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Caradoc had always been captivating. He had a magnetic personality that was as attractive to men as it was to women. Whether at work or play, he dominated, and people were happy to let him.
This was no exception.
Perhaps age would always have determined their dynamic; he was more than ten years her senior. Or possibly the fact that they’d met with Finn in his employ would have given him the upper hand. But in all probability, regardless of who they were and how they met, Caradoc would always have held her easily in his thrall. He was a man who exerted a nameless power, and Finn had never encountered a personality with such gravity. She was a moth to his flame, even then.
“You don’t?” A throaty murmur, her words pulsed with desire.
“No.” His smile sent her pulse racing.
She swallowed. “Then what do you want?”
“More of that,” he promised sensually. He cupped her bottom; her jeans were still on the floor and he was able to slide his fingers inside the fabric of her underwear and touch her soft, bare skin.
“But …” She shook her head. “You mean meaningless sex?” The phrase was one she’d heard many times. She said it in that moment without giving it proper thought.
“Sex is never meaningless, even if the meaning is purely in the attainment of pleasure.”
She arched a brow, but her heart was flipping over painfully in her chest. “And that’s what you want from me?”
“Yes.” It was a calculated risk – they were his stock in trade. “I want the same thing you want.”
“I … what do I want?”
His laugh was provocative. “You want to keep feeling what you just felt. You want to come with me now and climb into my bed, and feel me move deep inside of you.” He squeezed the flesh of her backside and dipped his head lower, so that his mouth was pressed against her ear. “I will make you feel things you don’t know you are capable of. I will make you feel like you are tormented by pleasure. I will make your body crave mine.”
How easy it would have been to say yes! To go with him despite her misgivings. But Finn had spent a lifetime being in control of her fate. Even to Caradoc, she wasn’t yet willing to surrender that power.
“I would hate myself,” she said seriously, reaching up and putting a hand on his cheek.
But he wasn’t prepared to be so easily defeated. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“How do you know?” She asked breathily. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“No,” he said, removing his hands and stepping away from her. He was cold suddenly, as though a switch had been flicked and he’d become someone else entirely. He was imposing and intimidating. She looked at him with a renewed sense of awe. “But I know people. I know that you want me to convince you that this is okay. Perhaps you even want me to lie to you, and give you the impression that I want more from you than great sex to ease this depressing situation.” She internally recoiled at his sharp description of what he thought they could share. “I’m not going to trick you into my bed. I like sex and I’m attracted to you. But I’m not the kind of man to beg. Nor am I the kind of man to ask twice. While I do want you, it’s your decision.” He shrugged then, drawing attention to his broadly muscled chest. “Come to my bed, or don’t.”
Oh, the temptation and the torture. She stared at him, her body quivering and her head at war with her desire. On some soul-deep level she understood Caradoc Moore, and the forces that motivated him.
“I’ve had sex before,” she responded with a shrug of her own. “What makes you think I’d give up my self-respect to have sex with you?”
The challenge was designed to do what he swore he wouldn’t. Beg. He was not going to give her any assurance beyond what he’d already offered. They would have sex. It would be great. That was the limit of Caradoc’s interest.
“Your self-respect is your problem, not mine.” He turned around then and began to walk from the room, his powerful frame cutting across the floor with an athletic gait.
Finn watched him walk away with a sinking heart.
He had laid down the challenge and she had to decide, quickly, what she wanted.
One fantastic night with this powerful egomaniac? Or to live forever with the regret of having turned him down?
CHAPTER FIVE
By the time they reached his bedroom door, she was beginning to question her decision. After all, she hardly knew Caradoc. Had she completely lost her mind? She’d been with other men before. What was it about Caradoc that made her put aside all her usual reservations and concerns and agree to this?
Wasn’t this demeaning her to have fallen in line so easily with his demanding proposition? Come to think of it, had he even propositioned her? A frown marred her features as she tried to remember exactly what he’d said. She couldn’t recall the details, but the more she thought about it, the more she seemed to think it had been something a little like, “If you want to have sex, let’s go. If not, whatever.” Or words to that effect.
Her hand in his suddenly felt trapped. She moved to pull it away, but he sent her a look of such mocking amusement that she was stilled.
He shouldered his door inwards and then, once they were inside, locked it shut.
