His presence, so close yet still not touching her, made the air around them throb with tension. She felt she could probably reach out and grab hold of it if she wanted.
‘You know, I’m really touched you agreed to come with me, considering you find this kind of event so tough.’ He took a breath. ‘I actually thought you were reluctant to come because you didn’t want to be here with me after what I told you about my family...and things,’ he said, his voice gruff and low, as if he was experiencing the exact same edgy tension in the atmosphere that she was.
‘No. That really wasn’t the reason.’ The words caught in her mouth as she felt him move closer again and his heat and delectable scent washed over her. ‘I came because you needed me.’
She realised as the words left her mouth that that was why she was here. She wanted the station to succeed, of course she did, but she also wanted to help Tristan in any way she could. Because she liked him.
Maybe more than liked.
There was a loaded pause before he responded. ‘I did need you.’ A breath. ‘I do.’
The air seemed to crackle and the next second his hands found her face and slid along her jaw, drawing her towards him, and then his mouth was on hers, hot and firm and oh, so welcome.
He was kissing her like he couldn’t get enough of her, running his hands possessively down her throat to skim over her shoulders and down over the swell of her breasts, his thumbs catching on her suddenly erect nipples which pushed against the tight-fitting dress she’d worn for him.
‘Tristan—’ she muttered against his mouth.
He drew back enough to let her speak.
‘What are we doing? This is crazy.’
His hands tightened around her waist and he pulled her hard against him so she could feel how turned on he was.
‘I know. I know.’ His voice was guttural, strained.
He dropped kisses along her jawline, sending great twists of erotic sensation through her whole body. ‘Don’t think,’ he murmured, the vibration of his words tickling and teasing the hypersensitive skin of her neck as he moved lower. ‘Just do.’
She moaned low in her throat, suddenly totally unable to remember why she shouldn’t be doing this with him. It felt so right. So good.
Sliding her hands up from his body, she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him hard and covetously, her tongue sliding firmly against his, the untameable response making her whole body throb with need.
He slammed against her, forcing her back against the wall, sending what sounded like brooms crashing to the floor.
The mood changed in the space of a second.
This wasn’t playful any more; it was hot and heavy and serious.
Inevitable.
It was what she wanted. What she’d needed since he was last inside her.
In a shocking moment of clarity she realised that this was always going to happen.
She’d been kidding herself this whole time.
EIGHT
Tristan groaned with relief as Lula wrenched his trousers open and slid a hot hand down his stomach and into his boxers, freeing him from the confines of his clothes. He was hard and so ready for her touch as she ran her fingers possessively over him.
He’d been dying to drag her away and keep her all to himself all evening and when she’d told him she was here for him he’d totally lost his grip on control.
He’d needed to hear that. That he wasn’t on his own. That someone else cared about him. That she cared about him.
This growing need for her had been driving him crazy for the last couple of weeks and all his frustration came flooding out as he pressed himself into her, kissing her so hard he worried for a second he might be hurting her.
Drawing back, he cupped her face again and felt her ragged breath on his skin.
‘Don’t stop,’ she murmured, in that taunting, husky voice of hers.
He was lost. Totally and utterly gone.
Dropping his hands from her face, he found the hem of her dress and pushed it roughly up her body then located the top of her skimpy knickers, which he skimmed down her legs, exposing her fully to his roving fingers.
She let out a gasp of pleasure as he pressed his index finger between her folds, catching the swollen nub of her clitoris with his fingertip and stroking her there for a few beats, before sliding it into her slick waiting heat.
His body gave a throb of pleasure as he realised she was as ready for this as he was.
And this was no time for finesse; he just needed to be inside her.
Right now.
‘Please tell me you have a condom,’ she muttered.
He stilled as the terrible truth hit him.
He didn’t have one on him.
‘I was hoping you might have brought some. Maybe hidden them about your person?’ he said, his voice ragged with hope.
Despite the intensity of the moment she giggled. ‘In this dress? I can barely fit my body into it.’
He groaned, low in his throat. ‘I noticed. And stop talking about your body, I’m going crazy here.’
She laughed again, and he felt the tremor of the movement against his other hand, which was pressed to the bottom of her ribcage.
Leaning his forehead against hers, he slipped his hands away from her and she moaned in protest.
‘Let’s get out of here and go back to my apartment,’ he said, taking a step backwards so he could stoop down and locate her knickers on the floor.
Don’t say no, Lula, please don’t say no.
‘Okay.’ Her voice was firm and true and he felt a surge of joy that her urge to carry this on hadn’t been destroyed by the coitus interruptus.
‘Can I have my knickers back?’ she asked breathily.
‘Nope. I’m keeping these,’ he said, stuffing them into his pocket. He had no intention of letting her cover herself up again. He wanted to keep her pressed right up to the cliff-edge of desire, to tease her like she’d been unknowingly teasing him all evening.
There was a pause, then a gentle snort of amusement and he felt the air move as she pulled down her dress.
After quickly doing up his own clothes, he managed to locate the door handle and opened the door, squinting into the bright light of the deserted corridor.
‘The coast’s clear,’ he said, turning back to give her a grin. He felt like a naughty schoolkid.
She looked flushed and dishevelled as she emerged from the darkness. It had to be the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life.
His erection pressed hard against his trousers and he pulled his jacket closed and did up the button in the hope it would go some way to disguising how turned on he was, should they have the misfortune to bump into someone on their way out.
He had to get them out of there, right now.
Grabbing her hand, he led her down the corridor and straight through the lobby and out into the cool night air, holding up a hand to stop a passing cab, which mercifully screeched to a halt for them.
It was meant to be.
Once they’d clambered into the cab and he’d given the driver his address, he pulled her hard against him, drawing her legs over his and sliding a hand between her thighs to find the naked damp heat of her again. He kissed her hard, his tongue exploring every delicious inch of her mouth while his fingers probed and slid inside her, intent on taking her right back to the edge of madness they’d achieved in the broom cupboard.
A hot and maddening ten minutes later they pulled up outside the entrance to his apartment and he passed the driver twenty pounds, and not waiting for change, pulled her out of the cab with him. He noticed with glee how she struggled to pull down her dress and gave him a look of pure filthy longing as she righted herself on her heels.
‘Come on,’ he said, graspin
g her hand and leading her into the lobby of his building.
Taking one look at her in her tight dress and heels, he scooped her up into his arms and mounted the stairs.
She squeaked in protest.
‘Can’t wait,’ he muttered, taking two stairs at a time in his hurry.
After somehow managing to get the door open with trembling hands, he pushed her inside his apartment and kissed her again, slamming her against the wall behind them.
Their movements were frantic now as they pulled off their shoes and he tore the shirt away from his body.
‘Where are your condoms?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘Bedroom. In the mezzanine.’
She broke away from him and walked quickly towards it, but he wasn’t finished kissing her yet.
Catching hold of her arm, he spun her around and brought his mouth down onto hers again, walking her backwards towards the spiral staircase as he did so. He grasped the hem of her dress and slid it up her body, pausing while she reached round to undo a zip at one side of it so he was free to pull it over her head, leaving her totally naked.
They reached the staircase and he kissed her again, guiding her backwards onto the first step, then up another and another until they were halfway up, the exposed heat of her bleeding into him in tormenting waves.
‘It’s no good,’ he said, breaking the kiss, ‘I have to get my mouth on that amazing body of yours right now.’
She let out an approving moan and perched her behind on one of the steps, her body giving a shiver. ‘Cold,’ she muttered, but it didn’t stop her from leaning further back, giving him the access he craved.
Dropping his head, he kissed down her body, teasing his lips and tongue over her breasts, nipping at the hard peaks of her nipples, then down her stomach to his ultimate goal between her spread thighs.
She groaned with pleasure, her breath coming out in short pants as he pulsed his tongue against her there and she arched her back, raising her hips to press harder against him. He slid his fingers easily into her again, delighting in her wild arousal as she let out a small whimper of need.
‘Tristan—’
He knew what she wanted. He wanted it too.
Drawing away from her, he scooped a hand behind her back and urged her to climb the steps again, grinning at her shock and awe as her legs wobbled beneath her, barely able to hold her up any more.
‘Look what you’ve done to me,’ she gasped, a wide delighted grin spread across her face.
‘You ain’t seen nothing yet,’ he growled, giving her a wicked smile back.
She made it to the top of the steps with his help and he lifted her into his arms, walked the two paces to the bed and dropped her onto it.
After locating a condom from a drawer in the bedside table, he discarded the rest of his clothes, sheathed himself with the latex and joined her on the bed, pushing between her thighs and kissing her swollen mouth hard.
She gasped as he entered her and he paused, worried he might have been too fast and rough and hurt her.
‘Don’t stop moving,’ she begged, her eyes wild and intense. ‘Don’t you dare!’
This was the moment he’d been fantasising about since she’d left him frustrated and alone in his hotel bed and he thrust into her, his unfulfilled need for her driving him on. She rode the movement with him, digging her fingers into his upper arms and raising her hips to meet his drives.
Their kissing was frantic, their tongues and teeth clashing untidily with the force of their pent-up desire.
He was so close, so close to losing it. He had to slow things down or he’d streak ahead of her and this would all be over too soon.
Wrapping his arms around her, he rolled to one side—somehow managing to keep them connected as he pulled her with him—so she was now sitting astride him.
‘Nice moves,’ she gasped, her eyes wide with surprise.
He smiled back, grateful for the small break to get himself under control before she started moving again. He wanted to see her come, to know he’d driven her to the point where she’d powered through her reticence and was letting him see her at her most vulnerable.
That she trusted him.
It didn’t take her long to reach her climax in this position and he held her as her body shuddered through the orgasm, her breath hot and fast on his skin as she buried her face against his neck.
A sense of overwhelming elation rushed through him as she held him tightly in a possessive grip. Like she didn’t want to let him go.
It made his heart beat faster.
He gave her a few moments to pull herself together before flipping her onto her back again and losing himself in the hot tightness of her body. She wrapped her legs round his back and urged him on, bringing her head up to kiss him as he came, shuddering with relief as all the tension he’d been bottling up poured out of him.
They lay quietly together afterwards, their limbs tangled around each other, and he experienced a sense of peace he’d not felt in a very long time.
She was good for him, like nothing else on earth that he’d found. Not work, not friends, not money.
This. Just this.
Her quiet and calm and gentleness. Like a harbour in the storm of his life.
‘Why did you run away so quickly after we spent that first night together?’ he asked quietly into her hair.
Pulling her head away from where it nestled against his shoulder, she gave him an artificially stern look. ‘It wasn’t because I wanted to keep you in a state of sexual fervour so I could manipulate you the next morning.’
He smiled back and tipped his head in a show of regret. ‘Yeah, I know that now.’
‘I would never do anything like that. I do have some integrity, you know.’ She untangled her legs from his and he felt the distance she’d created between them keenly.
‘I know, I know and I’m sorry for accusing you of it. I’ve been feeing a bit...messed up...about Marcy leaving me and it affected my reasoning.’
There was an awkward pause where he wished he could take that confession back.
‘How long did you say you were together?’ she asked finally, not looking him in the eye.
‘Four years.’
She didn’t respond to that and he sensed it was time to lighten the mood before she fell too heavily into her thoughts. There was no greater mood killer than talking about exes.
‘Who’d have thought the night would end this way. This is much more fun than schmoozing with rivals and sponsors.’ Finding her leg with his hand, he drew it back over his body and kissed along her jaw, running his tongue along the underside to make her shiver.
To his disappointment she stiffened instead.
‘I don’t want anyone at Flash to know about us,’ she said, her voice muffled and strained.
Flopping back against his pillow, he ran a hand over his forehead. ‘You’re uncomfortable about shagging the boss?’ He said it jokingly, but knew it would be obvious from a trip in his voice that her apprehension bothered him.
‘It’s just...it could make things really awkward for me there. I don’t want anyone thinking I got my promotion because we’re sleeping together.’
‘They wouldn’t think that, they all hold you in very high esteem. You should have seen how they reacted after I fired you, I didn’t think I’d make it out alive at one point.’
Her brow furrowed. ‘Really?’
‘Yes.’ He kissed her again, sliding his hand along her side and round to her pert backside, feeling her shiver with desire under his touch.
He loved how she reacted to him, as if she had no control over herself.
‘I should go,’ she murmured.
He tensed instinctively, increasing his grip on her. No way was he letting her leave right now, not when they�
�d only just breached their divide.
‘Tough luck, Tallulah, you’re not going anywhere for a while,’ he said, rolling her onto her back and trapping her beneath him.
His heart lifted as he felt her relax and heard her delighted sigh.
‘I was hoping you might say that.’
NINE
Lula woke in the dark to the sound of running water.
As the fug of sleep lifted, memories from the night before flooded back and adrenalin spiked her blood as she realised she was still at Tristan’s place.
Heart in her throat, she turned to stare at the brightly lit digits of the alarm clock on the bedside table and relief poured through her when she saw there was still time to go back to her flat and change before getting into work for the Breakfast Show.
Flopping back onto the pillows she ran a hand over her tired eyes.
What had she been thinking?
She never should have done this—allowed her yearning for him to cloud her judgement—surely it could only lead to pain and heartache. He wanted different things to her—had a different life somewhere else. One that he clearly still hadn’t come to terms with changing on him. She was just a distraction.
But she wanted to be more. So much more.
And she couldn’t give him up now.
Sitting up in bed and flicking on the side light, she saw that Tristan had left the door to the en-suite bathroom open and she could make out the blurred shape of him through the semi-opaque glass of the shower screen.
Her skin immediately heated as she remembered how his body had been wrapped around her the night before, driving her wild.
Too wild.
She was going to have to find a way to keep her sexual and emotional needs separate if she was going to survive this.
The water shut off and she pulled the sheet tighter around her as he came back into the bedroom, a towel slung low on his lean hips and his amazingly honed body sleek with moisture.
‘Morning,’ he said, giving her one of those killer smiles that made her heart beat faster and heat rush straight between her legs.
Fired by Her Fling Page 13