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Self-consciously she brushed a hand over the soapsuds that glittered against her skin. ‘Whatever it is, it can wait,’ she said tensely. ‘I’ll only be a minute.’
Nicholas ignored the request and instead he reached out and turned the water off.
His hand brushed against her breast as he pulled back and suddenly she was frighteningly aware that her heart was thumping now with a different emotion. She wanted him again.
Fury pounded through her senses, mingling with red-hot desire. She had to get rid of this feeling—get rid of Nicholas. She met his eyes defiantly.
‘Are you a virgin?’
He ground the question out in such a way that she took an instinctive step back. Shocked, she stared at him, and for a few seconds there was a tense, unnatural kind of silence. Then she laughed—she didn’t know if she was laughing because she was so nervous and appalled by the question or if she truly found it funny. ‘Why are you asking me that?’
He held her eyes with a stubborn determination. ‘Are you, Catherine?’
‘How can you ask me that after what we’ve just done?’
‘You know what I mean.’ He wasn’t amused. His dark eyes seemed to slice into her very soul.
‘Pass me a towel, please.’ Any pretence at amusement was now dead. She tried to avoid the question along with his eyes.
‘Not until you answer me.’ He sounded dangerously angry now.
‘How dare you? It’s none of your business what I am,’ she flared.
He reached out and touched her face, tipping her chin upwards, forcing her to make the connection with his eyes. ‘Answer me now,’ he ordered softly.
‘You’ve got a flaming nerve, Nicholas Zentenas. Just because we’ve had sex, it doesn’t give you the right to barge in here, disturbing my privacy, asking personal questions.’
He didn’t release her; in fact his grip was like iron, forcing her to maintain contact with his gaze.
She bit down on her lip. He was so arrogant and she wanted desperately to tell him she had slept with hundreds of men. But she couldn’t.
‘I was a virgin.’ She admitted the truth huskily. ‘But it doesn’t mean anything!’ Her eyes flashed fire.
‘Of course it means something!’ His grip relaxed and then his thumb brushed over her lips, making her tingle with need.
She hated the fact that he could do that to her. Hated it with almost as much intensity as she loved it.
‘You should have told me, Catherine—I’d have been more gentle.’ There was a strange huskiness to his tone that she hadn’t heard before. ‘Did I hurt you?’
‘No!’ Her heart thumped uneasily against her chest. But he could hurt her. Oh, so easily he could emotionally destroy her … She acknowledged the truth to herself quietly. She needed to take back some control; she needed to drive him away.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
She took a deep breath. ‘Because you might have thought
it made you special. And it doesn’t. It was just sex.’
The coldness of her response made Nicholas shake his head. The kitten had very sharp claws indeed. She was well able to look out for herself. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I think it does make what just happened between us pretty special.’
‘Don’t be so sure of yourself, Nicholas.’ Her voice trembled alarmingly. ‘I got carried away.’ She struggled to find an excuse for her actions and failed.
‘You’d just signed your first major business contract and it was a powerful aphrodisiac, is that it?’ He supplied the reason dryly as some of the certainties about her character slipped back into place. He’d been taken in by a beautiful woman once before—and it had led to the divorce court. He wasn’t going to be duped a second time.
The suggestion stung but it was better than looking weak, so she forced herself to hold his gaze mutinously and just shrugged. ‘I suppose so.’
In a way he was relieved—it absolved any guilt that had momentarily assailed him.
‘That’s fine because I wasn’t expecting anything deeper.’ As Nicholas grated the words he was surprised to feel a flare of anger inside himself that he didn’t fully understand. ‘But one thing I’m certain of. No matter what has sparked it, there is a powerful chemistry between us. I’m the one who has awakened your sexual appetite. I’m the one who is going to teach you all there is about making love.’
