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‘You said you and Brandon have similar business interests,’ she continued, because he still hadn’t said anything. ‘There’s not more to it than that, is there?’
He let out a rough laugh, but the sound was forced. And his gaze was still probing. He shifted, and sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, the sheet pooling in his lap.
‘Are you finished with the sketch?’ he asked, not answering her question.Again.
Her fingers jerked on the charcoal. She stared down at the work she’d done. The line drawing was finished—ready for her to figure out what she wanted to do with it next. But she took a moment to gather herself and wait for her heartbeat to slow down. The sudden fear she might have ruined everything gripped her, and she found herself searching for a way to step back over that line. To return them both to where they had been before she’d somehow wandered into no-man’s-land.
When she looked back at him again, he was still watching her. But the spark of arousal had darkened his gaze. The visceral tug of longing—which never seemed to be far away—bloomed in her abdomen.
‘Yes, I guess so,’ she managed.
‘Good.’ He beckoned her with one finger, the seductive intent in his eyes turning the deep green to a sparkling emerald. ‘Time for you to get naked, too, then.’
The request was edged with demand. She could have refused him. But she found she didn’t want to. Sex was simple, and distracting. And it didn’t require an emotional commitment from either one of them.
But as she placed her sketchbook on the dresser, then stripped in front of him and watched his gaze darken, the lust eddying through her didn’t feel quite so fun and flighty and simple any more. It felt edgy and deep and compelling, and more than a little out of control.
Once she discarded the last of her clothing, he rose from the bed, throwing off the sheet to reveal the thick erection. Her throat went dry, her bones liquid, the heat at her core all but unbearable.
Placing his hands on her hips, he kissed her, his mouth ravaging hers, his need suddenly so intense she felt branded. Where was this coming from? And why couldn’t she seem to stop herself from thrusting her fingers into his hair and dragging him closer still to take more?
As they finally came up for air, her breath squeezed in her lungs, the furious hunger on his face echoing in her soul.
He turned her away from him. Then pressed a hand to her back, to bend her over the dresser. ‘Why can’t I stop wanting you, Milly?’ he murmured, his voice thick with lust, the question one she couldn’t answer, because she felt it too. This incessant desire, which seemed to have imprisoned them both.
She quivered, placing her palms on the dresser, then bucked against his touch as he dragged a finger through her folds, testing her, spreading her.
‘Tell me you want me,’ he said. Or rather demanded.
‘You know I do,’ she replied.
He entered her with one powerful thrust, impaling her to the hilt and caressing the spot deep inside only he had ever found.
She sobbed, the pleasure immense, the emotion she didn’t want to acknowledge all but choking her as he began to move, in a fast, furious rhythm that he knew would force her swiftly to peak.
She shattered, but the pleasure built again instantly as he continued to plunge into her, the brutal waves thrusting her back into the storm. He gripped her hips, his grunts of fulfilment joining her cries as the tempest battered them both. But when she peaked again, and crashed over, she didn’t just feel different any more, she felt fundamentally changed, in a way she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to un-change.
And he was the cause.
She had glimpsed the ruthlessly guarded man who lurked behind Roman Garner’s billionaire playboy exterior and she felt connected to him. Connected enough to want to know more about that man. To be fascinated by his secrets. Even though she already suspected he would never reveal them to anyone, including her.
‘Hey, can I see the sketch?’ Roman asked, dragging the sweaty hair back from Milly’s brow as they lay sprawled on the bed.
She glanced up at him, and sent him an easy smile, but he could see the wariness in her eyes. And felt the tension he’d caused snapping in the air.
He’d messed up, nearly blurting out the truth about him and Brandon Cade, after she’d asked an innocent question. Why had he told her so much? He needed to be careful now, or this fling would get more complicated... And it already felt complicated enough. Because in the last week, things hadn’t gone according to plan. This was never meant to be more than a casual hook-up, diverting and fun for them both...
But he had started to enjoy her company, too much. And not just in bed.
Showing Milly Devlin her passion and then exploiting it had been intoxicating. But more than that, her smile, her laugh, her challenging provocative nature and her passion for her work had begun to captivate him, too... So much so, he’d almost told her something virtually no one else knew. Only his mother and his father, and they were both long dead. And Brandon Cade.
Eventually, she’d find out his business rivalry with her brother-in-law was acrimonious, and he was okay with that. But where the hell had that irrational reaction come from when she’d mentioned his half-brother’s name? The man was married to her sister, and this was the first time in nearly a week Cade’s name had even been mentioned. But even so, the fierce sense of something that had felt a lot like jealousy had made him want to brand her as his. In the only way he knew how.
And as a result, he’d let her see a part of himself—a desperate, wild, possessive part of himself—he’d never shown to any other woman. Never even felt for any other woman, which could not be good.
‘Yes, of course, you can see the sketch,’ she said. But as she lifted herself off him, to get the pad she’d left on the other side of the room, uneasiness engulfed him and he grasped her wrist.
‘Hey, I’m sorry,’ he said, watching her like a hawk. He hadn’t intended for things to get heavy, had promised her from the outset that neither one of them would get over-invested. So why did it feel as if he’d slipped into something deeper than he had intended with her? That this wasn’t just about sex any more?
