Page 47 of The Charmer

She’d never be able to look at her favourite rug in the studio again without remembering the way he’d felt inside her, the way he’d touched her all over, the way he’d made her crave him with every turned on cell in her body.

The man was a menace.

She’d known it from the first second he set foot in her studio and now she had proof.

Closing her eyes, she leaned forward and rested her forehead against the cool glass.

What had she done?

She’d been doing her damnedest to push him away, to ignore the sizzling attraction between them, to focus on saving her business; and that meant getting as far from the corporate shark as possible.

Instead, she’d melted into a puddle of lust the minute he kissed her and nothing would ever be the same again.

At least, not for her.

She didn’t do casual sex, never had. She could count her past encounters on one hand and each had been with guys she’d been dating for a while. The scary thing was, nothing about last night with Cooper felt casual. She felt like she knew him and that scared her more than the way she’d jumped him; or how much she’d enjoyed it.

“You okay?”

Ariel jerked upright and her eyes flew open, only to wish she’d kept them shut. The sight of Cooper behind her—naked Cooper—reflected all too clearly in the mirror and her heart flipped.

“Fine. Just a bit tired.”

“I’m not surprised.” His warm, intimate smile notched up the temperature in the bathroom by a hundred degrees.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, fiddling with the tie of her favourite kimono, wishing he’d stop staring at her like he was starving and she was breakfast. “I’m usually up pretty early.”

“No problem.”

An awkward, tense silence stretched between them she would’ve given anything to avoid. Why couldn’t he stop gawking at her, get dressed, and get the hell out of her life?

She knew her jitters stemmed from the startling realisation how much he meant to her and the phenomenal sex only solidified it. So how could she extricate from this morning-after scenario without making a fool of herself?

His eyes met hers in the mirror and she glimpsed confusion. Join the club.

“You’re okay about what happened last night, right?”

To her annoyance, she blushed. “Fine.”

“You sure about that?”

She stiffened as he came closer and slid his arms around her waist from behind, leaving her no option but to lean back against him or jump up onto the antique vanity to avoid him.

“You’re gorgeous,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck, sending shivers through her body, resurrecting erotic memories of the way he’d kissed every inch of her last night. Every single tingling inch…

“And you’re crazy,” she said, grimacing at her reflection—frizzy hair, swollen lips that looked like they’d been ravaged all night, wide, luminous eyes filled with fear.

Fear of what happened next, fear of how much she’d miss Cooper once he exited her life, fear of never finding a guy to make her feel half as good as he’d made her feel last night.

“Whose fault is that?” He kissed his way up her neck, turning her around slowly, staring deep into her eyes. “You make me crazy. With your sexy smile, your incredible eyes, and that mouth that makes me want to do everything I did with you last night and so much more.”

His compliments warmed her heart but she had to establish some distance between them before she did something stupid. Like drag him back to her bed and ensure they didn’t leave it for the next forty-eight hours.

“You can cut the sweet talk. I’m a sure thing, remember?”

“Time for you to shut that sassy mouth of yours. Again,” he said, lowering his lips to hers, and his slow, sensual kiss would’ve curled her toes if she hadn’t been standing on them to reach him, desperate for one more taste of his lips but hating her treacherous body for it.

“I thought you said you didn’t have any more condoms?” By the feel of his boner pressing against her stomach, she guessed he wasn’t popping into the bathroom for a quick goodbye. More like a quickie something else.

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