Текст книги "The Greek Tycoon's secret child"

Автор книги: Cathy Williams

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„Oh, I bought the building, renovated it and then sold it on.‟ He watched her digest this information whilst his mind began to drift off into images of that exotically beautiful face glowing with the film of passion, her body unclothed, writhing in a lover‟s embrace. His embrace.

He cleared his throat, sat up straighter. „As I mentioned, that‟s a part of what I do.‟

She found she wanted to hear more. Wanted to find out more about him. It wouldn‟t do.

Time to rectify a situation before it became too dangerous.

„Sounds very important. So…how did you manage to just land up doing that? It must cost an absolute fortune to go into the property business. Mustn‟t it? Especially in London.‟

„I studied economics at university,‟ Dominic said abruptly. „Went into finance before I got into the property side.‟

„You must have made a great deal of money in finance in that case. To enable you to have the capital to play with.‟ Mattie pretended to muse on the conundrum of this.

Dominic gave her a long, narrowed look which she met with widely innocent eyes. „I‟ve always had a fair amount of money at my disposal.‟

„Ah.‟ Of course he would have. He was a man born into money. It sat on his shoulders like an invisible cloak. And she had wanted him to say it. Out loud. So that she could remind herself of yet another reason why she should get out of this place and fast, before his sexy face and ability to listen and smooth-talking charm got the better of her caution.

„So…what did your parents do?‟

„Is this really relevant?‟

„It is to me.‟

„My father is in shipping.‟

„Builds them, you mean?‟

„You know exactly what I mean.‟

„My mum was a cleaner. She died ten years ago. My dad was a carpenter, except not many people seem to want handmade things these days. He lives in Bournemouth now. He still makes bits and pieces for himself, but his full-time job is supervisor at a furniture factory.‟

Mattie stood up and smiled politely.

She felt disproportionately hurt at the fact that she would never see him again, but she had had to do it. Had to make him see the one difference between them that would always be there.

„Well, thanks for the coffee. No, please, I can get a taxi home myself.‟ She just couldn‟t face the underground just now. And before he could say another word she was hurrying out of the door, up the stairs and through the chic foyer that looked as though it had stepped straight out of a magazine.

CHAPTER THREE

„OH, NO, you don‟t.‟

Mattie heard the rapid footsteps behind her at the same time as she heard his voice, which was just as he gripped her arm and swung her around to face him.

„You are not going to sling this in my face and then run away before I have time to refute it.‟

„I‟m not running away from anything. I‟m going home, if it‟s all the same to you!‟

„No, well, as a matter of fact, it‟s not.‟

Her heart was beating a mile a minute, racing inside her like a roller coaster that had gone wildly out of control, and his hand on her arm was like a vice grip, but one that was doing crazy things to her stomach, just the sort of crazy things she didn‟t want to happen.

„Well, tough!‟

„Not good enough, Mattie.‟ He reached out one hand to hail a taxi and kept the other one firmly on her arm. „Where do you live? I‟ll drop you home. We can talk on the way.‟

„No!‟

Drop her home? And what if Frankie just happened to be up and moving around?

Unlikely, but not a possibility she could rule out. Frankie, after a few bottles of beer, couldn‟t be relied on to behave in a predictable manner and go to sleep. And the thought of him storming out of the house and confronting Dominic Drecos was enough to make her blood curdle. She knew who would be the loser and it wouldn‟t be the man opening the door of the taxi now for her to step past him.

„Why not?‟ Dominic demanded, leaning forward, invading her space and noticing that she was leaning forward too, not shrinking away from him like a scared rabbit.

„Because…‟

„Because what?‟

„Because…‟ Because she didn‟t want Frankie, if he happened to be up, to see her with him? To get the wrong idea? Because even after all they had been through, she still didn‟t have it in her to hurt him like that? Or was it, she wondered uneasily, because she didn‟t want this man to know that a boyfriend existed?

„Because I don‟t reveal my address to strangers, especially when those strangers happen to have been a customer in the nightclub where I work!‟

Dominic grimaced, seeing her point of view but knowing that the last thing he would do would be to take advantage of her. He had covered some distance, he thought with another grimace to himself, since he had first set eyes on her and concluded that he wanted her. Now, along with those signals that she sent out, that had every masculine pore in his body rearing into full-blooded life, were other, more complex ones. He wanted to get to know her, against all his better judgement, and in order to do that he would have to take his time.

„In which case, I suggest we go back to my apartment.‟

Mattie almost laughed at the suggestion, even though a treacherous part of her stirred at the thought of it.

„Over my dead body.‟

„Where there is a very comfortable sitting area downstairs. We can finish our

conversation.‟ He gave his address to the taxi driver and was aware of her staring at him for having removed the decision from her hands.

„You really have got a nerve! How dare you?‟

„Stop running from me,‟ he drawled softly. „I always catch the things I want, Mattie.‟

„And you want me.‟

„And I want you.‟

He wasn‟t touching her, but God, she felt her body burn as if he were.

„You want a good-looking waitress in a nightclub. You don‟t want me. You don‟t even know me.‟

„Is that a plea from the heart?‟ he drawled.

„It‟s a matter-of-fact statement, actually,‟ Mattie snapped in return. „You may have spent your life with women tripping behind you in your wake, wondering if they might be the lucky little thing to get the ring on her finger, but, buddy, where I come from I can see straight through men like you! You‟re a taker, Mr Drecos.‟

„But you don‟t even know me.‟

Mattie uttered the strangled sound of someone whose impeccable reason has been neatly lobbed right back at them, and decided that she wouldn‟t dignify his comment with a reply. Not that she could think of anything to say to his barbed piece of verbal cleverness.

But she didn‟t like the fact that she was sitting in a taxi with him and being transported to wherever his apartment was, even though that gut feeling she had had three evenings before was back with her. A deep knowing that he was a man who didn‟t lie. If he said that there would be somewhere downstairs where they could talk, then there would be.

The problem was that she didn‟t want to talk.

No, she amended truthfully to herself, the problem was that she was a little too tempted to talk for her own good.

She felt as though her emotions had been put on hold forever, building up behind a dam which was beginning to strain at the weight put against it.

She wanted to talk, but why him? He had already told her what kind of interest he was feeling and it wasn‟t the sort that wanted to get to know her, whatever he had to say on the subject. It was the sort that wanted to get her into his bed.

„If I get there and I find that the only thing waiting downstairs is a lift to carry me up to your apartment, then you‟re out of luck. I‟ll walk straight back out of the door and into the nearest taxi I can find!‟

„Fair enough.‟

He had deprived her of further argument, but he could still feel her simmering away next to him. Sexy as hell and as appealingly defensive as a cornered cat.

He watched her averted profile, the stubborn tilt of her head, and wondered if she had any idea how seductive her mutinous silence was.

By the time the taxi pulled up in front of his apartment block, he was almost willing to bet that she would have changed her mind about coming in.

But all she said to the driver was, „Would you mind waiting here for a few minutes? Just in case I need to get back to my house?‟

„No problem, love.‟

„Well? Does it pass muster?‟ Dominic asked, the minute they were inside the building.

„There‟s the sitting area over there and, as you can see, there‟s a security guy permanently on call by the desk. His name‟s Charlie and I‟m sure he‟ll fly to your rescue if you decide to start shrieking.‟

„Very funny.‟

„So are you going to tell our taxi driver to disappear or are you going to climb into his taxi and run away again?‟

It was his implication of cowardice that did it. Or so Mattie told herself. She walked out of the foyer without answering, leaving him to nurse the unsettling thought that she had decided to clear off, then returned almost immediately.

Dominic could hardly believe the surge of relief that washed over him.

They stood and stared at one another, across the expanse of expensively tiled foyer, with Charlie‟s curious gaze flicking from one to the other, and Mattie was the first to move, walking towards him with the same wary expression on her face.

„Would you like something to drink?‟

„Where from? I don‟t see too many vending machines around here.‟

„No vending machines,‟ Dominic agreed, standing perfectly still, waiting for her to approach him, to look up at him. „But a kitchen just off behind you. Charlie has all the necessary equipment to provide us with coffee or tea or whatever your preference is. At a pinch, he could probably rustle up something to eat, although I wouldn‟t guarantee that it would go beyond a sandwich.‟

„Coffee would be fine.‟

„And you can take your jacket off,‟ Dominic said drily. „Sit wherever you like.‟

Unlike many London apartment blocks, this particular one was fairly unique in so far as there was always a porter manning a desk at the front, and the actual hall area was extensive.

Large enough to accommodate the generous proportions of Charlie‟s desk, as well as two separate sets of sitting areas and a fair number of plants that were cleaned and watered daily.

She was still standing uncertainly when he returned to her with two mugs of coffee and a plate of biscuits balanced precariously on the top of one of the mugs.

„This is beautiful,‟ Mattie said politely, following his lead and sitting down, though not on the two-seater sofa alongside him, but in the chair facing him.

He was at home here. He breathed power and wealth and these surroundings were

tailor-made for men who were powerful and wealthy. The marble tiles on the floor gleamed, the brass details on the balustrade that wound up the flights of stairs were indecently shiny, the overhead chandeliers were solid and impressive.

„So.‟ She sipped some of the coffee and tried to remain blithely underwhelmed by the surroundings. „You have an apartment here…‟

„I have…‟

She could sense his dark eyes fixed on her as she slowly looked all around and had never felt more self-conscious in her life before. Jeans, a sweatshirt and trainers were not at home in a place like this, although, in all fairness, he hardly seemed to notice her attire.

She noticed, though, and weakly reminded herself that her duty was to carry on pointing out all the differences between them, as she had started to do in the hotel bar.

„So…you live in London, full-time. Do you?‟

„I live primarily in London, but I travel a lot.‟

„Oh, yes. Of course. To visit your parents in Greece, I expect.‟

„Among other things.‟

„What other things?‟

„Work, usually. New York, Paris. Just recently, the Middle East.‟

„Leading eventually to what? A global takeover?‟ She laughed a little nervously and sipped some more of the coffee. „It all sounds very high-powered. And what do you do when you want to relax? Nightclubs?‟

„When I want to relax, I usually go to the Cotswolds. I have a house there. If you perch any closer on the edge of that chair, you‟re going to fall off.‟

Mattie wriggled into a more comfortable position. „You have a house in the Cotswolds. A country retreat.‟

„Something like that.‟ The look he gave her was one of gleaming, devilish amusement.

„Now, aren‟t you going to attack me for the luxury?‟

She shrugged. „I wasn‟t attacking you earlier on, if that‟s what you‟re implying.‟

„No? What were you doing, in that case?‟

„I was reminding you why you don‟t stand a chance in hell of getting me into your bed, never mind your big-headed notion that whatever you want in life you get.‟

„Why don‟t you come and sit here next to me on this sofa and tell me that again?‟

It was like being shot through with a volt of electricity that ran from the tips of her toes to the hair on her scalp, but she made herself look at him with incredulity.

„Is that how you would address the women you go out with?‟ she fired scornfully.

„No, I don‟t suppose it is.‟

„I know that. Because I happen to work in a nightclub, you think that you can speak to me just as you want to and poor, awestruck little me would have no choice but to immediately fall to my feet!‟

„Because the women I go out with would already have taken the decision to sit right here next to me. If, of course, we were here in the first place.‟

The implication in his lazy statement rushed at her and reddened her face.

No, he wouldn‟t be sitting in the foyer here when his apartment was only an elevator ride away.

„Would you be as defensive as you are if we hadn‟t met in a nightclub?‟ he asked curiously. „If I didn‟t know what you did for a living?‟

„We wouldn‟t have met.‟

„You haven‟t answered my question.‟

„I‟m not defensive,‟ Mattie lied and prevaricated at the same time. „I‟m a realist. We come from opposite sides of the tracks. Look at the way you‟re dressed, for heaven‟s sake! I would bet my life that that suit of yours wasn‟t sitting on a peg in a department store on Oxford Street. Was it?‟

„This line of conversation isn‟t going to get us anywhere.‟

„I don‟t want to get anywhere with you!‟

„Then why are you here?‟

Mattie flushed. „Because I was manipulated into coming,‟ she said awkwardly.

„Don‟t be ridiculous. Now you‟re pretending to be a passive victim of circumstance. Is that how you feel? About being here? With me? About yourself?‟

„You don‟t understand.‟

„Try me.‟

„I want to go home now.‟

„No, you don‟t. Come upstairs to my apartment. It‟s more comfortable than being down here.‟

„More dangerous, you mean.‟

„Do you think I‟m dangerous?‟

„A girl can‟t be too careful.‟

„Do you?‟

„I wasn‟t born yesterday, Mr Drecos.‟

„Stop calling me that. The name is Dominic. And you still haven‟t answered my

question.‟

„You‟ve already told me what your intentions are.‟

„I‟ve never gone near a woman who didn‟t want me to be near her. Let‟s go upstairs.‟

„I‟ll stay half an hour then I‟m off. And this time, I don‟t want you coming back to the nightclub to see me! OK?‟

He didn‟t answer. Instead, he stood up, waiting for her, giving her time to consider what she had done. Going upstairs with him to his apartment! Another step towards the edge of a cliff, or that was how she felt.

Although, she told herself sternly, hadn‟t she made sure to tell him that, after tonight, no more?

She walked with him to the lift and concentrated hard on the control panel as they were whirred up and the doors opened to a lushly carpeted corridor.

She knew that his apartment was going to be luxurious. But she wasn‟t prepared for exactly how luxurious.

Rich wooden floors peppered with silky Persian rugs, an open-plan layout that

exaggerated the space and allowed the eye to roam freely over the beautiful spread of low, clean-lined furniture, glass-topped dining-table with a thick band of wood framing the glass, white walls interrupted with large, dramatic paintings. And the kitchen, to which he was now heading, was simply separated from the rest of the open space by a large semi-circular, granite-topped counter.

Mattie watched him, the way he dominated every inch of his surroundings, and felt another shiver of alarm that he had managed to get her this far.

„Like it?‟ he asked, fiddling with a high-tech coffee machine, and she licked her lips nervously and then sat on one of the chrome and wooden high stools at the kitchen counter.

„Who wouldn‟t?‟

„Where do you live?‟ He slid a plain, squat, white china mug over to her and then perched on a similar stool to face her across the counter.

This was what she had dreaded. The intimacy of being somewhere private with him, and it couldn‟t get more private than this, but his remark about her seeing herself as a passive victim had rankled and had been one of the reasons she had agreed to come up here with him. She could take control.

„Privileged information, I‟m afraid.‟ They were both leaning on the counter, holding their mugs to their lips, and their eyes met.

She had a face, he thought, looking at her, that he quite simply enjoyed watching. It wasn‟t just the beauty of the features or the luminosity of her green eyes or the way her silver-blonde hair cascaded down her back. It was the humour and intelligence he could see there which she tried so hard to conceal underneath an aggressive hostility that seemed at odds with the physical look she presented.

She had a mind that he enjoyed tussling with.

And she had thrown him a gauntlet that he couldn‟t resist taking up.

„Now, I wonder why I shouldn‟t have guessed that,‟ he drawled, sipping his coffee and looking at her over the rim of his cup. „What do you do when you‟re not working?‟

„Why?‟

„Because, generally speaking, these are the sorts of things two people might ask one another in the course of conversation.‟

Mattie considered the question and tried to work out why she was finding this man so disconcerting. However, since she wasn‟t going to be seeing him again after tonight, what was the point in concealing what she had no reason to hide?

„I try and grab some sleep whenever I can.‟

„How long have you been there?‟

„Oh, about seven or eight months.‟

She was still looking at him cautiously with those amazing eyes, as if she expected him to make some sudden move and was braced to defend herself.

She had relaxed enough to take her jacket off, though, and had shoved up the sleeves of her jumper so that her slender arms were exposed, lightly dusted with golden hair. Her watch was a cheap plastic affair with a thick pink strap.

She was right when she said that they came from opposite sides of the tracks. Rosalind, for starters, would never have been seen dead without her delicate gold Rolex.

He caught himself and remembered that this was not intended to be a relationship, but an affair in the making. He was, he reminded himself, through with relationships.

„And before that?‟

Mattie shrugged. „Oh, I worked in a restaurant.‟

„So you sleep by day and work by night. A vampire‟s existence.‟

„I don‟t just spend all day in bed,‟ she flared. „I…I do other things as well.‟

„Such as?‟

„I wish you‟d stop pretending to be interested in what I do and don‟t do.‟

„And I wish you‟d stop thinking that you can read me like a book. A trashy erotic novel with very big type.‟ He gave her a crooked smile and she couldn‟t help herself. She smiled back.

„Now tell me what you do during the day.‟

„I…well, actually, I‟m taking a course at the moment.‟ Mattie lowered her eyes and wondered what had possessed her to divulge this personal piece of information.

She thought of Frankie, realised with an unpleasant little start that he had not crossed her mind all night.

„What kind of course?‟

„Marketing,‟ she said abruptly.

’Marketing?’

„That‟s right! Marketing!‟ She glared at him and in her head she could hear Frankie‟s scathing criticisms of her desire to better herself, could hear him telling her over and over again that she just wasn‟t good enough to make the grade, that she had left school before getting any qualifications to speak of.

„Yes, I left school when I was sixteen! Yes, I‟m not exactly what most people might see as ideal marketing material! But I can do this! Because I work nights in a nightclub and dress in skimpy little outfits doesn‟t mean that I don‟t have a perfectly good, functioning brain in my head! You might think that I‟m a blonde bimbo but you‟re wrong!‟

„I think it‟s a brilliant idea.‟

„What…?‟

„I said I think it‟s a brilliant idea.‟

They looked at one another. Mattie‟s eyes drifted from his fathomless black ones down to his mouth, that sweetly sexy mouth of his, and she quickly looked away.

„Why did you leave school at sixteen?‟

„I…everyone I knew was doing it…it seemed exciting at the time…getting out of school, becoming an adult, earning money…‟ She fiddled with the handle of the mug and stared down into the dregs of coffee at the bottom.

„And that was…how long ago?‟

„Seven years.‟ Mattie dared him to share any caustic reflections on her academic non-achievements.

„And you never thought earlier about resuming your education?‟

„It‟s not as easy as you make it sound!‟

„Oh, where there‟s a will there‟s a way,‟ Dominic murmured. He watched the way her breasts rested lightly on the counter-top and hot blood surged through him. „So, when does this marketing course finish?‟

„I hand in my last project next week.‟

„Then you quit the nightclub and get a job?‟

„Then I hang on to my nightclub job because I still need the money and start the rounds of employment agencies. Sometimes the course supervisor can recommend someone for a job, but they have to be very good.‟ She stuck out her chin and remembered to scowl. „So there‟s my potted life history. Not very exciting, is it? And now that we‟ve had our little chat, I think it‟s time I made my way back.‟

„Where does sleep figure in all of this?‟

„I beg your pardon?‟

„Sleep? You must be running on adrenaline and nervous energy. Let me make you

another coffee.‟

„I try and get at least six hours in the course of twenty-four.‟

If Frankie allowed her. Usually, if he was in a particularly foul mood, he would think nothing of waking her up simply to commence an argument of sorts, even though he always backed off before he could push her to the absolute limit. Backed off and usually left the house.

„Here. Drink this. Then I‟ll drop you home. Or you could stay the night here. I have three bedrooms.‟

„Stay the night?‟ Mattie looked at him incredulously. „Are you completely mad?‟ She scrambled off the stool and reached for her jacket, which she had tossed on the counter.

Well, who could blame him?

The last thing she wanted to do was spend the night in this apartment, even if she locked herself in a spare bedroom and then stuck a chair under the door handle for safe measure! Just knowing that he was sleeping not far away would guarantee a restless night.

Because…because…

Because he was dangerous, she thought. Things were dangerous between them. He was just too much of everything that was bad for a girl‟s health. And she had enjoyed talking to him too much for her own good.

She feverishly began walking towards the door and he sprang from his stool and followed her, overtook her, leaned against the door so that she was compelled to halt her frantic escape and look at him.

„Don‟t.‟

„Don‟t what?‟ Dominic asked softly. And then he couldn‟t help himself. He reached and stroked some strands of hair away from her face and then left his hand there, tangled in her hair.

It felt good. Better than good.

„Don‟t do what you‟re doing,‟ Mattie whispered unevenly, although she couldn‟t seem to find the strength to pull away from him.

„I‟m not doing anything. Yet.‟

She whimpered and made a half-hearted attempt to draw back, but the light pressure of his hand against the side of her head was clogging up her thought processes.

„I said I‟d talk and I‟ve talked.‟

„Maybe it‟s not enough.‟

„You promised…‟

„Did I? I don‟t think so. I never make promises I know I won‟t be able to keep.‟

His hand had moved to cup her face and one finger traced the outline of her trembling mouth.

„I want to see you again,‟ he told her huskily. „And again. And again.‟

„I‟ve told you, there‟s no point.‟

„You‟ve told me that we come from different sides of the tracks and that you‟re not for sale because you happen to work in a nightclub. Well, I‟m not interested in buying my women and I don‟t give a damn about what side of the tracks you do or don‟t come from.‟

He moved around, just an easy, graceful shift of position, so that now she was leaning against the door and he was in front of her. Then he propped himself against the door with the flat of one hand, and with the other he began to do the unthinkable.

He began to trail his fingers along the circular rim of her jumper.

Mattie had her hands pressed against the door, wanting to run but longing to stay just where she was and let her body carry on responding the way it was doing right now.

It had been a long time.

Even before she and Frankie had ceased all form of physical contact, apart from the very occasional hug when they both found themselves helpless victims of nostalgia, regret and awareness of the chasm between them, Mattie had found it impossible to respond to him. His touch had left her cold, made her want to curl up into a ball and hide away. For a long time, she had put it down to sheer exhaustion at the hectic hours she kept and the demands on her time.

Then she had seen it for what it was—she no longer enjoyed being with him and that had simply extended to all areas of her life.

„Please, Dominic…‟

His name left her lips like a breathless caress. She should have called him Mr Drecos.

That would have established some distance between them.

„Look, Mattie, I know you think I‟ve pursued you for no better reason than to get you into bed…‟

„And haven‟t you?‟

„I want to enjoy you.‟

„I told you…‟ Mattie could hardly recognise her own voice. It was shaky and husky, probably because she felt as if she was gasping for air.

„And you want to enjoy me too.‟ His kiss as he lowered his head was as light and as unthreatening as a feather brushing against her mouth, but it still managed to turn her legs to jelly. They matched her brain.

„Is it a crime to give in to mutual attraction?‟

This time his kiss was a little less unthreatening and far, far more shockingly potent, because he was doing things with his tongue, invading her mouth, exploring her until she could barely support herself against the door.

„Well, is it?‟ he murmured unsteadily, drawing back from her so that she felt the absence of his touch like a sudden, yawning hole inside her.

„You‟re confusing me.‟

„Good. I want to confuse you. Just as you confuse me. I want you to shiver every time I cross your thoughts and I want to send every nerve in your body into disarray whenever I touch you.‟

He was virtually making love to her with his words, something she had never

experienced in her life before. But then, her only lover had been Frankie and words had never been his strong point. Looks, yes. The Irish blood in him had given him those all right, but that was as far as it went.

She was up against a different species here and she knew it. And, knowing it, she struggled to get her own thought processes into working order.

She could hardly dredge up Frankie‟s face under the onslaught of emotion flooding through her like a tidal wave!

His hand, that damned hand of his, slithered to caress her bare skin under the jumper. Just the flat, hard lines of her stomach, not venturing anywhere higher up, but it was sufficient to make her catch her breath. In surprise. And, she thought chaotically, pleasure. No, pleasure was too mediocre a word. Excitement.

„So…will you spend the night here? With me? In my bed?‟

„No…please…‟ Mattie clung on to what coherent common sense was still in play. „This is…is ridiculous…‟ The hand crept fractionally higher.

His own patience astounded him. He could feel her trembling under him, wanting him, but he was still having to rein in his impulse to lift her off her feet and sweep her into his bedroom like a primitive caveman taking possession of his woman.

His hand was only inches away from her breasts. Beautiful, well-shaped breasts that he wanted to touch and suck and worship.

„We have nothing in common…‟

„I can think of something we have very much in common, actually…‟

„Go and play your games with your own type…‟

„I don‟t have a type. Only bores have types.‟

„Well, go and play your games with…with someone else…!‟ The scattered conversation had done what it needed to do. Gave her room to breathe instead of just waving and drowning under her panting senses.

Gave her time to remember the man waiting for her back at the house and the

impossibility of her situation.

She wriggled slightly and the hand that had been doing such dangerous things to her stomach found what it had been edging towards.

Mattie literally jumped as his long, expert fingers worked their way over her breast, found the nipple pointing and aching under the lacy bra and rubbed it.

One more minute and she could say goodbye to any kind of self-restraint.

„No!‟ She pushed his hand and he removed it immediately but only so that it could join his other hand, still lying palm down against the door.

He looked at her in the trap he had managed to create, with both his hands caging her in.

„We‟re both adults,‟ he said flatly, determined to knock through her defences, „and we‟re both attracted to one another. And there‟s no point denying it.‟

„All right, then! I won‟t deny it! But it still isn‟t going to happen!‟

„Why the hell not?‟

„Because I‟m living with someone. Because I happen to have a boyfriend!‟