ONE NIGHT WITH MORELLI

by Kim Lawrence

  And I stood there like a puppet feeling…grateful. She felt her temper rise and didn’t fight it.

  An expression of grim determination spread across her face as she suddenly leaned forward in the cab. ‘Change of plan.’

  By the time the cab drew up outside Draco’s home, in her head Eve had verbally demolished him and made a dignified exit. She was still riding the crest of a wave of righteous anger when she battered on the door with her fist, glaring at one of the several strategically placed cameras above her head that zoomed her way as she did so.

  When the door was finally opened Eve, who had been leaning up against it, almost fell inside, narrowly avoiding a collision with the smartly dressed middle-aged woman who had opened it.

  ‘Can I help you?’

  Of course he didn’t open his own door, she fumed. He probably saved himself for the fun stuff in his life like manipulating and lying.

  Eve didn’t waste time on small talk. ‘I want to see Draco.’

  There was a short silence. ‘I’m afraid you have the wrong address.’

  The outright lie made Eve blink, but she refused to be put off. ‘I know he lives here.’

  ‘Now, here is a nice surprise.’

  The drawled comment made both women turn their heads as Draco, wearing sweats and a vest, emerged through a door. He had a towel slung around his neck and his skin glistened with a layer of sweat.

  Eve reacted to the testosterone-fuelled sight and, forgetting every word of the cutting and incisive speech she’d prepared, she stabbed an accusing finger in his direction and barked, ‘You…!’

  Wow, said the voice in her head. Powerful stuff, Eve, that’s really telling him.

  After holding her eyes for a long simmering moment, he turned to the older woman. He unhooked the towel and dragged a hand through his damp hair.

  ‘Thanks, Judith.’ The smile was for the older woman but his eyes only left Eve’s face for a split second. ‘I’ll take it from here. You get off and go straight home after your appointment.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ The older woman cast a doubtful glance Eve’s way as she stepped towards the open door.

  ‘What time is your dental appointment?’

  The reminder drew a click of her tongue followed by a wince. ‘Gracious, is that the time? You’re sure…?’

  Eve endured the other woman’s suspicious glance, able to be more philosophical about being cast as a dangerous lunatic than she was about her visceral reaction to the raw power of Draco’s sweaty body post workout.

  Eve waited until the door closed. ‘That woman said you didn’t live here.’

  ‘She’s very protective. She popped in to see if I was all right on her way to the dentist.’

  ‘Do you expect all your staff to lie for you?’ All the self-discipline in the world couldn’t stop her eyes drifting over his powerful muscular frame. She swallowed and licked her lips, managing to inject the scorn that had been absent from her lustful stare into her voice as she sneered sarcastically, ‘You being so weak and defenceless.’

  An army of housekeepers couldn’t have defended him from the lust that had slammed like a hammer through his body at the sight of her standing there looking mad and so desirable it physically hurt.

  Hurt…! Talk about self-delusion!

  It seemed amusing to him now that midway through his workout he’d actually convinced himself that he was totally in control and he could go back to feeling smugly superior to men who allowed their hormones to rule their actions.

  ‘I was heading for the shower.’ And possibly therapy! It was one thing to recognise all the warning signs of a dangerous addiction, but it was another not to feel the need to fight it.

  Why fight something that was so pleasurable? he mused.

  Enjoy it while it lasted seemed a much more pragmatic approach to something that was so hot it would inevitably burn itself out soon enough, he told himself.

  ‘If that was an invitation to join you, I’ll pass.’ She choked, her cheeks heated from the vividly arousing images of water sliding off his slick muscled body.

  Ashamed of the heaviness and ache low in her pelvis, Eve dragged her gaze free of the invitation in his heavy-lidded eyes and pretended to look around.

  ‘Your guests gone?’

  His glance was drawn to the tears glazing her eyes. ‘Are you all right?’

  The fake concern after what he’d done brought her teeth together in a silent snarl of disbelief.

  ‘No, I’m not bloody all right. I’m furious.’ With him for being a manipulative liar, but mostly Eve’s anger was aimed at herself. ‘How d-dare you use me? I swore I’d never let any man use me the way my father used mum. You planned it all, didn’t you?’ she flung wildly. ‘It was all cold-blooded calculation.’

  The last comment drew a laugh from him. ‘Nothing between us is cold-blooded, cara. Who is your father?’

  Her face froze. ‘A bastard like you.’

  She saw the flash of anger in his dark eyes and lifted her chin, welcoming the thought of confrontation…then watched incredulously as he began to stroll across the hallway to the central staircase.

  ‘You’re walking away?’

  ‘I’m taking a shower before my muscles seize up and we both say things we might regret later.’ He had been headed for the shower in the well-equipped basement leisure suite when he had seen her image on one of the security cameras.

  ‘I don’t regret anything!’

  She’d yelled at him in a way he did not tolerate from anyone else; she’d flung accusations, called him a bastard to his face and created the sort of emotional scene he hated and yet he found he could reply with perfect honesty.

  ‘Neither do I. Feel free to join me,’ Draco murmured as he heard her heels clacking behind him on the marble floor.

  Eve was panting with the exertion of chasing after him, but only a second behind as she followed him through the door of his bedroom suite. It wasn’t until the door swung shut with a click that sounded awfully final behind her that she questioned the wisdom of her actions. A second later she was definitely panicking.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ A shrill note crept into her voice as she watched him peel the vest over his head. His back was to her and as he stretched his arms her eyes were riveted to the play of muscle under his olive-toned skin; each ripple and contraction made her stomach flip and quiver. He was perfect anatomically and aesthetically.

  He turned to her with an expression of innocent surprise on his too handsome face and as his hands dropped to his sides, his feet slightly apart, his attitude was one of blatantly sexual arrogant challenge and there was nothing contrived about it—this was him.

  Her breath snagged in her throat as, still holding her eyes, he dropped the vest he had peeled off onto a chair. ‘I told you, I’m taking a shower.’ His eyes glittered with sardonic humour but he managed to sound mildly surprised by the question.

  ‘I want to talk to you.’ She struggled to maintain an air of subtle disdain while under the cold surface her hormones had gone into dramatic free fall. Whatever else he was, Draco was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen with more raw sex appeal in his little finger than most men had in their entire bodies.

  ‘Nothing stopping you, cara.’ He bent to unlace his trainers, even this casual action made riveting by the casual animal grace that characterised all his actions. He kicked off one shoe and then the other.

  Watching him through the utterly inadequate shield of her lashes, Eve felt as though she were going to explode. What, she speculated, lifting a hand to her head, would the autopsy report as the cause of death…fury or lust?

  Both would be accurate as this man somehow managed to tap directly into her most primal urges. He was the incarnation of everything that she had sworn to herself she would rej
ect.

  ‘So if you change your mind about joining me…the offer’s still open.’ Holding her eyes, he smiled and reached for the cord tie on his sweat pants.

  Her eyes dropped and she felt the blush begin. Turning on her heel and presenting her rigid back to him, she missed his smile of satisfaction.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘A TEMPTING OFFER, but I’ll pass.’

  Unwilling to admit even to herself, especially to herself, how true this was, how much she was tempted to join him in the shower, Eve picked up a cushion from the pile thrown artistically on a chaise longue set against the far wall and began banging it. When it was battered out of shape she moved on to another, plumping it so enthusiastically that his response was barely audible above the thwacking.

  ‘Suit yourself.’

  She waited a few moments then risked looking over her shoulder. The discarded pants lay in a crumpled heap on the floor and with a deep sigh she let herself fall back on the cushions. She concentrated on steady breathing in and out, but the tension that tied her muscles in knots stubbornly persisted.

  This was not going as she had anticipated.

  Midway through telling herself she’d have to up her game, she heard the shower start up in the adjoining bathroom. A glazed expression slid into her eyes before she let them close, but that made it worse. Images crowded into her head of a steam-filled room, water sliding off slick brown skin, droplets gleaming on the sprinkling of chest hair that became a thin directional arrow down his flat belly.

  The memory of the open invitation he had issued echoed in her head, feeding the ache of need that throbbed through her. She lifted a despairing hand to her head where increasingly vivid carnal images were playing on a loop and wondered how it was possible to be so furious with someone, know perfectly well they were using you, and yet still want them so badly… Her eyes opened and her hand fell limply away.

  Was she finally becoming the person she had never forgiven her mother for being? The thought worked better than a cold shower and coincided with a sudden silence as the water in the bathroom went off and a switch in her head went back on.

  She went pale at the thought of how close she’d come to running towards temptation and opening that door. Where Draco was concerned she appeared to have no shame or self-respect. Genes will out, she warned herself, and, shaking her head, she surged to her feet. Recognising a weakness in yourself meant you could do something about it—there was always a choice.

  Her mother had had a choice and she’d made the wrong one—twice. Eve had no intention of repeating Sarah’s mistakes.

  She weighed her options, and it didn’t take long to make her decision. She’d pass on the satisfaction of having the last word and put a safe distance between herself and Draco.

  Run away. She released a slow measured breath. It was a plan—definitely a plan.

  But before Eve could put this plan into action or even place one foot in front of the other Draco, whistling softly under his breath, strolled into the room barefoot and her urgent need to escape immediately became less urgent—a lot less urgent.

  His dark hair had been slicked back messily with his hands and was still dripping water, leaving dark patches on the white shirt he wore.

  Emotions raw and her senses heightened to a painful degree, Eve knew with total certainty that that image, this vignette, had imprinted itself indelibly in her memory. For as long as she lived she would remember the way he looked and the way she felt.

  ‘Did you miss me?’ he asked, tucking the dangling tails of his shirt into the waist of dark trousers as he watched the expressions flicker across her face. When her mask was down she had the most expressive features he had ever encountered.

  She tipped her chin. Sometimes the truth, however unpalatable, was the best defence. ‘With every fibre of my being.’

  The sexy husk in her voice sent a visceral shudder through his body, and his nerve endings tingled the way they had when her hair had brushed his bare skin.

  ‘Right, now I’m all yours.’ His grin flashed as he held his arms wide in invitation and drawled, ‘Double entendre totally intended, in case you were wondering.’

  ‘I wasn’t.’ Suddenly Eve was fed up with the games and the smart talk. She was glad now she hadn’t made good her getaway; she would have always regretted not telling him what she thought of him.

  Holding his eyes, she planted her hands on her hips, unwittingly drawing his attention to the gentle curves, and looked him up and down. See how you like it, she thought.

  Problem was, he did seem to like it! There was a glimmer of admiration in his slow appreciative smile as he purred, ‘Like what you’re seeing, cara?’

  She flushed and thought, Who wouldn’t? Draco was the epitome of virile alpha-male perfection.

  ‘You used me.’ She swallowed, recognising that it was irrational that the knowledge hurt. After all, there was no trust between them, no bond that had been betrayed—just her own stupidity.

  The quiet accusation caused his smile to fade. Jaw clenched, his dark brows drawn into a heavy line above his eyes, he sketched a frown that deepened as, unable to resist the compulsion, he let his glance drift over her body, seeing the smooth sleek lines and soft curves beneath the clothes, remembering the silky softness of her delicious skin that made his core temperature climb.

  The powerful kick of his libido scored the angles of his carved cheeks with dark colour. The cold shower he had just endured had provided a temporary relief from the insatiable hunger, but now it was back and he could barely think past the desire to sink into her, feel her close tight as a silken glove around him.

  ‘I think there was some mutual using,’ he husked. ‘And the way I recall it you had no complaints.’

  She narrowed her eyes, folded her arms across her chest in an unconsciously self-protective gesture and angled a look of simmering contempt up at his lean, handsome face.

  ‘You know exactly what I’m talking about!’ she charged furiously.

  Know?

  He almost laughed. He knew nothing except that this had never happened to him before. It wasn’t just his body; this woman had taken up residence in his head. He shrugged, refusing to acknowledge the surge of panic that slid through him. This thing between them would run its course, burn bright, and then become a delicious memory.

  ‘How about you spell it out just to be on the safe side?’ he suggested.

  ‘Spell…let me see.’ Finger on her chin, she pretended to think about it. ‘B A S T A R D, exclamation mark. You are afraid of losing custody of Josie so I’m a token girlfriend…a female influence, a—’ she sketched quotation marks in the air and drawled with disgust ‘—“stable relationship” to waft under the nose of your ex… No wonder you wanted me out of there before I could tell them the truth.’

  ‘And what truth is that?’

  ‘I’m just another of your one-night stands.’

  ‘Bitterness…yet I seem to recall you wouldn’t have it any other way, cara. Or are you moving the goalposts now?’

  ‘I’m not bitter, I’m mad!’

  ‘If you say so…and to be accurate it was not just at night—we already did night and day.’

  Feeling an errant nerve jump in her soft jaw, Eve looked away.

  ‘And you look about as stable as a diva having a meltdown,’ he teased.

  But, hell, it suited her! Eve had been repressing her passionate nature so long she probably believed that she was the tight-lipped, buttoned-up robot she liked people to think she was—it was a role she preferred to hide behind. To know that he was the only man who had seen behind the façade made him feel… He frowned, struggling to condense and compress all the emotions this woman shook loose in him into just one word…one sentence…one book!

  ‘If I’d known you wanted to make friends with my mo
ther and ex-wife I’d have taken Josie to school myself, though for future reference, just in case your paths cross again, I feel you should know that intelligence agencies all over the world have adopted my mother’s interrogation techniques. And how was I meant to introduce you, by the way? This is Eve—we’re just having sex?’

  ‘So you were being kind.’

  ‘There was a certain amount of self-interest involved,’ he admitted.

  ‘You used me,’ she insisted, clinging tightly to her righteous indignation even though what had seemed like a legitimate accusation on the taxi drive back now sounded a little bit hysterical. ‘You set it all up, got me here knowing that your ex would—’

  ‘Would what exactly? You seriously believe I arranged to have my ex-wife, my mother and my teenage daughter walk in on me naked with a woman in the middle of the afternoon?’

  She had, but when he put it like that… The sliver of doubt in Eve’s head widened as, unable to admit she was totally in the wrong, she conceded, ‘I don’t suppose you expected your mother to be there too.’

  ‘Thank you for that.’

  His sarcasm made her teeth ache.

  ‘For the record, I never expect my mother. She believes strongly in the advantage of surprise. Since my father died she is bored and I have become her project. Or, more correctly, getting me married to someone suitable has become her project.’

  ‘So you admit it. You let her think that we are…are…are… Will you stop looking at me as though I’m a bug under a microscope or something?’

  ‘In a relationship?’ he finished her earlier sentence.

  ‘We’re not in a relationship, we’re having sex!’ she bellowed before adding through gritted teeth. ‘Were having sex.’

  Eve would have preferred her over-the-top reaction to make him angry, not curious, as she struggled to retain her defiance in the face of his searching scrutiny.

  ‘Why is the distinction so important to you?’