Page 27 of Boss With Benefits

She shouldn’t be leaping to his defence. She shouldn’t be feeling compassion and sympathy for him or dwelling on the lost boy and troubled teen he must have been. Even though she now understood that the reason he’d been so reluctant to answer her questions about Helberg and the flight to London back in the office was because both triggered deeply personal and evidently painful memories, it wasn’t her responsibility to absolve him of the guilt he felt over his mother’s suicide or his sister’s troubled adolescence.

She must not get carried away. She must not read anything into what he’d told her at all. And why was he suddenly looking so intently at her? As if he wanted to devour her? Was the time for talking once again over? God, she hoped so, because she badly needed reminding that this was just sex. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘If I kissed you right now, would you assume I was trying to distract you?’

‘Are you?’

‘No.’

‘Then what are you waiting for?’

Adam had never revealed to anyone what he’d just told Ella. In direct contrast to his father, he kept his private life private. He believed that enough of his family’s dirty laundry had been washed in public and had always avoided personal interviews, partly because he feared giving up control of his narrative, partly because certainly in the early days of his stewardship of the company, he’d felt it would severely weaken his position. He’d certainly never been tempted to spill his guts to any of the women he dated, who’d never meant anything to him anyway.

So he hadn’t known what to expect when he’d taken a seat in the hammock and begun to talk to Ella. Fire and brimstone? A crash of thunder or lightning strike? At the very least, he might have anticipated severe discomfort. Judgement and disapproval had not been off the cards either.

However, there’d been none of that. No rent heavens or plagues of locusts. She’d just listened, without prejudice. And the only moment of unease he’d experienced was when her eyes had filled with sympathy at his mother’s suicide, which he did not deserve despite what she might claim.

Voicing it had been no worse than thinking it. In fact, he was more preoccupied with the outrage she’d displayed when they’d been talking about his visit to Charley. No one had ever come to his defence before. He’d always fought his battles on his own. He’d never had anyone in his corner. Yet in it she’d been.

His chest felt tight, his heart beating too fast. His head was spinning, even though he was half lying back. Above them, a vast canopy of stars twinkled in the inky blue night sky. Beyond the beach stretched the huge sea dotted with the odd light of a moored yacht. But all he was interested in was this hammock, which contained this woman. His gaze locked with hers. Her eyes were shining with invitation. A faint smile curved her mouth.

His pulse was thundering even before she removed her T-shirt, unclipped her bra and dropped both onto the sand. She shimmied out of her skirt and underwear until she was naked in the moonlight, and he thought he’d never seen such a beautiful sight.

‘You’re overdressed,’ she said, her gaze slowly roaming over him and setting fire to his blood. ‘I would help, but I wouldn’t want to tip us onto the sand.’

It was a matter of moments to get out of the hammock, remove his clothes and apply protection, even though his hands seemed to be trembling. Then he climbed back in carefully and arranged himself on top of her, lowering his head to hers and kissing her until she was panting and moaning and the world around them disappeared.

Her hands were in his hair, on his shoulders, holding him to her as if not wanting to let him go. Carefully, smoothly, he manoeuvred her onto her side and wrapped himself around her, her back tight against his chest, their legs entwined. She twisted her head round and he kissed her again, one hand tangled in her hair, the other on her breast.

Desire poured through him. His heart was pounding so hard she had to be able to feel it. When he slid his hand down her body, she shivered and pressed herself against his erection, which ached and throbbed. His fingers parted her and she raised her leg to grant him better access. He found her warm and wet, and when she reached behind her to take him in her hand, he couldn’t wait any longer. He held her hip, allowing her to guide him to her entrance, and when he was there, he surged into her slick velvety heat.

Ella gasped. His entire body shook. And then, cocooned in the hammock, so closely connected that not even the night’s breeze could find its way between them, they began to rock together. Slowly, steadily, yet with an intensity that built and built andbuilt, until she cried out softly and shattered, trembling against him as her fingers dug into his hip.

The powerful convulsions went on and on, clamping around him so relentlessly, so exquisitely, that they tipped him over the edge. With a hoarse groan, he pulled her against him and climaxed in a white-hot rush of ecstasy, pulsating into her harder and for longer than he ever had before, until he was limp, blitzed, completely hollowed out.

And just like that, he thought dazedly as they lay there, catching their breath, the sweat cooling on their bodies, the soul in the sex was back.

CHAPTER TWELVE

THENIGHTONthe beach was something of a turning point as far as Ella was concerned. She had no idea why Adam had chosen to suddenly lower his guard after days of keeping it firmly in place, but she didn’t much care. All that mattered was that this affair of theirs was now about as different to her last relationship as it was possible to get. There was balance. There was mutual respect and developing trust. There was also fun, because quite apart from the physical pleasure Adam continued to give her, he was also proving a most excellent host.

One afternoon he took her back up in the plane and patiently answered hermanyquestions about the shipwreck, the islands, the resorts and the structure of a blue hole.

Another they went snorkelling, which was something she’d never tried before, European city breaks not really lending themselves to the activity. As impressive as the Caribbean was from the air, from beneath it was breathtaking. Just when she thought she saw the most beautiful creature on earth, along came another. Shoal after shoal of brightly coloured fish darted through coral the colour of amethyst, emerald, amber. A ray glided gracefully by not six feet away from her. One turtle that hung around for a while was half her size.

The following morning, Adam put her into one of the single sculls he kept in the boathouse, fitted himself into the other, and tried to teach her to row. Scything through the crystal-clear water, his upper body muscles rippling with every stroke he took, he made it look effortless.

It wasn’t.

‘Do you do this a lot?’ she said, frustratingly unable to find any sort of co-ordination.

He rested his arms on his up-bent knees and watched as she went round and round in circles. ‘I used to back in the UK. Now I have a machine in my apartment.’

‘Handy.’

‘In more ways than one.’

‘What do you mean?’

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