When she felt him pull down her bra strap and then her bra to expose her breast, her breath stopped. Tiarnan cupped the voluptuous mound with one hand, his thumb passing back and forth over the hard aching tip. Kate bit her lip and looked down. She was breathing fast, one hand behind her, trying to balance, clenched into the table as if that could stop her tipping over the edge of this sensation. Between her legs she burned, and she could feel herself fighting the urge to push into Tiarnan’s body.
‘So beautiful …’ he breathed, looking down at her cupped breast with its pouting dusky peak.
Before Kate could gather her fractured thoughts and steady her breathing he lowered his head and his mouth closed over her nipple. She let out a long moan somewhere between torture and heaven as he drew it into the hot cavern of his mouth and suckled.
This felt so right—as if they had been transported back in time and this was a natural progression of that kiss. And yet … it shouldn’t be. Not after ten years. How could ten years of other experiences be obliterated so easily? Wiped out as if they hadn’t even existed?
It was that tiny sliver of rationality seeping into her head that woke Kate from her sensual trance. She became aware of the fact that she was practically supine on the kitchen table, and when she felt Tiarnan’s hand search for and find the button on her jeans, about to flick it open, she struggled upwards, battling a fierce desire to just give in.
‘No … no, Tiarnan. Stop.’ Her hands were on his arms, pushing him back.
After a long moment he stood up, chest heaving, cheeks flushed, eyes glittering. Kate knew she wasn’t much more composed. She dropped her hands. Her voice felt raw.
‘We can’t do this. Rosie might wake and find us … or Esmerelda.’
He looked at her for a long moment and finally took a step back, raking a hand through his short hair. He emanated veritable waves of danger, his face stark with a raw masculine beauty that nearly made Kate throw herself back into his arms. But she didn’t.
She stood from the table on shaky legs and pulled her bra up, her shirt together, turning her back to him for a moment. She felt dizzy.
His voice cut through her dizziness. ‘A few moments more and here would have done fine … But you’re right. This isn’t the time or the place.’
She rejected the almost violent need that beat through her body. She knew he was right; a few more moments and here would have been fine. Anywhere would have been fine. The rug in front of the fire. Any feeling of exhilaration that their desire had been mutual was lost in the humiliation that burned her again. Her voice was fierce.
‘There won’t be a time or place, Tiarnan.’
Kate felt a hard hand on her arm and she was pulled around to face him. His face was glowering down at her, taut with a frustrated need that had to be reflected on hers too.
‘How can you deny what just happened here?’
Tiarnan saw Kate’s eyes widen and he let her go. The force of need running through him was so strong he was actually afraid he couldn’t contain it. She’d felt like nothing he could describe or articulate in his arms. Soft and fragrant and pliant … and so passionate. But he was shocked to come to his senses and acknowledge that if she hadn’t stopped him he would be taking her right now on the kitchen table, overhead lights blazing down, like some overgrown teenager who couldn’t wait.
Where was his sophistication? His cool logical approach to such matters? She’d had to remind him about Rosie. She stood, holding her shirt together, hair tousled over her shoulders, her cheeks flushed, lips red and engorged with blood. His hormones were already raging back to life. He had to get a grip.
Kate struggled to close her shirt. She felt as though she’d just been through some kind of seismic earth shift. She watched as Tiarnan’s face closed down. He bent to pick up his shirt, muscles rippling across his back, and when he put it on her eye was drawn to the rip and the dark stain of blood. Her belly clenched. She couldn’t answer his words. Couldn’t deny what had happened.
She looked down, struggling with her bottom button, feeling tears threaten. God. How could she have been so unutterably weak?
‘Kate.’
She composed herself and finally closed the button before looking up. She hoped her face was blank, her eyes giving nothing away. She couldn’t count on her years of training around Tiarnan any more. Her control was shot to pieces.
His shirt was back on, haphazardly done up, making Kate’s heart turn over and making her want to do it up properly for him. She clenched her hands by her sides, fought the urge to tidy her hair, which was all over the place.
His eyes snared hers. She couldn’t look away. Her mind blanked.
‘I never meant to leap on you the minute I walked in the door … but you can see what happens between us …’
‘I—’
His face tightened. ‘Don’t deny it, Kate. At least don’t do that.’
Kate shut her mouth. She hadn’t been sure what she was going to say, but he was right. She’d been about to try and make some excuse for what had happened.
Tiarnan turned away and paced for a moment, before coming back to stand right in front of her. He looked grim. ‘I was going to ask you tomorrow, but it seems as if now is as good a time as any.’
‘Ask me what …?’ Kate said nervously.
‘Rosie’s school is giving them some holidays from the day after tomorrow while they do some unavoidable renovation work. We’re going to our house in Martinique. I’d like you to come with us.’
Kate could feel herself pale. She took a step back and started shaking her head, her heart beating fast.
Tiarnan watched her. ‘You know why I’m asking you, Kate. You know what will happen if you say yes. But know this—if you say no, if you insist on returning to New York tomorrow, it won’t change anything … I’m not letting you go. Not when we have unfinished business between us. Not when we have this.’
He reached out a hand and cupped her cheek. Immediate heat suffused her whole body and electricity made the air between them crackle. He was determined. Nevertheless, she had to hang onto some control. She pulled down his hand and stepped back.
‘I need to leave here by eleven to catch my flight. I’d appreciate it if you could call a cab for me in the morning.’
Kate saw Tiarnan’s jaw clench, but he just said, ‘You won’t need a cab. I’ll take you if you want to go. If you want to go.’
‘I will—’
Tiarnan cut her off, changed tack, and surprised himself when he said, ‘When I went in to check on Rosie earlier she looked more peaceful than she’s done in weeks.’
Kate shook her head, her heart constricting. ‘Tiarnan, don’t do this.’
Surprise at that admission, and at the way Kate was reacting, made him sound harsh. ‘Look, you did me a huge favour minding Rosie. You’ve got time off, and you probably haven’t had a holiday in months …’
Years, she said in her head, and right now it felt as if she’d been running from something for years. That sense of peace that had been stealing over her these last couple of days was elusively seductive, but there was no way she would relax around this man.
‘I would like you to come on holiday with us. I spoke to Rosie on the phone about it earlier, and she said she’d love to have you come. I asked her not to say anything until I’d spoken to you … Just sleep on it, OK? And let me know in the morning.’
His tone brooked no argument. Pure arrogance. Kate felt tense.