exactly?”
“You’re a… a scoundrel.”
He raised an eyebrow. “A scoundrel, huh? Well, Ellie, the way I see it, you could probably do with a scoundrel in your life right now. Some excitement. Some fun. Don’t you think? I know I could.”
“No, what I need is to –”
Unable to resist any longer, he leaned over and kissed her hard on the mouth. Her soft lips acquiesced, but she squeaked her disapproval and punched him on the shoulder. He pulled away and smirked into her eyes. She glared angrily at him. He waited. She was either going to slap him, or…
Her angry expression surged to lust, and she threw her arms around him and kissed him hard. Single-pointed desire washed through Joseph and he pulled her close, kissing her with pent-up passion – pressing himself against her; desperate to fuck her hard until she was laughing with glee and purging her pain.
She groaned as the kiss increased in urgency, making their lips vibrate together, and ramping up Joseph’s lust. He slipped his tongue in her mouth, relishing her sweet taste – suddenly desperate to kiss, lick, and pleasure every inch of her naked tight little body.
She pulled away abruptly, out of breath. “I can’t do this.”
“Ellie, I just want to give you one night of no-strings pleasure. I wanna hear you roaring my name and losing control. I want to be the best lover you’ve ever had, so you’ll never forget me.”
She buried her face in her hands. “Oh god…”
“And I know you want that too, don’t you?”
She closed her eyes and breathed hard. “No, I don’t… I don’t know .”
He cupped her chin and kissed her again – more tenderly this time. “Look, we can’t sit here in the parking lot all night. Let’s go back to mine and you can get dry.” He grinned. “And maybe we can see what happens.”
Her voice was a whisper. “I’m not agreeing to anything.”
He ran his fingers through her damp hair, relishing the chance to touch her after all those months of dreaming. “It’s okay. No pressure. Let’s just get out of here.”
Joseph turned on the engine and pulled the car back to the road. Eleanor called her editor to give him an update, then she turned off her phone and dropped it into her purse.
“He didn’t sound very happy,” she said.
“Why?”
“He never does.”
Joseph chuckled. “I’m not surprised. He makes a living from dragging other people down to his own special kind of hell.”
She smiled sadly. “You’re right…”
He reached out and rested his hand on her damp thigh. “Hey, babe, when we get near my apartment building, keep your head away from the window, okay? I know the glass is tinted, but until we get into the parking garage, you never know who might be lurking. Some of these tabloid journalists will do anything to get a front-page scoop.”
Chapter Seven
Eleanor’s raw emotions swirled around her body as she followed Joseph through the underground parking garage into his luxury apartment building. She was thrilled that it had been so easy to trick Pierre into confessing his affair. She even had the name of the other woman – and that Hollywood actor was an absolutely golden lead. But she didn’t need to be Mother Teresa to know it was totally immoral.
And on top of that, what the hell was she doing here with Joseph Quinlan? Those promises he’d made about giving her one night of no-strings pleasure had proved too much to resist. One-night-stands weren’t her thing at all. But Joseph had a reputation for being a good lover, and it’d been a long time since she’d had sex with anyone who cared about her pleasure. Didn’t she owe Matthew for cheating on her all those times?
And after the day she’d had… landing her dream job and realising she hated it. She felt as if her dreams had all come crashing down around her ears. And Joseph was offering her a night of comfort. Just one night.
She walked into his hallway and suddenly felt nervous. This apartment was
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