‘It’s the first time a business partner has threatened to keep me in line. Normally it’s the other way round.’
‘Maybe more of us should do that.’ Still keeping my voice low, I took a single step towards him.
His eyes dropped to my breasts. His lips moved in the tiniest pout, as if savouring my taste, before his scrutiny moved lower to caress my hips and legs before slowly trailing back up again.
By the time our gazes reconnected, I was left in no doubt that he wanted me. Badly.
‘It’s never happened before because my partnerships start with a baseline of trust. Perhaps we should aim for that between us?’
‘I don’t trust easily, Mr Mortimer.’
His nostrils flared as his fingers trailed down my arm. Tingles shot from the point of contact to my needy pussy.
‘What’s it going to take for you to call me Damian?’
You and your rock-hard cock, driving deep into my pussy.
For a moment I thought I’d said the words out loud. I gasped softly as his fingers closed on my elbow.
‘Damian. There, does that work for you?’
The blaze in his eyes grew dangerous and potent. ‘I’d love to say once more, with feeling, preferably as a prelude to sealing our deal the way I’m sorely tempted to, but for now I’ll take it.’
I didn’t need to ask how he would seal the deal. His eyes spelled it out explicitly. And, worse, I wanted to let him. Badly.
I remained still as the sexual cyclone churned and heated up the air around us, making my fingers itch to reacquaint themselves with his hard body, experience that glorious mouth and the magic of his hands.
Unable to help myself, I let my gaze fly up to land on his mouth. Would he taste just as spectacular as he had two years ago?
Two years ago...when he’d stabbed me in the back after sleeping with me.
My insides froze.
Damian made a frustrated sound under his breath. ‘There’s that look again. Tell me how to fix it and I promise to give it my best shot.’ The demand was low and deep. Almost as if he meant it. Almost as if my distrust aggravated him.
I attempted to step away, but he kept hold of me. His thumb slowly caressed my pulse, spiking arousal higher, hardening my nipples into needy points.
‘Give me a starting point, Neve. We can work our way towards whatever goal you want.’
‘Really? Whatever I want?’
He gave a solemn nod. ‘Within reason, of course...but I’d prefer we don’t have bad blood between us.’
Again his words were grave, containing a wealth of unspoken meaning.
But there was no way I was going anywhere near his questionable olive branch. There was one burning question I still needed an answer to, though. One he hadn’t yet answered to my satisfaction.
‘Would knowing who I was, knowing who you were screwing over, have made a blind bit of difference?’
He held my gaze for an uncomfortably long time. My breath froze in my lungs; I was suddenly unsure whether I wanted the truth or evasion of some sort. The truth, my brain and heart demanded. No matter how much it hurt to hear it, I wanted the truth from Damian. Always.
‘No,’ he said after nerve-stretching silence. ‘It wouldn’t have. You weren’t ready for a deal that big.’
I flinched. That stung just as badly now as it had two years ago. As had his addendum to Malcolm Cahill.
‘Was that why you told him not to speak to me? I asked for a face-to-face meeting to plead my case. You advised him to tell me no. Why?’
He shrugged. ‘I didn’t want things to drag on unnecessarily. I wanted to be done with it. With Boston.’
My breath caught. ‘So it was personal.’
He turned abruptly, stalked to the window and looked out onto a glittering, electrified Manhattan. After an age, he faced me.
‘You’re a stunning, sexy woman.’ His lips firmed as if he didn’t want to admit the words. ‘But I didn’t intend to fuck anyone that night. Hell, I almost didn’t come to Boston at all. I could’ve phoned in everything I wanted to say to Cahill. But I needed to get out of New York. I needed to focus on something else besides the fact that I’d hit another bloody wall with Gideon.’
It didn’t appease me to know why there had been raging demons in his eyes that night. ‘So you redirected your shit my way?’ I probed.
Again he stared at me as if he was making up his mind about something. ‘Only a handful of people know the full details about why I left England. Without boring you with the nitty-gritty of it, I’ll tell you that your little...performance at the bar hit the wrong notes...right after you hit all the right ones.’
I frowned. ‘I’m confused.’
He exhaled harshly. ‘I saw you when you arrived at the hotel. Even before I knew your name I was fucking hooked. Call me crass if you will, but I watched you crossing the lobby and wondered what you’d taste like. Wondered how loud you’d scream when I made you come. I was dying to be inside you long before I sat down at the bar. Which was an inconvenient novelty considering I hadn’t fucked anyone for a while and wasn’t planning to.’ That last part was delivered with a heavy dose of bitter bewilderment that doused my arousal.
‘Why not?’
‘Because the last woman I met at a bar before you left an unpalatable taste in my mouth.’
Curiosity bit at me. Hard. But the stiff lines on his face told me he wouldn’t elaborate. Even the little he’d told me seemed to torture him. ‘So I made you hard crossing the lobby and you decided to punish me for buying you a drink?’
His hand scraped over his jaw to grip his nape. ‘When you put it like that I sound like a bloody asshole.’
‘Your words, not mine.’
Harsh lines etched deeper between his brows and bracketed his mouth. ‘I didn’t take kindly to you being that irresistible. To knocking my damn socks off with that defiance and sexiness. I don’t think I take kindly to it now, to be fucking honest,’ he admitted raggedly. ‘I should stay away from you, focus on...straightening a few dented parts of my life. But instead here I am, being driven bloody insane by this...need,’ he continued, his gaze raking feverishly over me once more. ‘But the bottom line is if we were in the situation now like we were two years ago, I’d take the same stance with you and with Cahill. So my question to you is, what are we going to do about it?’
Pain and hurt warred with sharp questions.
Who? Why? When?
But Damian wanting me, perhaps even despite himself, surged power through me, heady and triumphant, temporarily shoving away the ache of his admission that he’d screw me over again. All he’d done really was show me that I couldn’t trust him with what was precious to me—my business. My legacy. The reminder that this was just sex settled, thankfully, deeper inside me.
I closed the gap between us. Head tilted, I looked into his face. Past the shadows cast by demons to the sizzling-hot arousal and undeniable need.
His and mine.
What his actions had cost me burned just as bright, perhaps even more considering there wasn’t any remorse on his part.
But he’d just handed me the two things I craved more than anything else in this world. The two things I needed to see my way clear of this cloud of lust and