New Year, New Man. Laura Iding

Flora reached out for her coffee-mug.

      Sarah handed it to her. ‘I think I’ll go up to bed, too,’ she said, this time with a slight catch in her voice. ‘It’s been a long day.’

      ‘There’s a good movie on at eight-thirty,’ Flora said. ‘Got that film-star fellow in it that I like. Sexy devil. Now, he can put his slippers under my bed any time he likes.’

      ‘Mmm,’ Sarah murmured as she slid from the stool. Not as sexy as the devil she was about to spend the night with. ‘Goodnight, Flora. Don’t worry about breakfast. I’m going to sleep in. You should too. You look tired.’

      ‘I am a bit. What about Nick?’

      ‘I’ll tell him to get himself something in the morning. I doubt he’s asleep yet.’

      ‘Before you go, Sarah, I just want to say how lovely you looked today. I wouldn’t mind betting that by next Christmas you’ll have a real boyfriend sitting at the Christmas table. Or even a fiancé. Which reminds me, did anything further develop with Derek today?’

      ‘Er—no. He’s not interested in me in that way.’

      ‘What a pity. Still, there are plenty of other fish in the sea. Off you go, then.’

      ‘Goodnight, Flora. Enjoy the movie.’

      ‘Oh, I will.’

      Sarah’s pretend composure began to disintegrate the moment she left the kitchen.

      ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’ she muttered to herself as she walked up the stairs on suddenly shaky legs. ‘He’s going to break your heart. You know that, don’t you?’

      Sarah stopped in front of his bedroom door. She even lifted her hand to knock. What she was going to say to him, she had no idea, though go to hell came to mind.

      But then she heard the sound of Nick’s shower running.

      He was getting ready for her.

      She could picture him standing naked under the jets of warm water, washing himself clean with long, soapy strokes of a sponge. In her mind’s eye, he was already wanting her.

      It was the thought of his wanting her that was the most corrupting. She’d wanted him to want her like this for years.

      Impossible to turn her back on his desire.

      Impossible to ignore her own.

      Sarah’s hand fell back to her side and she stumbled on to her bedroom.

      Nick stood under the lukewarm spray, his hands braced against the shower-stall tiles, his eyes down.

      Half an hour to go and already he was in agony.

      Gritting his teeth, he turned the water to cold. Ten minutes later, he had his flesh under control again. But not his mind.

      You should not be doing this, Nick, came the reproachful thought. She’s in love with you. Or she thinks she is.

      ‘You’re a total bastard,’ he growled to himself.

      His mouth twisted into a sneer as he emerged from the shower stall and snatched up a towel. ‘So what’s new, Nick?’

      Still, he had given her every chance to escape. She’d been right when she’d accused him of trying to frighten her off. He’d honestly thought when he pushed her to her knees the way he had that she would jump up and run a mile. But she hadn’t…

      Of course, his desire for Sarah had been building in his head for years. It was no wonder he’d found it difficult to control himself this afternoon.

      Still, it was a worry, his lack of control. From the moment she’d taken him into her mouth, he’d just lost it. Totally.

      As he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, Nick vowed that tonight would be different. Tonight he would be the coolly confident lover he usually was, patiently taking her on an erotic journey that initially might feel romantic to a girl as young and naïve as she was.

      By morning, however, she would see him for what he really was: a cold-blooded and ruthless bastard who used women for nothing but his own pleasure and satisfaction. She would see that any finer feelings would be wasted on him, at the same time becoming a lot wiser to the wicked ways of the world, and of men.

      It was a perverse way to protect her, but then, he’d always been perverse when it came to Sarah. Hadn’t he lusted after her when she’d been little more than a girl? A lust which had been as obsessive as it was unwanted.

      This moment had been inevitable, Nick conceded as he finished drying himself. The only surprise was that he’d held back as long as he had.

      Nine o’clock saw Sarah once again at Nick’s door, her hands curling into white-knuckled balls as she struggled to find the courage to knock.

      The black teddy fitted her perfectly, the skin-tight mid-section outlining her newly defined waist, the built-in lace bra cut low. More transparent lace inserts covered her hips, making the already high-cut sides seem even higher. But it was the back of the teddy that shocked her, mostly because there wasn’t much of it. A couple of inches of material above her waist and next to nothing below, where it narrowed into a satin thong.

      The door suddenly being wrenched open brought a gasp to her lips. Nick stood there, a dark red towel slung low around his hips, the expression on his face not a particularly happy one.

      But his eyes changed as they swept over her, that white-hot desire she’d always wanted to see making her stomach flip right over.

      ‘I knew you’d look beautiful in that. I didn’t realise just how beautiful. And how damned sexy.’

      He looked pretty damned sexy himself, she thought breathlessly.

      His sudden frown worried her, as did his ragged sigh. ‘You’ve made my life really difficult, Sarah.’

      ‘No more than you’ve made mine,’ she countered. Quite bravely, considering she was quaking inside.

      He shook his head as he took her right hand in his and pulled her into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind them.

      ‘I presume you haven’t changed your mind,’ he said drily as he drew her across the room towards the bed.

      ‘If I had, I wouldn’t be wearing this, would I?’ she threw at him with more feigned boldness whilst her gaze flicked nervously around.

      She noted the bed, its red quilt thrown back, the black satin sheets glowing under the soft light of the red lampshades.

      His suddenly scooping her up into his arms shattered her brave façade.

      ‘You’re trembling,’ he said.

      ‘Am I?’

      ‘Very definitely.’ he sighed for the second time, his eyes shutting for a moment. ‘What am I going to do with you?’

      ‘Make love to me, I hope. All night long, you promised.’

      His eyes flicked open to glower down at her.

      ‘No, Sarah. That’s not what’s going to happen here.’

      Her heart plummeted to the floor.

      ‘What I’m going to do is have sex with you. Don’t mistake it for lovemaking. I never make love. I have sex with women. Of course,’ he added with a sardonic smile as he lowered her gently into the middle of the bed, ‘it will be great sex.’

      Relief—and a rush of excitement—flooded through Sarah as her head and shoulders came to rest against the pile of satin-covered pillows. At this moment, he could call it whatever he liked. Nothing he could say would deter her from seeing this through.

      But for Sarah, it would be lovemaking. For her, this was going to be the night of her life!

      The satin sheets