His Mistress, His Terms Read online

  If a part of him didn’t feel as if he’d be using her.

  She stepped towards him in all her practically naked glory, her hips moving from side to side in a sensual sway that Alex very much doubted she knew she was doing. So he stayed still and waited for her to get to him, which just happened to be beside his bedroom door, but he doubted she knew that either.

  When she got to him, she studied the column of his neck again, her fingers lifting to smooth a line from behind his ear into the collar of his shirt. ‘You’re so tense, Alex. You weren’t this tense in Galway. I did offer you chamomile tea, but you didn’t want any…’

  He pursed his lips to hold back a smile when she tilted her head to look up at him again, her eyes sparkling with the oh-so-familiar mischief. She was a temptress, this one.

  ‘He was a bloody idiot.’

  Her eyes widened in question as he dragged his hands out of his pockets and reached for her hands, lifting them above her head as he pushed her back against the wall. ‘Who was?’

  Alex ducked his head, and ran his mouth along the beating pulse in her neck, drawing a gasp from her lips as he leaned in and the material of his shirt grazed her nipples. ‘Whoever it was felt he had to play away when he had this at home.’

  And whoever he’d been, Alex was determined to erase every memory of him from her. If she was going to offer him a no-strings affair then he was going to give her some very special memories to replace any bad ones.

  She arched her back off the wall when he ran his tongue along her shoulder blade, sighed softly when he nipped her skin. And when her head dropped forward and she rested her forehead against his shoulder, he took a deep breath, and smelled the lavender on her hair.

  Who was he kidding? He could try and be honourable, but he wanted her so bad that he ached, his hips jerking when she rubbed her abdomen across the front of his jeans. ‘Last chance to change your mind, O’Connell.’

  Merrow turned her head to whisper into his ear. ‘I want you. Inside me.’

  He looped her hands around his neck, freeing his hands to lift her off her feet, her long legs wrapping around his waist as he pressed her into the wall and tilted his head back to reach up and kiss her, their mouths fusing together. He braced his feet wider apart, using the wall and his body to support her as he pulled the soft bands off the ends of her braids, running his fingers through them until her hair was loose around her face, then he threaded them in deep, cradling her head, massaging her scalp as he tangled his tongue with hers again, as he drew her bottom lip into his mouth and nipped playfully the same way she had in the kitchen.

  She mumbled against his mouth, ‘You have too many clothes on for this.’

  Alex chuckled. ‘So do you.’

  Not that the scrap of white lace she still had on constituted clothing. But it was still in the way. And with her ankles hooked firmly behind him, there was no way of removing it. But there was time yet…

  He let his fingers slide out of her hair, let them whisper over her jaw, down her neck, over her shoulders, then in a waving dance over her breasts until he cupped them both, kneading as he ran his thumbs over her nipples. She writhed back, broke the kiss, her even white teeth biting down on her lip.

  And he smiled at her again. ‘Good?’

  ‘Mmm…’

  He pushed his hips up so that the ridge of his zipper brushed against the tiny scrap of lace covering her core. And smiled again when she moaned.

  ‘More?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  He chuckled as he reached for the door handle beside them. ‘You know, if this is what it takes to get you to stop talking I might have to do this a lot more.’

  She wrapped her legs and her arms tighter around him as he supported her backside and carried her into the room, her head tilting to rain kisses along the side of his face until she got back to his mouth. ‘Are you saying I talk too much?’

  ‘I’m saying sometimes you don’t need words.’

  ‘Show me,’ she mumbled against his mouth.

  Alex had had every intention of being suave, lowering her gently to the bed, but it didn’t quite work out that way. With her mouth tangled with his and him trying to dump his shoes off by the bed, gravity got in the way, so he stumbled and just about managed to shift his weight before he crushed her on the bed.

  Merrow giggled as she swung one leg over his hips. ‘Slick.’

  ‘I know.’ He chuckled back, one hand tangling in her hair again, drawing her in for a kiss that ended in her gasp as his other hand sneaked down between them and fingered the lace to one side so he could slide into her moist heat. ‘Slick would definitely be the word.’

  ‘You have that effect on me.’

  The thought of Merrow in a permanent state of readiness for him did things to Alex’s libido he couldn’t remember being done in a long while.

  She leaned back on her knees, using one hand to support herself so he could keep touching her while she unhooked the buttons of his shirt with her other hand. When they were all undone and he could see the flush growing on her cheeks from his long-fingered teasing, she frowned a little, bit down on her lip, and he couldn’t resist thumbing some of her moisture over her most sensitive place.

  ‘Oh-h-h!’ She bucked against his hand.

  Hell. Some guy seriously thought he could get more fun elsewhere? Really? What kind of a moron was he?

  ‘Easy.’

  ‘I’m not the one making it happen.’

  She leaned forwards again, her hands roving over the hard wall of his chest and making him suck in his breath as she moved lower, her knuckles sliding against his abdomen as she popped the button of his jeans and reached for the zipper. He drew her head down again, kissed her slow and deep and long, used his tongue to mimic what he planned on doing to her.

  ‘Protection?’

  ‘Side table drawer.’ He smiled against her mouth when she reached an arm out and couldn’t quite touch it. ‘We’ll have to move.’

  ‘I can get it. Hold on to me.’

  And he’d thought he was in charge this time? Obediently he removed his fingers, setting both hands around her narrow waist and tilting his head up off the covers to watch as she leaned back and twisted, his eyes straying briefly to the ceiling as he silently thanked whoever was responsible for flexible women. But it was still too far, so with a murmur of discontent she lifted her leg off him and sidled to the edge of the bed, which worked out okay as far as Alex was concerned, ’cos it gave him time to dump the rest of his clothes while watching from the corner of his eye as she slid the white lace off and threw it towards the door with her foot before he held a hand out.

  ‘I’ll do it. I’ll be quicker.’

  ‘Practise makes perfect, huh?’ She grinned at him, her eyes dancing. ‘Not this time, stud.’

  Alex almost choked when she reached for him, her hand stroking him as she swung her leg back over him, leaving enough space for her to roll the condom into place. Her hair fell forwards, shrouding her face, so he lifted his hands and smoothed it back, watching her bite her lip in concentration while he felt himself straining up into her hand.

  He was so not in charge of this. But there was something incredibly sexy about a confident woman who took hold of the situation at hand—literally.

  When she was done, she lifted her chin, her palms flattening on his chest, moving up behind his neck, her eyes darkening as she locked gazes with him, shifting her hips forwards, rocking, so that her slick heat teased him to breaking-point, before she sank down onto him, inch by torturous inch.

  Her lips parted, her breathing sped up. And Alex watched the play of emotions in the depths of her eyes as he filled her, her moist heat surrounding him.

  Damn, but she was amazing.

  She chuckled at his expression, the sound vibrating down to where their bodies were connected, so that every sensitive inch of Alex ached so bad it was almost painful. ‘You’re officially killing me.’

  Merrow leaned in and kissed him, open-eye
d, her pelvis beginning to rock as she whispered against his lips, ‘Le petit mort. That’s what they used to call it, you know.’

  ‘I’m starting to get why.’ Having already witnessed some of her flexibility, Alex freed her face and pushed against his elbows until he was upright, and Merrow reached her hands back to rest them on his knees, arching her spine as she rocked her pelvis. So Alex adjusted his weight onto one palm, used the other to palm her breast, to run his fingertips over each of her ribs, until he could get a finger back to her sensitive nub.

  She bucked a little—sank back down on him—rocked harder. And even as he felt the pressure building in his abdomen he watched her face, the flush that had travelled down from her cheeks and onto her neck, how her bottom lip was paler as she bit it harder, while she made small, moaning sighs that drove him to the brink.

  Had he thought amazing? As he fought to stop himself from hitting the edge before her he knew it wasn’t a big enough word. Not by a long shot.

  She locked gazes with him, and something inside his chest ached as she smiled. The same way it had ached the first time they had been joined together this way. Like some kind of weird connection to her that he’d never felt before. It was why he remembered that one night so clearly, had never forgotten any of it.

  She lifted a hand from one knee, wrapped it tight around the column of his neck and rocked harder. She was close, he could feel her body tightening around him, so he swirled his finger in the moisture he could reach, flicking his fingertip back and forth, once, twice, over the bundle of sensitized nerve endings.

  ‘Al-ex!’ She closed her eyes and breathed out his name, her body convulsing around his hard length, drawing him in further, squeezing, until he couldn’t stop the rush for release, his own groan of satisfaction low and guttural.

  Oh, yeah, she was gonna be the death of him, all right.

  She rested her head on his shoulder for a long while, their ragged breathing filling the silence as Alex lay back flat on the bed, drawing her with him before he settled his arms around her, his hands smoothing the soft skin on her back as she sighed against his neck.

  ‘We’re good at this.’

  ‘That we are.’ He kept smoothing his fingers over her skin, the scent of lavender right by his nose. And suddenly he wasn’t at all tense any more.

  Actually he felt pretty damn fine.

  She lifted her head off his shoulder and kissed him, soft and slow, before stunning him by brightly announcing, ‘I gotta go. I’m going to be late.’

  Whoa, wait a minute!

  He tightened his arms around her when she tried to get up. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘I’m meeting my friends in Temple Bar.’

  He frowned. ‘Oh, really?’

  ‘Yep.’ She smiled as if it weren’t a problem. ‘It’s Lisa’s birthday, so we’re going for drinks.’

  ‘Now?’ She was running out on him? ‘So now the itch is scratched you’re off to party?’

  Pathetically it made him feel used.

  ‘I had it planned before I knew this would happen. Not that I knew this would happen. In fact…’ she settled more comfortably on his chest and searched a point above his head with her green eyes before locking gazes again ‘…I was fairly determined this wasn’t going to happen. But there ya go—best laid plans and all that…’

  Alex relaxed his arms a little. ‘So what made you change your mind?’

  She butted the end of her nose off his and grinned. ‘Apparently I’ve always had a problem keeping my hands off you.’

  He had absolutely no complaints about that, so he merely cleared his throat. ‘We-ell, I guess I can’t really blame you for that—ow!’

  She set the elbow she’d nudged him with on the duvet and propped her head on her hand as he chuckled. ‘You see, now this is the guy I remember from Galway. Dublin Alex is uptight, he’s tense. I wasn’t sure I liked him so much for a little while.’

  He realised he was smoothing his hands over her skin again. She wasn’t the only one having difficulty with keeping hands off, was she? ‘Not so tense any more, as it happens.’

  Merrow went silent for a moment, and when he looked into her eyes the green had softened from the usual sparkling shade of emerald green to a warm shade of mossy-green. He smoothed his hands again and smiled a slow smile, his voice husky.

  ‘What?’

  ‘This project really means a lot to you, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, it does.’ He exhaled the truth.

  ‘Why?’

  She took the weight off her knees and laid out flat, so that she was stretched along the length of his body from the breasts squished against his chest, all the way down to the feet she was playing footsie with. And even though Alex could feel himself slowly sliding from the cocoon of her core, he already felt the stirring response that having her naked skin pressed to his naked skin was invoking.

  She even dragged her fingernails along the skin of his arm and made his pulse jump. Another couple of minutes and she wasn’t going anywhere…

  ‘It just does.’ He took a hand off her back and tucked her hair behind her ear.

  But she simply tilted her head and it swung free again. ‘Why?’

  He frowned for a moment. ‘If I make conversation with you are you gonna skip going to Temple Bar?’

  ‘No.’

  He’d have frowned again, if there hadn’t been a note of regret in her voice. ‘I can’t, Alex, really I can’t. It’s her thirtieth, it’s a big deal. And she’s my best friend; we’ve been there for each other through a lot of stuff.’

  Stuff like the ass that cheated on her? Had she had her heart broken? Was that why she now tried to play at sex the ‘man’s way’: free and easy and no involvement?

  ‘But we have months working together on the Pavenham, don’t we?’

  ‘Yes, we do.’ He tucked her hair back in place when she tilted her head back the other way.

  ‘Well, then.’ She leaned in and kissed him again, briefer this time. ‘If you want to play again, we have plenty of time. And maybe I’ll get a chance to wheedle out some of your deep, dark secrets along the way.’

  He smiled. Unlikely. But it might be fun letting her try.

  Another kiss, and this time when she pushed upright he let her go, leaning up on his elbows to study her naked body from head to toe. ‘There’s a shower next door if you want it.’

  Turning her perfect naked butt to him, she winked over her shoulder. ‘I think I’ll keep your scent on me so I don’t forget this too fast. And if I’m much later there’ll be too many questions. Somehow I don’t think the idea of four women marking you out of ten would sit well with you.’

  ‘It wouldn’t.’

  ‘Thought so.’ She disappeared out of the door, so Alex sat up and located his jeans, hauling them on and zipping them, but not bothering with the button as he followed her into the hall in time to watch her shimmy back into her dress, pushing her shoes on at the same time. He smiled at the sight of her with her flushed cheeks, swollen lips and mussed-up hair.

  Her friends would have to have guide dogs not to know what she’d been at. He leaned over and lifted the soft rings that had held her braids in place, sauntering up to offer them dangling off the end of his fingers.

  ‘You need to do something with your hair.’

  She smiled as she took the bands off his fingers, standing on her toes to kiss him again. ‘I know. Someone messed it up on me.’

  He hauled her closer and kissed her properly, just so she didn’t forget what they’d just shared, smiling against her mouth when she moaned in frustration. ‘Just so you know, if you’d stayed, we weren’t done.’

  With her eyes still closed, she rocked back on her heels, running the tip of her tongue over her lips as if she was savouring the taste of him. ‘Mmm. I know.’

  ‘Well, maybe you should come back for brunch tomorrow and I’ll tell you what I thought of your sketches and we’ll…see…what…happens…’

  He left
the suggestion hanging in the air, a chuckle bubbling up from deep in his chest when she opened her eyes, smiled her mischievous imp smile and swung her shoulders back and forth. ‘I love brunch.’

  Alex shook his head and waved the back of his hand in a flapping motion down the hall. ‘Go on, then. Just leave me. Go play with your friends. I’ll be fine, don’t you worry.’

  Merrow giggled, backing away from him until she got to the kitchen and reached for her bag, pushing out her lower lip before she crooned, ‘Poor baby.’

  Alex opened the door and leaned on it, jerking his head. ‘Go.’

  When she made an attempt to scoot through the door, he cleared his throat, loudly. So she stepped back a step, ran her palms up over his naked chest, wrapped her arms round his neck, and kissed him on the damn cheek.

  He shook his head as she jogged down the stairs. ‘Hey, O’Connell?’

  ‘Yes?’ She tilted her head back, her fingers braiding her hair as she smiled up at him.

  ‘So what was my score out of ten?’

  ‘Ah-h-h…’ Her fingers continued braiding at breakneck speed. ‘You see, I prefer to take an average score overall. So I might need to get back to you on that.’

  Alex felt his mouth twitch. ‘Stay outta trouble.’

  ‘Go look at my sketches.’

  ‘I intend to.’

  ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  TOMORROW ran into another tomorrow and another tomorrow. And pretty soon Merrow realised the days seemed to be flowing into each other at an almost frightening speed. It wasn’t anything overly out of the norm when it came to her life, but the way that spending time with Alex was fitting in so neatly with the usual chaos was, unexpected. Almost a little too right.

  And he really wasn’t so tense any more. Playing hard as well as working hard seemed to be doing him good.

  But then Merrow liked to think she was helping with that. Though in fairness there was still work to do.