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Her eyebrows lifted. “Other bastards? Meaning I am one, too?”
Crap. “I didn’t mean it like—”
“It is not about the money.” With that brief statement, she shifted to his other side, now standing directly in front of him, practically between his legs.
Her attention focused on his left hand, he discreetly tested his right. Unbelievably, his plan worked. With very little effort, his hand slid free. Before she could do more than begin to turn her head, he’d fisted his hand in her long hair and drew her close. She braced one hand on his left forearm, the other on the right arm of the chair. He clamped his legs together on hers, holding her captive.
He stared into her brown eyes, only inches from his. Flecks of glittering gold mesmerized him.
“If not the money, then what? Why are you with these guys?”
Her attention dropped down to his lips. When her lashes lifted again, no fear registered in the depths of her eyes, despite her vulnerable position. Irritation poked his ego. She may imagine herself relatively safe with his one hand still restrained, but he didn’t doubt his superior strength would secure his freedom.
“Why else does a woman stay with a man if not for money?” she countered in a low, throaty whisper.
Heat sufficed his body in a split second, though he recognized the fact that she was playing him as much as he played her.
“In that case…” He deliberately focused on her exposed cleavage. “I’m more than willing to pay for your assistance in any manner you desire.”
“Yes?” A slow sensuous glide of her pink tongue wet her lips.
Ben bit back a groan. “Hell yes.”
Then the most unexpected thing happened. She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his. A warning bell rang somewhere in the distant recesses of his mind.
Do not respond.
He closed his eyes to focus. She angled her head an
d slid her tongue between his lips, into his mouth. With his senses in a heightened state of awareness since realizing Halli was missing, every nuance of the woman in front of him was magnified. His tactical error registered too late for him to recover.
A half-hearted effort tightened his fingers in her hair, but he didn’t drag her away. Not when he’d entertained more than one brief fantasy of this exact experience since seeing the woman yesterday. Red hot desire overrode common sense. The stimulating combination of her scent and taste triggered his response with a vengeance. And not just in the thrust and parry of his tongue with hers. His body hardened damn fast, too.
Eva deepened the kiss. Pressed her chest to his. A moan erupted from deep in his throat. Partly from arousal, partly from her sensual, yet painful assault on his swollen bottom lip. A frustrated tug on his still captive left hand yielded no result. He wanted to crush her against him with both arms. Feel her ripe body and the pleasure-pain of her hips against his straining erection.
Her hand slid along his right arm, skimmed over his bare forearm, and found his hand, fingers still entwined in her hair. The other curled around his head before her nails raked along his scalp. The passion in this one kiss promised incineration in bed.
Oh, but what a way to go.
All thoughts of her naked body writhing under his fled with the sudden jab of her knee to his groin. Pain registered. In his crotch and in the middle fingers of his right hand that she pulled from her hair and bent back almost to the breaking point. He jerked forward in an attempt to relieve the pressure on his hand. Her knee pressed harder into his groin.
“Jesus,” he gasped. “Easy.”
Her breathing was as unsteady as his, but her brown eyes regarded him without apology. “Do not attempt to take advantage of me again.”
“You kissed me, dammit. Ow.”
Her brutal hold on his fingers directed his hand back to the arm of the chair. Once the restraint was back in place and tight enough to prevent another escape, but not so snug as to cut off his circulation, she finally removed her knee.
Instead of moving away, she placed that knee on the chair against the outside of his thigh. His pulse began a steady increase when her other knee mimicked the first on the opposite side, and she straddled him on the chair. He fought the insane urge to thrust upward. What the hell was wrong with him? The woman was a sadist!
Starting at his hairline, she ran the fingers of both hands through his hair, down to the nape of his neck. Her nails stimulated countless nerve endings on the reverse trip. Tingles worked though his entire body. That’s when she settled her weight onto his lap and smiled.
“You are easily excitable.”
Ben choked back a tortured groan. “You’re a very exciting woman.”
He barely recognized his own voice. Never had he been aroused to such a fever pitch before. He’d heard danger could be a wild aphrodisiac, but this was nuts.
