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His fingers tightened momentarily around hers as if her words had annoyed him. ‘Being married to anyone wasn’t in my immediate plans for my life, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.’
‘It’s only temporary.’ She hated that her tone sounded a little piqued, but she just couldn’t help it.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It’s only temporary.’
‘And I bet you can’t wait for it to be over,’ she said, still unable to remove the edge of resentment in her voice.
‘Actually,’ he said with a satirical glint in his dark eyes as he swung his gaze back down to hers, ‘if what happened back down there by the river is any indication of what our marriage is going to be like, I can’t wait for it to start.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
HAYLEY KNEW HER cheeks were blazing, but there was little she could do to control it. ‘It won’t happen again,’ she said stiffly.
‘Pity.’
‘You said we weren’t going to have a real marriage. A hands off arrangement, wasn’t that what you said?’ she asked, her heart beginning to race as Jasper’s dark gaze meshed with hers.
‘We could have a rethink on that. I like the feel of your hands.’
She turned away from his tempting gaze. ‘I don’t want to sleep with you.’
‘You have a very unique way of communicating that,’ he quipped.
She tried to pull her hand from his but he wouldn’t allow it. ‘You promised you’d be celibate for the duration of our marriage,’ she said.
‘I took that to mean I wasn’t to sleep with other women,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t mean I can’t sleep with you if that’s what you want.’
‘Well, I don’t want it.’ Liar! a little voice sounded in her head.
She began to walk on but he swung her around to face him, tipping up her chin with a very strong finger. ‘You’ve wanted me since you were sixteen years old, sugar, but back then I was too much of a gentleman to take what was on offer. You were half tanked and would have regretted it the next morning.’
‘You’re hardly what I’d call a gentleman now,’ she flashed back. ‘You’re ruthless, shallow, self-serving and … and … selfish.’
He grinned at her devilishly. ‘You left out sexy.’
She set her mouth in a prim line. ‘I don’t find you the least bit sexy.’
‘Yes you do,’ he drawled as he rubbed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. ‘If I hadn’t stopped you, you were going to put that pouting little mouth around me and suck me dry, weren’t you?’
Hayley’s belly exploded with desire. She felt the hot flash of it hit her from above and below, coming to a scorching, bubbling pool of liquid fire between her thighs. Her breasts tingled and her mouth quivered under the sensuous stroke of his thumb. She felt the most irresistible urge to draw it into her mouth and suck on it, hard, as she had wanted to do to him down by the river.
Everything about him made her feel reckless and out of control. The challenging gleam in his eyes made it a thousand times worse. She wanted to pull him down to the grass at their feet and run her hands all over him, to explore his sculptured muscles, to taste the sexy saltiness of his skin, to taste the essence of what made him a man.
She pulled her shoulders back to keep her breasts away from his chest but instead it pushed her pelvis into intimate contact with his. ‘Let me go.’ She somehow got her voice to work in spite of her shallow, erratic breathing. ‘Please.’
He placed his hands on her bottom and held her tight against him, the jut of his erection making her gasp involuntarily. His eyes burned into the wide ocean blue-green of hers, his chest rising and falling against the soft press of her breasts.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ he said, his voice sounding deep and gravelly as it rumbled against her chest.
‘Jasper … please,’ she pleaded. ‘The Hendersons are probably watching us.’
‘And no doubt thinking we can’t wait to get married next weekend,’ he said, gazing down at the softness of her mouth.
Hayley’s belly did another flip flop at the thought that this time next week they would have been married twenty-four hours.
He brought his mouth down and branded hers with a swift hard kiss before releasing her. She swayed on her feet for a millisecond, feeling disoriented and unfocussed.
‘Come on, baby girl.’ He took her arm and tucked it under his, the corners of his mouth tilting wryly. ‘You’re even starting to convince me you’re in love with me. Now there’s a scary thought.’
