One-Click Buy: November Harlequin Presents (102 page)

‘Don't move.' It was an impossible order. He was stabbing at her entrance, filling her slowly, and she wanted to move with him, to drag him in deeper, for him to fill her, but Hunter was insistent. ‘You're not to move until I say you can.'

Eyes wide open, he stared down at her as he teased her with the first inches of his generous member, till she was weeping out loud, his hands a vice-like grip on her hips as she fought the urge to move with him. Yet when she started to, when her body couldn't play to his imposed tune, he upped the stakes and pinned her down with his full weight, till all she could do was taste him, taste the salt of his chest as he slid over her and within her, giving her a little more of himself with each measured thrust, till finally he released her, not with his body but with one shuddering word.

‘Now!'

She coiled around him, arched into him as her body spasmed into a heated frenzy, her fingers digging into his taut buttocks as he filled her completely, and each deep contraction of her orgasm should have been the last, but it went on and on for ever—even when he'd spent himself inside her tiny beats of pleasure protested the ending.

‘Oh, Lily…' He groaned the words out, buried his exquisite head in her neck and dragged in her scent, holding her so fiercely that the gamut of emotion she witnessed through him captured her with yet another twist, because if making love to Hunter had been the most heady, intense, extreme encounter in her life, then the infinite tenderness he expressed afterwards was an enigma. She'd almost braced herself for the cruel mental slap of him dressing and leaving, but instead that supreme body was spooning into hers as he held her close and drifted to sleep. Feeling his breathing, the silk of his skin against hers, the strength of his arm protectively holding her, Lily realised something.

She hadn't wanted to sleep alone either.

S
HE
could feel his eyes on her as Lily's mind awoke before her body, knew he was watching her as she slept. His gaze felt like a caress. She felt as if she were being drawn by a skilful artist, the drape of the sheet over her body, his eyes bringing out the most feminine, beautiful aspects of her, just as his body had done last night.

Opening her eyes, all Lily could do was smile, the guilt that she would normally have felt after such a reckless night utterly absent. Propped up on one elbow, he was blatantly staring at her, only it didn't feel uncomfortable. His face was even more exquisite than she remembered, those cool blue eyes not mocking or superior, just caressing her as she gradually came to, stretching like a cat in the warm, tousled bed, feeling the blissful warmth of his hand on her stomach.

‘Morning.' His hand was idly stroking her stomach through the sheet, actually not so idly, Lily realized. The soft, circular motion was having a definite effect. ‘What are your plans for today?'

‘Hmm?' Lily was only half listening, her eyes closed again, concentrating instead on the wonderful sensations he was drawing out of her awakening body, trying not to think about climbing out of the warm bed that bore the sharp lingering scent of the passion they had shared last night. Wanting to hold onto the fantasy of them just a little while longer. Hunter's caress was infinitely more pleasurable than having to deal with a broken down car and her financial worries.

‘Because,' Hunter continued, clearly wide awake and raring to go, ‘we could go and look at your mother's house.'

‘Why?' Lily frowned.

‘Well, don't you have to water the plants or let out the cat or something?'

‘She lives more than an hour's drive away in the Red Hill area.' Lily laughed. ‘The cat would be crossing its legs!'

‘Why don't we go anyway?' Hunter insisted. ‘I haven't had a day off for ages. I'll ring Abigail and tell her to arrange it.'

‘Abigail?' Lily checked. ‘Your ex—she works for you?'

‘She's my PA,' Hunter nodded. ‘Why?'

‘I though you said you two were finished.'

‘We are,' Hunter answered. ‘But just because our…' He paused for a second, ‘For want of a word
relationship
is over, there's no reason I should lose a perfectly good PA. She was upset at the time, but Abigail's fine with it now.'

‘You're sure?' Lily frowned.

‘Absolutely. She knows the two of us couldn't have worked out and at the end of the day she loves her job too much to quit over something so petty.'

Petty.

His choice of word confirmed every idea Lily had formed about him in their few hours together. Relationships were a mere trinket to Hunter—a small, pleasurable diversion and absolutely nothing to lose a moment's sleep over. But nothing Hunter said would convince Lily that it was so easy for Abigail. Sure, she'd never met the woman, but there was no way one could go on seeing this man every day and not want him.

He was addictive.

From the first second that she'd laid eyes on him, nothing else had mattered except getting more of him, not just sexually but emotionally and mentally as well. Like a fabulous book that kept one up all night, turning the pages, like a nibble of the most delectable chocolate that had you peeling back the shiny foil for just a little bit more, he consumed all thought processes, created need where there had been none. Seeing him every day and not having intimate access to him would be torture—like an alcoholic working in a bar—the fix constantly at arm's length but utterly out of reach. And after just a single night in Hunter's arms Lily knew it could never be that easy. That the time they had shared was going to be a memory that would linger for ever.

‘I guess it would be prudent to see it before I buy it.' His words snapped her out of her daydream, but Hunter hadn't yet finished with his ludicrous suggestions. ‘I think we should get married.' Just like that, he said it, sort of drawled it as he if were commenting on the weather, or suggesting that they go out for breakfast. ‘What I need is a wife.'

‘So do I!' Lily grinned. ‘Preferably one who loves ironing and cleaning and one who know how I like my coffee.'

‘No, I've been
really
thinking about it,' Hunter pushed.

‘So have I,' Lily said. ‘One sugar—it's your turn to make it.'

‘Not till you answer my question.'

‘I wasn't aware you asked one.'

‘I mean it, Lily. I've been lying here since the crack of dawn, going over and over it, and marriage is the perfect solution.'

‘To what?'

‘Your money problems.'

‘My money problems aren't your concern.'

‘But I could buy your mother's house for you.'

‘Why on earth would you want to do that?'

‘Stability.'

Lily hadn't actually expected an answer to her question, but if she'd tried to fathom his response, that would have been way off the list, but even before she could respond he elaborated.

‘Some of my major investors are starting to get testy about my lifestyle.'

‘Hardly surprising!' Lily smiled, but it faded as she saw that Hunter was completely serious.

‘It's not just my investors. I'm trying to get some big sponsors on board for a charity do I'm organising and it's been suggested that I tone things down a touch, portray a more stable image.'

‘And marrying a girl you've known for less than twelve hours will achieve that?'

‘My PR people will take care of that.'

‘Hunter.' She smiled up at him. ‘Last night was fantastic.'

‘I know.'

‘Completely out of character for me,' Lily continued, ignoring his sheer lack of modesty, ‘yet utterly fabulous nonetheless. But, as strange as it might seem to you, all this talk of marriage is rather ruining my one wild night of reckless passion.'

‘It
is
the wrong way round,' Hunter conceded. ‘I mean, normally I wake up the morning after and she's the one asking about our future…'

‘She?' Lily checked, trying and failing not to wince at his answer.

‘Whoever.' He was leaning over her, one hand still on her stomach as the other fiddled with her clock radio, filling the room with traffic reports and news bulletins as Hunter bombarded her with his own headline news.

‘It would make my sister happy.'

Lily blinked at him in disbelief. ‘Since when did a man marry to make his sister happy? Hunter, I thought you'd be the last person to give two hoots what people think, let alone marry for that reason. What you're proposing doesn't make a shred of sense.'

‘It does to me. Emma needs to get on with her own life—she's using me as an excuse not to take up a brilliant offer.' He paused for a second, clearly debating whether to elaborate. To tell her the truth. She could feel him mentally weighing her up, and whatever test she was unwittingly taking, she must have passed, because after an age Hunter elaborated. ‘She's a violinist—an extremely talented one. She's got a solo part coming up in a few weeks and if that goes well, she's tentatively been offered this huge part in a recital in London. But she's talking about not taking it. She keeps coming up with random excuses—“We're all that's left of the family.” “If I travel, too, then we'll never see each other.”' Hunter gave an incredulous laugh. ‘She's even got it into her head that she needs to be in Melbourne to keep an eye on me. I tell you, she'd come up with any excuse to put off going.'

‘You've really lost me now.' Lily shook her head to clear it, but Hunter didn't give her a chance, just bombarded her all over again.

‘Emma's disabled,' he explained. ‘She suffered spinal injuries in the same accident that killed my parents last year.'

‘How awful!' He stated it in such a matter-of-fact voice that it served to exacerbate Lily's shocked response ‘Oh, God, I think I remember reading about it. Hunter, I'm so sorry!'

‘Hardly your fault.'

‘But even so…' Lily said, reeling at the horror of it all and confused by the blandness of his voice. ‘Hunter, it must have been a nightmare for you.'

‘Well, it wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs at the time, but it was far worse for Emma.'

‘Your sister?' Lily checked. ‘Is that who you were talking about last night?'

‘Yep.' Hunter gave a grim nod. ‘She's having a lot of trouble coming to terms with her injuries, but this offer's huge—she really needs to act on it.'

‘Maybe she's not ready,' Lily ventured, but Hunter scorned her attempt.

‘She's ready—she's brilliant!' He gave a low laugh. ‘She's just got too much time on her hands. She's actually starting to believe what the press says about me has a semblance of truth.'

‘And does it?' Lily found she was holding her breath as his face darkened, but even as he opened his mouth to deliver a flip response he changed midway, his expression serious rather than angry, those blue eyes holding hers as he spelt out the terms of his offer.

‘I'll buy the house for you and any gifts I give you naturally you can keep—believe me, I'll be more than generous. But no one must know it was anything other than a whirlwind affair that in the end went wrong.'

‘Went wrong?'

‘I'm only asking for twelve months, Lily. Twelve months would give Emma a chance to get her life back without worrying about me, give my investors and sponsors a chance to calm down—then we both walk away with no regrets. I'll buy you that house—'

‘You're actually serious?' Lily gaped at him, open mouthed. For most of the conversation she'd thought he'd been joking. Not about his sister, of course—there was nothing to joke about there—but it was starting to dawn on her that Hunter's marriage proposal hadn't entirely been a whim. Even if he'd only thought about it for five minutes, he
had
actually thought about it.

‘Oh, I'm completely serious,' Hunter said in a voice that told her he was.

‘Why me?' Lily asked.

‘Why not you?' Hunter countered. ‘You're beautiful, funny, very sexy…I can think of a lot worse ways to spend the next twelve months.'

‘But you could have anyone. Why not Abigail or—?'

‘Because they'd go and do something stupid like fall in love and think it was for ever,' Hunter interrupted. ‘Whereas you and I know that there's no such thing.'

‘Right.' Pulling back the sheet, he climbed out of bed, leaving Lily reeling as, naked as the day he was born but infinitely more desirable, he picked up his mobile, punched in a number and promptly cancelled his appointments that day. ‘Think about it,' he mouthed, before turning his back on her and giving an incredibly complicated list of orders for the unfortunate Abigail.

And strangest of all—she did. As she stepped out of bed and in somewhat of a daze headed to the shower, as she massaged shampoo into her hair and hastily shaved her legs in preparation for their impromptu outing, it wasn't the amazing night they'd shared that filled her mind. Instead, it was the amazing future Hunter was offering that consumed her.

Not the house. Though that would be good.

Not the car.

Not the money.

But him.

Twelve, exclusive months with this enthralling, breathtaking man.

How could she
not
think about it?