The Dare Collection November 2018. Christy McKellen

me.’

      Her smile both condemned and absolved me. ‘Okay.’

      I nudged her legs wider apart, my fingers seeking further warmth. ‘Enough about Bryce. Graciela, my sister, I see a little too much of in the tabloids, which you’d think would be a problem for my stuck-up family considering she works in PR for TMG, but apparently they’re more forgiving when it comes to her. As for my parents...’ I took a breath. ‘They’re dead—my father from a heart attack brought on by too much drink and my mother from a heroin addiction that caused her to drive off a cliff at high speed.’

      Sympathy darkened her eyes. ‘Gideon, I’m so sorry.’

      ‘At the risk of sounding heartless, I don’t feel their loss that much. They were strangers for most of my life.’

      ‘But if you’ve wished for a moment that they weren’t then you’ve felt something,’ she said, again in that gentle voice I wanted to wrap myself in.

      I pulled myself back from that temptation. Trust had got me nothing but pain and betrayal. Whatever was happening between Leonora and me didn’t need that elusive ingredient to make it work.

      I lifted her leg and draped it over mine. ‘We’re done talking about my family now, Leonora. But I feel like I owe you.’

      She reached for her glass and took a slow sip of wine before her gaze swept up to meet mine. ‘So?’

      My gaze dropped to where my fingers caressed her, and got momentarily lost in the beauty of her skin. Her small hitched breaths weren’t helping me stay coherent either.

      I leaned in close, brushed my lips over her earlobe and thrilled in her small shiver. ‘So for helping to push this deal along and for possibly stopping me from tossing Vadim overboard, I’d be honoured if you’d let me watch you come again.’

      Heat surged into her face, her jaw slackening as lust filled her eyes. Then she pressed her lips together. ‘Gideon...’

      ‘You want me to beg, Leonora? I will. I’m going out of my damned mind imagining what it’d feel like to be buried deep inside you. Give me the second-best thing.’

      She took another shaky breath. ‘Aren’t...aren’t you risking your deal by pursuing this?’

      I grimaced. ‘Well, if I ever get round to pulling it off, it’ll be the biggest in my company’s history. There are a lot of people rubbing their hands in anticipation of me getting the job done.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘What exactly are you negotiating?’

      The deal had been in the financial papers for months so I wasn’t breaching confidentiality. ‘I’m building a stadium, five sports centres and fifteen hotels. Once completed it’ll be the largest such complex in Europe. Once completed being the operative words.’

      ‘Wow,’ she murmured.

      ‘Can I say that impressing you turns me on even more?’

      Her sexy smile only heightened her beauty. ‘You can say it, sure.’

      My gaze dropped to her lips, and I was struck with the need to kiss her again. Instead I slid my hand higher until my fingers brushed the edge of her panties.

      ‘Gideon, wait.’

      I forced my fingers to halt their exploring.

      She exhaled a little shakily, a wariness creeping across her face. ‘That look on your face at the marina on Monday? What was that all about?’

      Unease punched me in the gut. ‘I wasn’t absolutely certain you’d turn up. In fact, I was surprised to see you there.’

      Her gaze probed mine. ‘That wasn’t surprise I saw, Gideon.’

      My unease grew. What did she see when she looked at me? The tatters left behind after a double betrayal? ‘What did you see?’ I dared.

      Her eyes grew a shade darker. ‘It was...the way you looked at me. As if you were pleased to see me and hated yourself for it.’

      Brutal honesty demanded I come clean. ‘I was. I did.’

      ‘Exactly how am I supposed to react to that?’

      ‘We’re talking without games or artifice.’

      ‘Are we? Then tell me what you’re hiding.’

      ‘Leonora.’ My voice pulsed with warning she couldn’t miss.

      But her gaze boldly held mine. ‘You didn’t hate me for turning up, you hated me because I don’t fit into some perfect mould in your life and you don’t know how to handle it.’

      ‘If we’re speaking plainly, then yes. You intrigue me, Leonora. Very much. And I’m not sure if I’m ready for this level of intrigue. But I do know I’ve been dying to touch you for four bloody days. And here you are. But you’re hiding something, too, aren’t you?’

      Her gaze dropped from mine.

      I renewed my caress, my fingers brushing her silk-covered pussy. ‘But while I’m greedy to know you inside out, I’m willing to let you keep your secrets. For now.’

      She made a little sound in her throat.

      ‘Do you want me to stop?’ I asked.

      Her eyelids fluttered. ‘Would you believe me if I said yes?’

      ‘I’d believe you.’

      Her lips parted but no words emerged.

      ‘Say it, Leonora. Be honest with me.’

      ‘Okay. You intrigue me, too.’

      ‘And?’ I pressed, that alien need clawing at me.

      She shook her head. ‘Gideon, this is crazy.’

      ‘You’re saying a lot of words but I’m not hearing a no.’ My fingers slid beneath her panties, grazed her clit.

      She jerked in her seat and her thighs fell open just a fraction wider, enough to grant me further access.

      ‘This thing between us is driving you as insane as it’s driven me,’ I muttered, the scent of her washing over me, fracturing my concentration.

      ‘This thing?’ she slurred slightly. ‘You mean the almost sex you’re not supposed to be having?’

      I couldn’t help laughing. ‘Is that what this is?’ I pressed my middle finger over her clit, applying increasing pressure to the bundle of nerves.

      She gasped, her fingers gripped tight on the edges of her seat.

      With my free hand, I dragged her chair closer. I wanted to absorb her every expression. ‘Leonora?’

      ‘Yes?’ she moaned the word.

      I made another pass over her plumping flesh. She shuddered and pushed herself against me.

      ‘Open your shirt for me, darling. I’ve been dreaming about your gorgeous tits for days.’

      We were at full sail towards Montenegro with no one around to witness our activities on the top deck. Her crew were well-trained not to interrupt unless they were summoned.

      With hands that weren’t quite steady, she undid the first three buttons of her shirt, exposing a lacy bra with a front fastening. A quick snap and her full, ripe breasts spilled out, drawing a groan I couldn’t stem.

      ‘Jesus, you have magnificent tits. Do you know that?’

      Her very feminine smile was my answer. Hell, the woman confidently owned her assets and celebrated them.

      I slid my finger through her wet heat, delighting in her small pleasured cry as I repeated the action.

      After several passes, I buried two fingers fully inside her. ‘Do you like that?’

      She