The Dare Collection December 2019. Clare Connelly

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      I push the sheet back, looking around for my underpants before remembering I only have paint-smeared bikini bottoms to put on. And they’re in the lounge.

      ‘Because it was more fun to watch you sleep,’ he says, his voice frustratingly relaxed despite my obvious panic.

      And I’m panicking, for no reason I can easily pinpoint. Yes, I need to get to work, yes, I have meetings in an hour. But it’s more than that.

      For some reason, spending the night feels like crossing a line that mentally I wasn’t willing to cross. It is a bigger surrendering of myself than I intended. Another line in the sand, one I hadn’t realised I wanted to abide by.

      ‘I’m serious, Nic.’ The diminutive of his name slips out, but not for the first time. As soon as I say it I have a vivid recollection of crying the shortened version of his name over and over again, as pleasure racked my body in a way I almost couldn’t process.

      ‘You got somewhere you have to be?’

      I pull a face. ‘It’s seven o’clock on a Wednesday morning. What do you think?’

      ‘I think you should cancel it and come back to bed,’ he murmurs, patting the matte black sheets. As a further enticement, he pushes the sheet back, revealing his rock-hard, naked body.

      Predictably, my insides squeeze. And despite my panic, a smile spreads over my face. ‘I can’t,’ I say, in an almost whining tone. ‘Help me find my bikini.’

      His laugh is low, a rumble. ‘Oh, no, Miss Anonymous. I have no intention of aiding your escape. In fact, if I had my way, you’d be tied to this bed so I could have my very evil way with you some more.’

      Okay.

      I have meetings. But there’s also this. I stop looking for my bathers and give Nicholas the full force of my attention. At his mention of tying me up, I remember something from our night in Sydney.

      ‘You ordered handcuffs.’

      He lifts a brow, his expression teasing, silently prompting me to continue.

      ‘In Sydney.’ Heat blooms in my face. ‘You had handcuffs put in the toy chest,’ I remind him. ‘But we didn’t…’

      He stands up, his dick at a ninety-degree angle to the rest of him, his haunches so strong and capable. ‘Yes?’

      He likes teasing me. I get it. I suck in a breath and assume my very best kickass CEO expression. ‘We didn’t use handcuffs.’

      ‘No.’ He shrugs nonchalantly, his naked body next to mine now.

      ‘Why not?’ It’s breathy—all of me is consumed by his closeness.

      ‘I wasn’t sure you were ready.’

      Indignation flares inside me. ‘Oh, really?’

      ‘Hmm,’ he agrees, and then he’s lifting me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and carrying me easily through his bedroom to the tiled adjoining bathroom.

      ‘What are you doing?’ Though it’s self-explanatory when he flicks on the shower taps and steps past the wide glass wall.

      ‘Helping you get ready for work.’ He grins, and when he eases me onto his cock, I give up pretending I want to be anywhere but here.

      ‘I thought we were talking about handcuffs,’ I murmur as water douses me from overhead, plastering my hair to my face.

      ‘Let’s see.’ His eyes probe mine and then he takes another step so my back connects with the tiled wall and one of his hands captures both of my wrists, pinning them over my head. It’s just him, and yet his grip is vice-like. I couldn’t easily wriggle free, even if I wanted to.

      There’s a challenge on his features as he thrusts inside me and there’s something almost painfully erotic about not being able to touch him. I surrender to the strength of this feeling as he thrusts hard and deep, filling me, awakening barely rested needs.

      My ankles dig into his back and I hold on as though my life depends on it until I’m coming around him. I go to pull my hands free but he shakes his head, dropping his mouth to my breasts and pulling one of my tight, sensitive nipples between his teeth. I shake all over, the pleasure doing funny things to me.

      My orgasm is intense, and even as I come he continues to torment my breasts and hold my arms high above my head so there is no reprieve from the pleasure, no relief from this insanity.

      I drop my head to his shoulder as my tortured breath ravages my body and then he’s easing my feet to the floor, pulling out of me gently, letting my arms go all at once. It’s a strange desertion. He’s still rock hard.

      ‘You didn’t…finish,’ I murmur, hating that I can still feel so embarrassed after all we’ve shared.

      ‘Mmm…’ he murmurs, biting my earlobe. ‘As much as my parents are desperate for me to get married and have kids, I don’t think they have a New York–based heir in mind.’

      ‘Oh, my God.’ It is a shocking wake-up call. ‘I didn’t even think…’

      ‘I did. A bit too late,’ he says with a self-deprecating shake of his head.

      ‘I’m on the pill,’ I say, to reassure myself as much as him.

      ‘And I’m clean.’ He shrugs. ‘Still, I’d rather not take the risk.’

      Why does that make my gut clench—and not in a good way?

      I paste a smile on my face and reach for the body wash. ‘And now, I really do have to get ready for work.’

      He runs his mouth over my cheek, capturing my lips, his smile sweet and slow. ‘Coffee?’

      My heart lurches. ‘Thanks.’

      I lather myself all over, my body so completely raw and tender that everywhere I touch is like an erotic shadow of last night. My breasts are pink from the brush of his stubble, my inner thighs too, and I have a row of hickeys across my hip, leading towards my buttocks.

      He was right to pull out, not to come. He’s sure as hell right to protect us from any unwanted consequences.

      But just the mention of that has made me think about a future that I would have said, two weeks ago, I don’t actually want. A future filled with the laugh of a small person, the dependence of a child, the love of a little one.

      I’m not maternal—I have no idea what being maternal even looks like, since my mother wasn’t and I suspect I’m even less so. I don’t have anything to go on. And yet, at the mention of little Rothsmore heirs, something very close to my ovaries fired to life in a way that has taken my breath away.

      Thank God we agreed this was just going to last a month. I can’t imagine much worse than being with Nicholas Rothsmore for real, allowing myself to do something really stupid and fall in love with him.

      And there is such a risk there, because he’s too good at this. He’s charming and funny, sophisticated СКАЧАТЬ