Kate Hewitt - The Billionaire's Fantasy

She could not let this man affect her emotionally. That would be beyond stupid. It would be bordering on insane.

“I’m ready to move on,” she forced out, and Jaiven arched an eyebrow.

“You sure about that?”

No, she absolutely was not. But she wanted to be. She needed to be, because anything else was akin to juggling bombs. Exciting, yes, but eventually one would explode in her face.

She wasn’t about to explain that to him right now, though. “What do you want from me? Really?”

He met her gaze with an even one of his own. “Just a little more of what we’ve been having. Look, Louise, I’m not into commitment. Or relationships of any kind, emotion, that whole thing. I think you know that.”

“Yes…”

“And you seemed like you weren’t interested in it either, at least with a man like me.”

“I suppose…” Her brain snagged on that phrase, a man like me , and wondered what he meant by it. But before she could work up the courage to ask, he was onto the next thing.

“So why not enjoy what’s between us? I’ve got a fantasy about buttoned-up academics. You’ve got a fantasy about bad boys with tattoos. Let’s go with it.”

“How do you know I have a fantasy about bad boys with tattoos?” she asked, folding her arms. How could she have a fantasy about bad boys with tattoos when she’d been married to one, and he’d been an utter bastard?

Maybe this is how you can redeem the past. Make sense of your marriage. Feel strong again.

Or was she just seriously screwed up?

He shrugged. “Maybe it was how you kept sneaking glances at my tattoo at that party. Or possibly how you licked it a few nights ago.”

“I think one rule of any possible fling should be you don’t say things like that.”

“Why are you embarrassed?” He lifted a hand, pressed it to her cheek. “Your face is on fire.”

She closed her eyes and willed the heat to fade from her face. From her body. Humiliation came so easily to her, still . “Thanks very much.”

“All I’m saying is,” Jaiven told her, his hand still on her cheek, “this doesn’t have to be awkward or something to regret. We could both enjoy it. We’re not looking for commitment, we’re not hurting anyone, and frankly, I’d love to know a few more of your fantasies, especially if they involve that underwear you wore the other night.”

She opened her eyes, felt a bubble of laughter rise inside her. “Do you have some weird fetish for figure-controlling undergarments?”

“Possibly.” His teeth flashed in an answering, wolfish grin. “I might have all sorts of fetishes and fantasies I didn’t know about before. You’re opening me up to a whole new world of possibility, Louise.”

That bubble of laughter escaped and she shook her head. “That would be novel. I’ve got probably a thousandth of the sexual experience you do.”

“So?”

So? How was she supposed to answer that? The truth was she was tempted. Tempted to say yes to a fling, yes to fantasy sex with the hottest man she’d come across in a long, long while.

She’d lived her life like a nun for the past five years. Ten years, really, if you discounted that one unfortunate relationship that had lasted all of three weeks. She’d thought closing herself off meant keeping herself emotionally safe, but maybe it just kept her bored, frustrated and lonely.

She was tired of all three. Tired of living like a ghost because the past haunted her so much.

Why shouldn’t she choose this, for a little while at least? Jaiven wasn’t asking for a relationship. If they kept their encounters purely physical, there was no real way she could start to care about him. No real way he could hurt her.

And there was something fitting that Jaiven reminded her of Jack except about a thousand times better in every way. He had the tattoo, that bad boy charm, but he didn’t lose his temper and he hadn’t hurt her.

Yet.

Even now her self-doubt rose up in a howl of fear. You don’t really know this man. And you have a proven track record of picking losers.

But this wasn’t a relationship, she reminded herself. This was just sex. Sexual liberation.

Maybe, through Jaiven, she’d finally free herself from the past.

Or maybe she’d just get her heart broken.

“I’ll think about it,” she said, and Jaiven gave her one of his slow, toe-curling smiles that she’d come to know—and respond to.

“You do that,” he said, and he leaned forward and kissed her. A soft kiss, not one that was a prelude to sex but one that was just because. And it affected her more than anything else he’d done to her so far.

He stepped back and she blinked, suddenly, bizarrely near tears. This was so not a good idea.

Those bombs she was juggling? One had just started to tick. She needed to be smart, and smart meant never seeing him again, ever. Never cracking open the window to her soul even a little. Sex was personal and intimate and incredible, and you couldn’t have it with someone and then just walk away. At least she couldn’t. She’d start to read things into it, to feel things she absolutely couldn’t feel.

And she didn’t have any fantasies, anyway.

“I’ll be waiting,” he said softly, and with one last knowing grin he stepped backward, opened the door, and then was gone.

Louise sagged against her desk, her mind spinning, her heart still thudding. What on earth was she getting herself into?

Nothing , she reminded herself. You are not doing this. You will not see him again. Your one foray into casual sex is officially over.

What she should do was find a nice, respectable, safe, boring man to go out with. Have vanilla sex and spend the weekend reading the newspaper in bed. Totally her style.

Jaiven was so not.

And yet it was Jaiven she wanted. Jaiven she dreamed about, Jaiven who came into her office and woke up her body so she felt more alive and real and whole than she had in ten years of staying safe.

She was in so much trouble.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.