So close that her mouth went dry. He seemed to have stepped so close that any barriers between them, invisible or otherwise, had simply vanished.
Heknew, she realised. Somehow, he knew exactly what she’d been thinking when she’d been standing there so absorbed in watching his body.
The thought should have been horrific, except for the intensity with which Oliver was looking at her. The eye contact that went on… and on… Theinterestshe could sense coming from him.
Was it remotely possible that he found her as attractive as she found him? Judging by the way the air seemed to be crackling in the space between them, Bella had to believe it was possible.
And more exciting than anything had ever been in her whole entire life.
The subtle movement of her body was instinctive. She barely felt herself tilt forward in invitation, but she was aware of her lips parting. Of her tongue coming out to moisten them because they felt so incredibly dry. And she could see the way Oliver’s gaze dropped as he watched her tongue.
She wasn’t sure what happened next. When she thought about it later, it was simply a blur of excitement intense enough to be blinding. One moment they were standing there with the air about to ignite and then she was in Oliver’s arms, being kissed like she had never, ever been kissed in her life.
It was overwhelming. A solid mass of an almost naked,perfectmale body that was touching Bella with a hunger that made her feel like the most desirable female in existence. She could smell the heat that still came from his body after a punishing workout. She could feel the way his tongue moved against hers, withdrawing and then thrusting, stroking the fires of need for it to be the real thing instead of an imitation performed by their joined mouths and dancing tongues.
She could feel the slick of sweat on his lower back that made it so easy to slip her hands beneath the elastic of his shorts. Could feel the rock-hard evidence of his desire pressing into the part of her that wanted more.More…
She must have whispered the plea aloud because Oliver groaned.
‘No condom,’ he growled.
‘I’m safe.’ Bella’s words came out in a gasp as she pressed herself closer and moved to close the gap that had appeared between their mouths. She was safe. She’d been through the routine screening offered to medical personnel at St Pat’s. She’d never been exposed to a sexually transmitted or blood-borne disease.
Oliver’s hands were moving. He was cupping her breast.
‘You’re on the Pill?’
‘Oh…’ His thumb was grazing her nipple and Bella’s knees almost buckled. ‘Oh…yes…’
He was undoing her jeans now and that meant he wasn’t stopping.
Thank God for that…
Somewhere in the back of Bella’s head, a warning bell was sounding.
He thinks you’ve said that you’re on the Pill, a small voice whispered.Stop now. This is dangerous. You don’t know what could happen. This is quite probably the most irresponsible thing you’ve ever considered doing.
Bella had had plenty of practice not listening to that little voice. Besides, she knew what could happen, but what were the odds, really? Pretty darned small and… and she could go for a swim afterwards and that would probably wash any risk away. If that didn’t work, didn’t she have a dose of the morning-after pill tucked away from a time it hadn’t been needed after all?
And… the risk would be worth it, wouldn’t it? She might never have this opportunity again.
Oliver’s hands were against bare skin now. Touching the very core of the blinding heat of her need.
‘Oh…’ Bella gasped again. She was touching him now, too. Could feel the velvet over steel that her body was desperate to enfold. The past was irrelevant. The future ceased to exist.
‘Now…’ Bella pleaded. ‘Oliver…please…now…’
7
Whathadhe been thinking?
Oliver Dawson found himself fumbling uselessly with his gold cufflinks. Hehadn’tbeen thinking, pure and simple.
For the first time in his life, he’d been carried away by the moment. By something as base as physical desire. Even now, when he had come to his senses and realised how incredibly stupid he’d been, his body was betraying him with a stab of remembered pleasure. Of longing.
The knowledge that he wanted more.
It was about more than sex, he realised. That sense of freedom he’d experienced giving in to the temptation to do something because it was what he wanted for himself had been irresistible.
