jacket, lost her balance and slid off her chair, slamming into his hard wall of stomach. ‘Oops.’
‘Are you sure about that?’ His voice sent a breeze against her neck followed by ripples of something hot pattering through her stomach. ‘Because if there’s anything I can help you with.’
Well, she had been sure. Sure she wasn’t tipsy, sure she was going to walk away.
But now? Not so much. Maybe the mojitos had made her a bit woozy after all. She wasn’t used to drinking, to meeting men in bars. To the dizzy lights of a strange new city, or the safe embrace of a man like Max Maitland.
Strong arms circled her waist as he hauled her upright and led her outside into the dark street. Heat fizzed through her body. His smell, woody and heady, washed over her. She put her hands out to his chest to create space, but something held her there—her body flat refused to move. A wave of awareness jolted through her.
As her gaze travelled up his chest, over his too-damned-sexy mouth and up to his bright blue eyes, she realised it was no good fighting it. What he hadn’t offered in words she could see from the spark, feel from his increased respiratory rate. God, she was still thinking like a goddamned nurse. How long had it been?
Too long.
She’d managed to keep that bridge between her and intimacy for so long, fortified by Nonna’s rules and ugly experience.
But what he was offering her? What she thought he was offering her, hot and quick, would take her off that bridge with a wide leap. She’d spent ten years clinging on by her fingertips, frightened of what might happen. Of how much she’d have to give and lose all over again.
But this was different. He was different. Max wasn’t asking for anything but a good time—he wasn’t the type to make promises or offer her any more. She’d been warned about that already. Which was fine with her.
So, she could go back to the people she didn’t know in her cold unfamiliar house and spend the night alone with her memories. Like she’d done for a decade. Or she could take him up on his offer. One night of heat and fun and danger.
She could scramble back onto the bridge tomorrow.
The mojitos made her bolder. Instead of pushing away from him, as she knew she should, she held on to his arm and looked straight into his eyes. Made sure he got the message. What she wanted. Where they were headed.
Never had she felt so brazen, so alive. ‘Actually, I can think of a few things I need help with.’
‘Then I’m your guy.’ For a second he seemed to still, confused no doubt by her see-sawing signals. Then heat ignited in his pupils. He tipped his head, his mouth a fraction away from hers.
An ache spread from her abdomen to her groin, rushing through her blood to every nerve ending. When his hands reached for her waist and pulled her closer she stepped into his arms, pushing away any negative thoughts.
When his thumb rubbed against her hip bone her heart rate spiked. Then his mouth was covering hers with a force she’d never experienced before.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepened the kiss, opening her mouth to his tongue. His hardness pressed between them and she rocked against it. The desire he’d unleashed in her only seemed to grow more intense as she curled into his heat.
She didn’t know where this temptress act was coming from. Something about Max Maitland made her feel so sexy—and knowing it was for one night only, she played along. God, if her nonna could see her … No. No. No. She hauled Max closer and lost herself in his heat, erased any thoughts of home from her brain.
Shivers tingled down her spine as he cupped her face and crushed his mouth to hers.
Eventually he pulled away, his breathing ragged. ‘Okay, Gabby.’ Still keen to play games with her. Good. She wanted to play. ‘You want to rate me now?’
She pretended to think for a moment, pressed her lips together—relishing the unfamiliar stinging sensation from his kiss. ‘Nine.’
‘Nine?’
She bit her bottom lip and leaned closer to his ear. Breathed in the scent that had started to drive her wild. ‘Okay, nine point five.’
‘Really? And I lost half a point for what, exactly?’
‘It didn’t last anywhere near long enough.’
CHAPTER TWO
‘I CAN REMEDY THAT.’ Max’s forehead rested against hers, his breathing finally steadying. He’d met his match here. Hallelujah. Things could get very interesting between now and tomorrow morning. ‘I’m not back on duty for a few hours. You?’
Gabby frowned. ‘Early shift. And as it’s my first day in charge, I have to make an impression—so watch out, Mr Maitland. I can be ruthless.’
‘Woo—scary nurse lady.’ But, yes, they would be colleagues from tomorrow. Damn. This was getting too complicated. He hesitated, his judgement getting the better of him. And his conscience too.
He didn’t know her—but what he’d seen so far was that no matter how much of a front she put up, she had shadows, and a past—or else why would she be in the pub on her own, hell-bent on getting wasted?
And he didn’t want to veer into that kind of territory.
But she was intriguing. Strong and strident one minute, sexy siren the next, and all the time with an undercurrent of vulnerability that tugged at his protective instinct.
And right now he wanted to bury himself inside her. Not just anyone. Not someone. Her.
‘Hey.’ She kissed him on the cheek. ‘Earth to Max.’
‘You want to talk about why you were in the pub?’
‘No. I don’t want to talk at all. Don’t ask me anything, and I won’t ask you.’ She placed her finger to his lips. ‘You don’t want more. And neither do I. So forget the sensitive-guy thing.’
‘But.?’
‘But nothing. Tonight we are … friends. Tomorrow we are co-workers. I can cope with that if you can. Seriously. Cross my heart.’
Her fingers tiptoed down his shirt buttons and she drew a cross over his heart. When she peered up at him through thick black eyelashes he caught the flash of desire in her eyes. ‘Now you are severely dropping in my ratings. If you want to get back up to at least a seven, you’ve got a bit of work to do.’
‘Seven? How did that happen?’
She wiggled her hips against his thigh. ‘You, Mr Maitland, are all talk and no action.’
‘You want action? Right.’ Max walked her across the deserted street and into his apartment block. Crazy stuff. He never offered his place. One of his rules, and he had a few—no staying the night. No promises of anything. Anything. No sharing his private cave. That was way too personal—and he didn’t do intimacy on any level, not if he could help it. But his apartment was close by. And what they needed right now was hot and quick. He punched ‘P’ and the lift jolted.
‘You live in the penthouse? Wow.’
‘Sure. You have a problem with heights?’
He couldn’t resist the smile. It had taken a lot of damned hard work to earn enough to get this place—but it had been worth every hour and every cent just to see the look on his uncle’s face. ‘We could go back to the ground floor. I own an apartment there too—but it’s rented out at the moment—could be a bit crowded.’
‘Now you’re just showing off.’
‘Oh, believe me, I haven’t even started.’ He nibbled her ear and watched her squirm with delight further into his arms. Her scent coated everything—her hair, her skin—his skin. And it fired a zillion nerve endings in his groin.
He