Say It With Diamonds (16 page)

‘Hmm. Now who’s the one denying the chemistry?’

‘I don’t deny it. I’m simply not going to do anything about it.’

‘Why not?’

A muscle ticced in his jaw. ‘You were right. I’d only hurt you.’ Not to mention what she could do to him. Was already doing to him just by putting her hand on him.

She tilted her head and regarded him for so long that Will’s insides began to curdle. ‘I appreciate you’re trying to be noble,’ she said, ‘but don’t you think that’s for me to decide?’

Will tensed. ‘I’m not going to change, Bella.’

‘I know that. I don’t want you to. And neither am I. All I want is a quick fling.’

He frowned. His heart thumped. A quick fling? Was she for real? ‘No, you don’t.’

Bella let out a frustrated sigh and withdrew her hand to fold her arms over her chest. ‘I’m getting a bit fed up with people telling me what I want. Look, I’ve thought it through, at length, and I want an affair. With you. Assuming you’re up for it, of course.’

Oh, he was up for it. More than up for it. So up for it in fact that he was in agony. And just like that his paltry defences, the ones that he hadn’t yet had the time to fortify, crumbled.

An affair didn’t have to hurt anyone, did it? Bella seemed to know what she wanted, and if she’d really thought it through as she claimed then he ought to respect that. She wasn’t stupid; she was perfectly aware of what an affair with him would be about.

And as for him, well, he’d had affairs before. Plenty of them in the last few years. And not once had he got his fingers burnt. So why did it need to be any different with Bella? As long as he kept his head, stuck to electrifying sex and avoided
any kind of personal conversation, he’d be fine. They both would be.

‘And then what?’ he murmured as the possibility of an affair with Bella heated his blood and sent desire ricocheting around him.

‘We go our separate ways.’ She tilted her head. ‘I haven’t changed what I want,’ she said, ‘and I’m not going to. I still want to get married. I still want security and stability. However, in the absence of any progress on that front, I feel like some fun. Hot temporary fun. Do you object?’

Object? He could hardly think straight. ‘How could I possibly object?’ he said hoarsely.

‘Good.’ Bella grinned. ‘So … do you need to stick around any longer?’

And continue to suffer from aching frustration as well as having to muster up some kind of response to all the platitudes he’d received about how great it was that the collection was finally on display and what a wonderful commemoration of his father’s life it was? No way. ‘No.’

Bella gave him a slow smile and her eyes shimmered. ‘Then I’ll go and get my coat, shall I?’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

W
ELL
, thank God for that, thought Bella, sitting on the back seat of the car, her heart thundering and her body pulsating with desire.

For a moment back there, in the dark shadows of the museum, she’d truly thought it wasn’t going to happen. That Will would stick to what he’d decided was the right thing to do, and continue to deny the attraction she’d been able to tell he still felt.

But luckily for her, wherever that sudden attack of the scruples had sprung from it had sprung right back, and they were now speeding away from the museum, through the dark streets of London and heading towards a night that she was aching for. Had been aching for for quite some time, if she was being honest.

As a result of her conversational success her whole body was now trembling with need and anticipation, and her head was throbbing. She cast a quick glance at Will and caught her breath. He was sitting back and staring straight ahead, utterly still, the tension and tightly restrained desire rolling off him in great waves.

At the thought of having all that desire unleashed on her, Bella couldn’t stand it any longer. Why wait until they got to a bed? What was wrong with here? Now?

Her heart banging against her ribs, she leaned forwards to
press the button that would raise the partition between them and Bob, and prepared to launch herself at him.

But nothing happened. So she pressed it again. It gave a clunk and she let out a groan of frustration.

‘It’s bust.’ Will’s voice was tight.

‘Damn,’ Bella murmured.

‘If it wasn’t,’ he said, twisting round to look at her, his eyes dark and blazing with heat and promise, ‘do you really think you would still be sitting there upright and fully clothed?’

Her mouth went dry and she swallowed as lust belted around her insides. ‘I guess not. You should get Bob to fix it.’

‘I will.’

After that, conversation seemed pointless so Bella sat on her hands and crossed her legs at her ankles and pressed her thighs together in an attempt to stop the throbbing between them. But it didn’t work. The pressure only made things worse.

After what felt like an eternity, the car slowed and barely before it had stopped Will was out, whipping round to her side, opening her door and practically dragging her to her feet. Gritting out a rough goodnight to Bob, he led Bella up the steps, thrust the key into the lock and opened the front door.

Bella didn’t have time to notice the elegance of the house because the minute the door slammed behind them Will was pinning her up against it with his body, planting his hands on either side of her head as his mouth crashed down on hers.

She moaned and threw her arms around his neck and tilted her hips to grind against him, the desperation to have him hard and deep inside her almost too painful to bear. The kiss deepened, spun out of control and then they were groaning and panting and grappling at clothing.

Bella thrust her hands beneath the lapels of Will’s jacket and off it came, dropping to the marble floor, along with his
coat. He eased her out of hers and then his hands were shooting down to the hem of her dress and bunching it up while her hands fumbled with his belt.

And then just when she thought that finally,
finally
, she’d have him inside her, Will broke off and jerked back, his breathing ragged and his face dark. ‘Wait,’ he muttered.

Wait?
Wait?
Bella’s heart thumped and a shiver ran down her spine. What on earth did he want to wait for? Hadn’t they waited long enough? Surely he couldn’t be having
another
attack of the scruples? ‘Why?’ she said hoarsely.

‘Not here,’ he muttered, taking her hand and pulling her along the dark shadowy hall towards the stairs. ‘This time I want you horizontal. And naked.’

Oh, thank God, she thought, relief pouring through her as she twined her fingers tightly with his and followed. That was fair enough. She wanted him horizontal and naked too.

It took a while to get to his bedroom. Every five seconds Will would stop and either bend her over the banister or press her against the wall to give her hot kisses that melted her bones. His hands didn’t leave her, and by the time he backed her into his bedroom she was shaking with such desire that her knees were about to give way.

He kicked the door shut and then his fingers found the side zip of her dress and slid it down. The silk pooled in a heap at her feet and Bella stepped out of it, standing in front of him in nothing but a strapless bra, knickers, stockings and high heels.

She heard his sharp intake of breath, watched him swallow, and a surge of primitive female satisfaction darted through her.

Then he tumbled her back and she landed on the bed with a soft thud and as she watched Will kick off his shoes and strip off the rest of his clothes it was her turn to catch her breath.

God, he could really give Rodin’s
Adam
a run for his
money in the hot bod department. Everywhere she looked he was tanned skin sprinkled with dark fine hairs, and lean hard muscle. Her eyes darted over his shoulders, his chest, and then down over his taut abdomen to his mouth-watering erection and her insides turned to molten heat.

Will lowered himself onto the bed beside her and Bella felt a delirious smile spread across her face. He rolled over her and as her arms went round his neck and his mouth came down on hers the uppermost thought in her head was that this was without doubt going to be the best birthday she’d ever had.

And then as their tongues met and his hand tangled in her hair she couldn’t think about anything at all except the way he made her feel.

She bent her leg and hooked it round his to pull him closer and tilted her pelvis so she could feel the tip of his erection press against the sensitive nub of her clitoris.

She heard him groan, and shuddered. Desire pounded in the pit of her stomach as she ran her hands over the muscles of his back, taking her time, caressing and marvelling at his heat and the tightening of his skin wherever her fingers trailed.

Will drew back, and stared down at her, his eyes glittering and fathomless. ‘You know, you really are going to kill me,’ he muttered, winding a hand beneath her to unclip her bra.

Bella arched her back to help him. ‘The feeling is entirely mutual,’ she breathed as he removed her bra and tossed it aside.

His gaze dipped to her mouth and, even though they’d been kissing only a second ago, her lips tingled and ached and every inch of her was desperate to feel his mouth on hers again. ‘Did I mention I looked up belladonna on the internet the other day?’ he murmured, setting his mouth to her neck
and cupping her breast with the hand that wasn’t taking his weight.

Bella’s breath hitched in her throat. ‘And?’

‘Apparently among its side effects are minor visual distortions, an inability to focus on near objects and an increased heart rate.’

‘Interesting,’ she said, wondering how much longer she was going to be expected to contribute to this conversation, because with the way her brain was disintegrating a couple of seconds was all she had left.

‘I thought so. Especially since I appear to be suffering from all of them.’

‘Oh, dear.’

‘Know of an antidote?’

‘Abstinence?’

He pressed his mouth to the pulse hammering at the base of her neck and Bella bit her lip. ‘Really not an option at the moment,’ he murmured.

‘Inoculation, then?’

He gave her a smile that had her stomach quivering and then bent his head to her breast and flicked his tongue over her nipple and Bella moaned. ‘That sounds more like it,’ he murmured, shifting lower, his mouth moving, hot and wet, over the skin of her stomach.

With every inch of her feeling as if it were on fire, Bella couldn’t prevent a whimper escaping her lips as he hooked his thumbs over the top of her knickers and slid them, her suspender belt and her stockings down her legs. He dispensed with her shoes and finally she was as naked and as horizontal as he was.

And then she felt the touch of his mouth against the molten burning centre of her, and nearly jackknifed off the bed. Her heart hammered as sparks of ecstasy began to shoot through her.

Bella squirmed as her head swam and then when Will planted his hands on her hips, anchoring her to the mattress and keeping her where he wanted her, she let her eyelids flutter closed and gave herself up to the pleasure. Because, God, he was good at this.

Her hands flexed against the sheets and then dug into his hair and she had to bite on her lip to stop herself screaming as the pressure inside her started to build. Her head dropped back, her knees fell open wider and as he delved deeper, harder, his tongue stroking faster and faster over her clitoris, Bella couldn’t take it any more.

Everything inside her tightened into a tight ball of tension and then shattered. Her back arched. Her breath caught. And then she was spinning off into a whirlpool of bliss, the waves of pleasure rolling over her so hard and so fast that she thought she might drown in the sensation.

As the tremors racking her body faded and her breathing and pulse regulated Will kissed his way back up her body until he was lying on top of her and pressing her to the bed. At the desire blazing in his eyes, Bella’s heart rate picked up all over again.

‘Happy birthday?’ he murmured.

‘What do you think?’ she said, giving him a lazy sated smile. ‘As presents go that was
much
better than an arnica plant.’

Will frowned and propped himself up on his elbows. ‘Are you comparing me to a plant?’

Bella grinned at the look of pique on his face. ‘Very possibly.’

‘I think I’m devastated.’

She leaned up and pressed a quick kiss on his mouth. ‘I’m sorry.’

Will shook his head in mock regret. ‘It’s way too late for an apology. I think my ego might be bruised beyond belief.’

Bella grinned again. ‘Then I recommend you take arnica. It’s good for bruises.’

His eyes glinted with a deliciously wicked gleam. ‘I’ll bear it in mind. Although right now I think I’d rather take you.’

She lifted her arms above her head, stretched against him and shot him a smouldering smile. ‘Oh, well, in that case I’m all yours.’ She batted her eyelids up at him. ‘Feel free to do whatever you want with me.’

For a moment he just stared down at her, and then, as if struck with a cattle prod, Will was rolling off her, grabbing a condom from the drawer of the bedside table and ripping it open with his teeth. Her heart thudding madly, she bent her knees, opened her legs, and then he was sheathing himself, moving between her legs and surging forwards and entering and filling her in one smooth powerful thrust.

Bella let out a rough groan and wrapped her arms around his back and her legs around his waist, and clung on for dear life as he captured her mouth with his.

And then he began to move inside her. Slowly, rhythmically and smoothly, and maddeningly in control.

Which would have been amazing, devastating even, if she’d wanted slow smooth and control. But she didn’t. She wanted fast and frantic and furious. She writhed against him, but it got her nowhere. He was the one setting the pace. He was the one in control, as if he somehow needed to prove that this was controllable, and it was driving her nuts.

Desperation clawed at her insides and she dragged her mouth away from his. ‘I never did tell you what I really wanted for my birthday, did I?’ she said, her voice sounding thick and rough and heavy with desire.