Tara Pammi - Scandalous Sins

Violet turned from taking in all of the room to find him looking at her with an unreadable expression. The air seemed to tighten and then to crackle as if an invisible current was being transmitted through their gazes. She could feel her body responding to the magnetic presence of his. She was half a room away but it felt like a force was drawing her to him, a force she could not control even if she wanted to. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked, barely recognising the breathy voice as coming from her.

‘How am I looking at you?’

‘As if you don’t want me to know what you’re thinking.’

His mouth lifted in a wry smile that tugged on something deep inside her. ‘Believe me, you don’t want to know what I’m thinking.’

‘Try me.’ Did you just say that? Isn’t that flirting? That thing you never do?

He closed the distance in a couple of strides, standing close enough for her to feel the potent energy of his body calling out to hers. ‘This is all sorts of crazy.’ He didn’t touch her. He just stood there looking down at her with that inscrutable expression on his face.

Violet disguised a tiny swallow. ‘What is?’

She heard him draw in a breath, it sounded as if it caught on something on the way through. He lifted his hand, brushing the backs of his bent fingers down the slope of her cheek. ‘Being alone with you. It’s...ill-advised.’

Ill-advised? Violet wondered what other word he’d considered using. Dangerous? Tempting? Inevitable? All three seemed to apply. She looked at his mouth, knowing it was a signal for him to kiss her. Knowing it and doing it anyway. It was what she wanted. It was what he wanted. She might not be very experienced but she could tell when a man wanted to kiss a woman.

She lowered her lashes over her eyes, swaying towards him. Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me. She placed her hands on the wall of his chest. The feel of his firm male form beneath her palms sent a thrill through her body. It was like being plugged into a power source. She felt the sensual voltage from her palms to the balls of her feet...and other places. Places she mostly ignored, but not now. Her feminine core responded to his closeness with a tight, clenching ache. His head came down, his mouth hovering within a breath of hers as if some fraying thread of self-control was only just keeping him in check.

Violet took matters into her own hands...or mouth, so to speak. She closed the minuscule distance by placing her lips to his, her heart kicking in excitement when he made a low, deep groaning sound before he took charge of the kiss. His lips were firmer than the last time, not rough but with an undercurrent of desperation as if the self-control he had always relied on had finally let him down. She felt it in the way his tongue came in ruthless search of hers, tangling with it in an erotic dance that made her skin pop all over with goose bumps. The spread of his fingers through her hair made every nerve on her scalp tingle at the roots, his mouth continuing its sensual teasing until she was mindless with longing. His stubble grazed her cheek and then her chin but she didn’t care. This was what she’d been hungering for all evening...or maybe for most of her adult life.

* * *

The insistent sound of her phone vibrating and chirruping from within her evening bag would have been easy to ignore under normal circumstances, but it was late at night. Late night phone calls usually meant something was wrong. And with her frail grandfather it was hard not to worry something terrible had happened. Violet eased back from Cam’s embrace and gave him a wincing look. ‘Sorry, better answer that. It might be urgent.’

‘Sure.’ He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and stood back while she fished her phone out of her purse.

By the time Violet got her phone out it had stopped, but she frowned when she saw she’d missed six calls from her mother. There were three each from all of her siblings. Her stomach dropped like an elevator with sabotaged cables. She pressed speed dial and looked at Cam with a grimace as she braced herself for bad news.

‘Mum? What’s wrong? You called me—’

‘Poppet, why didn’t you tell me?’ Her mother’s clear voice carried as if Violet had put her on speaker. ‘It’s all over social media. I’ve had everyone calling to confirm it. We’re so delighted for you and Cam. When did he ask you? Tell me everything. It’s just so exciting! Grandad’s taken on a new lease of life. He got out of bed and had a wee dram to celebrate. He says he’s going to make it to your wedding and no one’s going to stop him. Your father’s beside himself with joy. Here, speak to him.’

Violet looked wide-eyed at Cam for help, mouthing, What will I say?

Cam gestured for her to hand him the phone. He took it and held it to his ear, his eyes on Violet’s, his expression was calm on the surface, but she could see a tiny muscle in his jaw going on and off like a miniature hammer. ‘Gavin? Yes, well, we were hoping to keep it quiet a little longer but—’

‘Congratulations,’ her father said. ‘Couldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law. You have my every blessing, Cam. You’re already a big part of the family—this has just made it formal. You and our little Vivi. I’m so thrilled I can barely tell you. I know you’ll look after our baby girl.’

After a few more effusive congratulations from both her parents, Cam handed back the phone to Violet and she was subjected to the same. This was the trouble with having parents who were enthusiastic and encouraging in anything and everything their children did. There was barely a space for her to put a word in. Finally her parents ended the call and Violet switched her phone off. Her siblings would be next. There would be another barrage of verbiage she wouldn’t be able to contradict for fear of disappointing everyone.

But her brother and sisters would have to wait until she figured out what Cam was up to. Why hadn’t he denied it? Why let it continue when so many people would be hurt when the truth came out?

‘Okay, so apparently we’re now engaged,’ she said, shooting him a please explain look. ‘Any idea how that happened?’

His mouth was set in a rigid line. ‘Sophia Nicolaides must have made an announcement on social media with that photo she took of us at dinner. Do you know how many followers she has?’ He turned away and let out a stiff curse. ‘I should’ve known something like this would happen.’

‘But we could’ve just denied it.’

He swung his gaze back to hers. ‘You heard what your mother said. Your grandfather practically came out of a coma at the news. No, we’ll have to run with it—at least until after Christmas.’

Violet’s heart was doing a rather good impression of having some sort of medical event. ‘Why till after Christmas?’

‘Because I don’t want your family’s Christmas to be spoilt,’ he said. ‘It’s the time when everyone comes together. Your mother puts such a lot of effort into making it special for everyone. Can you imagine how awkward it would be if we were to tell them it’s all a lie?’

Violet chewed her lip. He was right. Of course he was. Christmas was a big thing in her family and it would be ruined if she and Cam put them straight about the charade they were playing. And surely poor old Grandad deserved to have his last Christmas as happy as they could make it? It wasn’t like Cam was going to keep this going for ever. He didn’t want to settle down. The last thing he would want to do was tie himself down with a woman he wasn’t in love with. He liked her, loved her even in a platonic sort of way, but he wasn’t in love with her. She wasn’t his type. She wasn’t anyone’s type.

‘But we’re going to have to tell them some time...’