hot one minute and cold the next. Prime example—the kiss on the cliff path. I was still annoyed with him for pulling back.
Tonight, I wasn’t about to leave anything up to chance. Roman Oliver was a businessman, so I’d decided that it might be a good idea to offer him a deal.
Leaning forward, I said, “I’ve been thinking. As I told you earlier, I came here to Greece to have a fling. But I haven’t changed my mind about wanting to make love with you.”
He didn’t reply, but the look in his eyes could have liquefied my bones.
“Clearly, your story about your feelings for me being brotherly—well, that was an out-and-out lie. The way you kissed me on the cliff path wasn’t brotherly.”
He didn’t deny it. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all.
Encouraged, I took a sip of wine and went on. “It occurred to me at some point during our individual sessions with Inspector Ionescu that any reservations you might have about having a sexual relationship with me because of my family don’t apply here.”
His eyes narrowed then. “They sure as hell do.”
I raised a hand, palm out. “On the contrary. My father and brothers are back in San Francisco. We’re thousands of miles away on a magical Greek island. They’ll never have to know. And you’ve told my cousin that you’re my brother. So all we have to do is be discreet in public.”
“Philly—”
I ran a finger down the back of his hand (another Sex & Mrs. X tip). Not only did the gesture shut him up, but he turned his hand over and gripped mine. My throat went dry, and I felt the heat streak right to my center. Roman Oliver was going to be some dessert all right.
“You’re a businessman, so I’m going to make you a deal. We’ll have an affair, but it will only last as long as we’re here on Corfu. And it will remain our secret. No one ever has to know. When we meet again in San Francisco, we’ll go back to our old relationship—big brother, little sister.”
He still said nothing. He merely looked at me. But the hunger in his eyes had my toes curling. I debated. I could just stand and take him with me to the room. But I wanted to nail down the deal first.
“Why don’t we pretend we’re strangers? We’ve just met for the first time tonight. I want you and you want me, and for the time we’re here at the Villa Prospero, we’ll enjoy each other. No strings. And no holds barred. Deal?”
There were three beats of silence and each one seemed like a mini-eternity. Finally Roman released my hand and rose. “I want to kiss you, and we can’t do that here.”
I couldn’t feel my legs as we started back to the room.
“I hope that you don’t regret this, Philly.”
I wasn’t sure about the regrets part, but I would worry about that later. What I had to concentrate on now was making sure that Roman would never forget me.
6
ONCE INSIDE THE ROOM, Roman moved fast, using his hands and body to trap me against the door. He threaded his fingers through my hair, then merely studied me. The light was dimming, but I had no trouble seeing his eyes. The heat had my breath catching, my body trembling.
He slid his hands to my shoulders, then down my arms. Flames licked along my nerve endings.
“Second thoughts?”
“No.” Saying the word aloud only heightened my certainty that this was what I wanted. He was what I wanted. The need that had been building inside of me all through dinner was bordering on pain. “Touch me.”
Settling his hands at my hips, he moved in closer. “I’ve been waiting all evening to do this.” He traced a finger up my spine. I trembled. Then he spread his palms against my bare back and slowly ran them down to my waist. Fire shot through my veins. His eyes stayed on mine as he moved his hands again, faster this time, sliding up my sides until his palms pressed against the sides of my breasts. I was throbbing at every point a pulse could beat.
“Last chance, Philly.” His voice had roughened. He was trying to be a gentleman, but I wasn’t in the mood for one tonight.
“I’m not Philly, and you’re not Roman, remember?”
I locked my arms around his neck and dragged his mouth to mine. It was hard and hot and I tasted barely leashed hunger. The flavor was so unique that I had to have more. His tongue took possession of my mouth, his teeth scraped my bottom lip, and the kiss teetered toward pain. And all the while those clever hands raced over me, tracing the curve of my throat, cupping my breasts, digging into my hips. The speed had my head spinning. Sensations swamped me as he lowered the zipper on the back of my dress and stripped me out of it.
I struggled with the buttons on his shirt. The sound of one dropping to the floor only made me more desperate. Finally, I ran my hands up that damp smooth skin, absorbing the hard ridge of muscles on his back.
He nipped at my bottom lip, then deepened the kiss until I felt as if I were drowning—sinking fast into someplace where the air was too thick to breathe. Wild fists of need battered at me, and the heat building inside me grew brutal. There was only one answer. I dragged my mouth from his. “Now. Right now.”
I cried out in protest when he set me against the door and stepped away. But then he took his gaze on a searing journey over my body. He’d never looked at me that way before, and every muscle in me quivered with fresh delight. When he met my eyes again, I saw a simmering violence. Still, it wasn’t fear or even apprehension I felt. It was a wild, hot thrill.
HE HAD TO GET a grip. Catch his breath. Think. This was Philly. She deserved gentleness, seduction. That had been his intention, but it had evaporated the instant she’d exploded in his arms. Even now that he wasn’t touching her, tasting her, he couldn’t get his head clear. The experience was unprecedented.
He prided himself on being a gentle, considerate lover, and he’d been about to mindlessly pound himself into her against a door. He still wanted to.
Stepping away from her wasn’t doing a damn thing to cool his blood. The dress had been bewitching enough, but what she was wearing under it was designed to bring a man to his knees. All Roman could do was stare. Hopefully, his mouth hadn’t dropped open and his tongue wasn’t hanging out.
He was going to have to turn and walk away if he wanted to regain control. But he didn’t move. He couldn’t—any more than he could prevent himself from reaching out to run a finger over the black lace that topped one thigh-high stocking.
Meeting her eyes, Roman watched them darken as he trailed a finger up to the hint of a thong that barely covered her. Never would he have imagined Philly wearing anything like this. As he lingered there, barely touching her, the sound of her breathing—or was it his own?—grew ragged.
“Very nice.” Still using a featherlight touch and keeping his gaze locked on hers, he moved his finger over her abdomen and up her midriff to hook it beneath the swatch of lace that barely covered her breasts. She was trembling now, and those brown eyes had misted over. He could see his own image reflected there and knew that she thought only of him.
Triumph raced through him along with a ferocious surge of need. To hell with seduction. He had to have her. The whispery sound of lace ripping only added fuel to the flash fire threatening to consume him. Lifting her, he took his mouth on a desperate journey from her breasts down the path his finger had traced. Her skin was damp, hot, her flavor so…necessary. But there was no time to savor, not when his blood pounded with such overwhelming greed. Lace tore again as he straightened and pressed her back against the wall. Then he found her center and pierced her with two fingers.
Here was a heat that matched his own. He felt her inner muscles tighten around his fingers and watched her eyelids lower.
“No,” he said. “Look at me when I make you come.”
Then he absorbed