Hunt’s hand shot up to catch her wrist and Adie stopped, sighed and looked at him. Releasing his hold on her, he cupped her face in his hands, his lips drifting over her mouth in a devastatingly tender kiss. “Relax, Adie, it’s all good. If you don’t feel comfortable with me staying over, I’ll leave. You might not realize this, but you hold the power here.”
“I do?” Adie asked, surprised. She’d expected a lot more pushback.
Hunt stroked the line of her jaw. “Of course you do, you always did and always will. I’m not gonna lie, I want to do this again, as many times as we can before you leave the city, and to that end, I’d like to make love, sleep with you, wake up and start all over again.
“But if you need some time to wrap your head around what’s happening between us, then I’ll go home and try and get some sleep,” Hunt added.
“Nothing is going on with us!” Adie squeaked. “This isn’t going anywhere. This is just us having some fun in bed!”
Oh, God, how embarrassing it would be if he thought she was falling for him, the most elusive man in Manhattan! That would be a disaster.
Hunt pulled back at her ferocious statement and lifted his hands as if to ward off an attack. “Adie, relax! I didn’t mean to imply that either of us wanted something serious!”
“Then what did you mean?” Adie demanded, her heart thumping and her breath ragged.
“Look, you told me that you haven’t had sex in a while—five years, you said? Maybe you need to work through what happened between us, I don’t know, I’m just speculating here because I know that women think about sex differently than men do.”
“And what do men think?” Adie sarcastically asked, eyebrows raised.
“Mostly that we’re so damn grateful to have gotten some,” Hunt replied. His easy grin doused what was left of her simmering temper. “While you do whatever you need to do tonight, on your own, know that I’ll be lying awake thinking of you. Then I’ll have to take a cold shower and then I still won’t be able to sleep and then I’ll be as irritated as hell at work—”
Adie laughed at his overexaggerated whine, realizing he was teasing. “Nice try, Sheridan, but you’re still going home.”
Hunt dropped a kiss on her lips and tapped her butt. “You’re a tough cookie, kicking me out into the cold night.”
She was just walking away from temptation-on-broad-feet. And because she was, she refused to think of Hunter Sheridan as anything more than a temporary fling, a bit of fun, a way to pass the time.
He was her Christmas fling and she would not,would not, fall in love with her sexy client.
And, what was obvious, he wouldn’t let her fall in love with him either. Good thing.
But he was still, Adie decided, going home.
Because, really, there was no point in tempting Fate.
Adie, having done a final inspection of Hunt’s apartment before his guests arrived for his much-anticipated Christmas tree–trimming cocktail party, dashed down his hallway and skidded into the master bedroom, whipping off her sweatshirt as she barreled across the room toward the en suite bathroom.
She was running late. After she punched the keypad on the wall next to the door, the shower heads instantly responded and hot water and steam filled the huge shower enclosure. Adie knew she’d miss Hunt’s luxurious bathroom when she returned to London. She would also miss his massive bed, the way everything in his apartment was controlled by an electronic tablet, the incredible views of Central Park...
Most of all she’d miss Hunt.
Adie stripped and, leaving her clothes on the floor, stepped into the sophisticated shower, sighing when the double-headed jets pounded her body with hot water. By mutual agreement, and because they were both aware that they were on limited time, Adie had all but moved into Hunt’s apartment, wanting to spend as much time as she could with him before she flew back to London at the end of the week.
They’d been sleeping together for two weeks. Christmas Eve was a few days away and their time together was nearly over, but she didn’t regret one moment she’d spent with Hunt. This had been the best three weeks of her life. In between joining the Williams family for a weekend of skiing in Vail, she and Hunt went ice skating at Rockefeller Center and window shopping down 5th Avenue, gently arguing about which store had the best Christmas windows.
They ate at little-known diners and Michelin-starred restaurants and they had, once or twice, appeared in the social columns, with the reporters speculating about whether his relationship with Griselda was over and whether the private concierge had captured Hunt’s elusive heart.
No hearts were involved—she hadn’t let hers out of its cage—but Adie’s business brain couldn’t help feeling pleased for the publicity as she received quite a few inquiries for her concierge services after those articles appeared online.
It was definitely starting to look like she could open a branch of Treasures and Tasks in Manhattan, and before she left, she needed to have a meeting with Kate to thrash out the details.
Although Adie was pretty sure Kate was on board, if she changed her mind Adie would pick and choose her New York–based clients carefully and manage their requests from London. Distance wasn’t an issue; she had clients all over the world and could manage their needs from the moon, if necessary.
But presently, she had to get ready for Hunt’s stupendously exclusive and very formal tree trimming party. Right now, the eight-foot tree in Hunt’s living room was stringed with lights, and boxes of handblown glass ornaments, ones she’d purchased through her supplier in Poland, were resting in their velvet cases, waiting for the guests to hang them on the branches.
Having organized these types of parties before, Adie was fairly sure Hunt’s guests, apart from one or two, wouldn’t bother with the tree, they’d be far more interested in drinking, socializing and eating the canapés provided by the exceptionally expensive chef she’d hired for the evening.
She’d do the bulk of the decorating, either during the party or later.