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‘Are you attracted to me, Maude?’
Maude squirmed. She was a grown woman and yet she felt like a teenager dealing with feelings and emotions for the first time. But, truthfully, thiswasa first, wasn’t it? All her life she had linked sex with love. After Colin, she had made up her mind that she would never compromise when it came to guys. She had her checklist and she had ticked off their suitability as long-term partners—even the handful of guys she had dated casually had been ticked off. They’d been found wanting before bed had ever reared its head.
But Mateo...
He was so unsuitable, sitting there, luring her into something that promised nothing...just a couple of ships passing in the night...
Her body tingled at the thought of him touching it and she breathed in deeply, shakily.
Was this what she had been missing in her life? Had she wasted too much time searching for Mr Right, when Mr Utterly Wrong might be just the tonic she needed?
Had she spent way too long living in her comfort zone, too timid to venture out?
Heart beating like a sledgehammer, Maude lowered her eyes and then said, ‘Yes. Yes, I am, Mateo Moreno. I’m attracted to you...’
CHAPTER SIX
‘SOWHATDOyou think we should do about this?’ Mateo murmured huskily.
Sweet anticipation filled him but there was no way he was going to rush anything. Instinct told him that she wasn’t tough like the women he was accustomed to dating. She said she was attracted to him and, leaning into him as she was, her eyes bright with tentative sincerity, there was not a bit of him that doubted her.
But he wanted her to feel secure enough with him to follow through with what she’d said. Whether he spontaneously combusted out of sheer frustration didn’t matter.
‘There’s no one here at the moment, aside from us...’
Mateo relaxed. His smile was slow and wicked. ‘Deep down,’ he murmured, ‘Maybe you decided to be prepared to seduce me when I got back... Get rid of the staff, and you would be free to pounce on an innocent guy...’
Maude burst out laughing. Moving closer seemed the most natural thing in the world to do because here they were and, against all odds, he made her feel utterly relaxed and comfortable with his light teasing.
She’d just made a monumental, earth shattering decision tolive in the momentand, if she’d thought that she might be riven with self-doubt, then she was proved wrong as he stood, pulling her towards him as he did so, and then cupped her buttocks with his hands and shifted her so that she felt the stiffness of his erection.
Maude’s legs turned to jelly. Her hands were flat on his chest and she worked them slowly and cautiously over his shoulders, and sighed at the packed muscle under her fingers.
His mouth when it touched hers was soft and gentle and she relaxed into a slow, lingering kiss, the kiss of someone with all the time in the world and in no hurry.
The yearning for more built as they continued to kiss. His tongue meshed with hers in a lazy exploration of her mouth and her hands crept from his shoulders to his neck, caressing and feeling the warmth of his skin with something akin to wonder.
His hair was springy when she sifted her fingers through it, just as he brought his hands up to curve her waist and then to rest lightly on her breasts.
‘Upstairs...please...’ She struggled to gasp the words out and Mateo drew back and smiled.
‘Your wish is my command but...are you sure about this, Maude?’
‘I’m sure.’
She met his eyes steadily. Whatever the carousel that could be called his love life, and however much she had always disapproved of men who veered from one woman to another like a spoiled toddler given free run in a candy shop, she couldn’t help but be impressed by his genuine concern for her.
She knew that, if she were to slap him down now, he would do just as he had said. He would walk away and he would never, ever mention it again.
She held his hand and tugged him behind her towards the kitchen door.
‘I’ve always loved a woman who takes the lead,’ he said. ‘It fulfils my craving to be dominated.’
Maude laughed again over her shoulder. ‘You should be careful what you wish for,’ said this reckless, daring young woman she barely recognised as herself.
‘Why? Are you promising me some kinky stuff between the sheets?’
Maude paused, suddenly worried, and she moved to gaze at him with serious eyes,
