Bittersweet Love - Cathy Williams [42]
‘How dare you come into my flat and…and…?’ Her sentence spluttered to a standstill and she glared at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears of anger.
‘And force you to face a few hard facts?’
‘So I’m attracted to you,’ she shouted. ‘All right, I admit it, I’m attracted to you, but that doesn’t mean anything!’ They were the bitterest words she had ever spoken and she bent her head, defeated, rather than witness the flare of triumph in his eyes.
‘Doesn’t it?’ He released her hand and she snatched it away, massaging it until circulation resumed. She only wished that she could take herself off to some other part of the room, to escape the claustrophobic weight of his masculinity, but her legs remained rooted to the spot.
‘Sex isn’t the most important thing in the world,’ she said shakily. What she wanted to say was that love was far more important than sex, but the mere thought of introducing that word into the conversation made her go cold. No, he was too shrewd for his own good, and it wouldn’t do to let him have any opportunity to think that what she felt for him extended beyond physical attraction.
‘Of course it isn’t,’ he agreed roughly, ‘but it’ s nice, though, isn’t it?’ He bend downwards and his lips found hers with a hot urgency that made her pull back in alarm and fright.
His arms met around her, pulling her back against him so that she was pressed to his body, and could feel his hard arousal.
‘I really think you ought to go,’ she said weakly. ‘It’ s very late and I…I have to be up early in the morning for work.’
‘Tomorrow’s Saturday,’ he reminded her.
‘I meant I must be up early for…I have an appointment.’
‘Why are you so afraid?’
‘I’m not afraid!’ she wailed, but she was. Desperately afraid. All these years she had been able to hold her emotions in check because they had never been put to the test. Now she feared that her love for him would be her final weakness. His hand moved to the nape of her neck, his fingers intermingling in her hair, tugging her head gently back so that she had to meet his stare.
This time his mouth met hers with coaxing sweetness. He was no longer demanding a response, he was merely enticing her with a temptation too powerful to resist. He parted her lips with his, and she felt the warmth of his tongue flicking in her mouth, sending shooting currents down her back.
‘Don’t tell me you don’t know,’ he murmured huskily. ‘I’ve thought about this all week. Why do you think I had to come over here?’
He lifted her off her feet in one deft movement and carried her towards the general direction of the bedroom, kicking open doors until he found it. Then he kicked shut the door and gently deposited her on the bed.
Natalie lay down, her eyes half closed, and knew that she would never forgive herself if she gave in to this piece of insanity. She meant nothing to him but an available body, one which he was curious to discover. But she had worked for him for years. She knew his track record. He tired easily, and she knew that if he slept with her he would tire even more quickly than usual. After all, she was not in the class of his other women. She had made the most of herself, but she was still an ordinary girl. Too many cream cakes and she would become that plump little thing that no one had ever noticed.
‘What are you thinking?’ he asked, lying down next to her.
‘We shouldn’t be doing this,’ she said, hearing the feebleness in her own ears and wishing desperately that she could summon up the good sense to do something about it.
‘We’re attracted to each other, so why not?’ He kissed her cheeks, tiny feathery kisses that made her shudder in response and she twisted round to face him. The blood was racing through her veins, making her giddy. Was that why she couldn’t seem to shed her inertia? When he kissed her lips, she sighed and returned the kiss, hesitantly at first, then hungrily as she gave in to the abandon raging through her.
He reached under her T-shirt, finding her bare skin and stroking it in