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Vivi wasn’t just warm and comfortable, she was lax and hot. She breathed in deep, the scent filling her lungs. Salt air, strong man. She opened her eyes and gasped. He wasn’t just with her, he was beneath her—encircling her. His arms were around her, his chest below her cheek.
She looked up at him, trying to read his beautiful eyes. They were dark, but lit by that fire. The sharp planes of his jaw roughened by short stubble. She wanted to stroke it with her fingertips to feel it; she wanted to touch her lips to his.
There was nothing she wanted more than his kiss.
‘Something you want?’ His voice was so low, she felt it more than heard it.
She said nothing. He knew already.
‘Victoria?’
She lived in London. He lived in Italy. She didn’t want a relationship. Nor did he. This time she was certain of where this would go, when it would end. With such firm parameters, she’d be okay, right? This would bring closure. She’d expunge the remnants of that lust, reveal it really wasn’t that good, and she could prove she had control of her emotions. Able to enjoy a moment.
It could only be a moment.
‘Something you want?’ he repeated.
‘Kiss me,’ she breathed.
‘Nico?’ Alannah’s piercing voice shattered the moment just as she lifted her chin to press her lips to his.
‘I’m just finding Vivi.’ Nico’s voice sounded way too near.
Vivi turned her head so quick she almost got whiplash. Nico was a few feet away, his camera in his hands. ‘Gia needs you,’ he said.
‘Of course,’ Vivi said.
But she couldn’t move—Liam’s arms were too tight around her. She looked back at him as she heard Nico walk away. Liam’s expression hadn’t changed—still trained on her. Still hot. Still determined. And she liked it.
It seemed some things didn’t change.
FIVE
Gia, the models, Nico left.
Liam didn’t.
Vivi was usually the last away from a shoot, the one to ensure all had been done. She was aware of him silently working beside her. Carrying things to the truck for the stylists. Until they too left.
‘You need to get back to your hotel.’ He finally broke the silence between them. ‘I’ll give you a lift.’
‘Thank you.’
He didn’t speak on the drive. Nor did she. At the hotel she got out of the car, hyper aware that he did too—that he tossed the keys to the valet, that he was right by her side as she walked through the reception and to the elevator. That he took the key card to her room from her and opened the door.
‘I owe you a kiss,’ he said, standing just back from the doorway.
Stepping through the doorway, she turned her head to look him in the eye. ‘Then you’d better come in.’
To her amazement a tinge of colour slashed his cheekbones.
She walked on, suddenly smiling. Suddenly sure. She wouldn’t say no tonight, didn’t want to. Denying what she so badly wanted wasn’t going to protect her. Walking away in the morning wouldn’t hurt as it had before. Last time there’d been shattered dreams—she’d grown up quickly, painfully. This was merely fun, right? The kind of fling she knew she could handle. She turned in the centre of the room—a half-metre from the bed—and faced him.
He kept walking until he was right in front of her. She lifted her chin and waited. Slowly, too slowly, he pressed his lips to hers. The touch was too careful, too light—but her body went incandescent anyway.
‘Anything else you’d like from me?’ he breathed.
She gazed into his fire-lit eyes and down his beautiful body. ‘One night.’
‘Doing what?’
‘Everything.’
This time the kiss wasn’t light—but it was still full of care. Steeped in passion. She clung to him—he to her. Hands clutched, caressed, swept—pulling bodies closer, stroking. Needing.
‘You mind taking off your clothes?’ He tore his lips from her neck and gasped. ‘I’m likely to rip them if I try to do it.’
She sent him an amused glance.
‘It’s not funny. I’m serious.’
‘Oh, in that case.’ She stepped back and slowly undid each button of her white blouse.
‘A bra today,’ he mused, his eyes twinkling. ‘I wondered.’
‘You didn’t wonder. You already knew. You’ve been staring at my chest most of the day,’ she said tartly, letting her shirt fall to the floor.
‘It’s not because of your breasts that I’m here.’
‘No?’
He shook his head. ‘It’s your legs.’
She chuckled.
‘You mind taking the skirt off?’
She complied. Quickly as she watched the fire in his eyes burn brighter.
‘Actually,’ he amended, ‘it’s everything about you.’ He backed her up against the bed. ‘Always was.’
He kissed her. Vivi leaned into him, curling her arms around his neck and giving into it. All was unleashed. She’d always been so carried away in her passion for him. Stunned by the sensations he’d made her feel. How could it be like this again? How so quickly?
‘It’s been a while.’ She pushed him away for a second so she could breathe. Regroup. Focus. Narrow-eyed, she frowned at him. ‘Why
aren’t you naked?’
His laugh had a desperate edge. He rubbed his fingertips over his forehead. ‘It’s been a while for me too. I need to keep myself in check somehow.’
‘No constant stream of girlfriends?’
He hesitated. ‘Not constant. None constant. Long term not my thing. Never will be.’
She didn’t doubt it. She knew he was reminding her of that line in the sand. And she had to accept it. There was no changing him. And she didn’t want to, right? She only wanted this one night too. Now she understood he’d been emotionally alone for a long time—and he only wanted fun. Well, so did she.
‘What do you want me to do?’ he quietly asked.
She picked up on the subtle meaning—he was giving her the chance to change her mind. She didn’t want to think about the past any more. Or the future. Instead she focused on the present. On the present that he was to her. ‘I want you naked. Take your tee shirt off.’
He removed it immediately. Suddenly she felt confident. A confidence she’d never had all those years ago. Back then she’d just been overwhelmed. This time it was going to be different. Maybe he was right. This time she’d take all she needed from him. Do everything she wanted to. After all, it was only sex.
She reached for his shorts, deftly undid them and shoved them—together with his boxers—down to his knees.
‘And now?’ He stood there, all bared magnificence.
‘Touch me.’
He stepped out of the clothes and reached for her. And as he caressed her she caressed him. Running fingers over the body she’d once known so briefly, but so well. Still knew. Still admired...adored. She glanced back to his face, touched light fingertips to the smile that always melted her. He stepped closer, feathering kisses down her neck, to her breasts, his hands leading the way—tender, savouring, tormenting, until she was hot, restless, breathless.
‘Liam?’
‘Anything.’
She whispered, her confidence growing still. And he answered in action—quick, devastating action.
‘We need to...’ He broke away for a moment and found his shorts, swiftly fitting the protection. Then his hands returned to her—sought out her sensitive parts. He listened, but too soon she couldn’t speak. It didn’t matter. He seemed to remember her as if it were yesterday. What she liked. What she really liked. What she discovered that she now adored.
