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“I’ve never met anyone like you. No one knocks me off my game faster.”
“It’s my dazzling personality.”
“It’s your damned stubbornness. If Berkeley doesn’t work out, you could always teach seminars to salesmen on the art of not taking no for an answer.”
Her rock hard nipples burned his chest through the thin cloth, branding him with each impassioned breath she took.
“Unbutton your shirt.”
She hesitated at his demand as if unsure what his change of mind might mean. After a long moment, she raised her hands and slipped the first button free. As the top curve of her breast came into view, he lowered his head and tasted her skin. Her gasp made him smile. What he intended to do next would render her breathless.
“Another.”
She obliged. He nudged into the ever-widening V, grazing her sensitive skin with the stubble on his chin. A shudder captured her. Nic smiled.
“Keep going.”
She unbuttoned the next two buttons in rapid succession, but held on to the edges of the shirt, keeping the material closed. Sensing what he wanted, she peered at him from beneath her lashes. Nic eyed the pink tone in her cheeks.
“Spread the shirt open. I want to look at you.”
“Nic, this is—” She broke off as he nudged the material off one breast.
“Not what you had in mind?” His tongue circled her tight nipple.
“It’s exactly what I want.” She arched her back, her fingers tightening convulsively. “I feel...”
“Tell me,” he urged, eager to hear what effect his mouth was having on her body. He flicked his tongue across her nipple. She jerked in surprise. “I want to know everything. What do you like? What drives you wild?”
At last she unclenched her fingers and spread the shirt wide. Now it was Nic’s turn to suck in his breath. She was beautiful. Breathtaking. Perfect. Her small round breasts, topped with dark pink nipples, were a perfect fit in his palm. Pity his mouth would be the only part of him to enjoy all that silky skin. And yet, as he pulled one bud into his mouth and sucked, perhaps that wasn’t so bad after all.
She was mewling with gratifying abandon by the time he finished with one breast and moved to the other.
The situation was swiftly disintegrating. Nic felt his control slipping. Heaving a sigh, he caught the edges of her shirt and pulled them together, hiding her gorgeous breasts from his greedy eyes.
“You’re stopping?” She sounded appalled. “But things were just starting to get interesting.”
His muscles clenched at her frustrated wail. He levered himself out of bed and kept his eyes averted from her. He’d survived temptation once. He wasn’t sure he could do it twice.
“You still don’t get it, do you? I can’t offer you anything beyond this bed.”
“I know.”
She rolled onto her side, her gaze steady on him. Accusations darted like deer through her gray-green eyes. Anger surged in his chest. Damn her for coming here and littering the clear path to his future with enticement and regret. He retreated to the bathroom. Just before closing the door, he shot a last glance in her direction. She had propped her head on her hand and lay watching him through half-closed lids.
She’d left the edges of her shirt unfastened and the three-inch gap gave him an eye-popping view of the curve of her right breast, almost to the nipple. Aphrodite in all her glory could not have appealed to him more than Brooke’s slim form in his bed.
Nic shut the bathroom door with more force than necessary and started the shower. A cold shower, he decided.
* * *
As she heard the water start, Brooke exhaled raggedly and rolled onto her back. The empty bed mocked her. Frustration bubbled in her chest and rose into her throat, building into a shriek. She clamped her teeth to prevent any sound from escaping, but it was an effort to hold so much emotion in. So she grabbed one of Nic’s pillows and covered her face in it to prevent him from hearing her shrill curses.
Once the tantrum had passed, she lay with her nose buried in the cool cotton, absorbing Nic’s scent and reliving the moment when his control had broken. Heat wafted off her skin in surging waves, the source the smoking hot place between her thighs that pulsed and throbbed with frustrated longing. The man had a gift for turning her world upside down.
He only had to give her the slightest bit of encouragement and she went all in. How many times since she’d first discovered she had feelings for him had he crushed her hopes by deflecting her overtures or chasing her away when she’d tried to get him to take a break from a problem so he could gain some perspective on it?
Not for the first time an ache built in her chest. What had started out as a whim, a crush, a foolish game had escalated into something she couldn’t break free from. Her mother, Theresa, even Glen, had warned her she was better off with a man who appreciated her. But she hadn’t wanted to hear the good advice from her friends and family. And for a while things had been perfect.
