Purchased For Pleasure. Nicola Marsh

in a big way; her skin still tingled at the memory of his hands rubbing her wrist. No man had ever affected her as he did.

      He’d been a dynamite lover, her first, but despite that mind-blowing kiss earlier she had no intention of revisiting that part of her life.

      Though in all honesty if she hadn’t been bound at the time there was no telling what her hands would’ve been tempted to do and she squirmed in her seat at the recollection. For a twenty-seven-year-old at the top of her game, her little ‘let’s get reacquainted’ experience with Ty had hot-wired her libido and how.

      The phone ringing brought her back to the present.

      ‘Kate Hayden speaking.’

      ‘So, you did go back to the office. I thought that was just an excuse to escape.’

      Ty’s husky tone did little to calm her racing pulse. If anything, the sound of his deep voice fuelled the fantasy she’d just been indulging in. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

      ‘You think I was trying to escape?’

      His low chuckle fired her nerve-endings. ‘Oh, call it a feeling. You weren’t exactly falling all over me earlier this evening.’

      She kept her voice deliberately cool, trying to ignore the erotic memory of their entwined bodies reflected in the mirror that leaped to mind. If that wasn’t falling all over him she didn’t know what was.

      ‘It isn’t every day a girl acquires an Odd Bod. Perhaps I was just nervous?’

      She doodled on the pad in front of her, almost falling off her chair when she realised she was drawing large hearts with the initials K.H. and T.J. intertwined.

      ‘Yeah, right. The Kate I know is never nervous. Confident and bossy maybe. Nervous? No way.’

      ‘You forgot gorgeous,’ she murmured, wondering where the breathy voice came from.

      She shouldn’t flirt with him, she really shouldn’t, but somehow he brought out that side of her without trying and she heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

      ‘That goes without saying.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Are you flirting with me, sweetheart?’

      The endearment thrilled her, though she knew it was a game with him and suddenly, just like the old days, she joined in with gusto.

      ‘What if I am? I’m a woman, you’re an Odd Bod. Why not?’

      ‘Lady, you’re a chameleon. One minute you can’t get away from me quick enough, the next you’re sounding like Mae West. Why don’t I come up and see you some time?’

      She leaned back in her leather chair, crossed her ankles and stared out at the twinkling lights of downtown LA, spread out like a fairyland forty storeys below. She adored this view, loved the hip city vibe, yet somehow sitting here chatting to Ty inspired her more than the vista she admired on a daily basis.

      Playing with him was fun, even if she had no intention of following through, and it had been so long since she’d had any fun. How far could she push him?

      ‘What are you doing right now?’

      Once again, silence greeted her.

      ‘Ty, still there?’

      ‘Yeah. Where did you say your office was?’

      His voice dropped lower, reminding her of the intimacy they’d shared all those years ago when she’d hung on his every word.

      ‘I didn’t. Though if I let it all go like I mentioned earlier, I could invite you for a coffee at my place…’

      Yeah, like that was going to happen. There was only so much her hormones could take and teasing him like this, flirting with him, was bad enough.

      ‘Do you mean coffee…or coffee?’

      A delicious tingle ran up her spine and she knew for a fact he would give her a better buzz than any caffeine fix: rich, warm, addictive. And the high would last a heck of a lot longer.

      ‘Boss, I’m leaving.’ Di’s voice startled her as she stuck her head around the door.

      Kate sat up straight. ‘Can you hold on a sec?’ she said into the receiver and covered it with her hand.

      ‘Sure thing, Katie,’ he murmured, sending heat flooding into her cheeks.

      ‘Who’s that?’ mouthed Di.

      ‘Nobody important. You head off.’

      ‘Whatever you say, boss.’ With a wink and a blown kiss, Di left the office.

      Kate took a steadying breath, almost relieved at the reprieve, and removed her hand from the phone. ‘Sorry about that.’

      ‘So, I’m nobody, huh? Nice.’

      She smiled at the thought of bruising Ty’s ego. ‘I didn’t mean it like that.’

      ‘What did you mean, then? If I’m not nobody I must be somebody?’

      His probing question sent doubt spiralling through her. What was she doing encouraging him when she’d already made up her mind to ditch him first thing tomorrow morning when she’d had time to gather her wits?

      Damn it, he’d always had the power to do this, to tie her up in knots till she couldn’t think straight.

      ‘Look, I’m tired. It’s been a long night and I’ve got one more article to edit before I leave. We’ll catch up tomorrow, okay?’

      His silence did little to soothe her frazzled nerves.

      ‘Ty?’

      ‘You’re running scared.’

      She swallowed, trying to ease the sudden dryness in her throat. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

      He chuckled, deep and low, the familiar sound skittering across her skin, raising tiny goose-bumps.

      ‘Yeah, you do. Shame. I thought you might want to pick up where we left off.’

      ‘You wish.’

      The image of their parting six years ago flashed into her mind. It had been touch and go; he’d touched her all over her body, initiating her into pleasures she’d only dreamed about before pulling away from her by running back to his precious job, and she’d gone the same way, burying herself in a new job as far away from him as she could get.

      Now he was back. Just as gorgeous, just as charming and just as dangerous to her peace of mind as ever if she was foolish enough to let him in.

      ‘Oh, yeah, I wish.’ He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. ‘By the way, why are you working after eleven?’

      ‘The usual. Deadlines to meet. Nothing out of the ordinary.’ She sounded weary, even to her ears.

      ‘Don’t you have a life?’

      Her brittle laugh echoed around the empty office. ‘This is my life.’

      She didn’t add that it was about all she had.

      ‘You really need to get out more. I’m going to make it my personal goal to ensure you live a little over the next week. Deal?’

      ‘It’s not going to happen.’

      Her brisk reply sounded strained and, though the thought of Ty helping her to ‘live a little’ conjured up some wild images, she’d done enough fantasising for one evening and had to put an end to this ASAP.

      He ignored her rebuttal, his low chuckles sounding way too confident.

      ‘I’ll call you tomorrow. Pleasant dreams, Katie.’

      As the dial tone hummed she knew that dreams would be impossible tonight. She needed to sleep in order to dream and she seriously doubted that she could nod off after the evening she’d just had.