‘You still taste of passion, Charlotte,’ he said, his voice a low guttural growl as his hand reached for her bra-less breast. ‘I can feel it beating beneath your skin.’
His hand took the weight of her breast while his thumb commandeered her already pert nipple, his touch hovering somewhere between pleasure and pain.
There was a hint of cruelty to his mouth as his head came towards hers, but she did nothing to try and escape it.
Just one kiss, she gave herself mental permission.
Just one kiss…
His lips were like fire on hers, his tongue an invading force as it ensnared hers in a duelling dance that sent her senses into overdrive. Her mouth clung to his, her free hand coming up to his head to bury her fingers in the black silk of his hair, her breasts pressed tight against his chest, her tongue flicking against his unashamedly and with escalating urgency.
He pressed her back into the leather seat, his mouth leaving hers to suckle on the breast he’d already freed with his hand.
Charlotte arched her back as his tongue curled around her nipple, the warm cave of his mouth pulling on her until everything went out of focus. She clamped her eyes shut and whimpered with pleasure as his mouth drew on her more fervently. She felt his erection swelling beneath her hand and, with a brazenness she had no idea she still possessed, she began stroking, up and down, until she had the satisfaction of hearing him groan his need out loud.
His mouth came back to hers, this time with a heat and fire that was devastating. It woke every sizzling memory in her brain of their passionate time together under the burning heat of the Santorini summer sun. Her head burst with the memory of swallowing him for the first time, relieving him of the unbearable pressure that even now she could feel building beneath the ministrations of her hand.
Damon tore his mouth off hers to stare down at her with glittering eyes. ‘So it is as I suspected from the moment I saw you again. There is a fire still burning in your belly for me, as there is one in mine for you. It has never quite gone out, eh, Charlotte?’
She reared back in shock. ‘No! That’s not true.’
He caught her hand and brought it up to his mouth, his lips playing with each of her fingertips until he paused to ask, ‘But the thing I would like to know is, what price have you put on yourself now?’
Charlotte looked at him, her heart kicking like an unbroken thoroughbred in her chest. ‘P-price?’
His smile contained a hint of ruthlessness and his fingers tightened on hers. ‘You have surely moved beyond the pickpocket stage, have you not? You are after a much bigger haul this time around.’
‘You’re wrong,’ she said, lifting her chin in pride as she tugged out of his grasp. ‘I’ve never stolen anything from you or your mother. I was framed. I’m sure of it. Someone wanted me to be found guilty but it doesn’t mean I was.’
‘So you are still lying,’ he said, his dark eyes flickering with anger. ‘I would have thought you would have rid yourself of the habit by now.’
‘I’m not lying!’
‘I know what you are like, Charlotte. You are an expert at deceit. Four long years have passed and you are still the most convincing liar I have ever met. You do innocence so well I am sure you would confuse even a polygraph machine. But I am not a fool. I can see exactly what you are up to.’
Charlotte felt sick with apprehension. Her head swam with it, great swirls of it moving around so erratically she wondered if she might faint. She pinched the bridge of her nose to keep control, her whole body shaking beside the rigidity of his as the limousine drew to a halt outside one of Sydney’s premier hotels.
‘Get out,’ he commanded as the doorman opened the door for her.
She got out on wobbly legs and came to where Damon was waiting for her, his hand reaching for hers, the latent strength of his fingers as they enclosed hers leaving her with no chance of escape even if she’d had the courage or lack of sense to try.
The lift began to sweep them up to the penthouse floor but still Charlotte couldn’t unlock her frozen throat. It was filled with the dry ice of dread as the number for each floor was illuminated by a bright green light. They should be flashing red, she thought as she swallowed convulsively again.
Red for danger…
ONCE the lift doors opened with a whisper, Damon pulled Charlotte along with him to his penthouse, swiping his card key and thrusting the door open so she could precede him into the plush suite.
She watched as he lifted his hand to his throat and released his tie, the action so very masculine she felt her stomach tilt sideways in spite of all that had happened this evening.
‘What are you after this time around, I wonder?’ he asked, shrugging himself out of his jacket and tossing it on to one of the luxurious sofas.
Her face flamed with a combination of fury and embarrassment. ‘I don’t want anything and certainly not from you.’
He gave a mocking laugh. ‘Every woman is for sale,’ he said with arrogant confidence. ‘The trick for men is to get the currency right the first time around. You were after a billionaire husband four years ago and you very nearly pulled it off.’
His leather belt coiled like a serpent on the carpet and fear crept with frosty footsteps up the back of Charlotte’s neck.
‘But this time around I must say you have me a little intrigued as to your motives,’ he went on musingly. ‘You suggested we have a drink together but then you pretended you did not want to follow through. Then you could not stop yourself from touching and kissing me, and yet you deny any lingering attraction. You are playing cat and mouse games with me, are you not?’
‘No, of course not!’
‘You wanted to remind me of what I threw away, eh, Charlotte?’ He lifted her chin so she had no choice but to meet his all-seeing gaze, his thumb stroking so close to her mouth she could feel her lips starting to tingle. ‘Are you offering a re-run, I wonder?’
‘No…’ The word came out too softly to be believed but Charlotte knew that, no matter what passion still flared between them, she couldn’t possibly sleep with him without revealing her emergency Caesarian scar. He had accused her of lying about her pregnancy to get out of trouble. What would he say when he found out she hadn’t been lying at all?
If he were to find out she’d had his child, she knew she would be forced to say goodbye to her daughter for ever. She knew it without a doubt. With her sister’s problems on top of what Damon had already accused her of four years ago, Charlotte’s press for full custody would be laughed out of court for sure. Besides, good legal representation would cost her dearly and she had enough money worries already without adding to them.
She had to get Stacey into that clinic. It was her only chance to get out of the clutch of her addiction.
‘You are looking pale,’ Damon observed, dropping his hand. ‘Have I shocked you, Charlotte? Did you not think I would still want you after all this time?’
She moistened her mouth. ‘Y-yes…I am a little shocked…’
His eyes glinted. ‘To tell you the truth, agape mou, so am I. I did not expect to feel anything but hatred when I saw you tonight but the sudden rush of desire I felt and still feel for you is like a fever raging in my blood. I will have you again. That is what your little heat and retreat routine tonight was all about, was it not? To make me revisit what we started four years ago.’
She sent him a look of defiance overlaid with scorn. ‘Only a barbarian would want to satisfy a desire for someone