Lovers In The Afternoon

Things were happening too fast, much too fast she realised as they entered the spacious apartment, barely having time to notice its elegant comfort before Adam swept her into his arms, his eyes glittering darkly with desire.

‘I’ve wanted to do this ever since the lift doors opened and I saw you grovelling about on the floor,’ he announced raggedly before his mouth claimed hers.

She wanted to ask him what he found so romantic about a woman making a fool of herself, but the magic of his kiss put all other thoughts from her mind, drawing her into him with the sensuous movement of his mouth, his arms beneath the jacket of her suit, his hands warm through the thin material of her blouse and camisole, his thighs hardening against her as his hands moved down to cup her buttocks and pull her into him.

The effects of the brandy and wine miraculously disappeared to be replaced by something equally as heady, sexual pleasure. She had heard all the old clichés about women who were no longer married, had scorned the idea of falling into that sexual trap herself knowing how little pleasure she had found in her marriage bed, and yet she knew that she wanted Adam. And he wanted her, there could be no doubting that.

Her lips parted beneath the assault of his tongue, knowing it was merely a facsimile of the lovemaking they really wanted, Leonie feeling filled and possessed by that moist warmth, drawing him deeper into her as she returned the attack.

Adam’s breathing was ragged as he pulled away to kiss her throat, peeling the jacket expertly from her shoulders, throwing it to one side, beginning to release the buttons to her blouse, his hands sure in their movements, although they trembled slightly with anticipation.

It was this slight crack in his supreme self-confidence that encouraged Leonie to do some undressing of her own, his own jacket joining hers on the floor, his waistcoat quickly following, her fingers hesitating at the buttons of his shirt.

‘Please,’ he encouraged achingly.

Her own hands shook as she revealed the muscled smoothness of his chest, the dark hair there silvered with grey. He was beautiful without the trappings of the successful businessman, wearing only tailored trousers now, his arousal barely contained.

‘Leonie!’ His mouth captured hers again as she caressed his bared chest, moving fiercely against her, pulling her into him as the tip of her tongue tentatively caressed his lips.

They left a trail of clothes to the bedroom, both naked by the time they lay down together on the bed still kissing, Adam’s hands at her breasts making her gasp with pleasure, the nipples hardening and aching, asking for the tug of his mouth. They didn’t have to wait long.

Leonie didn’t stop to question her complete lack of inhibitions, inhibitions that had made her marriage such an agony, only knowing that this man, with his gentle caresses, held the key to her sensuality in his hands.

Adam kissed every inch of her body, found pleasure in the secret places no other man had ever known, making her tremble uncontrollably as his tongue rasped the length of her spine to her nape, quivers of excitement making her arch back into him as he homed in on the sensitive flesh there.

She lost all lucidity as Adam’s caresses brought her again and again to the edge of a fulfilment she had never known, as he always pulled her back from the edge before she could reach the pinnacle she craved, her movements beneath him becoming more and more desperate as he refused to let her escape him even for a second.

‘Please, Adam. Please!’ Her eyes were wild as she looked up at him.

‘You take me,’ he encouraged raggedly, his eyes black with desire.

‘What——?’ But she understood what he meant even as he pulled her above him, going to him eagerly, gasping as he lowered her on to him, filling her in every way possible before bringing her mouth down to his.

It was so right that it should be this way, that he should allow her the freedom to be the one to choose their pleasure, a pleasure she had never known during her marriage.

She was heady with delight, kissing the dampness of his salt-tasting shoulders and throat, quivering her own satisfaction as he groaned at the invasion of her tongue, feeling his movements quicken beneath her as he could hold back no longer, the hardness of him stroking her own desire until she felt the explosion begin in the depths of her being, beginning to shake as the warm aching pleasure ripped through her whole body in a climactic holocaust.

‘My beautiful Leonie,’ Adam gasped as he reached the summit of his own pleasure, exploding in a warmth of warm moistness. ‘I knew it could be this way between us!’

And it hadn’t stopped there, their strength and desire returning within minutes, their second lovemaking even more intense than the first, the pleasure seeming never-ending.

Leonie looked again at the face of the man who slept beside her, wondering what on earth she had done. Oh God, what had she done!

He stirred slightly as she moved from beneath the curve of his arm, her movements stilling until she realised he was still sleeping. She blushed as she found her clothes scattered in a disorganised path from the bedroom to the lounge; she had never been so carried away by passion before. She hastily began to dress.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’

She balked only slightly in the movement of pulling the camisole over her head. ‘What does it look like I’m doing?’ she said sourly; at least he had had the decency to put on a brown towelling robe before following her from the bedroom!

‘Isn’t it usual to spend the whole night in circumstances like these?’ he drawled, his dark hair still tousled, his jaw in need of a shave now. ‘I didn’t expect you to go sneaking off while I was asleep!’

‘I wasn’t sneaking off,’ she told him resentfully. ‘And there’s nothing usual about these circumstances!’ She tucked her blouse into the waistband of her skirt.

‘I want you to stay the night.’

She shot him an angry glare, resentful that he could look so at ease, his hands thrust casually into the pockets of his robe, his stance relaxed. ‘Why?’

His mouth twisted. ‘I’m sure I’ve just shown you two very good reasons why.’

‘Sex!’

‘And what’s wrong with that?’ He arched dark brows.

‘Nothing, you know I enjoyed it,’ she snapped, knowing it would be useless to deny it, brushing her hair with angry movements, whether at Adam or herself she wasn’t sure.

‘So stay,’ he encouraged softly.

‘I can’t, Adam,’ she sighed impatiently. ‘I don’t know what game you’ve been playing with me this evening——’

‘A game you were quite happy to go along with,’ he reminded gently.

She shook her head in self-condemnation. ‘It seemed the easy way out at the time, so much easier for me to be Leonie Grant and you to be Adam Faulkner,’ she said shakily.

He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Why not, that’s who we are.’

‘Because until our divorce becomes final I’m still officially Leonie Faulkner, your wife, and you’re my husband!’

‘And now I’m your lover,’ he gave a slow smile of satisfaction. ‘It was your idea, Leonie, you’re the one that said we shouldn’t have married each other but just have been lovers. And after tonight that’s exactly what we’re going to be!’

CHAPTER TWO (#u060d2702-ae7d-5578-916b-3c829705a60a)

SHE vividly remembered shouting those words at Adam before she had walked out on him and their marriage eight months ago, remembered everything about her disaster of a marriage to this man. And she didn’t intend becoming involved with him again in any way.

She was fully dressed now, straightening the collar of her jacket. ‘Tonight was a mistake——’

‘I have another name for it,’ Adam drawled.

Her eyes flashed her resentment. ‘I’m well aware of the fact that you planned what happened——’

‘Don’t pretend you didn’t want it, too,’ he warned her softly.

She blushed at the truth of that; from the moment she had seen him seated across the desk from her at the Thompson building her senses had become alive with wanting him. And the fact that he had acted as if it were the first time they had ever met had added to the excitement. But she had a feeling, knowing Adam as she did, a much less charming and relaxed Adam, that he had realised exactly what effect his behaviour was having on her, that it had been effected to get the response from her she had refused to give him during their marriage.

‘It was certainly better than anything we ever shared during our marriage,’ she snapped waspishly, waiting for the angry explosion she had come to expect from him when they discussed the failure of the physical side of their marriage.

‘I agree.’ Once again he disconcerted her; he had been doing it all evening, from the time she had discovered that her estranged husband was the new President of Thompson Electronics, during dinner when he had had such patience with her ‘accidents’, to the infinite care and gentleness he had shown her during their lovemaking. ‘You were right,’ he continued lightly. ‘We’re much better as lovers than as husband and wife.’

‘We are not lovers!’ She looked around desperately for her handbag so that she might get out of here. ‘I’ve left my handbag in the restaurant,’ she finally groaned in realisation. ‘And that damned man——’