Page 39 of Pleasure Payback

I grimaced at the fierce denial that tunnelled through me.

This had gone beyond business.

I wanted her. Badly. Enough to attempt to breach that wall she’d built around herself despite knowing she was right in her accusation about my actions two years ago.

I hadn’t held back my verdict to Cahill because I’d believed she wasn’t ready. I stood by that belief.

And hell, the morning after the night in her bed, I’d been in no mood to prolong any association with Malcolm Cahill beyond the necessary. I’d woken up burning in the reality that there’d be no definitive resolution to the hours Penny had stolen from me by drugging me that night. That there would always be a hole in my life from her actions.

I slammed my closed fist against the glass. Neve’s scent invaded my senses again. And just like that I was hard as fuck again.

Forehead propped against the cool glass, I brought the fragile scrap to my nose and inhaled long and deep. The inevitable accepted, I tugged my zip down and freed my engorged cock. Tension and anticipation ramped through me as I wrapped Neve’s panties around my cock and began to stroke myself.

The hard piston-fast tugs were nowhere near as glorious as I knew her tight, wet pussy would’ve been. My dick didn’t care. Within seconds my balls drew up tight and urgent. A thick curse ripped from my throat, my vision blanked and hot spurts spilled onto my lace-covered hand.

When I caught my breath, I staggered a few steps and dropped onto the sofa and accepted my reality. Neve Nolan was a fever in my blood. One I was certain wouldn’t easily be dispersed.

Acceptance brought a little questionable relief.

And two dozen churning questions.

How did I break down Neve’s walls? Why the hell did I want to when my own were built on questionable foundations?

And beyond that, could I go ahead without coming clean about my past?

But fuck...how the hell did you tell the woman you were insanely attracted to that all signs pointed to the fact that three years ago you’d beenroofiedand ended up in bed with your cousin’s fiancée?

A chill burrowed deep into my bones, tightening every muscle in my body in anger and frustrated bitterness.

There was no way to relate that story without inducing disgust and mistrust. Hell, I was shocked and disgusted at myself for falling for the trap of going for a drink with Penny in the first place.

As for trust, how could I begin to trust anyone when I didn’t even trust myself?

The answer was shockingly clear.

I couldn’t.

I was better off heeding my instinct to keep things strictly business.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Damian

INSTINCT.

That bloody useless and fickle thing changed its mind the moment I stepped off the helicopter early afternoon the next day, and saw Neve waiting on the edge of the helipad.

Last night, her cocktail dress might have looked spectacular, but the jade-green sundress gracing her body today was equally breathtaking.

The halterneck number displayed her flawless, lightly tanned shoulders and arms, and curved over her neat waist and hips to end a couple of inches above the knee, leaving her endless legs bare and immediately triggering images of them wrapped around my waist.

My situation wasn’t helped by the fact that I’d spent yet another restless night fighting the temptation to return to her hotel and talk her into finishing what she’d started.

I approached, my resistance crumbled to dust as the churned air from the rotor blades whipped Neve’s dark blonde hair across her face. She lifted a hand to slide strands off her cheek. A small gesture but my seriously sex-deprived state meant the motion of watching her tuck her long hair behind her ear was hell on my groin. Or perhaps it was that bold confidence in her eyes that threatened to undo me.

Undeniably, something about a strong, confident woman pushed all my buttons.

Orhadonce upon a time before another woman’s actions had shattered my trust.

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