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"What do you want?" She issued the question sternly and then folded her arms across her chest, every pulse point in her body aware of his presence. The way he was looking at her—with a slow and obvious up-and-down perusal of her body—left her in no doubt of what he wanted. Great, I kissed the man, and now he thinks he has rights.
"We need to talk." He was so still, so contained, and yet everything about him suggested action. "I need your compliance. I want you to do as I say while you're under my protection." He paused. "But you don't like following instructions, do you?"
Her spine straightened. She glanced away, blocking out the thoughts that surfaced. He'd hit a nerve there, but she wasn't about to let him know that. "I don't like being pulled out my life over something that has nothing to do with me."
He looked at her, steadily. "I understand that. Believe me, if you were aware of all the circumstances, you'd be glad you're in witness protection." He paused again, and one corner of his mouth lifted. "In fact, you might even play nicely."
"You reckon?" She threw him a sarcastic glance.
That only seemed to amuse him.
"Why don't you come across the hallway and be social?"
The smile that hovered around his mouth made her lips part as she thought about how that mouth felt under hers, and how brazenly she'd acted when she thought he was Adrian. She wasn't ready to go in there and "be social," because there was no way she could sit with the two of them and chit chat, not yet.
He took a step closer, and it was with such deliberate intent—his eyes never leaving hers—that her heart missed a beat. Frustrated, she lashed out. "Okay, you win. I can't make any calls. But my flatmate will report me missing if she doesn't hear from me, I know she will."
He frowned. "That may or may not be good news."
There was no way she was going to flatter him by asking what his cryptic comment meant. "Look, I need some time alone to get my head around this."
He stared at her for the longest moment, and then nodded. But he didn't make a move to leave. In fact he looked rooted to the spot. "You also need to eat. I've made you a sandwich, I'll fetch it."
Why was it that everything he said annoyed her? "You're too kind."
"I'm trying. Believe me." A wry smile passed over his face. "I'm not your enemy here, Lily, please try to remember that."
His comment struck her oddly, and the way he said her name—as soft as a caress—made her breath hitch. When she met his glance she found him brooding. It was intimate, and somehow intrusive. It made her annoyed, and yet it made her feel outrageously horny, too. She knew she should put her foot down, tell him to get out of the room, and yet the fact he was there at all secretly thrilled her. Wired to every sensation, to every atmospheric change in the room, her skin prickled.
"This'd all be so much more pleasant if you chilled out." Eyebrows lifted, he went further. "We could act as if we were meeting for the first time, like we did earlier today."
The bastard, he had to bring that up—and there was a suggestive glint in his eye as he reminded her of what had gone before.
She shook her head. "You've had your fun with the phone
, leave me alone."
"You don't mean that." They were inches apart and he was studying her as if he was aware of how turned on she was by his presence.
"Don't I?" Her body was a mass of conflicting signals. Her blood raced and she was finding it difficult to control her breathing.
Moving quickly, he grasped her around her wrist with one determined hand and drew her arm away from her chest, taking away her shield. His hand felt warm and yet unyielding as he held her wrist, and her other arm automatically fell to her side. "We have unfinished business, and you know it."
Unnerved, she tried to pull away, but when he held on to her and drew her closer still, she melted. "No. That was a mistake. I thought you were Adrian," she whispered. "That's why I kissed you."
That didn't faze him.
"I know. It was a blind date, but you liked what you saw, didn't you? You made your move, and you made it on me." He said it so suggestively.
"You're an arrogant prick." Even so, the memory of what she'd said and done raced through her mind over again, hammering the point home. Her face was on fire.
"Thing is," he said, running one finger down her top and around the outside of her breast, making her head spin, "I enjoyed it, and I think you did too."
There was no answer to that. She couldn't deny it, not after what had happened, and now his thumb rested over her knotted nipple, applying just enough pressure through her top and bra to make her crazy. She'd well and truly dropped herself in it with this man, and by the looks of it he was going to torture her with it for his own amusement.
When she didn't respond, he continued. "Unfortunately I was distracted, and that wasn't very gentlemanly of me, not while you were being so generous with your affections." He lifted her chin with one sure finger. "I feel we should try again, and this time I'll give you my full and undivided attention."
Before she had a chance to deny him or respond, he kissed her full on the mouth.
