“Way off.”
“A hint would be good.”
“But not as fun as hearing what you come up with next.”
Her eyes were dancing now, and a stream of hair had fallen down the centre of her forehead, criss-crossing her slim straight nose. He scooped the hair behind her ear and his blood heated more.
“Got it.” He lowered his hand. “You’re a misunderstood heiress running from the press.”
“Not this year.”
He chuckled, so she did too, but then she winced and touched her head.
His stomach muscles crunched and welts stung for the first time as he sat up. “How’s the lump?”
“Only hurts when I laugh.”
He mock-frowned. “I can be serious.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“I want to hold you closer.”
Her hand drifted away from her bump. “You want to do what?”
“Hold you closer.”
Her eyes rounded to saucers.
“That’s not a command, by the way,” he added. “More a suggestion.”
“If I say no?”
“We head off to the resort.”
“If I say yes?”
“Then I’ll add another wish to my list.”
She blinked several times, as if she were having trouble taking it all in, but she didn’t try to wriggle away. In fact she leaned nearer. “Tell me.”
He craned his neck to graze his lips over the satin and grit of her brow, and the contact made the skin tighten over his flesh. “I’d do this.”
He heard her intake of air, felt her slight tremble as he grazed again.
Her hand bunched slowly on his chest, sending positive signals to regions below.
“And then?” she asked.
He cupped her nape, his thumb circling the base of her neck before his hand slid around to her chin. His lips skied down the slope where a moment ago he’d brushed her hair away.
“I’d tip your chin higher.” With a knuckle, he angled her mouth towards his. “Like this.”
Her lips parted as she inhaled, silent but deep, and her heavy gaze sparkled into his.
“Then what?”
Smiling softly, he moved closer.
“Then this.”
CHAPTER THREE
THE touch of his kiss was faint, yet the intensity of sensation was all-consuming. The promise of what was to come gave Nina a heady rush and goosebumps down to her toes. Today she’d nearly lost her life, but this—dear heaven—was almost worth dying for.
With his thumb guiding her jaw, he steered her chin higher and kissed her again, this time with his mouth slanted at a different, more exacting angle.
Nina sighed.
He felt like magic…omnipotent, skilled, sultry. This caress was barely there, yet somehow it lifted her to another plane, where warm hands understood how to stroke and leisurely lips knew how to thrill. If there was an advanced school of kissing, this guy had graduated top of the class.
As his mouth reluctantly drew away, the tip of his nose brushed hers. She opened her eyes, and when he opened his, they were a dark, stormy blue-grey, and filled with a latent hunger Nina’s surging blood recognised too.
This man was every woman’s dream. Masterful, challenging, sexy to a fault. She’d never met anyone like him. She wanted him to kiss her a second time, and then she wanted him to do it again.
One problem.
Did she tell him before or after she wasn’t who or what he thought? Not an heiress fleeing from the paparazzi, not the genius daughter of a world-famous barrister, but a rather average, stressed-out waitress, struggling to get through a difficult time.
Good thing he had track shoes on. He might want to run a mile.
“I have to say,” he murmured in a rich, drugging voice that spoke directly to her G spot, “that felt good.”
Despite her concerns, she couldn’t help but smile back. “I second that.”
His absorbed gaze dropped to devour her lips. “I vote we get more inventive.”
“Which entails…?”
“For you…simply lie back and enjoy.”
“Oh, I have to enjoy it?” she teased.
He nipped her bottom lip. “That’s the idea.”
At the notion of total surrender—arms draped over her head, taking every wonderful delight he had to offer—syrupy warmth condensed at the heart of her. The idea of making love with a thoroughly gorgeous man she barely knew was not only reckless, it was irresistible. Who said she wasn’t allowed to forget her problems for an hour or two? Wrapping herself in his silver lining sounded pretty good about now.
With a cooling breeze blowing over her skin, teasing her nipples, she wet her lips.
“What about you? Do you get to enjoy it too?”
He shifted up, so that one side of his impressive chest hovered over hers. His arm curled possessively above her head.
“Ask me a hard question.” He kissed her in earnest then, his warmth flashing heat-lightning through her blood, his mouth irrevocably claiming hers. But not in a gulping, feverish fashion. More with the finesse of a man who knew what women liked. What this woman needed.
His slightly roughened palm trailed down her neck. His thumb rested in the hollow of her beating throat before his touch skimmed down her décolletage, then slid to encircle her upper arm, coaxing her up and in. The suggestion of ownership in the gesture was unmistakable, as well as enthralling—all the more so given the way his mouth worked unhurriedly yet intently with hers.
Her arms coiled around his neck and she pulled herself up, offering more, as delectable desire built and bubbled away—a steaming kettle ready to boil. She was physically, helplessly drawn to him, like a tide to the moon or a bird to blue sky. When his tongue probed deeper Nina whimpered with mind-tingling longing, and a strange sense of belonging seeped through her.
This embrace wasn’t merely great, it was fated. In this thin slice of time she wasn’t Jill’s sister or little Codie’s aunt. She wasn’t the pampered princess who’d once had everything, or the twenty-year-old who’d slogged her guts out to ace her journalism class. She wasn’t a magazine editor who’d found herself at a crossroads.
At this moment she was pure woman, hovering at the pinnacle of creation’s best ever kiss. She felt so fired up she could barely breathe—but, unlike during her near drowning moments ago, she didn’t want to come up for air. She’d much rather relinquish herself to her mystery man’s caress until she expired from exhaustion and sheer joy.
When his thumb brushed the outside of her breast she groaned. The sensitive peak tightened and her leg instinctively moved in. But the scratches on her ankle rubbed and, wincing, she jerked back an inch. When he pulled back too, the set of his jaw and refocusing eyes said he’d remembered where they were.
Oh, but this couldn’t end now. What were a couple of scratches compared to the chance to truly escape and float on cloud nine?
Her arm still around his neck, she tugged. “I’m perfectly fine—honest.”
His chin kicked up a notch. “You don’t know how much I’d like to believe that.”
Her fingers filed up through the back of his hair. “Believe it.”
He set his forehead upon hers. “I’m afraid this, my dear, is not the time.”
She pouted. “Really?”
“Really, really.”
Sorry. She couldn’t accept it. Her hand snaked down and she drew a suggestive circle around his right nipple, smiling when the disc hardened beneath her touch.
Folding her hand up in his, he pressed his warm lips to the palm. “Doctor first. Advanced introductions later.”
“Maybe one more quick hello?”
He laughed, a gorgeous black velvet sound she would never tire of hearing. This guy had it all. Looks, charm, Herculean strength. Sure, he was a little overconfident, but, given the circumstances, after that kiss, she could find it in her heart to forgive him.
“Later,” he confirmed, and cocked an enquiring brow. “Maybe over dinner?”
Nina’s expression dissolved into a walking-on-air smile.
Fate was so unpredictable. A couple of months ago she’d had the next ten years mapped out—work her way up the magazine industry ladder and ultimately secure a spot on a top international rag overseas. By that time Jill would have met the guy of her dreams and Codie would be a real little man. One day Nina had hoped to find her soul mate—someone who truly understood and respected her.
Then her life had landed in a dumpster.
From heiress to editor to wayward waitress. What came next?
When her Galahad sprang to his feet and dusted himself off, Nina sighed. The most amazing few minutes of her life were over. But there was always dinner tonight.
Or was there?
The clientele here seemed oblivious to everything other than their own over-inflated issues and comfort. They lived to compare carats over a leisurely back rub or two. Was this man cut from that same cloth? How would he react when he found out he’d been making love to the hired help?
And, if that wasn’t enough to dampen those dinner plans, there was always the resort’s staunchest staff rule. No socialising with guests. Ever.
His shadow crept over her a second before his strong arms scooped beneath her shoulders and knees. Jolted back, she pushed against his chest. “What are you doing?”
“We’ve had this discussion.”
“I’m not sure we came to any decision.” None that she’d been happy with.