‘Andthat’sanother thing I’ve missed about you,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Your intelligence and your judgment.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘Those are two things, actually—and I find that a very patronising thing to say.’
‘How can it be, when I agree with you? Our near-death experience has left an aftermath which probably just needs to burn itself out. So let’s burn it.’ He reached across the table and took her hand, turning it over so that the palm was uppermost. ‘If I were to ask you very nicely, would you stop dating other men and consider having an exclusive relationship with me?’
He saw her lips open and then shut again as if she were having trouble computing this and she pulled her hand away, as if his touch was only adding to her confusion. ‘A transatlantic relationship, you mean?’
He frowned. ‘Well, I have no intention of moving from New York and you certainly haven’t said anything about leaving London.’
She pulled a face. ‘Yes, I can see we reallyarebeing honest.’
‘My boundaries haven’t changed, Bianca. Have yours? I haven’t suddenly transformed into theniceman you claim to want, who can commit to you long-term. If that’s what you’re expecting from me then I’ll walk away right now, but if you’re open to an exciting alternative, then...’
He let his words trail off but it took so long for her to answer that he thought she was going to turn him down and the prospect of that was something he didn’t care to contemplate—and not just because of the unfamiliar impact it would have on his ego. But then he felt the deliberate brush of her knees against his underneath the table and suddenly her eyes were emerald-bright, her cheeks flushed as their gazes locked.
‘Okay,’ she said, her voice trembling a little. ‘Why not?’
‘Shall we go back to the hotel?’
‘Or you could come back to mine? I know it’s on the other side of the river, but Wimbledon isn’t that far.’
He shook his head, thinking that perhaps, with his assistance, she could be persuaded to buy somewhere a little more central. ‘I think neutral is better.’
He called for the bill and once they were alone in the back of his waiting car, she fell into his arms and they kissed like teenagers. He realised how much he had missed her as, instantly, he was aroused to an almost unbearable level of desire. With her sexual heat perfuming the air with its earthy tang, it was as much as he could do to resist the desire to touch her intimately and bring her pleasure with his fingers, as he had done once before. But he made himself resist, and of course that turned him on even more. As the car drew up outside the hotel, his blood was pulsing around his veins like hot lava and walking took a monumental effort as they made their way towards the private elevator.
‘Oh,’ she said, once they were delivered directly into a suite of monumental proportions and she went from room to room, examining the layout like a prospective buyer. ‘This is different to the suite we had last time.’
He nodded as he hung up her coat in the hallway. The other booking had been last-minute while this was reputedly the best hotel room in London. But he hadn’t booked it in order to impress her. It was more that he wanted to forget the past and live in the present.
But you could never really push away the past, could you?It still came back to haunt you when you least wanted it to.
‘Do you know how many nights I’ve lain awake thinking about all the things I want to do to you, Bianca?’ he groaned, as he pulled her into his arms. ‘Was it the same for you?’ And when she didn’t answer, he placed his lips against her ear. ‘Tell me,’ he urged.
‘Yes,’ she blurted out unsteadily. ‘Yes, I missed you.’
‘Show me how much.’
But all she did was to tip her head back in silent submission so that he could kiss her again and he realised that this was a battle of minds as well as bodies, making the prospect of physical release all the more tantalising. She moaned his name as he stroked her curves through her closely fitting dress—her slurred incitement making his gut clench and his groin grow even harder. Every nerve ending in his body was aroused, as if she had torn off a layer of his skin and left him raw. Again he could scent her arousal perfuming the air—musky and provocative—and he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, thinking how light and fragile she felt in his arms.
Her eyes were wide as he placed her in the centre of the bed and, without ceremony, he ran his fingertips up her leg until he had encountered the black stocking he knew he’d find there. Unable to sustain his teasing caress, he began pulling off her clothes with an urgency which only ever seemed to happen with her and suddenly she was doing the same. As if neither of them could bear to wait a minute longer. As if they had already waited too long. His throat dried and he felt as if he might explode. Because wasn’t that how it felt? As if they had wasted too much time during these weeks apart?
He tried to claw back some of his habitual control, but, despite his best efforts to temper his reaction, he couldn’t hold back his shudder of admiration as he reacquainted his gaze with her luscious curves and the rose-dark nipples which were crying out for the hungry plunder of his lips. Nor could he contain the sharp spear of lust which cut right through him, as he nudged the heavy tip of his erection against her moist folds and eased himself deep into her waiting wetness and she cried out even louder than she had done the first time he had entered her.
For most of the night he remained deep inside her, with sleep only arriving as the pale light of dawn filtered through the windows. The sun was high when she awoke and took him in her arms and the rest of the morning was lost in a haze of sensual abandon. The weekend spread out in front of them, awash with the bright sunshine of early spring, and while she was in the shower Xanthos had a toothbrush and fresh lingerie delivered to their suite, along with a pair of jeans he thought might fit her, with an accompanying cotton sweater.
‘Clean clothes,’ she observed when she emerged from the bathroom, before fixing him with a questioning look. ‘Do you kit out all your lovers like this?’
‘No. Normally, I would have sent you home in a car first thing and arranged to meet you later for dinner.’
‘“Sent”?’ she echoed, her tone acerbic. ‘Like a package, you mean?’
‘I prefer to think of it as creating a little necessary distance, because I’m someone who likes my own space. But since I’m only in town for two days, I find myself unwilling to waste a single second of my time with you.’ And although she was still frowning, he brushed his mouth over hers in a kiss intended as much for manipulation as for pleasure and it had the desired effect as she whispered and wriggled and begged for more. Still he held back, enjoying a rare and heady sense of domination, until he could resist no more. And suddenly he was lost on a wave of something he didn’t recognise. Suddenly,hewas the one who was helpless, and the distribution of sexual power seemed far less one-sided than it had been before.
He tugged open her robe and tumbled them down on one of the wide leather sofas, choking out an urgent gasp of pleasure as he eased into her moist heat. And afterwards, when their breathing had lost a little of its ragged quality, he tilted her chin, his thumb stroking softly at her skin. ‘Why don’t you wander down to the hotel boutique?’ he suggested carelessly. ‘Pick up anything else you might need for the next couple of days and put it on my account. Anything you like.’
In his arms, she froze. ‘Thanks, but no, thanks. I’m perfectly capable of paying for my own clothes, Xanthos. Why else do you think I’ve been working so hard all these years?’
He was unused to his generosity being refused, but the novelty value only added to her allure and, once she had sorted out her wardrobe to her satisfaction, he had the hotel arrange a dizzying selection of pursuits to occupy them for the next two days. The weekend culminated with an early dinner on Sunday evening, for he was due to fly out the next morning but despite the dazzling setting and Michelin-starred menu, they skipped dessert and went straight back to bed.