One Night with Morelli(32)

                ‘I was passing…?’

                She did not respond to the dry wit but then as a shaft of moonlight fell directly across his face she saw he wasn’t smiling either; each fascinating hollow and carved sybaritic angle of his incredible face was set in a grim line of cold accusation that set her chin up another defensive notch.

                ‘Are you stalking m-me?’ It was not hard to visualise him as a sleek predator but she, Eve reminded herself, was not anyone’s prey. Despite her intention to cloak her comment with a believable level of amused indifference, she finished on a stutter.

                Cut yourself some slack, Eve. There probably wasn’t a woman on the entire planet who could laugh at the idea of being pursued by this man…and they hadn’t been kissed by him—or kissed him back.

                She closed the door on that memory, but not before her insides had dissolved and her core temperature had risen several painful degrees.

                ‘If I was stalking you, you’re making it damned easy.’

                ‘You’re calling me easy?’ Why not just leave your foot in your mouth, Eve? It will save you time and energy, she thought with an internal groan.

                ‘Easy?’

                The echo carried a note she tried to place as his dark eyes went from her face to the near-empty minor road. She turned her head, wondering if he had seen another car.

                Five miles, Draco estimated, if not more since he had seen another vehicle, and that off-roader had turned down a farm track. He wouldn’t be on it himself if he hadn’t been dropping off Josie at her English cousin’s house, and what would Eve have done then…?

                Eve tensed as his attention refocused on her face.

                ‘No, you’re bloody hard work. Just get in the damned car.’

                ‘That won’t be necessary, thank you. I don’t want to be a nuisance, but if you could inform a garage that I broke down. This is a short cut.’ Hearing the defensiveness in her own voice, Eve frowned. For the past half-hour she had been contemplating turning back as each successive bend in the road did not reveal the main road—but there was no need to tell him that.

                His brows lifted as he slid a phone from his pocket, wishing leaving her standing here in the middle of nowhere was an option.

                Liar, said the voice in his head. He hadn’t got excited by the idea of making out in a car since his teens, but for some reason this woman, with her prickles and her lush lips and her hungry eyes, had made him ache in a way that made self-delusion useful. After all, what was the point overanalysing something that was as simple as sex? Especially as with her he knew it would be stupendous!

                ‘Ever heard of mobile phones?’ Ever heard of avoiding someone with emotional high maintenance written all over her face? He detoured around his own internal question and waved his phone at her—trying to ignore the way the softening effect of the dark copper-toned curls that framed her face made her appear younger and more vulnerable.

                ‘Ever heard of black spots where you get no signal?’ she returned seamlessly. Did the man think she was a total idiot?

                No, he just thinks you’re easy, Eve—with good reason! The door opened on the memory still raw, still recent, still mortifying and, yes, still wildly exciting, submerging her in a tidal wave of hot, lustful longing against which her only defence was to shove her trembling hands into her pockets and look away.

                She could not remember feeling this out of control for…well, ever. She didn’t like it, and she didn’t like him. No, not liking him was too mild an emotion; she hated him.