To Amaya’s credit, she didn’t look away or take a step back.If he wanted to play, then she could play as well. She thought to herself. Knowing full well that either way, she wanted this to happen, and God knows, she was hoping for something from him too."Oh hell, Chase. You’re wrong. Nothing has gone to plan since Greece. I wondered what your plan was, because frankly, you made my head dizzy with all the unexpected, unplanned things you often do. This is not like you."The flicker of pain in her eyes hit him hard, and he dropped his hands. He gave her space, and she took it, putting enough distance between them for him to feel the loss.He sighed. "Tell me, Amaya, you don’t want to consummate this marriage as much as I do."There, he threw it out, knowing the firebrand she used to be would never back down from a challenge.However, the forlorn bride in a fancy dress staring wistfully out of the window was a far cry from the feisty girl he’d known, and the thought that he’d made her
Chase took several surreptitious breaths, willing his pulse to slow and his heart to stop pounding. At this rate, he’d collapse on the spot if it kept thumping with such ferocity."What?"Amaya’s tentative smile had him gripping the door jamb to stop her from striding across the bathroom, sweeping her out of the bath, and holding her close.Thankfully, only her head was visible; the rest of her delectable body submerged under a bubble cover that threatened to spill out onto the black-and-white tiled floor. Not that the bubbles hampered his imagination. He could picture exactly what delights were hidden beneath those bubbles, and the images weren’t helping his heart rate."Yeah, I couldn’t stay away.""And why is that?"He sighed."I just can’t.""I'm glad."Her tongue flicked out to moisten her bottom lip in a totally innocuous gesture that slammed into his consciousness like a bull ramming a gate in mating season."Are you?"Chase was too old to play guessing games and too wound to f
"Just so you know—if you’re planning on avoiding being seduced, you’ll definitely need more than a robe. Maybe an entire wardrobe." Chase’s voice sounded strained.Amaya could see the bad boy inside was only barely contained. Just the thought of what might happen when he broke out added further to her inner trembling. In a voice that sounded higher than her own, she said, "Well, I wanted to talk about that—""Yes?"His response was so fast it interrupted her mid-sentence, and Amaya gaped at him like an idiot for a moment, her train of thought derailed."You were saying something about seducing me?"His wide grin broke the tension as she remembered how much she liked this man, and she grinned back.She rolled her eyes. "You wish. We have a deal. No touching, no—whatever—this is, after all, business. Just business.""You have no idea how much I miss you," Chase added with a small smirk.His intense tone caused her belly to drop in a frightening free fall as liquid heat pooled in places
Amaya had been a fool to consider letting him share the bed. With the longing look he cast at the bed, she wouldn’t have much choice."Amaya, as attractive as you look in the contraception-on-legs robe, this bed is big enough to fit four people. I’m sure we can share without getting into too much trouble.""Ok. But where is my son?""Don't worry about him; Mary and Tyler took him with their twin, and the nanny was with them.""Okay."She almost would have believed him if the last few tension-filled minutes hadn’t happened. They might’ve agreed to a sex-free wedding night, but, with her belly tumbling with nerves, her skin prickling with heat, and the rest of her buzzing from repressed need, she knew trouble was only a tumble in the sack away.But what choice did she have? She couldn’t subject him to a sleepless night; it just wouldn’t be fair. Or mature.She could do this. Sharing a bed with Chase would be like having a friend over for a slumber party. And guaranteed she’d be the one
Chase stirred some time around midnight, his dreamless sleep disturbed by a puff of air somewhere in the vicinity of his earlobe.His eyelids cranked open a fraction, half-heartedly investigating the source of air, only to snap open as he registered a luscious woman draped over his upper torso, her arm flung proprietorially across his chest, and a leg nudging the vicinity of his boxers.Not just any woman.Amaya.His wife.Whom he wanted to make love to something fierce.Considering the chaste way they’d fallen asleep, he should gently slip out from under her and try not to wake her.But his good intentions evaporated when she snuggled closer, her knee edging towards a fast-growing hard-on, and he froze, gritting his teeth to stop from groaning out loud.He could play the gentleman, but where would the fun be in that? Amaya had always thought of him as the bad boy, and, while a small part of him had thought it was either right or wrong, it only hung around him because she was tempted
The next day.Chase entered the marquee, his gaze immediately drawn to the stunning woman in a white dress chatting with the richest guy in the state.Amaya looked incredible in a soft, clingy Grecian-style dress fastened on one shoulder with a silver clip, leaving her other deliciously bare, her hair piled up with soft golden streaks falling softly around her face, and just enough makeup to enhance her beauty.Hell. Just looking at her from a distance was making him crazy; what hope did he have up close?Sure, she looked like a supermodel tonight, but he still couldn’t erase the image of her clad in that supersized robe on their wedding night.He’d lied about the robe being contraception on the legs. The minute he’d caught his first glimpse of her, framed in the bathroom doorway with vulnerability written all over her face, he’d wanted to cross the room, haul her into his arms, and never let go.That had been one hell of a night.Not for the reason he might’ve anticipated, considerin
"Good friends? Ha! I don't know." Amaya chuckled and slipped her hand around his elbow, a casual gesture that shouldn’t have sent the blood rushing to his groin. But it did, and he could barely focus on anything other than the way she smelled and how she felt tucked into his side.Having her stand so close to him, her signature strawberry vanilla enveloping him in seductive sweetness, was hard enough to tolerate without her smoky midnight eyes sending him signals he knew were all in his own head."So what did you want to show me?""It’s in here."Chase all but dragged her through the back door into the dimly lit kitchen, knowing this was crazy but unable to stop.Her soft laughter echoed in the empty room; it was his favourite in the house. He had a lifetime of family memories here: making ravioli from scratch while reading the Sunday newspapers; Amaya poking her tongue out at him from across the table as she lobbed a bread roll and feigned innocence.Yeah, this room was a definite fa
Amaya hadn’t had this much fun in ages.Sure, she attended swank parties before and rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous thanks to her brilliant friend Mary, but those events were filled with pretentious flakes who spoke to you depending on which designer dressed you or how many millions you made a year.She hated the way money talked, hated the way it divided people into classes, and, while she understood Chase’s drive to gain acceptance into the privileged world she’d been born into for the sake of his business, she couldn’t help but ask if he’d wanted to marry her for her all those years ago if she told him about Tommy.They’d both changed so much, yet when he touched her, when he kissed her, the last days and what he said in Greece vanished with a wistful sigh.Amaya longed, and she wished so much. She’d romanticised what they had and mistaken the throes of love for something to build a lifetime commitment on.But Chase hadn’t been ready, and while his deliberate sabotaging o