Page 94 of Booked for Summer

Oh God. Her stomach swooped. Sex. It wasn’t important enough to factor into her decision about whether to stay, of course it wasn’t. She could live without, but livingwithit, when the man providing it had such an insatiable appetite for it, for her… it was terrifyingly addictive.

He slipped a key card out of his pocket and her heart picked up a pace. ‘Here? In one of the hotel rooms?’ Where any of the staff could spot them going in together. Coming out, all sex dishevelled. ‘We can’t do that.’

‘Are you forgetting I own the place?’

Power, she thought dizzily as he opened one of the rooms with a quick, efficient movement. Why only now was she realising what a turn on it was?

* * *

He’d have to tell housekeeping to come back and change the sheets, yet as Liam threw his shirt back on, he didn’t care how much the staff might gossip about his mid-afternoon activity. He’d needed to see Jade, and when he’d seen her, sexy as sin in her pink capris, he’d needed to have her.

Had some of his primal need to own her been down to knowing Jeremy had been the recipient of her attention and not him? Yes.

And had some of it been down to the ticking clock that was sounding louder and louder in his head?

Without a doubt.

It was like he needed to pack a lifetime of being with her, into the next two weeks.

Unless she decided to stay.

Dragging on his pants, he zipped up before turning to help her fasten her bra. ‘For future reference, I prefer taking it off.’

‘I noticed.’ She glanced down, pushed her fantastic tits further into the lace, and honest to God, he felt his dick twitch. It was like he was sixteen again, but with a major difference.

He washappy.

Tilting her head up to his, he stared into her pretty blue eyes. ‘Have you made a decision yet?’

Her lids lowered. ‘No.’ She shifted away and bent to pick up her top from where he’d thrown it onto the floor. ‘But it makes sense for me to use my ticket and go home, anyway, at least for a while.’ Seemingly oblivious to the devastating hammer blow she’d just inflicted, she slipped the top over her head and stepped into her capris, her blonde tresses obscuring her face. ‘I haven’t seen my family in ages, and I need to catch up with work. Find out if it’s even possible to extend my stay here.’

Extendher stay. ‘So that’s it, then?’

‘Sorry?’

He forced his tone to stay measured, even. ‘You won’t even consider staying on permanently?’

‘Of course I’m considering it.’ Finally she met his eyes. ‘But are you asking as my boss, or my boyfriend?’

His stomach lurched. He was being unfair, he knew he was. How could he expect her to make a life-changing decision based on knowing him a few weeks? ‘Forget it. Of course you need to go back. Your life is there.’

‘Is it?’

She held his gaze and his heart gave a violent twist. What was she asking him? And why was he so fucking terrified of finding out? In business he was blunt, got to the heart of the matter, yet standing here he felt naked, vulnerable. He wanted to ask her to stay, to make a life here with him, but the walls he’d spent a lifetime building and living behind couldn’t be easily dismantled. It was one thing him knowing she’d snuck under them, another letting her know. He had to keep part of himself back. Otherwise, he wouldn’t survive her leaving.

‘Only you can answer that,’ he answered quietly. ‘If you want to stay, there’s a job for you and a place to live.’

‘And what about you? Will you be here for me?’

‘Do you want me to be?’

She looked him square in the face. ‘Yes.’

His heart tumbled in his chest. ‘Then I will be.’

‘For how long?’

For as long as you want me.

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