Page 24 of Bound By Her Baby Revelation (Hot Winter Escapes)

Somehow he’d turned into a horny teenager and all he wanted to do was reach out and touch her. The fact that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her was almost too much to take on board. How the hell were they going to make it under the same roof for another day, hour, minute?

‘It’s late. Sure you don’t want me to help you up?’ He spread his hands in a gesture of appeasement. ‘You have my word that, however much I’m attracted to you, there’s no way you need fear that I’ll make a play for you. Not now, not while we’re under the same roof. You have my word.’

Kaya believed him with every fibre in her being. She told him she was tired, would grab a couple of tablets for the discomfort and make herself a sandwich. That she was fine.

What she wanted to say waswhat if she wanted him to make a play for her? What if she wanted this mutual attraction to take them wherever it wanted to take them...?

‘I don’t think we should talk about this again.’ She cleared her throat and assumed a firm line, drawing a marker in the sand. Because who knew what was going to happen without that marker? And, whatever this was, she intended to fight it. So would he. They were both adults, and she might be inexperienced, but she wasn’t a complete idiot.

‘Are you saying we pretend this never happened?’

‘That’s not impossible.’

‘No,’ Leo said softly. ‘It’s not.’

And it was exactly what should happen. She was as fresh as dew on a summer’s morning. Her world had been turned upside down, so addvulnerableon top of everything else. Whatever this crazy force was running between them, he knew that it was up to him to stamp all over it.

But he hesitated. Those eyes, those softly parted lips... His mind was running amok with forbidden images. He could feel the steel of his erection throbbing painfully and the ache of a need he’d never thought possible.

The silence sizzled between them, an electric charge that could deliver a shock Leo knew both of them would regret. He, because he didn’t do complicated situations and this turnedcomplicatedinto an understatement. And she, because who knew where that door would lead to if she decided to dump the principles that had guided her life? One of them had to lead by experience, and that was going to be him, whether he liked it or not.

Because one look at those softly parted lips, and the barely concealed desire darkening her eyes, and he knew that whatever caresses he gave her would be returned in full.

But would there be regrets after? Probably. He didn’t do post-coital regrets.

‘Let me bring you the tablets, Kaya. They’ll kick in fast and make it easier for you to move about.’

He didn’t give her a choice. He had to escape the drag of wanting something that would do him no good, would do neither of them any good.

He fetched tablets and water for her and had to control a crazy tremor in his hands as he dropped them on the table, before standing back and folding his arms.

‘I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘I’ll start my packing. I know you’re not going to chuck me out, but the sooner things are finalised here, the better.’

Leo shrugged and left, shutting the door quietly behind him, and it was only when she was alone in the kitchen that Kaya sagged into the chair and closed her eyes.

It wouldn’t be mentioned—none of it. That was the thought she hugged to herself an hour and a half later when she finally made it up to bed.

As he had predicted, the painkillers had done their job and the pain in her ankle had subsided to a dull throb by the time she was under the covers with the bedroom door firmly locked, although she knew that the last thing he would do would be enter without being invited.

The air had been cleared between them. That was a good thing. There had been a dark cloud, heavy with things unsaid, thick with innuendo and slanted, glancing, shivering awareness. She’d thought that she was the only one feeling it, but she hadn’t been, and she told herself that there was no harm in secretly admitting that his attraction to her made her feel euphoric and heady.

The guy was sex on legs. What woman wouldn’t be flattered to have his attention turned to her?

If thisthingbetween them hadn’t gone by the time morning came, then surely the fact that they had agreed to pretend nothing had been said would help things along?

And anyway, she thought, coming back down to earth with a bump as sleep finally began to take over, whatever passing attraction he felt for her would be one that had grown from their proximity and from the fact that they were connected by Julie Anne, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

He was an experienced guy, unlike her, and she was sure that, having been turned away, his attitude would be a mental shrug and a ‘you win a few, you lose a few’ response.

Sleep eventually came but it was fitful. Her ankle felt better but, in the dead of the night, she blamed it for keeping her awake, even though deep down she knew that the thing keeping her alert and aware was happening in her head.

She wasn’t sure what she’d hoped the morning would bring when she went downstairs, but she was on the defensive the second she found him in the kitchen.

If she had appreciated his stunning looks before, nothing could have prepared her for how devastatingly aware she was of him now that they had opened up about their mutual attraction. Just knowing that he found her attractive added an edge to their situation that brought her out in a cold sweat.

His eyes rested on her, dark and brooding, but when he spoke it was to ask her how her ankle was doing.

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