Russell’s abruptly dropping his boxer shorts had Nicole swallowing hard. Oh! Now he very definitely left David in the shade.
Thinking about David, however, brought a jab of panic which found voice when Russell joined her on the bed.
‘I … I should warn you about something,’ she blurted out.
His face immediately darkened. ‘There’s nothing you can tell me that I want to hear. Not right now, anyway.’
Russell took a few moments to don protection, after which he rolled back and kissed her. Then kissed her some more.
A big mistake.
But he could not seem to stop, especially when she wound her arms tightly around him, one of her hands finding the back of his head and pressing his mouth down on hers even harder. The sounds she made deep in her throat were as exciting as they were distracting, heating his blood and turning his head to mush. Desire dictated his actions as his hand slipped down between her legs, her gasps of pleasure bringing him dangerously close to the edge. There was nothing cold-blooded in his actions when he spread her by then trembling thighs and surged into her. Revenge was far from his mind as her hot flesh closed tightly around him, his mouth bursting from hers with a raw groan, his heart going like a jack-hammer in his chest.
Her eyes met his, wide with excitement and something else.
Wonder shone up at him; a wonder that was as surprising as it was achingly sweet.
She looked as if she’d never felt anything like what she was feeling at this moment.
A minute or two ago, Russell would have experienced triumph.
Now he just wanted to keep that wondrous look on her face.
It was a struggle to control his own desperately swollen flesh, but he managed, wrapping her legs around his waist before rocking back and forth inside her with a gentle rhythm, finding immense satisfaction, not by indulging in vengeful thoughts, but in seeing the extent of her pleasure. She didn’t have to say a word, her body speaking for her, her mouth dropping open, her face flushing wildly, her head twisting from side to side.
When her eyes closed tightly shut on a strangled cry and her internal muscles stiffened around him, Russell realised he could let himself go. Immediately he scooped his hands under her buttocks and lifted her up hard against him, his heart thundering in his chest as he surged more powerfully into her.
Her eyes flew back open as she climaxed, her gasping sounds still full of that highly seductive wonder, as though this was a first-off experience for her. Russell empathised with how she felt when he found release and it was much more intense than he could ever remember. Consumed with the sudden need to hold her closer, he lifted her up off the bed and pressed her body to his. When her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her head dropped to his chest with a shaky sigh, he could have stayed like that forever.
But, as his excitement faded, Russell came back to earth with a thud. This was Nicole Power he was getting all sentimental over, the rich-bitch daughter of Alistair Power, the man he’d vowed to destroy. She wasn’t some innocent little flower having her first sexual experience. She was a well-known party girl who’d probably had more lovers than designer dresses. The odds of sleeping with him being a super-special, uniquely pleasurable experience were remote. He was good in bed, but he wasn’t that good.
More likely she’d decided to act the ingénue with him tonight, thinking that might appeal to his possibly jaded sexual appetite. Hadn’t he concluded earlier tonight that she might be on the look-out for a rich husband?
For pity’s sake, get real, Russell, my boy, he warned himself. You didn’t bring your enemy’s daughter here to lose your head over her much practised charms.
It was fortuitous that she chose that moment to lift those gorgeous green eyes of hers, her expression unbelievably bewildered.
‘That was amazing,’ she said with soft awe in her voice. ‘Truly amazing.’
Yeah, right, he thought cynically. And I’m the king of England.
Russell almost laughed. Still, it had been a close call there for a while. There’d been a point when he’d almost surrendered to her spell, when all thought of revenge had been banished from his mind.
That was what was truly amazing.
He’d have to watch himself with her. She was different from any female he’d ever been with before. She made him feel things.
Russell came to a swift decision. One night of vengeful sex would have to do, his earlier fantasy of wooing his enemy’s daughter—with a view to marriage—simply too great a risk. Come morning, he would take Nicole Power back to her friend’s place and never see her again.
Meanwhile, however, he aimed to see just how far she was prepared to go to catch herself a wealthy husband.
But, first, a trip to the bathroom was called for.
‘Be back in a sec, sweetheart,’ he said before pulling away abruptly and heading for the en suite bathroom.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT TOOK a few seconds for the penny to drop. Nicole might have thought what had just happened was truly amazing. But Russell didn’t agree, if the look on his face and the speed of his departure were anything to go by.
In hindsight, Nicole could see that she’d acted more like a virgin bride than the woman of the world Russell must have thought he was taking to bed. Not only had she run true to form by letting the man do everything again, but she’d also gone all gooey afterwards.
The thought that Russell might be in that bathroom, wondering why he’d wanted her so much, brought a groan of dismay. It was patently obvious, now that her brain was re-engaged, that sex with her hadn’t lived up to his expectations.
Nicole groaned a second time. Why hadn’t she insisted he take her in the car?
She’d wanted him to.
Nicole vowed then and there that when Russell emerged from that bathroom, she would be a lot more adventurous and assertive. She would not wait to be touched or kissed. She’d do the touching and kissing first.
She was lying there, working up the courage to put her thoughts into action, when a flash of lightning lit up the huge balcony outside the master bedroom. Almost immediately, there was the most deafening crack of thunder and Nicole felt the bed under her actually shake.
And then all the lights went out.
Nicole didn’t scream, which was an achievement of the highest order.
But she was clutching the sheet up around her throat when she heard the bathroom door open.
‘You all right?’ Russell called out to her through the darkness.
‘Yes,’ she managed to answer without sounding too much like a frightened rabbit.
‘I’ll see if it’s just us that’s blacked out,’ he continued matter-of-factly, ‘or the whole neighbourhood.’
More flashes of lightning gave Nicole a good view of Russell as he crossed the room, heading for the French windows which opened onto the balcony. He was still naked, she noted, with the sexiest butt she’d ever seen.
Nicole found herself hoping that all of Sydney was blacked out. Then Russell wouldn’t be able to do anything but come back to bed.
‘Bloody hell,’ he swore after he’d opened one of the windows, then swiftly pulled it shut again. ‘It’s frigging freezing out there.’
‘Come back to bed, then,’ she heard herself suggesting with some of that boldness which she’d vowed to embrace. ‘I’ll warm you up in no time.’ Goodness! Had that sounded too slutty?
‘I’m