Australia: In Bed with a Bachelor: The Costarella Conquest / The Hot-Blooded Groom / Inherited: One Nanny

Settling on this determination, Jake shut down on the questions, intent on making the most of this night together. ‘Feeling good?’ he asked, wondering what she was thinking, if she was happily satisfied with her decision to set aside her reservations about him.

‘Mmmh…very good.’

There was a smile in her voice.

He didn’t need to know any more. He smiled his own contentment with the situation.

She began an idle stroking of his body—slow, erotic caresses, which instantly stimulated him into touching more of her, lingering over every voluptuous curve, loving the wonderfully sensual feel of her womanliness. Touching moved into kissing as they explored each other in intimate detail, arousing the need to merge again, to feel all that could be felt between them.

It was marvellous, less frenzied this time but still incredibly exciting with the mutual abandonment of all inhibitions. It left Jake feeling flooded with pleasure, and the gradually ebbing waves of it lulled him into a deep untroubled sleep.

Laura woke to morning light. They’d forgotten to draw the curtains last night, too consumed with each other to think of anything beyond the sensational intimacy they’d shared. She rolled over to look at the man who had taken her to heights of pleasure she had never even imagined, let alone known.

He was still asleep. Despite the brilliant dark eyes being shut, his face was still strongly handsome and his body… She sighed over how perfectly manly it was, just the right amount of muscularity and everything ideally proportioned. Absolutely gorgeous. Sex appeal in spades. What a fantastic night she’d had with him! No regrets, that was for sure! Whatever happened next between them, this was one experience she would never forget.

Careful not to wake him, she slid off the bed and padded quietly to the bathroom, wanting to freshen up and look good when he did open his eyes. She grabbed her handbag off the desk in passing, glad that it contained a small hairbrush and lipstick. With no change of clothes to wear, it was a relief to find bathrobes provided for guests. She could lounge around in one of them until it was near time to leave the hotel.

Having showered and groomed herself as best she could, Laura returned to the bedroom to find Jake still asleep. Quite happy for a little time on her own, she settled on the window-seat, her back against the side wall, feet up on the cushion, arms hugging her knees, instinctively wanting to hug in all the lovely feelings generated by last night with Jake.

It wasn’t just the sex, although that had been unbelievably awesome. Even now her heart swelled with the sheer joy of learning how marvellous it could be with the right man. Nothing could have felt more right to her, which made her wonder if it was wrong to stand back from a serious relationship with Jake. So far she liked everything he had shown of himself, and definitely wanted to know a lot more. Maybe they could have something great together.

The view of the botanical gardens caught her eye. A stroll through them would be a pleasant way of continuing the day—time to chat about their interests and look for more common ground between them. She would like to see the house he was renovating, too, the kind of home he was making for himself. The environment people chose to live in could speak volumes about them. Sharing the private life of Jake Freedman was an exciting prospect and Laura was hugging that to herself, too, when his voice broke into her hopeful reverie.

‘Happy with the view this morning?’

She laughed, bubbling over with high spirits and looking at him with sparkling pleasure. ‘It’s lovely! The sun is shining and it’s going to be a beautiful day.’

He grinned at her as he rolled out of bed, saying cheerfully, ‘So let’s make a start on it. Call room service and order breakfast for both of us while I freshen up in the bathroom.’

‘What would you like?’

‘You choose. I have great faith in your food judgement.’

He left her grinning, enjoying the back view of him as he headed off to the bathroom. Only when this vision was cut off did she swing her legs off the window-seat and set about ordering their breakfast, choosing what she wanted herself and hoping Jake would be pleased with everything.

He came out of the bathroom, wearing the other bathrobe and checking his watch. ‘It’s eight o’clock now. How long before room service arrives?’

‘About another twenty minutes.’

The dark eyes twinkled sexily. ‘Only time for a good-morning kiss then. And no disrobing.’

‘We have the rest of the day,’ she suggested happily as he drew her into his embrace.

He frowned. ‘No. No we don’t. There’s work I have to get done on the house before the plumber comes tomorrow.’

‘Can I help you?’ she asked impulsively, wanting to be with him.

He shook his head. ‘You would be a major distraction, Laura. I’ll work more efficiently on my own.’

He grazed his lips over hers—a distraction that didn’t quite soothe the stab of disappointment over the rejection of her offer. She told herself his reasoning was fair enough and opened her mouth for a whole-hearted kiss. He’d given her a wonderful night and there would be more in the future. No need to be greedy, asking for today, as well.

It was a soft, very sensual kiss, and he withdrew from it before it escalated into wild passion, brushing her hair tenderly from her face, smiling into her eyes. ‘Thank you for last night. We’ll do it again soon,’ he promised her.

‘Thank you. I’ll look forward to it,’ she said, inwardly craving much more from him but doing her best to accept the situation gracefully.

‘I’ll book a taxi to take you from the hotel to Eddie’s apartment after we’ve had breakfast.’ He stepped back from her and moved towards the telephone on the desk, asking, ‘Where does he live, Laura?’

‘Paddington.’

‘That’s handy.’ He grinned at her as he picked up the receiver. ‘We can share the taxi. I’ll see you to his place first before going on home.’

‘Where do you live?’

‘Next suburb. Woollahra.’

Virtually in walking distance from Eddie’s apartment, she thought, watching him make the call. She wanted to ask what street, but held her tongue, knowing she would be tempted to go there and suddenly frightened of how deeply she was being drawn by this man.

Jake didn’t want a full-on relationship. He’d told her so at dinner last night. And she had been super-cautious about going down that road, too. Obviously nothing had changed for him. It shouldn’t have changed for her, either. She had to keep her head straight about this, not get twisted up by emotions that could mess with the decisions she’d made about her life.

A journey with meeting places.

Best to keep to that.

But somehow she couldn’t really take pleasure in the breakfast they shared. It didn’t sit right in her stomach. And she hated the taxi trip to Paddington, knowing Jake was travelling on without her. It took an act of will to smile her goodbye at him. And then, of course, she had to face Eddie and say everything had been fine.

Which was the truth.

Though not quite.

It had been fantastic, brilliant, totally engaging.

Too engaging.

And that was dangerous.

CHAPTER EIGHT (#u88344777-0a29-5978-86f6-4112556745ea)

TO Eddie’s inevitable query about her night with Jake Freedman, she breezily answered, ‘Great food, great sex, and marriage is not on the menu for either of us so don’t worry about my becoming a victim of secret agendas. That’s definitely out!’

Later in the day, she settled her mother’s concern with, ‘It won’t become a serious relationship, Mum. It was just a dinner date, which I might or might not repeat.’ With a mischievous smile, she added, ‘Depends on how good the restaurant is if he asks me out again.’

It made her mother laugh. ‘Oh, you and food!’

And she cut off her father’s probe into the personal connection by regaling him with details of every spicy dish she’d tasted, virtually dismissing Jake’s company as pleasant enough but relatively unimportant.

However, it was easier to establish in other people’s minds that an involvement with Jake was not a big issue than it was to convince herself. Life simply wasn’t the same as before she met him. He dominated her thoughts, especially at night when she was alone in bed, her body restless with memories of their intense intimacy. It was impossible to block him out for long and she grew angry and frustrated with herself for not being able to set him at a sensible distance, especially as day followed day without any contact from him.

He hadn’t given her his mobile telephone number.