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And then he was upon her, his breath harsh on her face, the drumbeat of his heart a mere few inches away.
‘I wouldn’t call it a complete waste.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SUDDENLY his lips were on hers, hungry, punishing, his tongue seeking entry, his hands seemingly everywhere, ripping at her halter and her pants.
And the taste of Loukas in her mouth, the feel of his hands upon her, his body pressed next to hers was almost enough to make her forget what they’d been arguing about. Make her want to melt into his passionate embrace. Give herself up to his mind, and body-shattering onslaught.
Almost.
Summoning a strength of body and mind from somewhere, from the only place deep within that was untouched by the desire to let herself go, she pushed him away.
‘No!’
Her hands flush on his chest, her breathing rough and edgy, she battled to stay calm. ‘This didn’t solve anything before, and it will solve even less now!’
She pushed with all her remaining strength, but the effort to shove him away had drained her and his hands felt like manacles on her arms.
‘I don’t want this!’
‘I know you do,’ he insisted, pressing the weight of his chest against her hands, his mouth seeking her lips once more.
‘No. You’re wrong,’ she said, turning her face away. ‘And, just like usual, you can’t accept you could be wrong about anything.’
‘The only thing I was wrong about was thinking I could have enough of you. I want you, Jade. I want to make love to you. And I know that that’s what you want too.’
‘I want you to make love to me? I’d have to be some kind of mad woman to want someone who has accused me of all the things you charged me with. And you’d have to be some kind of loser to want to make love with someone you have such a low opinion of. What was it you called me—a fake? So fake I can’t see straight—isn’t that how you put it?
‘And yet you now insist you want to make love to me. How does that work, when all you see is someone who’s been put together by some crazy Frankenstein? Someone where you can’t tell which bits are real and which are fake? How can you bear to even touch me now that you don’t have to—now that your mission is completed?’
Dark emotion scudded like storm clouds across his eyes before he pulled himself back and suddenly released her. He surged away, his fingers tangled in knots behind his head.
‘I had reason to think what I did. Even if some of my assumptions were misplaced.’
‘What was that?’ she asked, pushing herself away from the wall behind him.
‘I said maybe I was hasty. Maybe I was too eager to colour you with Della-Bosca’s brush.’
‘I’m not sure I’m hearing this. You’re not actually admitting you were wrong? You’re not actually admitting that you misjudged me on yet another count?’
‘Is it so hard to believe? The work you do, the way you look—how likely is it to be natural?’
She nodded. ‘How likely, indeed?’
‘I called you a fake,’ he said. ‘But I can admit when I’m wrong. I just didn’t believe anyone who looked as good as you couldn’t be one of your own clinic’s best customers. I couldn’t believe you wouldn’t be living off a staple diet of surgery and Botox.’
She gave a short bitter laugh. ‘Botox? Are you serious?’
And then it dawned on him. No wonder she looked so vital and alive! It was because, unlike just about every other woman in Hollywood, her facial muscles hadn’t been rendered immobile by the injection of a paralysing agent. She was a natural beauty who didn’t need anyone’s help to look that way. And he’d judged her unfairly because of it.
He shook his head. ‘What can I say? I just couldn’t believe anyone as beautiful as you could have been born that way—especially working in your profession.’
‘Well,’ she said, adding a brittle laugh, ‘if it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t born this way.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You once asked me to deny that I’d ever had a cosmetic procedure.’
‘Jade, I—’
‘The thing is, I didn’t deny it.’
