It Started With... Collection. Miranda Lee

not leaving.

      A tremor raced through Jessie.

      ‘You have a very intelligent little girl,’ he said as he snapped shut the book he’d been flicking through, placed it on the side-table next to the sofa and stood up. ‘Very sweet, too,’ he added.

      ‘Unlike her mother,’ Jessie snapped, once again folding her arms across her chest.

      ‘Oh, I suspect the mother could be even sweeter than the daughter,’ he said as he walked slowly towards her, bypassing the chair with the jacket and tie. ‘In the right circumstances.’

      ‘Don’t you dare touch me,’ she warned when he was less than an arm-length away.

      She was standing in the middle of the kitchenette, with her back not far from the kitchen sink.

      He stopped and frowned at her. ‘You do realise you are being ridiculous,’ he said softly.

      Was she?

      Possibly. But she wasn’t about to back down.

      ‘I will not have sex with you with my daughter sleeping in the next room.’

      His eyebrows lifted. ‘Sex was not what I had in mind for now, Jessie. Just a kiss. Or two.’

      ‘Huh! Men like you don’t stop at a kiss or two.’

      He frowned. ‘Men like me,’ he murmured. ‘Now, I wonder what you mean by that? Presumably nothing very complimentary. I suspect you’ve already lumped me in with the type of divorced guy who wants to sow his wild oats, with no strings attached. Or perhaps the sleazebags you told me about who target single mothers because they think they’re desperates. Am I right?’

      ‘Something like that.’

      ‘You’re wrong. I’m nothing like that at all.’

      ‘I only have your word for that.’

      ‘I haven’t been with a woman since my divorce,’ he shocked her by saying. ‘Natalie was the last woman I slept with.’

      Jessie blinked. It was over a year since he’d left his wife! It didn’t seem possible. A man like him, so handsome and virile-looking. Women would have been throwing themselves at him all the time.

      ‘But why? Are you seriously undersexed or something?’

      He laughed. ‘You wish.’

      ‘But…but…’

      ‘Look, I guess after the failure of my marriage I became a bit wary, and very selective. Casual sex held little appeal. I wanted a real relationship with an intelligent woman who wanted the same things I wanted.’

      A career woman, she interpreted that to mean. One who’d give him company and sex, but not expect him to fulfill the traditional roles as husband and father of her children.

      Jessie couldn’t see a single mother with a demanding four-year-old filling those requirements. Not on a permanent basis.

      ‘Then last Friday night,’ he went on, ‘I was hit by a thunderbolt. You. Suddenly, I didn’t care what you were or who you were. I just had to have you. Be with you. Make mad, passionate love to you.’

      She looked away from his eyes, lest he see the same crazy compulsion in hers. He reached out to turn her face back to the front again, his fingers both gentle and possessive. Her arms—suddenly heavy—slipped out of their crossed mode to hang loosely by her sides.

      ‘You want that too, Jessie,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t deny it. I’ve seen the desire in your eyes. And the fear. You think I’ll hurt you. You and Emily. But I won’t. I promise. I’d cut out my heart before I did anything to hurt either of you. I can see how special you are together. More special than any mother and daughter I have ever known. I want only good things for you both. Trust me. I’m one of the good guys. Now kiss me, Jessie Denton.’

      She didn’t kiss him. Because he kissed her first, cupping her face and taking her mouth with his, not waiting long before prying her lips open and sending his tongue to meet hers. The contact was electric, firing a heat that raced through her veins and skin, spreading like a bushfire raging out of control. Her arms rose of their own accord to slide around his body, her palms cementing themselves to his back as she pulled him closer. Then closer still.

      He moaned deep in his throat, the sound an echo of what was going through her own head. The yearning for even closer contact was acute, but they couldn’t be any closer if they tried. They were already glued together, mouth to mouth, chest to chest, stomach to stomach, thigh to thigh.

      The anticipation of how he would feel, filling her to the utmost, took Jessie’s breath away. If only she wasn’t wearing jeans. A skirt could have been lifted, panties thrust aside. They could have done it right there and then, standing up. She’d never done it like that, standing up. She’d never even thought about it before.

      She thought about it now and literally went weak at the knees. Did he feel her falling? Was that why he pushed her back up against the sink, to stop her from falling to the floor?

      Jessie instinctively shifted her legs apart, giving him better access. His hips moved against her, the friction exquisite. Soon, she was moaning with abject need and total surrender.

      ‘Mummy!’

      Emily’s high wail cut through Jessie’s near-orgasmic state, bringing her back to earth with a crash.

      ‘Oh, God,’ she moaned, wrenching her mouth away from his. ‘Emily.’

      The mother in her, she swiftly realised, was still stronger than the woman, even the wanton woman Kane had so swiftly reduced her to. In another second or two, she would have been practically screaming. Disgusted with herself, she squeezed out from behind Kane’s heaving chest, leaving him to sag against the sink whilst she dashed into the bedroom.

      ‘What is it, Emily?’ she asked in a voice that mocked what was still going on inside her. So calm-sounding.

      ‘I had a bad dream,’ Emily whimpered. ‘There was a bear. A big one. I was scared.’

      Bears often figured in Emily’s nightmares. Jessie sometimes wished there weren’t so many children’s stories with bears in them.

      ‘There are no bears living in Australia,’ Jessie explained gently for the umpteenth time. ‘Except in the zoo. You don’t have to be scared about bears.’

      ‘Is Kane still here?’ Emily asked fretfully.

      ‘Yes. Why?’

      ‘He won’t let the bear get me. He’ll chase it away.’

      Jessie rolled her eyes. ‘Fine. You don’t have to worry about any bears then, do you? So go back to sleep now,’ she crooned, gently stroking her daughter’s head. ‘OK?’

      Emily yawned. ‘OK.’ She closed her eyes and was back fast asleep in no time.

      Jessie envied her child that ability. Sometimes, Emily would fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Jessie had never been a good sleeper, finding it difficult to shut her mind down at night. She knew she would do more than her fair share of tossing and turning tonight.

      But it was clear that to continue fighting her feelings for Kane was futile. And rather ridiculous. He was right when he’d said that. They were adults. They wanted each other. OK, so she probably wanted more from Kane than he wanted from her but that was always going to be the case. She was a woman and he was a man.

      Jessie had always been a reasonably decisive person, unlike her mother, who’d muddled through most of the events that had shaped her and Jessie’s lives. When she was growing up, taking charge of her own life had been one of Jessie’s main goals. Mostly, she’d been successful. In hindsight, Lyall had been a big error in judgement, but the consequences of her mistake had led to great joy.

      Getting involved with Kane was possibly unwise. But at the same time she was only human, not a saint.