Her fingers sought the button at the waist of his pants and she caressed his taut stomach with her knuckles as she pulled it free. Then his zip slid smoothly down to his crotch and exposed the bulging outline of his shaft.
His erection swelled against the silk of his boxers. She half expected him to take her there, pressed against the door. She wouldn’t have objected, she thought wildly. But he inhaled a tortuous breath and swung her up into his arms.
‘The bed, I think,’ he said thickly, and, stepping over his pants, he carried her into the room next door.
Between lowering her onto the bed and following her down he managed to dispose of his boxers. Then, straddling her yielding form, he cupped her face between his hands. ‘If you change your mind now, I’ll never forgive you,’ he muttered hoarsely, but Joanna’s fingers were already seeking the swollen stiffness of his shaft.
‘I need to be inside you. God, why did you make me wait so long?’ he choked, almost strangled by his emotions.
Just for a brief moment, as Matt’s tongue traced a sensuous path from her breasts to her navel and beyond, Joanna wondered if it was she who was crazy and not him. How would she feel about this in the morning? Would she remember it as the biggest mistake of her life? But when his fingers slipped between her legs again and entered her, she arched to meet them. Then shuddered as a wave of sexual pleasure sent her hurtling over the brink.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him, and he didn’t hesitate. With an urgency born of need, he moved between her thighs and buried his length inside her.
Their lovemaking was hot and passionate. Matt had forgotten how good it felt to be with her, to have her muscles tightening around him, her body tensing again, ready for what was to come. When he felt the spasms of excitement rippling through her, he pushed ever more deeply into her core.
Joanna’s head was spinning. She’d missed Matt’s lovemaking more than she could ever say. Their rhythms matched, so smooth, so natural. Her body arched to meet his thrusts, perfectly in tune with his demands.
When he moved faster, so did she. She felt as if her senses were on overload, spiralling out of control. The darkness of his passion surrounded her, the pulse of his excitement causing her to climax again and again. And when his release came, she clung to him, feeling him filling her with his seed.
* * *
Joanna opened her eyes to daylight.
It was still very early. Barely six o’clock according to her watch. But attuned as she was to British time, the fact that the sun was not yet up meant nothing. Miami was five hours behind London and in consequence she was instantly wide awake.
She blinked as her brain kicked in, recognising the suite at the hotel the manager had shown them into the night before. She and Matt, she remembered, with a sudden feeling of apprehension.
Dear God!
Propping herself up on her elbows, she turned her head, half expecting to find herself alone. Surely what she’d thought had happened had been just a dream; a sensual hallucination; brought about by overwrought senses and too many glasses of wine.
But she was not alone. There was a warm body beside hers in the bed. Matt’s body, she realised a little incredulously, as her breathing quickened in disbelief. He’d evidently fallen asleep, as she had. So what price now her earlier conviction that she’d imagined the whole thing?
Easing back against the pillows, not wanting to disturb him until she’d assessed the situation, she felt a headache probing at her temples. Evidently, she’d had too many glasses of wine and too little sustenance the night before. Why else, in the name of all that was holy, would she have allowed this to happen? After everything she’d said about her husband, how had she got herself into this mess?
The awareness of her own nakedness briefly diverted her. She hadn’t slept in the nude since the last time she and Matt had shared a bed. She certainly hadn’t expected to share one with him again. Not on this trip. Nor any other. What about her demands for a divorce?
The ache between her thighs was a reminder of what had actually occurred. They’d made love several times, she remembered, her skin prickling in response. They’d both seemed insatiable, she recalled, unable to deny it. She’d wanted him, quite desperately as it had turned out. So what did that say about her?
She might hate Matt for the way she believed he’d betrayed her father, but he’d now know it hadn’t entirely erased the feelings they’d once shared. If only she’d taken David’s advice and conducted this negotiation from a distance. Yet she couldn’t entirely blame Matt for her own weakness where he was concerned.
She lifted a hand to her breasts. They, too, were intensely sensitive, and she recalled how Matt had suckled from their swollen peaks. Then his mouth had burned a sensual path to her navel, before he’d buried his head so erotically between her thighs.
Involuntarily, her hand slid down to touch the damp curls between her legs. She was sensitive there, too. But it was just sex, she told herself fiercely. Sex that had driven her to behave the way she had. Nothing more.
Yet seeing Matt’s head on the pillow beside hers, she knew she couldn’t trust herself to behave any more sensibly this morning. Wanting someone was an addictive thing, and she was apparently unable to resist. She was intensely vulnerable, so she should make sure she wasn’t here when he woke up.
For a moment more, she studied his lean dark features, fighting the lingering desire to draw his hand between her legs. She couldn’t deny he was still immensely attractive to her, but she believed the love she’d once had for him had given way to a much more basic need.
It wouldn’t last, she assured herself. No relationship built on such foundations survived. The sooner she collected her belongings and got out of the hotel, the better.
What a blessing it was that she hadn’t unpacked the night before, she thought, as she slid cautiously out of bed. Although she’d left her jeans and tee shirt on the bed when she’d gone to dinner at the villa, she’d stuffed them back into her bag before leaving for the hotel.
A quick use of the facilities and she could be on her way, she thought. Though it was nerve-racking trying to get dressed without disturbing Matt. She had no idea what she’d say to him if he woke up. Or what he might say to her.
But he didn’t wake up. He was still sleeping soundly when she headed for the door. She hesitated for a moment in the doorway, wishing it didn’t have to end like this. Then, squaring her shoulders, she slipped the latch and headed for the lift.
JOANNA WAS EXHAUSTED by the time she let herself into her small apartment the following morning. The flight from New York had landed soon after six-thirty. And, although she’d been hoping to get a few hours’ sleep on the flight, a crying baby and the man beside her snoring for most of the journey had put paid to that.
She’d flown home via New York because the flight from Miami to London hadn’t been due to leave until the evening and the last thing she’d wanted to do was hang around Miami airport, looking as though she was waiting for Matt to come and find her.
There’d been a flight to New York almost immediately, and she’d been lucky enough to snag a seat in business class. She’d excused the extravagance on the grounds that it was an emergency. Some things were worth the price you had to pay.
She wasn’t looking forward to seeing David again. Naturally she wouldn’t tell him she’d slept with Matt. But she was very much afraid he would suspect what had been going on. And in her present fragile state, she might well reveal more than she intended.
He was bound to say ‘I told you so’ if she