Page 23 of 2 Books in One Bundle

Her eyebrows shot up. ‘A what?’

‘I only sleep with a woman once.’

‘Seriously?’

‘I don’t want a relationship.’

He’d told her that before and she hadn’t questioned it at the time, but now she was temporarily lost for words.

‘Are you saying that you’re so irresistible that two nights or more with you and a woman might get the wrong idea?’ she asked, taken aback by the sheer arrogance of that because, though he’d demonstrated instances of that particular character trait before, this took it to a whole new level.

‘I prefer not to put it to the test.’

‘Since when?’

‘Long enough to know it’s a policy that serves me well.’

‘What are you afraid of?’

‘Nothing.’

Rubbish. He appeared to be afraid of clingy women at the very least, and she knew all about those because she, with her previous tendency to start picking out curtains a mere week into a relationship, used to be one of them. But while that definitely merited further investigation, now was not the time. Now was the time to get him to see things her way and satisfy the longing that throbbed inside her.

‘Our situation is unique,’ she said, holding his gaze, leaning a little into his space. ‘I’m not one of your casual hook-ups. At least, not any longer. So the usual rules don’t apply. I certainly wouldn’t read anything into another night of sex with you. I’m not going to get the wrong idea. It would be a physical release, nothing more, and one which you obviously need as much as I do.’

‘It’s too dangerous.’

‘Not from a medical point of view. The doctor said it would be fine.’ She tilted her head and regarded him thoughtfully. ‘Or is it me that’s dangerous?’

‘Don’t be absurd,’ he said through gritted teeth, looking as if he was resisting the urge to reach for her.

‘I’m not the one being absurd,’ she said in exasperation, disappointed, thwarted, but knowing that there was a fine line between persuading him to see sense and harassment. ‘But OK. Stick your head in the sand if you want. I’m going up to bed. You know where to find me when you realise I’m right.’

Fists clenched, muscles so tight he feared they might snap, Zander watched Mia saunter off to the stairs, her shoes dangling from her fingers and her hips swinging in pure temptation, and thought that she was wrong. Dead wrong. The chemistry that burned between them would fizzle out. It had to. Even if he didn’t have the rule by which he’d lived almost his entire adult life, sleeping with her again was a terrible idea. She might not read anything into it, but what if he did?

If he was being brutally honest with himself—a rare event, he’d be the first to admit—she’d never been a casual hook-up. That had certainly been the intention when he’d initially decided to hire her catering services, but it had swiftly turned into something different. Why else would he have pursued her when it had become apparent that the odds of success were zero?

It hadn’t just been a reluctance to fail. Over the months, he’d come to admire her brain, her ambition and her drive to succeed as much as he was dazzled by her looks. The snippets of information about her that he hadn’t sought but had acquired nonetheless—favourite colour yellow, go to comfort food spaghetti carbonara—had piqued his interest before he’d belatedly reminded himself that his interest had no business being piqued.

He was less enamoured with her levels of perceptiveness, however. Especially now, with the way that the questionBut could she be right?was pushing out everything else from his head. He didn’t want to contemplate the implications of that. The notion that his reluctance to act on his desire for her could drive them apart and ruin his plans to bind her and their child to him permanently tightened his chest like a vice. Where would such an outcome leave him? Wandering alone through the wasteland that was the moral high ground, that was where, most probably.

He didn’t appreciate the niggling suspicion that he hadn’t really thought she’d put their baby in danger this evening but had subconsciously been waiting for an excuse to return to her. He didn’t like the fact that he wanted her so much he hadn’t been able to stop himself confessing it when he should have been remonstrating with her regardless.

But apparently she wanted him equally fiercely and, quite frankly, he didn’t know how much more he could take. Why was he putting himself through the wringer like this? It was true that he never went back, but this was different.Shewas different.

So what on earth was he doing? It wasn’t as if he was going to fall under her spell. He was far too disciplined for that. But his strategy for dealing with his desire for her clearly wasn’t working, so what did he have to lose from testing hers? His life was hardly going to implode if he surrendered to one more night. Unless he completely lost his mind, which he wouldn’t, it would still be just sex.

Ignoring his conscience, which was commanding him to stop the insanitythis instant, to stick to the plan that had served him so well for nearly two decades because it suspected she could turn out to be very dangerous indeed, every cell of his body now taut with purpose and anticipation, Zander pushed himself off the counter, stalked round the bar and barked, ‘Wait.’

CHAPTER NINE

ZANDER’SVOICECRACKEDthrough the silence like a whip and halfway up the stairs Mia froze. She turned to see him striding towards her with steely purpose and thrilling intensity. He took the stairs two at a time and stopped on the step one down from her and once she’d recovered from her shock she nearly passed out with excitement, because surely this could only mean one thing.

‘You’ve realised I’m right,’ she breathed, her heart leaping about her chest and shivers racing through her.

‘I’m prepared to consider the possibility,’ he said, his voice very rough, very low, smouldering energy pouring off him in great buffeting waves.

‘What took you so long?’

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