Maybe she had been working too hard? Maybe she had drunk half a glass of wine too much with her dinner earlier? Maybe seven years was too long to go between physical relationships…?
Whatever the reason, Luccy found she was seriously—tremblingly!—attracted to a man she knew only as Sin. And, what was worse—she could see by the sudden warmth in that silver gaze that Sin was completely aware of that attraction.
‘Are you feeling better now?’ he murmured.
‘A little, thank you.’
Sin became very still as he recognised the temptation of Luccy’s pouting lips. After that earlier unpleasantness would she run screaming if he were to kiss her? Nothing too heavy after that lout’s behaviour earlier; Sin just needed to know if the fullness of those perfect lips tasted as good as it looked!
He closed the short distance between them to look down at her in the moonlight. ‘May I…?’ he asked huskily, holding her gaze for several long seconds before he lowered his head to capture her mouth with his.
Her lips were warm and silky beneath his, with a taste of heated honey. Sin’s jacket slid from her shoulders onto the terrace as he deepened the kiss, so he was able to feel each warm curve of her body through the two layers of sheer silk that consisted of her dress and his shirt.
She tasted even better than she looked!
Luccy drew breath back into her starved lungs as Sin’s lips finally left hers, having known herself to be lost the moment his arms had moved about her so assuredly.
She trembled in reaction as his lips now trailed across her cheek and down her jaw, to the long column of her throat as he sought and found the area of sensitivity beneath her ear lobe. His tongue moved moistly across her quivering flesh before his teeth nibbled that lobe and created an aching pleasure so exquisite it bordered on pain.
Luccy’s breasts felt suddenly full and thrusting, the nipples highly sensitive, and her thighs had suffused with a fierce burning heat that took her totally by surprise. So much so that she knew she had to put a stop to this. Now.
She twisted lightly away from him, her hands resting briefly on his chest as she steadied herself before taking a step back. ‘Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen,’ she muttered uncomfortably.
His gaze was quizzical in the moonlight. ‘Are you sorry that it did?’
No, Luccy wasn’t sorry. Sorry didn’t even begin to describe the emotions this man aroused in her! The truth of the matter was Luccy could never remember feeling such an overwhelming desire to lose herself to the moment. To forget who and what she was and just enjoy the here and now.
It was a realisation that terrified the life out of her!
‘Perhaps we should go back inside; I’ll finish my brandy and then leave,’ she suggested, her heart pounding so loudly in her ears she was sure he must be aware of it too.
Sin looked at her searchingly. His desire for her earlier this evening had been instant, immediate, and, now that he had actually kissed her, held her, his body ached for more. He was pretty damned sure, from her response as he’d kissed her, that Luccy felt the same need too.
‘Could we at least go back inside?’ she prompted again at his continued silence. ‘It’s getting a little cold out here, don’t you think?’ As if to prove her point she shivered a little as she wrapped her arms about the slenderness of her waist.
Sin studied her for several long seconds, aware that Luccy’s smile seemed slightly forced, and that her deep blue gaze no longer quite met his.
Not surprising really when she had already fended off the unwanted attentions of one man this evening!
Luccy was right to try and slow things down between them, Sin acknowledged frowningly. And now that they had introduced themselves, there was no reason why he couldn’t invite her out to dinner tomorrow.
‘Sin?’ she pressed lightly.
‘Of course we can go back inside, if that’s what you want,’ Sin acquiesced warmly.
‘It is.’
‘Are you okay?’ Sin asked.
Her smile was definitely strained. ‘Fine,’ she said.
Sin bent to pick up his jacket before following her inside, knowing that, before she left, he needed to do his utmost to persuade Luccy to see him again…
CHAPTER TWO
‘SO, LUCCY,’ Sin murmured softly as he replenished their brandy glasses and set one of them down on the coffee table in front of where she had sat down on one of the sofas, choosing not to sit down himself yet; he couldn’t think straight when he was too close to her! ‘Why don’t we relax and you can tell me a little about yourself?’ he invited.
She looked back at him beneath lowered—guarded?—lashes. ‘There really isn’t anything interesting to tell,’ she claimed.
Sin’s mouth quirked. ‘I somehow doubt that very much,’ he contradicted.
She straightened, her breasts thrusting forward as she moved one of her hands and lifted the heavy weight of her hair back over her shoulder, once again drawing Sin’s appreciative gaze to the bare expanse of her throat and the swell of those creamy breasts against the red silk.
‘You first,’ she said.
He shrugged wide shoulders. ‘Like you, there isn’t anything of interest to tell.’
She gave a rueful smile. ‘And, like you, I doubt that very much!’
Sin smiled appreciatively at how neatly she had turned the conversation back onto him. ‘Well, I’m obviously American. As were my parents. And their parents before them,’ he added dryly.
She nodded. ‘Are you an only child, or do you have siblings?’
‘Only child. Only grandson, too,’ he expanded as he found himself drawn into sitting beside her on the sofa despite his previous decision not to do so.
‘Wow.’ She grimaced. ‘So, no pressure, then?’
Sin smiled in spite of himself. ‘As you say, no pressure,’ he drawled even as he reached out to pick up a tendril of her long blue-black hair, loving the silky feel of it as he curled it around one of his fingers.
He breathed in the heady scent of her perfume, his senses already aroused by her exotic beauty and the kiss they had shared on the terrace. He knew he should have resisted getting too close to her again so soon after that kiss…
‘What brings you to London, Luccy?’ he asked in an attempt to clear his mind of passionate thoughts.
‘Like you, business,’ she said.