Jo Leigh - One-Click Buy - September Harlequin Blaze

Katie raised her chin. “Everyone’s damaged in one way or an other. Besides, I don’t scare easily.”

He nodded, but he shrugged as if he didn’t believe her. Suddenly, she didn’t believe what she’d said, either.

Every impulse in her body was urging her to kiss him, but she didn’t want him to misunderstand it. Hell, she didn’t want to misunderstand it. She felt something for this man. Something too powerful to take lightly. He could hurt her. She could hurt him. They could hurt each other very badly if they weren’t very careful.

“I haven’t told you the biggest secret yet.”

“I’m listening.”

“Finn Delancy?”

“Yes?”

“You want to know why I hate him?”

She nodded, but she already knew what he was going to say. He merely confirmed it.

“He’s the guy. He’s my father.”

Katie concentrated on his features. It explained a lot, and now that he mentioned it, she could see a bit of physical resemblance between the two men. “But he doesn’t know who you are.”

He gave a harsh laugh. “No.”

“You resent people born into wealth and prominence, don’t you?”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Not admirable, but it’s the truth.”

Once he admitted it, a bleakness fell over her. He was with her because of her pedigree, who she was. That’s why he’d invited her to the dinner party, in effect, flaunting her. Making this subliminal statement: Hey, look at me. I’m from the streets and I’ve nailed me a woman who can trace her family tree back to the Mayflower.

Wretchedly, she closed her eyes, then opened them again to find him focused on her.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re using me.”

“What?”

“You’re using me to get what has always been out of your reach, no matter how hard you’ve worked. I’m your entrée into Boston society. You made the money on your own, but you can’t buy a pedigree.”

“No,” he vehemently denied. “I’m not.”

She was feeling sick to her stomach. “Really? First you date Brooke and when there is no love connection between the two of you, then you come after me.” She turned and walked back to the Lamborghini, but he caught her by the arm and spun her around to face him.

“That’s unfair. You seduced me at the Ladies League Ball.”

“You expect me to believe my last name doesn’t have anything to do with why I’m here with you?”

“Okay,” he said. “Maybe Brooke’s heritage was the reason I was initially attracted to her, but the minute I met you, all bets were off. You…me-” He pointed from her to him and back again. “This thing between us has nothing to do with our social standing or our past.”

“I wish I could believe you,” she said, not knowing what to think, unable to decipher what she was feeling.

He tilted her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “I won’t ever lie to you, Katie. All I ask in return is that you never lie to me.”

“If I was dead broke and named Katie Smith, you’d still be here with me.”

“Damn straight.”

LIAM WAS ALARMED to think she could believe he was using her for his own gain. He had to show Katie how much she meant to him. He pulled her to him, slid his hands up the back of her neck to cup her head in his palms.

Her hair was a soft and silky slide beneath his fingers. And the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest sent his own breath reeling. A heated awareness pricked his skin. Their mental connection was undeniable. He’d never felt so conscious of anything in his life.

She looked at him, her eyes shining bright and eager in the glow of light from the overhead vapor lamp. She made him feel unique, and yet he had no right to feel that way. Katie was an adventurous woman, no doubt about it. From her mischievous grin, to her rakish smile, she appreciated sex.

And no woman had ever aroused him so intently.

She was playful and flirtatious and spontaneous; he was reserved and sober and scrupulous. She was windblown; he walked the straight and narrow. She lived to shock; he kept his feelings to himself. She was a blue blood and he’d been born with a plastic fork in his mouth. She was foie gras; he was a TV dinner.

And he was falling for her hard and fast.

Falling so hard and so fast that he didn’t even notice where they were.

You’re just horny, he told himself but Liam was afraid that wasn’t the whole truth. He was terrified he was starting to care more for her than she could ever care for him.

She pursed her lips.

He kissed her then, every cell in his body humming in harmony with hers.

She kissed him back, increasing the pressure, upping the tempo. Her lips blasted him into another realm of awareness, making him forget everything except the feel of her mouth under his. Her short fingernails dug into the back of his head. A deep flush of arousal painted her face, spread down her neck to her perky bosom. She was ready for action.

The flick of her tongue over his teeth was lazy, sultry, teasing him by degrees. Slowly at first, but then with steadily building pressure.

Liam didn’t remember how, but they made it back to the car. He wasn’t thinking, just reacting-blindly, crazily-and was mad to have her again and again and again.

They stood beside the Lamborghini, Katie’s back against the passenger side. Liam pressed against her.

His head spun, his heart pounded. His hand slipped down to cup her tight, round bottom. His penis strained against his zipper. Flexing, he curled his fingers into the soft, willing flesh of her buttocks. He heard her quick intake of breath, and it ignited him.

“Now,” she said. “I need you. Now.”

Then she reached up under the hem of her sexy black dress, pulled down her panties and stepped out of them. With her index finger, she made a slingshot of her red thong and shot it through the air. The tiny scrap of silk sailed over his shoulder.

Agog, Liam stared hard as she bent over the back of the Lamborghini, waggled her sweet little ass in the air and whispered, “Come and get me.”

THE SOUND of his zipper sliding down was incredibly erotic in the still of the chilly, dark night. The crinkling of a condom being opened caused her womb to contract. The feel of the cool, metal curve of the Lamborghini against her belly served to spike her desire even higher. The spicy taste of anticipation filled her mouth. Katie’s heart fluttered.

But the smooth glide of his hot, palm sliding up the hem of her skirt to cup her bare ass was Katie’s undoing.

Liam bent over her, pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “Wild thing.”

She swallowed desperately, felt his erect penis throbbing through the folds of his pants. He pressed himself against her butt. She felt his body swell harder still. Combing aside her hair, he dipped his head and lightly nipped the nape of her neck with his teeth.

The hot wetness of his lips ignited her and the waves of passion that had been rising inside her streamed molten.

With both his hands now up under her dress and splayed across her bottom, he cocked his knee up and used it to spread her legs farther apart.

His hands slipped from her bottom up to her waist, his wrists pushing up the skirt of her dress in the process. The cool air on her naked skin drove goose bumps up her spine.

Groaning, he rocked against her. “Beautiful, so damned beautiful.”

She whimpered as the deep center of her feminine core constricted and her nipples squeezed down to rock-hard pebbles beneath the silk of her bra.

He reached up to weave the fingers of one hand through her hair at the same time he ground his hips against hers. Holding her firmly in place, he ran his devilish tongue down the back of her neck.