about us. You used the boy as a shield. Admit it.’
She flattened her hands against his chest. The muscles rippled with tension beneath the soft cashmere but, instead of pushing him away as she should, her body shuddered with yearning.
‘There is no us.’ She forced herself to meet his gaze. ‘The only connection we have is through Nico,’ she added, wanting to mean it, wanting to believe it. ‘He’s the only thing that matters now. And you were so brilliant with him today.’
His brows lifted and she pounced on the opportunity to distract him, and herself. And resist the yearning that was threatening to consume her again.
‘I don’t want to do anything to threaten your relationship with him.’ At least that wasn’t a lie.
Pursuing a relationship with Lukas, any kind of relationship, wouldn’t just be dangerous on an emotional level when it ended—which of course it would—it could complicate his relationship with Nico, which would be so much worse.
Nico needed this man in his life and she suspected that, despite all his protestations to the contrary, Lukas was just beginning to discover how much he needed Nico too. Even if she had been bold enough, and secure enough, to risk an affair with Lukas, she would never forgive herself if something she did threatened the bond he was just beginning to form with his nephew.
‘That’s bull and you know it,’ he said, slicing off her argument at the knees. ‘One thing has nothing to do with the other.’
‘Of course it does,’ she said, finally locating the indignation she’d been searching for at his dismissive reply. ‘I want to nurture and support your relationship with him,’ she added. ‘And I can’t do that if we’re involved.’
‘Why not?’ he asked, not looking conflicted in the slightest.
‘Because I live here, with him.’
‘So what?’
‘I don’t want him to know that there’s...’ She stammered to a halt, his blank expression unnerving her even more. ‘That there’s something going on between us. He might think you’re coming here to see me instead of him.’
‘He’s four,’ he said flatly.
‘Nico’s very smart and intuitive,’ she said, feeling as if she were under siege.
‘I know that,’ he said. ‘He’s also confident and well-adjusted. And he seems to have a pretty healthy ego. So there’s no reason on earth why he should question my motives for coming to see him. But anyway, Nico’s reaction is irrelevant. Because he’s not going to find out that we’re sleeping together.’
‘How could he not?’ she said.
‘Because I’m buying a place for you where we can meet a couple of evenings a week,’ he said, shocking her into silence. ‘I’m already paying Maureen a hefty salary so we might as well get her to earn it.’
‘Whoa! Wait.’ She reared back, his astonishing arrogance appalling her, and giving her the power to resist the heat sizzling over her skin. ‘I haven’t agreed to any of this,’ she said. ‘I don’t want you to buy me a place. And I don’t want to become your...’ She searched frantically for the correct word. ‘Your... Your mistress.’
The term sounded antiquated, but it bolstered her temper and gave her the ammunition she needed in the battle with her feelings towards him.
Maybe Lukas had secrets about why he had been so desperate not to bond with Nico, but he was still an arrogant, entitled... How dare he expect her to prioritise a sexual relationship with him over Nico’s needs?
‘Nico needs me. I won’t be your kept woman, and I don’t want to be.’
* * *
Lukas was so annoyed he could hardly see straight, let alone think, because he’d been balancing on a knife-edge of desire for several hours now. Every time their eyes connected, every time he noticed that spark of approval, the glow of warmth in her expression, it had made the flash fire of his temper more intense.
‘I’m already paying for everything,’ he barked, the words spewing out on a wave of frustration. ‘What the heck difference does it make if we both get some fun out of the deal?’