The Dare Collection November 2018. Christy McKellen

I’m lucky enough to have been born into a family who think it’s great fun to stab me in the back just when I’m about to pull off the biggest deal in the company’s history. And I—’ he gave a self-deprecating laugh ‘—not only agreed to play by their idiotic rules, I went one better and swore I’d remain squeaky clean for thirty days.’

      I was aware my jaw had dropped, that questions were darting all over my face. Questions he could read and half amused him if that tilt of his lips was an indication.

      ‘Squeaky clean means what, exactly?’

      ‘It means being a good boy and not begging you to let me fuck you this morning in my bathroom. It means resisting the urge to bury myself in that tight pussy on top of that blackjack table when you asked me to. It means not punching that asshole in the face when he slobbered all over you in the casino. Do you want me to go on?’ he demanded tightly.

      ‘So...you can’t have sex for thirty days?’

      ‘No, I can’t. But when we fuck—and trust me, we will—it’ll be filthy and noisy and without a deal I’ve worked on for over a year hanging over my head. It’ll be messy in a way that’ll probably make my family ashamed of me all over again, and I won’t even care. I have another two weeks on the clock for those damned thirty days and I intend to close the deal in that time. Guaranteed it’ll probably be the longest two weeks of my life but what the hell, no pain, no gain, right?’

      I wasn’t even aware the car had stopped until he leaned close, bringing that hard, hot, delicious body into stinging proximity once again. ‘As for why I’m taking you home, damned if I was going to leave you in that casino for another bloody bastard to salivate over, especially with that just-come look lingering in your beautiful eyes.’

      ‘You do realise that with everything you’ve just told me, I have you in the palm of my hand, don’t you?’

      He smiled. ‘Your integrity won’t make you use it against me. Hell, I’m even willing to bet you’ll help me bring this deal home.’

      ‘Are you?’

      ‘Oh, yes. If for nothing else, because you want to wield that power you have over me. You want to hear me beg to be inside you as badly as I want to feel your pussy milking my cock as you come.’

      The very thought of it made me want to climb into his lap right now, tease him until he gave in. But that brutal honesty he’d laid bare to me was impossible not to respond to. And, dammit, calling me out on my integrity made me yearn to prove him right.

      But he was stepping out, coming round to open my door. ‘Get out of my car, Leonora. Before both our good intentions turn to shit.’

      I stepped out and watched him steel himself against the temptation to touch me. ‘You really think you’re a special snowflake, don’t you?’

      He smirked. ‘Yes, but you’ll relish the chance to teach me otherwise, I’m sure.’

      ‘Are you sure it’s a lesson you want to learn?’

      ‘Probably not but I look forward to it all the same.’

      I shook my head but before I could walk away, he captured my elbow. ‘Please don’t disappoint me by not turning up on Monday, Leonora.’

      I knew I’d be there. Over and above the tantalising promise of sexual fulfilment, something inside me wanted to discover if Gideon Mortimer was different from the man I’d initially judged him to be.

      ‘I’ll be there,’ I murmured.

      ‘Excellent,’ he breathed.

      ‘Goodnight, Gideon.’

      ‘Before you go...’ He casually reached for my clutch. With a deft flick of his fingers, he pulled out my panties. ‘I’m keeping these. I think I’ve earned them.’

      I’d never be sure what prompted my response when he released me. ‘You can keep them if you want, but next time I’m taking a souvenir of my own. I’ll let you decide which form it comes in.’

      His smile widened, respect gleaming in his eyes alongside a whole load of anticipation.

      ‘I look forward to our journey together, Leonora,’ he echoed my thoughts, then, lowering his gaze to my panties, he twisted them between his fingers for several seconds before tucking them into his pocket.

      I walked into my apartment building on unsteady legs. Inside the lift, I turned and saw that his limo still idled on the kerb, the window wound down as he stared at me from across the space between us.

      As the lift doors slid shut, I accepted, with more than a little trepidation, that I might end up surrendering a lot more than a pair of silk panties.

       CHAPTER FIVE

      Gideon

      I STARED AT the overweight middle-aged Russian sitting across the table from me, wondering if I’d get away with punching him in the face before his goons wrestled me to the floor.

      Probably not. But I was sorely tempted. Four excruciating days after setting off from the Côte d’Azur, we were nowhere near agreeing on the final terms of the construction deal. The only thing Vadim seemed interested in while we sailed past Portofino and the Amalfi Coast was making a dent in my caviar and vodka supplies. Many times I’d come close to calling it and walking away.

      But I’d put too much blood and sweat into this four-billion-pound deal to walk away. Besides, I knew my impatience to seal this deal stemmed from another source.

      Leonora Branson.

      What I’d tasted in the casino back in Monaco had only stimulated my appetite for more. What I hadn’t taken into account was that the need would intensify to insane proportions.

      It didn’t help my frustration that Leonora and her yacht had lived up to their reputation and delivered everything I’d hoped for and more.

      Hell, it’d probably worked a little too well where Vadim was concerned. The man seemed determined to take partying to a whole new level. But I was done with his stalling bullshit.

      As for Leonora herself...

      I wanted her to be mine without the yoke of the idiotic terms I’d agreed to weighing me down. Put bluntly, I’d never felt anything like this in my life. Not even with Penny in those wild days before she’d shown her true colours.

      And yet within hours of meeting Leonora I’d referenced the double betrayal that’d nearly sent me tumbling down a self-destructive rabbit hole.

      Even in retrospect I didn’t regret showing a little bit of myself to Leonora and telling her about the family that was the bane of my existence. And while the little witch tortured me with her tight uniform and sultry looks whenever she was in my presence, Leonora had otherwise remained supremely professional.

      Which of course meant I couldn’t go five minutes without thinking about her, without silently offering up my left bollock to be done with this deal just so I could hear that breathless ‘Fuck me, Gideon’ again.

      Frankly, my insane need for her was disconcerting the shit out of me. That pathetic leaping in my chest when I’d spotted her on the marina on Monday hadn’t happened since those foolish days back at Oxford when Penny Winston-Jones had strategically placed herself in my orbit and I’d been daft enough to believe it was a fucking cosmic event.

      Despite all the warning signs, I’d carried on believing that nonsense, right until I’d found her flat on her back, freely giving away what I’d possessively believed to be mine to another man.

      And not just another man. My cousin. My best friend.

      The man whose name was in the subject line of the unopened email currently sitting in my inbox. I had no intention of acknowledging the email or having anything to do with Damian. Now or ever.