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He was right, but she couldn’t let it go. “I don’t think we can keep the lid on it any more than we could stop this from happening.”

“Even when we both know how temporary this is?”

“Temporary doesn’t mean dishonest.” She leaned down, kissing him slowly, and he moaned as she pressed her hips to him harder, teasing his rock-hard dick with her proximity. “For example, I’m honestly going to leave here on Saturday,” she said, moving her hips again. God, but it felt good to feel him between her legs, even with the barrier of fabric separating them. “But I can honestly say I’ve never felt like this about anyone.”

She felt his shift. The way his body moved. Like a physical rejection of her statement? She rushed to explain, trailing her fingers down his chest, to the waistband of his jocks. She had to shift her body a little to slide her touch inside the elastic and then grip his length in her palm.

“I don’t love you, Dimitrios, calm down. But I never knew sex could be like this. I’ve only ever been with Jaxon and the physical side of things didn’t exactly set my world on fire. I had no idea sex could be so perfect, nor so addictive.”

He cursed then, as she moved her hand faster. “Chloe.” His voice held a warning; she ignored it.

“Now it’s your turn,” she said, pulling her hand away and nestling herself back on his cock. This time, his jocks stayed down, so it was only her briefs in the way. She rubbed herself against him, moaning as the contact made her body simmer with need. “Tell me the truth.”

“You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met,” he said. “Is that what you want me to say? You are more addictive, more fascinating, more perfect, more everything than all the women I’ve slept with put together. If I was different and you were different, I think this could actually be something, Chloe. But it’s not. And we’re not. So let’s just say this is the best goddamn sex either of us has had and leave it at that?”

And as if to underscore that, he pushed aside her panties and thrust into her, hard, desperate, filling her so completely that she cried out and arched her back, so he could take one of her nipples in his mouth and suck on it hard, until she saw stars and was incandescent with pleasure. He transferred his mouth to her other breast, his fingers plucking at the nipple he’d already made overly sensitive, the contrast of the warmth of the spa and the ice-cold winter’s afternoon making everything so much more intense, so much more cataclysmic. At least, that’s what she told herself it was, as she exploded on a wave of utter, heart-felt relief…

CHAPTER 8

THREE DAYS LATER, HE was still staring at the damn post-it note on his screen, thinking out contingencies for Ellie. There had to be an option if something happened to him. A backup. He briefly considered his brothers but they seemed even less equipped to deal with a teenager than he was, and Ellie didn’t know them from a bar of soap.

There was the possibility of a teacher from school. If well-compensated financially, it could work. And he could subtly interrogate Ellie, to see if she had a decided preference for any of the faculty members. Preferably someone with a daughter of their own, or children at least, so Ellie wouldn’t be so lonely. He’d taken the existence of his siblings for granted but having heard the way Chloe spoke about her family, their closeness, he wished that was something he could give Ellie.

Chloe. Her name whispered through the cells of his body like a warning and a demand. He couldn’t think of her without wanting her, and he knew it was the same for her. After that day with the ladder, the pub, the hot tub, they’d snapped back hard to their old rules. Avoiding each other during the day, making wild, passionate love at night, but keeping it purely physical. Safety in sex, he’d started to think.

And he was pragmatic enough to be glad she was almost leaving. Glad she’d be out of his home soon, and he could get his focus firmly back on Ellie. Because one thing was certain: at the moment, it was split. Even the fact Ellie was coming home this afternoon didn’t change the fact that Chloe was almost all he could think of.

One more day… and it was then that it hit him.

Ellie would be home that night.

And they’d agreed not to do this when she was around.

Which meant…they were done?

He jerked to standing in a fierce, bodily rejection of that idea, refusing to accept that he wasn’t going to know the pleasure of her body again.

Why hadn’t she said anything? Had she forgotten too?

Christos. She was right when she said this thing between them was different. So different. He’d never been bothered by the ending of a relationship with anyone. Whether it was his choice or hers, his philosophy tended to be ‘easy come, easy go’.

But the thought of not touching her again made his whole body tighten like a coil, so before he could stop himself, he was stalking through the manor, in search of Chloe. And when he found her, he suspected he’d throw her over his shoulder and drag her to bed, to hell with the whole idea of ‘sex as safety’ after all.

“What do you mean, gone out?” he asked, tone sharp, so Jane pulled a face of surprise.

“Generally that means one leaves the house. I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept.”

Ordinarily he might have smiled or apologized, but Chloe being ‘out’ while he was thrumming with need for her was beyond inconvenient. It was unbearable.

“When did she go? And where?” Too sharp, again.

“The markets I think. And I’m not sure. I don’t tend to keep track of the contractors you hire.”

“Right,” he muttered, turning on his heel to stalk back to his office.

Once inside, he pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at the screen. He’d saved her number early on. He typed a text message, finger hovering over the send button before clicking down.

When will you be back?