Page 14 of How to Undo the Proud Billionaire

Bizarre. Unsettling.

And yes, completely unacceptable.

The low rumble of a vehicle pierced the night sounds of the bush and Radd quickly reacted. In one smooth movement, he lifted Brinley off his lap and deposited her back in her seat and. a few seconds later, he cranked the engine and pulled away as the lights of the other vehicle appeared behind him.

Brin whipped around to look at the second vehicle before slumping back in her seat. “Wow. Close call.”

“I’m their boss and the owner. If they caught us naked, they’d turn a blind eye,” Radd replied, his tone brusque.

Brin didn’t reply, but Radd felt her eyes on his profile and wondered if her heart, like his, was about to jump out of her chest, whether she wanted him to stop the vehicle and resume where they left off.

He very much did.

Radd stared at the dirt ahead, easily navigating around a chameleon in the middle of the road. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her chest rising and falling quickly, the small tremor in her fingers resting on her slim thigh.

Yeah, she was equally affected.

The chemistry between them could not be denied; it was a living, breathing entity. Could it be bigger and bolder than what he normally experienced because he’d gone without sex for too long? Radd did some mental arithmetic and realized the last time he’d gotten laid was four, and a bit, months ago… No wonder he felt like a pressure cooker about to blow.

But honesty compelled him to reluctantly admit that, while he felt frustrated by his lack of bed-based activity, it wasn’t the longest period he’d gone without sex and he’d never felt this off-balance before. Forty percent might be sexual frustration, the rest was his unexpected and unwelcome need to kiss Brinley from tip to toe, to discover her secrets, to hear what noises she made when she came, whether she was as tight and warm and fabulous as he imagined her to be.

Brinley was sexy and smart but, under her natural passion, he could tell that she was inexperienced, a little unsure. While he preferred women who were more skilled, who could keep up with him in the bedroom, he rather liked the idea of teaching Brin a little of what he knew…

Radd slapped his hand against the back of his neck and welcomed the slight sting in his hand. She was his employee, she’d be out of his life tomorrow night, and he wasn’t the type to seduce innocents. And, despite being in her late twenties, if she wasn’t innocent, then she was definitely inexperienced.

And, no matter how sweet her kisses or how deep her passion ran, he wasn’t anyone’s teacher. Except for being Digby’s brother, he wasn’t anyone’s anything.

Besides, he’d watched the crap show that was his parents’ marriage and had front row seats to how love made people irrational, how it made them lose control. Every relationship, good, bad and dysfunctional, required work and involvement and emotion, and he didn’t have the time or inclination. He kept his relationships at surface level. If you didn’t allow anyone behind the armor, no one could do any damage. If one didn’t engage, actions and words couldn’t be misconstrued.

It was a simple concept that served him well. And Brinley Riddell—free-spirited, gorgeous, inexperienced and intriguing—would not be the first to find his chinks.

And to ensure that didn’t happen—it wouldn’t, but Radd never took chances—he’d keep his distance. He’d drop her off at the lodge and retreat to his private villa at the end of the property. He had his laptop and enough work to keep him occupied and, if the gods were smiling on him, Brinley would complete her flower arranging in record time and he could whip her back to Cape Town, pay her and put her out of his mind.

That was the plan, because the other plan fighting for his attention—to keep her, naked, in his bed for the next twenty-four hours—was not only a nonstarter, but stupid.

He was reserved, implacable, emotionally detached and occasionally difficult, but stupid he was not.

CHAPTER FOUR

SHE’DKISSEDRADDTEMPEST-VANE, the man who held her future in his admittedly exceptionally skilled hands.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

Brin licked her lips, thinking she could still taste him—fresh, gorgeous, comprehensively, powerfully male—on her lips, on her tongue. She hadn’t had much time to explore his body, but she knew his thighs were strong, his stomach ridged with muscle, his chest wide. His hands were big, broad and capable, and his arms powerful.

One touch of his lips to hers and she’d turned into a wild woman, devoid of sense and thought. Oh, she’d like to be able to say that she would’ve retreated had he pushed for more, but she didn’t know if that was the truth.

His hands on her legs and butt had felt so amazing and, had she been able to form the words or pull her mouth from his, she’d would’ve begged him to touch her breasts, to slide a big hand between her thighs.

She wanted him. More than she’d ever wanted anyone or anything before.

She wassoscrewed.

One kiss, a mild grope and it was like she hadn’t spent most of the past half day telling herself why hooking up with Radd was a comprehensively bad, bad,terribleidea. Maybe she should just record a voice note and push play every time she forgot the hundred reasons why she shouldn’t kiss/touch/sleep with Radd Tempest-Vane.

Shall we list them again? For the hundredth and sixtieth time?

She was in the process of finding her authentic self, working on her insecurities, her dark thoughts. She did not need to complicate the process with unwanted attraction.

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