Page 93 of Last Breath

‘This image?’

‘You,’ he groaned into her stomach. ‘You in your fucking underwear. How was I meant to function after that, Nella? I don’t even remember what I said that night. It’s a bloody miracle I actually remembered what I was there for. You ... your body ... I’m a fucking mess whenever you ...’

‘Whenever I what?’ she said, cradling his face with her hands. ‘I don’t understand.’

He growled, hips flush against hers, their noses touching. ‘Do you understand now?’ He ground his hips into hers. ‘Do you understand what you do to me? Every. Fucking. Day?’

‘Every day?’

‘Every day.’

‘Since when?’

He should lie. He should say it was just since Friday night. Since the kiss. But somehow, he knew she’d know. He’d exposed too much.

‘Forever.’

‘And the second thing?’ Her words were calm but her chest was rising rapidly at his confession. ‘Your second thought, in the penthouse?’

‘Oh.’ He smiled into her neck. ‘My second thought was that I would never, ever, have you lying there with that expression on your face if we were in the same position.’

She bit her lip, her fingers again tracking perilously close to his scar. This time, he closed his eyes and let them.

‘I’m a lawyer, Randall,’ she whispered.

Some sort of sound came out of him that sounded likemmm?

‘I’m going to need evidence.’

Her words burned through him, flames dancing through his bloodstream as he pulled her into him, his whole body ignited by desire kept dormant for so long. A volcano, simmering for years, finally erupting.

‘You lied,’ he said into her mouth as she bit his bottom lip, arching against him when his fingers found the right rhythm.

The noise she made wasn’t coherent, but her eyes shot him daggers of understanding.

‘You said you weren’t turned on that night in the office. Were you lying, Nella?’

She closed her eyes. The sound that escaped her was so naked, so vulnerable. He wondered if anyone else had ever truly seen her lose control.

‘Yes.’

‘Ah.’ He kissed her deeply, electricity thrumming through his skin to hers. ‘I thought so.’

‘Arsehole,’ she hissed, nails digging into his back, pulling him down.

‘Already? Thought we’d take it slower.’

The sound she made was halfway between a scream and a laugh as she thumped him on the shoulder. It was the same sound she’d made countless times, countless jokes, effortless banter. Had it all been building up to this moment? It was as familiar and as strange to him as her body now – vulnerable, strong, in the way only Nella could be.

Friends, he thought hazily as he licked the peak of her nipple through lace.Friends,he reminded himself as he inhaled the scent of her as she shuffled up towards the door.

Friends.It was a faint echo as her legs parted, knee against the gear stick, his mouth on her stomach.

‘Are you timing, or am I?’ she whispered.

‘Timing?’

‘Five minutes. In the back of your car, right?’