Page 52 of Bride By Committee

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because by then we’d— In the elevator I’d— You’d—” She released her breath in an exasperated huff. “You know what I mean. It was very unfair of you to kiss me like you were a normal person and then turn around and be someone else when the lights came on.”

“I was trying to reassure you, not mislead you.” He’d finished with the buttons lining his shirt and glanced down to remove his cufflinks. They were heavy nuggets of misshapen gold and he discarded them onto a nearby coffee table as though they were cheap bits of plastic. “The reason you ignored the truth was because you didn’t want to face the ramifications.”

“What ramifications?”

“That you’d caught a lion by the tail and didn’t quite know what to do with him.”

“Well, Ido now,” she retorted. “I’m setting him free.”

“Too late, sweetheart.” He released his belt and ripped the leather through the loops. It cracked like a whip, the sound splitting the heaviness of the air around them. “You’re stuck with him, teeth, claws, hungry roar and all.”

Her breathing kicked up a notch. “Why are you doing this? Why can’t you accept that it’s not working out between us and let it go?”

“Let you go, you mean.”

“Yes!”

“Not a chance.” He tore the shirt from his shoulders and dropped it to the floor. With a single stride he ate up the final few feet separating them. Everything about him felt intensely male, overwhelmingly male. His partial nudity, his distinctive scent, the endless ripple of muscle that eclipsed all else within sight, the tough, ravenous timbre of his voice. Even the earthy glitter in his eyes held a masculine threat. “Admit it, Madison, you want me as much as I want you.”

“Do you need to hear me admit it? Fine. Iwant you. I’d like to have you in my bed for a night or two of mindless sex. And then I’d like to say thank you very much and wave a fond farewell.”

“That’s all this is? Lust?”

She didn’t have a single qualm about admitting it. “That’s all,” she confirmed.

“And a few nights of mindless sex will suffice. Appetite satisfied?”

“No question.”

“So what are you waiting for?” He touched her, asingle sweep of his finger that scorched her skin from jawline to collarbone. “There’s a bedroom a few feet away. Rosy’s naughty-but-safe tree has dozens of leaves to choose from. All you have to do is pick one. That is what you asked for, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

It was the truth. She’d wanted him from the first minute his voice had filled her ears. Maybe she’d been affected by those stupid love principles of Bartholomew’s, after all. But somehow she questioned that it was that simple. She and Harry had connected on the elevator. And no matter how much she tried to deny it, they were more alike than not. But that didn’t mean they were destined to share forever together. Her future didn’t offer such a dream. Still… They had tonight, didn’tthey?

“Harry,” she whispered. “You asked if we could have an affair.”

He tried to read her expression, to analyze precisely where she was going with her declaration. “Are you agreeing?”

“Yes.”

He took an educated guess. “But it’ll be a temporary relationship, right?”

“No commitment. No promises. Just two people who crave each other,” she confirmed.

Why didn’t that surprise him? “Are you sure that’s all there is to it?”

“I’m positive.” His hesitation must have bothered her because an urgency gathered in her voice. “Please, Harry. Make love to me.”

Love? “I thought you said sex.”

She stared in confusion. “I did.”

He inclined his head. “Then that’s what I’ll give you.”

His mouth came down on hers, ending any further discussion. His touch was hard and driven and purposeful, and she surrendered to him without hesitation or doubt. He removed her suit jacket in a few swift movements, before making short work of the buttons anchoring both her skirt and blouse. Within seconds he’d stripped her of those, as well. And in between the loss of each garment he continued to take her mouth in short, biting kisses.

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