Kate Hewitt - Out of Hours...Her Ruthless Boss

In the distance Lizzie thought she heard a trill of feminine laughter, but it could have been the call of a bird.

Cormac kicked off his flippers, threw his mask to the ground, and numbly, hazily, Lizzie did the same.

The moment stretched between them endlessly, and yet it only lasted a second.

‘Come here.’

Obediently, she came, stood before him. If there had been a choice, she didn’t know when she’d made it. Perhaps there never had really been one at all.

He gave a smile of pure primal satisfaction before he took her in his arms and lowered his head to hers.

THIS was how he wanted her. Slender, glistening, perfect, her lips full and parted, ready to be kissed, her body open, willing, ready.

He smiled as he kissed her.

Her lips were soft, sweet, warm and hungry. She kissed him back with an inexpert passion that seared his soul and fired his blood.

Her hands stroked his chest, funny little strokes that weren’t meant to arouse or entice. She was simply exploring.

But it worked. It worked very well.

Cormac lay her in the sand, warm from the sun and damp from their bodies. He wanted to be careful, calculated about what he was doing. This needed to be right. She had to feel…treasured.

He untied her bikini top and let it fall away to reveal pert, perfect, pink-tipped breasts.

She smiled shyly. ‘Am I too small?’

‘You’re perfect,’ he murmured, and brushed his lips against her breast, then found he wanted more. She moaned, her fists clenched in his damp hair, pulling her towards him.

‘Cormac…’

Everything was new to her, wondrous and thrilling. He lifted his head, smiled and moved to the other breast. She arched towards him and he let his hand slide across her stomach to finger the top of her bikini briefs.

She tensed slightly, surprised as his fingers slid underneath the slippery material.

He kept his hand still, waiting for her to agree, to surrender as he knew she would.

After a moment her legs, taut with tension, relaxed, and she parted for him, letting his hand slide under her briefs to the very core of her, gasping as he stroked her with clever, knowing fingers.

‘Cormac…’ She moved, writhed, a stranger to the exquisite sensation she was feeling…he was feeling, watching her. It pleased him to pleasure her.

It was a new feeling.

Somewhere someone laughed, and he realised that even in this secluded cove there were people nearby. So did Lizzie, by the way her body stiffened and her eyes widened.

They stared at each other for a moment, Lizzie wide-eyed and searching, before the moment was broken, the wonderment lost.

Cormac rolled off her, his back on the hard sand, breathing heavily.

Lizzie was fumbling with her bikini strings, trying to make herself decent.

Around a tumble of rocks, two figures emerged. From a distance, Cormac saw it was Wendy and Dan.

Dammit .

‘Hey, you two!’ Wendy called out cheerfully. She glanced at their appearances, still rumpled, both of them stretched out on the sand, and blushed. ‘Did we interrupt some private time?’

‘Wendy,’ Dan admonished. He grinned. ‘They’re newly-weds, remember?’

‘Oh, of course. This could practically count as your honeymoon!’

Cormac chuckled dryly, ran his fingers through his sandy hair and smiled. ‘We’re planning a honeymoon eventually,’ he said, ‘but in the meantime, this will do.’

He glanced at Lizzie, saw her face was white and blank, and mentally cursed. The seduction he’d so carefully planned was shot to pieces. Now he had no idea how she might react.

‘How do you feel the weekend’s going, Cormac?’ Dan asked. ‘From what I can tell, Hassell has his eye mostly on you.’

‘It’s anyone’s game still,’ Cormac replied neutrally. He wanted them gone, wanted to take Lizzie back into his arms and make her believe in him again.

He wanted to repair the damage.

‘Let the best man win, right?’ Dan said with a wry smile. ‘The best architect.’

‘Exactly,’ Cormac agreed with a small smile.

Dan glanced at Lizzie, who hadn’t spoken yet. She was still sitting there, one hand fiddling with her bikini string, her eyes wide and dark.

‘You look like you’ve had a bit too much sun, Elizabeth,’ he ventured. ‘Are you two heading back? I convinced Wendy to try snorkeling—I think we’ll swim back to the beach. Everyone will be returning to the villa soon.’

Cormac paused. There was no point picking up where they’d left off—Lizzie was too shocked. Too embarrassed. He’d have to wait till tonight, in their room. More comfortable anyway, he decided as he brushed some sand from his shoulders. Then there would be no interruptions, nothing to keep them from each other.

Nothing to keep him from gaining her trust, her love, and enjoying it. Using it.

‘Yes, we’ll go back with you,’ he said.

Nodding, Dan and Wendy waded into the shallows. Cormac turned to Lizzie.

‘Come on, sweetheart,’ he said, keeping his voice gentle. ‘You do look like you’ve had too much sun.’

She gave him an odd look. ‘You think so?’ He held out his hand to help her up and she shrugged it aside. ‘I’ll stay here.’

Cormac bit back his impatience. ‘You heard Dan. Everyone’s getting ready to go back to the villa.’

She looked at him, a new coldness in her eyes. ‘I’ll walk.’

‘Lizzie…’ he warned, and she shook her head.

‘No, Cormac, don’t. Don’t control me. Not now.’ She stood up, brushed the sand from her legs. ‘I’ll see you back at the beach.’

Without waiting for his response, she headed down the stretch of empty sand, her pace resolute, her shoulders thrown back.

Cormac cursed aloud. He should follow her, he supposed, make sure she didn’t do something stupid like get lost or burst into tears.

Still, he didn’t want to create a scene. He had no idea how she would react now, what she might do because she was hurt, furious or just plain frustrated.

This could, he realised savagely, cost him the commission.

But he was still going to seduce her. Tonight.

The sun was low in the sky, casting a golden sheen on the calm surface of the sea, when Lizzie finally found her way back to the makeshift camp. She hadn’t realised how jagged the coastline was; walking had taken far longer than swimming would have.

She’d kept her mind blank, filled with the white noise around her, the soothing rush of waves on to sand, the call of seabirds, the rustling of the palm trees that fringed the beach.

It was easier to concentrate on those sounds than the memories which jangled and clamoured within her, desperate to be heard.

The memory of Cormac’s lips on hers, his hands on her…

No . Her hands went up to her face and, despite her best intentions, the memories came anyway, rushed over her in an endless tide of regret and wonder.

She couldn’t believe…

No .

Cormac. With Cormac .

She’d expected to feel desire, lust. But she’d felt tenderness, emotion, need.

And he hadn’t felt anything.

Why couldn’t it be uncomplicated? Why couldn’t she be uncomplicated?

Why couldn’t she give Cormac her body while keeping her heart?

She knew there was no feeling on his side. No matter how much she hoped or wondered. If he felt anything for her, it was casual, careless affection. Fleeting and fuelled by lust.

That was all it was.

Could it be enough? For her?

Was she willing to accept so little, simply because it was more than she’d ever had?

Lizzie shook her head. No. She wanted more, wanted what she’d told Cormac. Love. Respect. Marriage, even.