‘Alex—’
His mouth stole her words, his kiss searing as he stretched her, working his way in to the hilt. She whimpered, her nails raking his flanks and her calves pressed to his glorious backside, encouraging him all the way in.
Pulling back from the kiss, he removed her hands from his back, one by one, and his fingers slotted between hers as he pressed their joined hands into the mattress beside her head. Staring down at her, he began to move. Slowly at first, letting her body grow accustomed to him. But then he clenched his jaw and picked up the pace.
Libby closed her eyes—and then slammed them open again, unwilling to miss one second of seeing him stretched above her, his face contorted with pleasure and beads of sweat gathering at his hairline. This time he’d come. She’d make him come.
With every pummelling stroke he shunted her on the bed, the edge of the mattress providing a landing place for the force of his thrusts.
‘Libby…’ His eyes widened, nostrils flaring.
‘What do you want?’ she asked.
She saw the battle in him, and knew she’d give him anything in that moment. Just for the thrill of witnessing his loss of control. The knowledge that she took him there.
He released her hands. ‘Touch your nipples.’
Another command. But she complied, too delirious to care about power play. Her fingers plucked at her breasts, twisting and rolling. Alex watched, his jaw hardening, and a strangled groan rumbled up from his chest.
His hips jerked in a relentless pounding that pushed her closer and closer. When he reached one hand down between them, pressed his thumb down on her clit, she exploded, every muscle in her body rigid as her internal muscles clung to his pistoning cock.
Alex roared, his head thrown back, neck taut, his hips slamming home one last time.
‘Fuck… Libby…’
He ground against her as his breathing slowed, forcing the last ripples of pleasure from her core.
After long, delirious seconds, he dropped a chaste kiss on her mouth.
Reality surged.
Libby winced as he gripped the base of the condom and withdrew, the slide of him over sensitised tissue bordering on pain. Allowing herself one last indulgence, she watched him saunter to the en-suite bathroom, his gait a little unsteady.
Despite the tremors and aftershocks jarring her body, Libby flew from the bed, donning her skirt and blouse and stuffing her damp underwear into her bag. She’d never undone her hair, but it had suffered nonetheless. Tucking the wayward strands back into their braid as best she could, she slipped on her jacket just as a still gloriously naked Alex re-entered the room.
He stalled. ‘You’re leaving?’ His sexy, just-fucked features hardened.
‘Yes.’ Shoulders back, as if she was convincing herself.
He raked at his dishevelled hair. ‘And if I wanted you to stay?’
She swallowed, lifting her chin.
She couldn’t stay. She’d wanted a fuck. She’d got what she wanted. It had to be enough.
He understood. His jaw bunched and he looked away with a small nod.
Without another word he tugged on his discarded clothes. The atmosphere in the room that still smelled of the intimacies they’d shared chilled Libby to the bone.
Alex grabbed his keys from the dresser, turning to lance her with his black stare. ‘Will you at least stay in my hotel?’
He shoved his free hand in his front pocket.
Her face burned as if craving the slide of his warm palm. She missed the warmth in his amber eyes. Missed his smile.
Libby nodded. She couldn’t expect him to fly her back to London—not if they had to return here in the morning to put their lives at the mercy of a wicker basket and a giant nylon balloon.
‘I’ll drive you over.’
‘I can live with that.’
ALEX RAPPED ON the door of one of the hotel’s standard rooms, biting back his frustration. He’d instructed the duty manager to give Olivia the best suite—an elegant penthouse with spectacular rural views of Oxfordshire’s rolling countryside—but clearly she’d undermined him.
He’d never met such a stubborn, independent woman. The women in his past had been happy to accept his wealth, take his gifts and his generosity, share his affluent lifestyle.
The door opened and his annoyance evaporated. The sight of her sucker-punched him in his gut. She’d pulled her hair into a high ponytail—he’d yet to see her long hair down, wild around her face—and she wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. He’d had her belongings delivered to the hotel from London last night, after she’d begrudgingly accepted his offer of accommodation.
Hadn’t that been a kick in the balls? He’d wanted her in his bed. He’d fantasised about releasing her hair from its strict braid, waking to find the glossy mass splayed over his pillow or, better, his chest. He’d hoped to spend the night, or this morning, or both, between her shapely thighs, dragging reckless abandon from her with every orgasm. But she’d denied him again, drawing him back to the bargain they’d struck.
It was still dark outside. In the dim glow of her darkened room behind her, he saw her laptop open on the bed. Had she been working? Speaking to someone in America? Booking a flight home?
‘Ready to go?’
He clenched his jaw, teeth creaking. He knew nothing personal about her outside of the fact that she was a vegetarian and hated helicopters. Nothing he hadn’t gleaned from her company website and her business profile.
Time to change that.
She nodded, her hair swaying. His palms itched to wind that hair round his hand and draw her close for a good morning kiss. The one he’d have given her if she’d awoken in his bed this morning. The one she’d cheated him out of.
He forced his hands to relax.
She glanced down at his side. He held out the puffer jacket embroidered with the Able-Active logo.
‘A gift. It gets pretty cold up there.’ He pointed skywards.
She blinked, face stony and a little pale, eyeing the jacket as if it was stuffed with snakes, not duck down.
‘Thank you. But gifts aren’t necessary.’
So prim this morning. Unlike last night, when she’d twisted his hair so hard she’d almost scalped him.
‘No?’ Fuck, it wasn’t as if he’d handed her diamonds, or even flowers. ‘But here it is anyway.’
It was just a jacket. He doubted she’d packed any serious outdoor gear for a business trip.
‘Is there a problem outside of the gift?’
Perhaps she was as cranky at waking alone as he was. Perhaps, like him, she’d woken fully aroused and feeling around the empty bed, the rush of erotic memories making her groan into her pillow. Perhaps he should abandon the hot air balloon trip, suggest they relocate to the palatial suite he’d reserved for her upstairs and christen every surface until he’d made her come so many times she wouldn’t be able to help the smile on her face.
She shrugged her bag onto her shoulder and closed the door behind her, reaching