you.â
He was virtually making love to her with his words, something she had never experienced in her life before.But then, her only lover had been Frankie and words had never been his strong point. Looks, yes. The Irish blood in him had given him those all right, but that was as far as it went.
She was up against a different species here and she knew it. And, knowing it, she struggled to get her own thought processes into working order.
She could hardly dredge up Frankieâs face under the onslaught of emotion flooding through her like a tidal wave!
His hand, that damned hand of his, slithered to caress her bare skin under the jumper. Just the flat, hard lines of her stomach, not venturing anywhere higher up, but it was sufficient to make her catch her breath. In surprise. And, she thought chaotically, pleasure. No, pleasure was too mediocre a word. Excitement.
âSoâ¦will you spend the night here? With me? In my bed?â
âNoâ¦pleaseâ¦â Mattie clung on to what coherent common sense was still in play. âThis isâ¦is ridiculousâ¦â The hand crept fractionally higher.
His own patience astounded him. He could feel her trembling under him, wanting him, but he was still having to rein in his impulse to lift her off her feet and sweep her into his bedroom like a primitive caveman taking possession of his woman.
His hand was only inches away from her breasts. Beautiful, well-shaped breasts that he wanted to touch and suck and worship.
âWe have nothing in commonâ¦â
âI can think of something we have very much in common, actuallyâ¦â
âGo and play your games with your own typeâ¦â
âI donât have a type. Only bores have types.â
âWell, go and play your games withâ¦with someone elseâ¦!â The scattered conversation had done what it needed to do. Gave her room to breathe instead of just waving and drowning under her panting senses.
Gave her time to remember the man waiting for her back at the house and the impossibility of her situation.
She wriggled slightly and the hand that had been doing such dangerous things to her stomach found what it had been edging towards.
Mattie literally jumped as his long, expert fingers worked their way over her breast, found the nipple pointing and aching under the lacy bra and rubbed it.
One more minute and she could say goodbye to any kind of self-restraint.
âNo!â She pushed his hand and he removed it immediately but only so that it could join his other hand, still lying palm down against the door.
He looked at her in the trap he had managed to create, with both his hands caging her in.
âWeâre both adults,â he said flatly, determined to knock through her defences, âand weâre both attracted to one another. And thereâs no point denying it.â
âAll right, then! I wonât deny it! But it still isnât going to happen!â
âWhy the hell not?â
âBecause Iâm living with someone. Because I happen to have a boyfriend!â
CHAPTER FOUR
N OW that her final project was done and dusted, Mattie had a sinking feeling that the hard work had only just begun.
That she would pass with flying colours, she had no doubt. She had been committed to the course from day one, had managed to hand almost all her work in on time, had been ahead of the rest for the past few months. But the course co-ordinator, a snappy-looking woman with a brisk attitude towards her students that bordered on the terrifying, had been blunt. Marketing was a competitive field and, marks or no marks, Mattie lacked experience. That she was brimming over with enthusiasm and talent unfortunately took second place to someone who had been working in the field for years. She would do her best but anything she came up with might involve disappointing pay and an ability to grapple with the bottom rung of the ladder without resentment.
The two
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