‘I like to think it’s one of my strengths.’
Oh, it was.
He turned, his attention grabbed by something out of the window. ‘This Nathan guy,’ he muttered. ‘Wouldn’t have dark hair and laugh like a hyena?’
She reluctantly moved to stand next to him. Not a hyena, but a distinctive laugh. She remembered hearing it late last night, right when she shouldn’t have. Right when she’d breathlessly been falling towards sleep, when her lover had still been inside her and caressing the base of her spine with gentle fingers.
‘Oh.’ She swallowed the swearword when she saw Nathan kiss the pretty young woman they’d met at the bar in the late afternoon yesterday.
Naked Guy’s eyebrows had shot upwards. ‘It looks like he might have been sharing his flirt around.’
Just a little.
‘It’s like a French farce,’ Ellie muttered. But it was real. ‘In a chateau and everything.’ She felt her mystery lover turn his gaze on her and refused to show any kind of disappointment.
‘I can’t believe you mistook me for him,’ Naked Guy accused in a tone of utter outrage. ‘He’s at least five inches shorter than I am. And not as fit.’ He flexed his muscles in a preening display.
Yeah, they were poles apart. This guy was way more outrageous than Nathan. Bold in flirtation. In his demands. Desire. He tempted with humour and cheerful abandon.
‘You were lying down,’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘And you hadn’t slept with him.’ He sounded pleased about that.
She didn’t reply. She knew she’d admitted that last night in her amazed gasps of pleasure. They both watched the couple in the courtyard for another moment.
Her tall lover was the one to break the silence, turning to face her directly. ‘Well, I’ll be frank, I think you got the better deal.’
She gaped at him. Then giggled. ‘Arrogant much?’ She laughed again only for the sound to die quickly as she shook her head and gave it to him. ‘But I’ll admit in this case, I think you might be right.’
‘You think?’ he asked, mock-outraged. ‘Come on, you know that was spectacular.’
She felt her blush rising again as memories twisted between them, trying to draw them together.
‘Well.’ She breathed out, brazening her way through the most mortifying experience of her life. ‘Okay. Yes. Thanks so much, it was...’ She couldn’t think of an appropriate adjective.
‘Fantastic and you can’t wait to see me again,’ he inserted for her.
She shook her head. ‘No.’ She tempered the bad news with a smile. ‘This was what it was.’ One almighty screw-up. ‘But we’re not going there again.’
‘Oh, come on.’ He walked forward. ‘That hot, that quick?’ He shook his head. ‘We’d be crazy not to enjoy that again. You want to as much as I do.’ His gaze flickered to her chest. She didn’t need to look down to know her nipples were turned on like bright beacons, begging for his touch again.
Oh, yeah, she was tempted.
‘It had been a while for you, hadn’t it?’
‘Last full moon,’ she said breathlessly.
‘Liar.’ He called her on it. ‘You’re blushing more than a gaggle of schoolgirls. You can hardly look at me. You’re no vixen. Although it has to be said you have potential.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘And you’re offering to give me a bit more practice?’
‘Of course I am,’ he said simply. ‘It had been a while for me too.’
She snorted. That she simply didn’t believe.
His grin flashed. ‘Truth. I’ve been busy at work and I haven’t had any midnight callers. But you’ve really whet my appetite.’
Had she? It wasn’t only his appetite piqued.
‘I know it was an unconventional way of meeting, but we’re good together.’
For a moment Ellie let fantasy rule—imagined being with him again for another round or thirty of spectacular sex. Fantasy morphed—from this they’d develop some wonderful relationship that would rival the highest-grossing Hollywood chick flick’s happiest of endings... And, yeah, there was the problem. In the past she’d given too much where it wasn’t wanted. She’d been crushed before; she wouldn’t be daft enough to set herself up for a similar sort of heartache. She knew herself, before long she’d want the full fantasy. But a guy like this wasn’t the sort to do happy ever after. She’d seen his unveiled edge—unashamed, reckless—a complete playboy. Someone who could go along with an anonymous one-night stand with such relaxed, outrageous humour? Too, too casual. And while she could live with a casual—frankly marvellous—mistake in her life, it had to be one-off. Her non-plan with Nathan had been for just the once. This definitely had to be just the once. Naked Guy here was just too fit for her to keep up with.
‘It can’t happen.’ Her final decision.
‘Not because of Nathan.’ Statement not question.
‘No. Because of me.’ She’d get burned by Mr Naked & Too Hot to Handle. He was too much more everything than any other man she’d met—more gorgeous, more good-humoured, not only blessed by nature but more talented in bed than any guy had the right to be. She’d fall so hard, in a heartbeat.
He hadn’t taken his eyes from hers, as if trying to read her thoughts. Looking right back at him, into those molten-chocolate eyes, Ellie felt her thoughts begin to splinter dangerously. One thought became dominant. Not a thought—an urge. Steam rose, blinkering her vision—all she wanted was to plant a kiss on those perfectly curved lips.
She breathed, blinked, stepped back. Not going to happen. She moved quickly, opening the door and stepping out of the insanity.
‘Wait.’ He stepped after her, apparently not caring that she was in the middle of the hall in a sheer slip and he had only a facecloth failing to protect his modesty. ‘I don’t know your name. Mine’s—’
‘Don’t.’ She held up her hand. ‘Let’s just pretend the whole thing was a dream.’
‘But—’
‘Bye!’ She clutched her breasts so she could sprint down the hallway to the stairs.
‘You’re going to leave me like this?’
She turned at his holler, saw him standing outrageously proud, bolder than anyone she’d met in her life. He had a fascinating lack of care, and an ability to find amusement in anything—that made him all the more intriguing. But she forced another step back from temptation. ‘I’m sure you’ll figure something out.’
Yeah, it’d be no time ’til he tempted another woman into his bed. And Ellie would be all envy.
CHAPTER THREE
‘ELLIE, where have you been?’ Nathan pointedly looked at his watch when Ellie finally made it down to the breakfast table an hour and a shower later. There was no sign of his girl guest—or any other guests either.
She squared her shoulders, refusing to feel even a hint of regret about last night. Maybe she should feel worse, but the gorgeous Naked Guy had completely diffused any threat of angst with his humour and relaxed attitude. And Nathan here had been scoring someone else. At least he never had to know about her crazy intention last night. She really had got the better end of the deal.
‘I’ve