Page 43 of Enemies with Benefits

She smiled, turned to Paolo. ‘I’ll be in touch in a few days, and I look forward to seeing you in Morocco at the launch.’

‘If I didn’t think you would do me bodily harm, my friend, I’d think of poaching that one from you,’ Paolo said as Wren walked away.

My grin was all teeth, no humour as I stared him down. ‘Yes, I would. So don’t even think about it.’

He laughed and rose from the table. Jaw clenched and thankful for the low lights in the restaurant, I joined him as we headed for the door.

Once he left, I eyed the ladies’ room, every cell in my body straining to storm through the doors, find the nearest empty stall and fuck Wren into a stupor. And damn the consequences. Before I could give in to the urge, I saw her walking towards me.

Bloody hell, she was gorgeous. I wanted her so badly, everything inside me ached with it. The novelty of it all stunned me for a moment, made me wonder if there wasn’t something...moreto all of this.

Then her perfume was filtering through my senses and I was cheerfully stepping back from examining that peculiar feeling. This was about sex. And business. Nothing more.

Yeah, right... That’s why you told her about your rubbish parents. That’s why you’ve been thinking about her non-stop for weeks. That’s why something inside you tightened with unfamiliar concern when you heard the pain in her voice on Monday.

I pushed the mocking voice away and held the door open for her. In lust-charged silence we headed for my car, our strides picking up speed. It was past eleven at night and the street was quiet and dim. Enough for a torrid little quickie. But I didn’t want that. Nor did I want to risk someone capturing us on camera. I wanted a feast. I wanted to gorge on Wren until this stark hunger inside me was assuaged. Then I wanted to feast some more.

Nevertheless, for a single moment when we reached my car, we stared at one another across the low hood, her eyes projecting everything we intended to do to each other.

The beeping of her phone wrenched us from the lust trance. When mine pinged five seconds later, the spark in my chest sent fireworks through my blood.

‘You set your alarm for the six hours, too?’ I asked, inordinately pleased that I wasn’t caught in this madness alone.

She shrugged, although a bashful look crossed her face before she composed her expression. ‘No need to work overtime if I don’t have to.’

‘Of course not. You’re nothing if not super-efficient, right?’ I teased.

The tiniest smile quirked her lips as she slid into the car. I gunned the engine, aiming the car towards the nearest main road when she asked in a low, raspy voice, ‘Where are we going?’

My fingers tightened on the wheel. The moment I’d dismissed a quickie on the hood of my car, my mind had zeroed in on the next quickest option. Still, I forced myself to list them all. ‘We have three choices. Your place. Mine. Or the penthouse suite at a hotel four minutes away.’ My breath locked in my throat, praying she would choose the last option.

‘Which hotel?’ she asked, her gaze boring into me.

Mentally crossing my fingers, I answered, ‘Mortimer Mayfair.’

Perhaps we weren’t past the hurdles of our family history but surely she wasn’t going to let that get in the way of what we both wanted?

We reached a traffic light and I turned my gaze on her. The look in her eyes was a cross between apprehension and rebellion. It was that same rebellion I’d seen during her interaction with her mother. Wren Bingham wasn’t a woman who toed the line. I freely admitted it was partly what drew her to me. Was she going to throw caution to the—?

‘Okay.’

Scarily heady sensations rushing through me, I caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. ‘Excellent choice.’

I shaved half a minute off our journey time. Using the allocated private parking reserved for my family in the underground car park would add at least five minutes to our trip so I pulled up to the front of the hotel, tossing the keys to the valet the moment I stepped out.

A minute later we were in the private lift. To preserve that little bit of my fraying control, I parked myself in the opposite corner from her, but I still couldn’t keep my eyes off her.

‘You’re looking at me with those caveman eyes again, Jasper,’ she mused, reaching up to free her bound hair in one sexy little move.

Far from being offended, I laughed, then gripped the railing as her hair tumbled down around her shoulders. ‘I can’t help it, sweetheart. I’m going insane pondering where to start with you.’

Alluring green eyes on me, she reached into her clutch. I wanted to tell her refreshing her make-up was unnecessary since I intended to besmirch it all in the next five minutes. But she chopped me off at the knees by extracting the tiniest, laciest thong I’d ever seen, dangling it right in front of my face. ‘Maybe this will help.’

‘Fucking hell, Wren,’ I croaked, every drop of blood rushing south until I was terrified I was actually going to pass out. ‘You left the ladies’ room without panties on?’

She stepped forward, raising the scrap of lace higher. ‘I was a little too wet to keep wearing them, you see.’

My jaw dropped as the lift doors parted. I stood frozen as she closed the gap between us and tucked the panties into my handkerchief pocket, then sauntered out of the lift, her mile-long legs making short work of the hallway that led to the suite’s double doors. She tossed her clutch on a nearby console table, then, with a saucy look over her shoulder, grasped the handles and pushed the doors open. ‘Are you coming, Jasper?’

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