Page 11 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

Or more likely he had been in shock the whole time. She felt a stab of guilt. She had wanted to believe he was unaffected because that meant she could keep her distance. Now though she saw that the fleeting glimpse of his own mortality had scared him.

And her, she thought, her heart jerking into her ribs. It felt as if her breath and her heartbeat were pushing into one another inside her chest. Her skin could hardly hold it all in.

‘Here, drink this. It will help.’ She handed him his coffee, hesitated then sat down beside him. ‘Is there anyone I can call?’

He looked up at her. ‘Call?’

She hesitated again. ‘You said you were seeing someone. A doctor.’

‘It wasn’t that serious. Not for me anyway, and it’s over now.’ He ran a hand wearily over his face.

‘Your parents, then.’

Now, he was shaking his head. ‘I don’t need to call anyone. I’m fine.’

He wasn’t. She could see that now. It had just taken longer for him to react. She stared down at him, wondering why that was. ‘Physically yes, but maybe you need to talk to someone about what happened.’

‘Then I can talk to you, can’t I?’

The strain was still there, and she hesitated again, then took his hand. ‘Of course you can talk to me. But there are professionals—’

He was shaking his head. ‘But you were there. With me.’

In the shiver of a heartbeat, she remembered her burning lungs, his heavy body. She felt his hand tighten around hers and knew that he was remembering it too.

‘Only you know what happened. What it felt like. Just you and me—’

Their eyes met. Through the window she could see the sun, hear the screech of the gulls, but all of it came from another place, far away. Here it was just the two of them and this relentless pull of need between them that she could no more ignore than the tide could ignore the moon.

He was so beautiful.

Reaching up, she touched his face, her fingers following the curve of his jaw. Her pulse was raging like thunder inside her head.

‘Just you and me,’ she whispered and then she leaned in and kissed him.

His lips were warm and firm and their mouths fitted together just as they had before, just as if they had kissed not once but a hundred, a thousand times.

Only it was nothing like that first kiss. That had been exploratory, impulsive, organic. This was an admission of that narrow-eyed quivering creature that had been prowling around them and nipping at their heels since they’d left the hospital. It was a kiss of heat and hunger, hers and his.

She felt his hand slide around her waist, and he was pulling her onto his lap, his expression shuttered, his eyes intent on her face.

‘No, not here,’ she managed. ‘My room.’

They moved as one, off the bed and out of the door, bodies colliding off the walls in the urgency of their haste. In the few steps it took to reach her bedroom, their mouths fused again only now, instead of her kissing him, he was kissing her, pushing her dress away from her shoulders, lifting her hair away from her neck, sucking and licking her shoulder, her throat—

His hands moved to her back, to the catch of her bra. Flicking it open, he slid it down her arms and tossed it to the floor and now his hands were cupping her breasts, his thumbs brushing against the nipples so that a moan of pleasure escaped her lips—

Finding her mouth, he kissed her deeply, urgently, his breath melting into hers, but it wasn’t enough and she found the button on his waistband, jerking it open, freeing him and she heard his breath snap in his throat as her fingers wrapped around the smooth, hard length of him.

‘Wait...wait!’ he said hoarsely, his hand gripping her wrist. ‘I don’t have anything on me—’

‘It’s okay,’ she cut him off. ‘I have some.’

Was that true? It had been so long since she had needed to use contraception. Not since with Garrett before they were married. But she didn’t want to think about that now. Heart thundering, she yanked open a drawer. Then another. They must be here—

Thank goodness. A rush of relief flooded her as she found the box and then she almost dropped it as his hands slid under the hem of her dress and he pulled her panties down over her thighs. And now he was turning her to face him, his fingers firm, compelling, pulling her with him onto the bed, his mouth hot against hers as she tore clumsily at the wrapper.

‘Let me—’

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