‘You’re magnificent and fascinating. Because you’ve snared my interest and I want to work out why. Because I desperately want to make you feel good enough to stop questioning everything and just enjoy our explosiveness.’
His fierce interruption silenced her. Was this explosive for him too, then? Was this something a little less ordinary for him? The prospect tempted that weak part of her.
‘There’s nothing wrong with sex,’ he breathed. ‘Did someone tell you there was?’
Merle froze. He’d veered so close to the truth there. She’d tried to mute her grandmother’s endless lectures about being ‘good’, about not bringing shame home. She’d linked shame so explicitly, so wrongly with sex. Her mother’s fears for her still echoed too. She’d never seen an example of women allowed to simply have fun, let alone anything loving.
‘So there has to be something wrong with me because I’m saying no to you?’ She turned defensive.
‘But you haven’t said no to me yet.’ He held up his hands. ‘Be honest.’
That was an altogether different dare from him.
‘I’ve told you the rules I play by,’ he said. ‘You know I don’t cheat. I don’t lie.’
‘And I do?’
‘To yourself, maybe. Isn’t that what you’re doing right now?’
Emotions were heightened. Desire was heightened. But so was doubt. She’d been burned before.
‘I’ll admit we have some chemistry. That doesn’t mean I’m going to say yes. I like pudding a lot, but I’m not going to over-indulge because it wouldn’t be good for me. There’s such a thing as balance.’
‘But you’re not indulging at all. There’s no balance there either.’ A smile curved his lips. ‘Why don’t you just sample a little? You can say “enough” any time you like.’ He gestured towards the oven. ‘You know there’s pudding on offer here tonight.’
She glanced at the oven and laughed. ‘I couldn’t possibly. I’ve had sufficient.’
‘Oh, Merle,’ he chastised softly. ‘Since when was sufficient ever enough?’
CHAPTER SIX
ARE WE GOING to talk about it?
Not only had Merle never had such kisses to discuss before, but she’d never had anyone to discuss them with either. She’d stayed in the shadows, silent almost all of her life. She’d been taught—by her mother, her grandmother, and her own small experience—that invisible equalled safe and that men meant trouble. But Ash hadn’t let her hide. And, while they’d danced with banter and tease, at the core was a challenge for honesty. For her to embrace her own desires. Now seductive possibilities fired her blood, pushing her pulse faster. He was leaving at the end of the week, their paths would never intersect again, no one would ever even know they’d met, no one would ever care—certainly not him. He was a hedonist who lived in the moment and who took advantage of all good opportunities when they arose—in business and in pleasure, right?
Maybe she could learn more than a few things from him.
She paced the length of her suite, unable to unwind. She’d run away after dinner—wary that her feelings were going to topple her into making a rash decision that couldn’t be reversed. But wouldn’t she be crazy not to claim such a chance? To experience something most other people enjoyed? It wasn’t as if she was at risk from him when she knew exactly what she’d be getting. And not getting. She’d not been saving her virginity. It was more that she’d not met any possible takers until now.
Hot and bothered, she ran a cold bath, hoping to relax and settle her runaway thoughts. But she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Ash offered brevity, but intensity. A night at his island hideaway. Wouldn’t it be a chance for her to freely explore and accumulate one great memory? She didn’t need to take everything so seriously, did she?
Because she couldn’t ignore this ache. This burning temptation that not even icy water could soothe.
When she finally got out of the bath she heard a splash coming from outside. She glanced out of the window and stilled. Ash was back in the pool, taking a swim at nearly midnight. Occasionally, the light that spilled from the house caught him—making the droplets of water on his body glint like diamonds. Beautiful, powerful, impossible to tame and so tempting. But even as her heart thundered and her blood raced, she stepped back and turned away, too schooled in self-denial.
In silence.
But the tension in her body didn’t lessen through the sleepless night. That temptation no longer whispered, it clamoured. She worked in the study all morning, thoughts circling incessantly until a low anger throbbed in time with the building pain in her temples. She was annoyed not by the ideas he’d planted in her head, but by her own cowardice. Her own docility. She was sick of doing as she’d been told half her life. She was sick of staying quiet. She was sick of missing out on what she really wanted. And she was so tired of him swimming in that damned pool, flaunting his perfect body.
She stalked out of the study onto the patio. His magnetism was too strong for her to resist any longer. She wanted to have what she wanted—who she wanted. He looked up. The immediate expression in his eyes scorched away the last of her shyness so that certainty flooded her.
He hoisted himself out of the pool in one powerful action, picked up a towel from a lounger and wrapped it round his waist. ‘Going to roll the dice, Merle?’
He knew already. But now he waited. Yet, by just being near such a source of outrageous vitality, she finally felt emboldened and empowered enough to step from the shadows and speak up.
‘I’ve decided I want...’ She broke off, battling the furious blush she felt swamping her skin.
He stood more still than she did. ‘Want?’
She breathed out. This still wasn’t easy. ‘What you
