‘Amazingly, wondrously, fabulously happy.’ He sent her a slow smile that made her toes curl and her mouth tighten.
‘Good. I’m so glad for you. And now you’ve got that confession out of me, why don’t you do me a huge favour and leave? Let me ring in the new year without you around to spoil it for me!’
‘You seem to make a habit of asking me to leave when I don’t want to.’ He reached out and stroked her cheek before she had time to pull back. Now, it wasn’t just her toes that were curling, but everything inside her as well.
‘Do you really think that I just came here because I wanted the satisfaction of hearing you tell me?’
Tessa gave an eloquent shrug. Where he had touched her cheek burnt as though he had branded her.
‘I came here because…’ A dark flush spread across his cheekbones and he suddenly looked vulnerable and uncertain, two traits not normally associated with him.
‘Because…?’ Tessa prompted out of hateful, treacherous curiosity, when he lapsed into silence.
He met her eyes quickly and gave a slight shrug. ‘Because I was that man. The one you described. The one who never wanted to put roots down. I felt that I had all the roots I needed with Anna and, besides, work never left time to cultivate anything, not that I couldn’t have made the time if I’d wanted, but I didn’t. I liked the life I had, or at least I thought I did.’
Tessa felt her breath catch in her throat. She didn’t want hope to interfere with reality but the way he was looking at her…
‘As you said, different strokes for different folks,’ she said neutrally.
His hand reached out to cover hers, though, and she didn’t remove it. The pressure of his palm against hers was warm and still and strong and as seductive as she remembered. Everything about him was.
‘And I thought I meant it at the time, I really did.’
Tessa opened her mouth to speak and he briefly placed one finger over her lips.
‘In fact, I told myself a lot of things a couple of days back, including that I was relieved to have escaped the possibility of getting caught up in a relationship I couldn’t handle…no, wait, let me finish. I figured that I could walk away, breathe a sigh of relief, and get back to my life. I’ve been trying as hard as I could…’
‘I know. I saw the picture in the newspaper of you trying with a blonde.’
Curtis snorted. ‘I think trying would certainly be the word she would use to describe me. God, I can’t even remember her name. She was just part of my Master Plan to get my life back and, in all fairness, she didn’t mind being photographed with me. Upped her credibility in the world of glamour.’
He couldn’t remember her name! Tessa’s heart flipped a few times and reality gave up trying to put the dampener on hope.
‘All I’ve succeeded in doing is drinking more than I should, storming around the office like a bear with a sore head, bellowing at anyone who crosses my path, not that I’ve had much of an audience, thank God, and staring at computer screens without managing to achieve very much.’
‘Oh, I see,’ Tessa said weakly.
‘Do you? Can you? See, I mean? How much I missed you? I don’t think you can. If someone had told me six months ago that I’d be running towards commitment as if my life depended on it, I’d have laughed them out of court.’
‘You’re saying…’
‘I’m saying that…’ He looked around uncomfortably and cleared his throat. ‘I’m saying that I love you. Not just lust after you, although I do that as well, excel at it in fact, but need you and want you and can’t bear the thought of you not being by my side. In fact…’
Their eyes tangled and Tessa smiled slowly back at him, reading his mind. ‘I don’t think anyone would miss us if we had a bit of a breather before the main course…’
They slunk out of the dining room like two teenagers, with Curtis just about managing to mutter something to their host on the way out about needing to fetch something before they carried on with the meal, that they would be back very shortly.
‘Very shortly?’ Tessa quizzed, half running up the stairs with him to her bedroom.
‘Oh, yes. Remember what I said about lusting after you…? Well, it feels as though it’s been years and I don’t think my body is capable of behaving itself properly right now…’ To demonstrate exactly what he meant, as soon as the key turned in the door he pushed it open and pulled her to him with a low groan, pressing her against the door to shut it, muttering thickly against her pliant mouth.
And his urgency matched hers. Hands collided as they tugged to free each other of unwanted clothes. Actually making it to the bed was not an option. ‘We can spend all the time we want in bed later,’ he promised roughly, ‘but I want you right here and right now…’