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LUC looked at the tense line of Jesse’s shoulders and fought the urge he had to snarl at his driver to raise the privacy division. He wanted to take her right there and then, sliding her onto his lap. Her dress was so short all he’d have to do was unzip his trousers.
Luc ripped his eyes off Jesse and beat back the waves of heat consuming him. Damn her for having this effect on him so easily. He might have imagined that in the civilised surroundings of a city he wouldn’t want her so badly, but he wanted her even more …
A little later, when they were in the gallery, Luc looked around with irritation. Where was she? He’d never known a woman not to cling on to him like a limpet in social situations, but as soon as they’d arrived Jesse had shown a genuine interest in the paintings and moved off to look at them on her own. Luc did not like to analyse how that made him feel.
He went into the other room, where the auctioneer for the artists was shaking Jesse’s hand effusively. She was putting what looked like a credit card back into her bag.
Luc came alongside her and she looked up and blushed. ‘I just wanted to pay for the paintings.’
‘You bought some?’
She nodded, her eyes gleaming for a moment. ‘The big one of the reeds on the canal and a couple of smaller ones.’
Luc observed dryly, ‘Your apartment does seem somewhat bare …’
Jesse blanched a little and mumbled something like, ‘I’m buying more stuff for it now.’
He caught her arm and made her look up at him. ‘Why is it so bare, Jesse?’
For a long moment she just looked at him, and then she said huskily, ‘Because for a long time I haven’t cared about much else.’
Luc was sorry he’d asked, because his chest felt tight. He should have known not to expect a glib answer from Jesse. Wordlessly he ushered her back into the main gallery, but his mind was in a tumult a
nd he felt something like panic rising up to strangle him.
When they got into Luc’s car a short time later Jesse immediately took off her sandals with an appreciative groan. She didn’t care at this stage what Luc’s usual women might do. She was in agony. She was also feeling mildly merry after a couple of glasses of wine, and buoyed up from buying those paintings. She realised that she’d actually had a nice time this evening, despite the tense undercurrents. She turned to tell Luc, but closed her mouth abruptly. He was looking stonily out of his window, his profile harsh and forbidding.
Jesse wanted to reach over and touch his face, and before she knew she’d even moved she found herself kneeling on the seat next to him. He turned and looked at her and she reached out to cup his jaw, her heart beating fast. If he was cruel now, or said something … But he didn’t. He put his hands on her hips and brought her round to straddle his lap, her legs either side of his powerful thighs, and all she could see was Luc … her Luc … with those dark, fathomless molten eyes.
Jesse could feel where his hardness pushed against their clothes and liquid heat surged between her legs. She put her hands around Luc’s face and bent down to kiss him, feeling as if she were falling into a dark chasm.
He cupped her head, his other hand on her bottom, urging her even closer to him. The kiss rapidly got out of control, flames licking around them. Jesse found the buttons on his shirt and opened them, wanting to feel his skin. Luc was pulling down her dress so that one breast was bared …
She barely heard him give curt instructions to the driver, and then urgency overtook them. His mouth was on her breast, sucking her nipple deep, rolling his tongue around the hard tip. Jesse was desperate to feel him inside her and had reached down between them to find his belt buckle, almost sobbing with frustration when she couldn’t get it open immediately.
Luc made fast work of freeing himself. Jesse wrapped her hand around him and stroked him, and Luc’s face tightened with a need that looked feral in the dim light. He took her hand away and found her knickers, drawing them to the side before he stroked one finger along her cleft. Jesse moaned softly, dizzy with need.
And then Luc positioned her and brought her down on top of him, slowly and inexorably, until he was buried in her. With a rocking movement Jesse clenched and unclenched her muscles in a completely instinctive rhythm. They both climaxed within minutes.
It was silently intense. Jesse collapsed against Luc, and after a moment could feel his hand come to her back, holding her. She felt tears prick her eyes at the gesture, but was very afraid that he wouldn’t relish her feeling so emotional right now.
After a minute Jesse was feeling increasingly exposed and vulnerable. She extricated herself from Luc’s embrace and sat on the seat, pulling her dress down. She felt cheap. It was hard to believe the car was still moving.
‘Where are we going?’
Luc’s voice was sterile. ‘I’m taking you home.’
She looked at him and he turned to face her. She nearly recoiled at the harshness of his expression. She’d thought him cold before, but she could barely fathom that this was the man who had just brought her over the edge in his arms. She had to remember that it had been she who’d climbed all over him, pathetically convincing herself she’d seen something in his eyes.
Mortified, she turned away. ‘Thank you.’
To her surprise she felt Luc’s hand on her jaw, turning her back to face him. She steeled herself.
For a long moment he said nothing, and Jesse recognised with a jolt that they were already pulling up outside her apartment. That had been the guttural instruction to his driver.
‘Luc …?’
She had no prickling of foreboding, no idea of what was coming. And when the words were delivered, Luc’s voice was so flat he might have been talking about stocks and shares.
