Chapter 17

‘Did you learn anything new at the book launch?'

‘Yeah.' Wade screwed up his nose and rubbed his chest. ‘Cab Sav and spinach-feta quiche don't mix.'

Liza laughed. ‘That'll teach you for eating an entire tray of hors d'oeuvres.'

‘I didn't have dinner. I was hungry.' The corners of his mouth curved. ‘Your fault.'

‘How do you figure that?'

‘You wouldn't have dinner with me.'

She rolled her eyes. ‘That's because you said we had a book launch to attend. For work. Remember?'

He sighed. ‘Believe me, it's all I think about.'

He took her hand as they entered the underground car park. ‘Next to you, that is.'

An illicit thrill shot through Liza. She shouldn't be so happy Wade ranked her next to his precious business, not when she was determined to keep him at bay, but she couldn't help it. The guy was seriously hot and she'd bet he invaded her thoughts a heck of a lot more than she did his.

‘We're not supposed to do this for a million reasons—'

‘Can't think of one right now.'

He'd pinned her against the wall before she could blink and plastered his mouth to hers.

The feel of his commanding lips wiped all rational thought from her mind as her body responded on an innate level that scared the hell out of her.

With this one, scorching kiss, she remembered in excruciatingly vivid detail how he'd kissed his way all over her body.

How he'd caressed and stroked until she'd been out of her mind.

How he'd licked and savoured every inch of her skin until she'd melted.

His hands slid over her butt and pulled her flush against him.

Damn, how could something so wrong feel so right?

Liza wriggled, needing to push him off, get in her car, and head home to Cindy. Instead, as he changed the pressure of the kiss and touched his tongue to hers, she combusted.

She arched against him, revelling in the feel of his hardness. She speared her fingers through his hair, angled his head, and kissed him right back, pouring every ounce of her repressed yearning into it.

He groaned. She moaned. His hands everywhere, her skin blistering with the heat generated between their bodies.

He didn't stop. She didn't care. Until the sound of a car engine starting on the level below penetrated the erotic fog clouding her head, and she realised what the hell she was doing.

She broke the kiss and dragged in great lungfuls of air, her ragged breathing matching his.

‘Don't expect me to apologise for that,' he said, resting his forehead against hers, his hands clasping her waist and leaving her no room to move.

‘I would, if I hadn't enjoyed it so much.' She rested her palms on his chest, wishing she had the willpower to shove him away. ‘You won't take no for an answer, will you?'

He straightened and smiled down at her. ‘You're only just figuring that out?'

‘Maybe I'm a slow learner.'

‘Or maybe you're running from something when it'd be better to confront it and grab it with both hands?' He squeezed her waist. ‘By it I mean you should be grabbing me, of course.'

Laughter bubbled up in her chest and spilled out. She loved an intelligent guy. She loved a funny guy more. Love being figurative.

‘I really need to get home and work on the marketing campaign.'

‘And I really need to get home and work on it too.' He released her and snapped his fingers. ‘Here's a thought. Why don't we head home together and do some work?'

She chuckled. ‘Don't hold your breath expecting me to ask your place or mine.'

‘Not happening, huh?'

She shook her head. ‘No.'

He ducked his head, nuzzled her neck, and the buzz was back. ‘There's nothing I can do to change your mind?'

Her libido whimpered and rolled over.

‘Uh…no,' she said, too soft, too breathy, too needy.

‘Sure?'

His lips brushed the tender skin beneath her ear and trailed slowly downward where his teeth nipped her collarbone with gentle bites that made her body zing and heat pool low in her belly.

Sure? She wasn't sure of anything, least of all how she would walk to her car, get in, and drive home without him in the passenger seat.

‘Wade, you're so—'

‘Addictive?' He licked the dip between her collarbones.

‘Wicked?' He deliberately brushed his stubbled jaw along the top of her breast.

‘Sexy?' He edged toward her mouth, his lips teasing at the corner.

‘Persistent,' she said, holding her breath as his lips brushed hers once, twice, soft, taunting.

As a car's headlights panned over them, Liza nudged him away. ‘This would be a great boost for the book's marketing. CEO and WAG caught in compromising position underground carpark.'

‘All publicity's good publicity,' he said, completely unruffled while she felt dishevelled and flustered and turned on.

‘Beg to differ.' She tugged down her jacket, straightened her blouse, and smoothed her hair. ‘Are you walking me to my car or not?'

‘Lead the way.' His arm swept forward in a flourish and as she passed him she could've sworn his hand deliberately brushed her butt.

Wade didn't play fair.

Then again, the way her skin tingled with awareness and her body lit up from within, did she want him to?