Greek Mavericks: The Greek's Unforgettable Secret. Кейт Хьюит

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      She only had to hold Damon’s hand and feel his other hand settle in the small of her back for nuclear explosions to be set off inside her. How could she have forgotten how good it felt to be this close to him? If only life weren’t so complicated, she thought as he greeted old friends with warmth and good humour.

      She had to get real, Lizzie accepted. Life was that complicated. Damon was a billionaire. She was nothing and no one. She could either enjoy this interlude for what it was, or invite trouble back into her life.

      It was all very well, coming up with these good reasons for remaining detached, but when Damon drew her close and his hands became seductive spells she started trembling with awareness. She hated herself for being so weak, but she couldn’t do anything about it. He had to feel how she responded to him—he must.

      He did, Lizzie realised as her pulse went off the scale. The dark humour in Damon’s eyes was all the proof she needed.

      And then the band slowed the tempo and the music grew seductive. The melody wrapped a cord around her heart and pulled it tight. Music could always strip her emotions bare. She might not be a musician, like her mother or like Thea, but she responded as they did, and the plangent tune was currently ripping chunks out of her heart.

      As if he sensed this, Damon tightened his arms around her, and in spite of all her sensible reservations she went to him as willingly as a boat slipping into its mooring. Her body burned with heat as he linked their fingers, bringing them to rest on his chest where she could feel his heart beating.

      This was as close as two people could be without making love. Her body was floating in an erotic net. She was made of sensation. Her worries dwindled as reality faded away. She had often daydreamed of being reunited with Damon, but this was so much better than her dreams.

      If she closed her eyes the years melted away and she could think herself back into his bedroom, where whispers and touches had been magic spells and the smallest shift of Damon’s fingers had delivered messages only she had been able to read. She wanted that back. She wanted to recapture the trust they’d shared for that one night. But would Damon ever trust her again when he learned about Thea? And could she blame him?

      ‘Tense again?’ he said. ‘What’s wrong now?’

      When Damon stared into her eyes it was impossible to lie to him. ‘You,’ she said. ‘It’s time I went to bed. It’s been a long day. Thanks for the dance.’

      He caught hold of her hand. ‘You can’t leave it like that.’

      ‘I just did. The mood is wrong. Too many people.’

      ‘Sounds serious,’ he said.

      ‘It will keep.’ She hoped. As her secret had been kept for eleven years, she had to believe it would keep a little longer.

      She had already danced with Damon far longer than she’d had intended. But the band worked against her, segueing into another tune, allowing Damon to bring her close again.

      Allowing? How hard did she fight him?

      How could someone so much bigger than she was hold her close and prove they fitted together perfectly? Just for a few moments she allowed herself to close her eyes and rest her cheek against his chest. It felt so good. His thigh brushed against her intimately—by accident, she told herself firmly. She was so on edge she was ready to believe anything.

      He’d been tender and gentle on that night, as well as hot as hell and sexy, and sometimes she longed for that tenderness and intimacy of thought as much as the sexual act. She wanted that too, of course. She was a normal, healthy woman, and it was impossible to be this close to Damon without thinking about sex.

      That night had drawn them closer than either might have expected. He’d confided his hopes for the future, his love for his family, and his desire one day to have a family of his own. She’d told him about the holidays she remembered having as a child, when her mother had been alive. Summers had seemed to last for ever then, and Lizzie’s life had been full of warmth and a love she’d thought would go on for ever.

      And then had come the hollow black part. She hadn’t burdened him with that. And then the greatest gift of all—Thea. Motherhood. Responsibility. Love. She’d embraced all three with gratitude, but if life had taught her one thing it was never to take anything for granted.

      ‘If I didn’t know you better I’d say you had a guilty conscience,’ Damon commented when she shifted restlessly in his arms.

      ‘No guilt,’ she said.

      ‘Not even a tiny bit?”

      She chose not to answer that. Of course there was guilt. There was more than one parent in Thea’s life. How much more guilty could she feel?

      Damon had often wondered if that first scorching spark between them would stand the test of time, and here was his answer. Sensation ruled him when Lizzie was in his arms. No other woman could come close to making him feel the way she did. His body was a raging conflagration of lust.

      But what he liked best about her was her honesty. When other women would tell him what they thought he wanted to hear, Lizzie told him the truth, uncaring of the consequences. The temptation to kiss her—to kiss every part of her—was overwhelming, but once he started he wouldn’t stop, and this was neither the right place nor the right time.

      ‘Maybe you should go to bed now,’ he agreed. Releasing her, he stood back. ‘Alone,’ he murmured when she stared up at him.

      How had she allowed things to go this far? Lizzie wondered. At this moment in time she would have followed Damon to Hades СКАЧАТЬ