Page 44

‘Yeah. Works for me.’
His laughter was low. ‘See you tomorrow, Skylar. Sweet dreams.’
Her dreams were anything but sweet.
‘We’re going to one of the distribution warehouses in New Jersey.’ She couldn’t quite look him in the eye after that phone call last night. And she knew he knew it. He looked so amused. So smug.
‘Let’s go in my car,’ he said. ‘It’s a long drive.’
‘Yes,’ she said primly. ‘How ever will we fill the time?’
She shouldn’t have been so transparent. Definitely shouldn’t have blurred the boundaries between their meetings about the business and their dates. But it was too late. She watched him press the button to close the privacy screen the second they were both belted in the back of the car. Then he turned, leaning above her, retribution glinting in his eyes. ‘You’re a temptress, Skylar Bennet.’
She stared at him.
‘You drive me crazy,’ he muttered. ‘Make me forget everything but what I want to do with you.’
That was the only balm on the burn searing through her—that he felt this intense drive to touch her every bit as much as she ached for it. ‘And what’s that?’
He kept her pinned in his gaze. She waited. His hand slid up her thigh and under the hem of her skirt. He wasn’t even touching her skin to skin—hadn’t slid those tormenting fingers beneath her panties. But the slow circles, the skating tips of his fingers were enough to pull her into the furnace... He wove the fingers of his other hand into her braid and kept her head tilted towards him. The smallest sinful smile curved his lips. She knew what he wanted. To watch her—this close—as he made her lose control with the gentlest, lightest of touches. Such torment. Because she knew his strength and she wanted all of him—full power. Her breathing shortened, she spread her legs, she tilted her chin. She wanted his kiss. She wanted him to lose control too, wanted himwithher in this.
‘Let go, beautiful. I’m here. I’ve got you,’ he breathed. His blue eyes gleamed—provocative, possessive, protective. Giving her almost everything she wanted.
She sank, shuddering under the waves of bliss as they washed through her. Breathing out deeply, she looked back up into his eyes—saw the glint of satisfaction in his eyes, the strain of desire in the firm hold of his mouth.
She wanted more. Of course she wanted more. She could never concentrate now. Not on anything else until she’d made him feel the same.
The flicker of amusement in his face told her he knew. ‘One, nil,’ he smugly muttered.
‘You’re keeping a tally?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you’re keeping a tally.’
This was all a game to him. It could be to her too, couldn’t it? But with no rules at all now. The man did not play fair and there was nothing she couldn’t try with him.
‘What can I say, I like numbers.’ He shrugged. ‘You like them too. You know we have so much more in common than just our hometown. You’re as competitive as I am. As focused. As driven.’
‘You think?’ She liked that he saw her as an equal. As a worthy competitor. She leaned across him.
He stiffened. ‘What are you doing?’
She leaned a little lower. ‘Evening the score.’
It took Zane for ever to realise that the car had stopped. Good thing the rear windows were tinted. Her ‘evening the score’ had felled him. He’d hauled her close to finally kiss her. Once he’d started, he couldn’t stop. He’d kept kissing her and it had culminated in this—the complete loss of time, control, composure. Her crisp—so very HR—blouse was untucked and creased, most of the buttons undone. Her skin was flushed, her lips puffy. Her eyes were huge. Dishevelled and dazed, there was no hiding what she’d been doing. While he was just hot. So hot. And not just his shirt but his trousers were undone. He had the horrifying thought that his hunger for her was never going to end.
He pulled back from her and coughed. ‘I don’t think either of us are in any state to meet people.’
‘No,’ she agreed. ‘We’re just here to see property anyway. It’s a site expansion.’
Zane ran his hand through his hair and tried to summon a speck of concentration. Property was Cade’s interest. Whether this was the piece the guy was after, he didn’t know.
‘Why a blank site?’ He glanced out the window. ‘There’s nothing here, Skylar. What are we doing?’
‘It was metaphorical. I was hoping you can see the potential.’
He hated that this deal was between them. He wanted to forget about it so he could focus on seeing out this fling. Educating her in so many other ways.
‘You can’t, can you?’ she said quietly. ‘Because you’re so stuck on the fact that the old boss didn’t give you a scholarship? Hell, Zane. It wasn’t like you needed it. You’d achieved more by the time you were twenty than he personally had.’
He could tell her the rest of his history with Reed. How truly life-changing his meeting with the man had been. How devastating. Maybe then she would understand. But he’d never told anyone all of that. Never discussed it even with his mother. And she’d been there. He didn’t think he physically could. You kept your pain to yourself. You didn’t complain.