Page 135 of When The Night Falls

Tears pricked my eyes. I was deeply moved. Turning, I raised my hand and stroked his cheek. ‘Do you really mean that?’

‘Yes.’

I snuggled closer and stopped only when our noses touched. ‘You’re such a romantic.’

‘About you, yeah. You’ve driven me mad.’

‘Well, you drive me mad too.’

‘Do I?’ He sounded surprised.

‘Yes.’ My lips protruded as I pouted, tickling against his. He must have thought I was searching for a kiss because, as I was about to pull back, his hand caught my neck and held me in place. Then his mouth was on mine again.

The beats of my heart had never been louder. My pulse drummed behind my ears, attenuating the sound of our lips moving passionately against each other. When he rolled onto me, my intense feelings overwhelmed my chest. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. It was like my lungs had ceased functioning to create space for that foreign emotion.

‘Will,’ I said on a loud breath. ‘We shouldn’t.’

His hands felt like fire on my skin, resolutely amorous and awakening the desire to sin again.

‘We absolutely shouldn’t,’ he said, his hand sliding down my waist. Using his knee, he spread my legs, positioned himself between them, and lay down on me. His arms on either side of me supported the weight of his upper body, and I had never felt so safe.

His mouth dived for mine again, and I was instantly lost in its sensual dance. I knew I ought to pull away, but I couldn’t. His magnetism was too powerful to resist, and our bodies communicated too well. They wanted each other desperately, and it seemed impossible to deny it.

‘I want to be yours, Cara,’ he whispered between lustful kisses. ‘Say you’ll consider it. Just one chance.’

Turning my head, I heaved for air to steady myself. I wanted him so badly. My body was beseeching me to surrender, to leap into sin.

His mouth landed on my throat, tracing the vein that revealed how hard my heart was beating just for him. I groaned and ran my fingers through his hair. An aching burgeoned between my legs, begging for his intrusion. I wanted to feel him within me again. If I didn’t, I thought I would lose my mind.

‘Will, we need to stop.’

‘We do.’ He claimed my mouth while his hands travelled hungrily across my body, and he knew exactly where to squeeze, where to stroke and where to pinch. ‘But I can’t,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to push me away.’

I closed my legs around him and pressed him down on me. Another wave of arousal flooded my system when I felt his erection between us, pushing against my entrance. I kissed the crook of his neck, taking his scent deep into my lungs, and felt myself fade ever so slightly. His embrace was the closest I would ever come to experiencing heaven. I was sure.

‘Say you’ll consider it, Cara.’ He folded his hand over my breast and squeezed the aching mass. I moaned against his throat. ‘Let me pleasure you like this,’ he purred and lowered his lips to my ear. ‘Over, and over, and over.’

I huffed, wondering whether rejecting him was really the right course of action. If I wasted this chance and he moved on, I knew I would regret it. Moreover, the argument that I should avoid him so as not to get my attention divided was no longer valid; I had hardly thought about anything but him since April, so I didn’t think refusing him would actually make any difference. One way or another, I would remain preoccupied with him for quite some time, so did I really have anything to lose?

I considered how it could affect our situation at work. Both Violet and William had provided strong arguments for ignoring our role as colleagues. It was true that I was only going to work under William for three months, and that I could always get someone else to write my reference – Violet, for example. And if we kept our liaison a secret, it wouldn’t harm my chances of getting hired. However, if things ended on a bad note between us, working at Day & Night could turn out to be difficult. I might not even want to work there, and it didn’t help that it would be a lot harder to find employment somewhere else; it was much easier to get a job where you completed a placement than at other firms.

I thought of Jason. Judging from his reaction earlier, he would probably prefer if I gave William a chance. Besides, things had reached a point between William and me where the damage, in regard to Jason, had already been done. I didn’t think he would be any more likely to pick William in a couple of years than he was now. On the contrary, he would probably be less likely to abandon me then, because we would have even more years of friendship behind us.

There was also Aaron. I would need to end things with him, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. Though I had never been in love with him, I was still attached to him. He had become a habit, and it was a habit I loved in my own way, because it offered freedoms that a relationship with William would not.

It was like my heart switched off my brain and took control of my tongue when I said, ‘Okay.’ I took a deep breath. ‘Okay, I’ll give you a chance.’

All at once, William stopped – stopped kissing, stopped moving, stopped breathing.

‘Really?’ Disbelief saturated his tone.

‘Yes.’ I grinned in the dark.

‘Really?’ he repeated, but he seemed sceptical now.

I giggled. ‘Yes, Will. Really.’

‘Oh my God. I can’t believe this.’ He sounded overwhelmed.

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