Lovers In The Afternoon

‘In your experience,’ she snapped waspishly.

He raised dark brows. ‘You sound jealous, Leonie.’

She felt the heat in her cheeks. ‘I most certainly am not!’

‘It’s all right if you are.’ His arms came about her as he moulded her body to his. ‘From a wife it would sound shrewish, from a lover it sounds possessive. I like that,’ he stated with satisfaction.

That wasn’t all he liked from the feel of his body pressed so intimately against hers, aroused for the third time tonight. Leonie couldn’t pretend not to be shocked by this evidence of his renewed desire; their sex life had deteriorated so badly at the end of their marriage that it was an effort for them to make love once a week; Adam had never wanted her three times in one night before!

‘Adam, please stop this.’ She pulled agitatedly away from him as her own body quivered in reaction to his. ‘You’ve had your fun——’

‘It was mutual,’ he drawled confidently.

‘Not that sort of fun!’ she snapped. ‘God, I can’t believe this is really you proposing this preposterous arrangement! Have you thought of the consequences of your actions?’

‘I already know you’re on the pill to regulate your periods.’ He dismissed the idea of pregnancy.

‘Not those consequences!’ It was embarrassing how intimately this man knew the workings, and malfunctions, of her body! ‘We both have families, Adam, have you thought of their reactions to the relationship you’re suggesting?’

‘My father and your sister.’ The amused glow to his eyes left for the first time that evening. ‘I’m thirty-nine and you’re twenty-three, do you really think either of us needs their permission?’ he ground out.

‘Your father hates me.’ She deliberately didn’t mention her sister’s feelings towards Adam, although she was sure they were both aware of those feelings; it had been one of the reasons their marriage had proved such a failure.

‘My father doesn’t understand you,’ Adam corrected gravely.

‘There’s nothing to understand,’ she dismissed scornfully. ‘I am what you see. A little more accident-prone around you and your father, but otherwise I’m an open book.’

‘Then a few of the pages must have got stuck together, because I never felt that I knew you completely either!’ He gave a deep sigh. ‘I don’t intend to argue about the past with you now, Leonie.’

‘Lovers don’t argue?’ she mocked.

His mouth quirked. ‘Only when they know it will take them back to bed to make up.’ He took her back in his arms, his mouth claiming hers.

Her lips parted of their own volition, allowing access to the thrust of his tongue, trembling as desire claimed her, clinging to the broad width of his shoulders as she swayed weakly against him.

‘Stay tonight, Leonie,’ he urged against the creamy warmth of her throat.

She was tempted, God how she was tempted. But she couldn’t do it. It had taken her eight months to put herself back together after the devastation of loving this man; she couldn’t leave herself open to that sort of pain again.

‘No, Adam.’ She pushed away from him, breathing hard, knowing by his own ragged breathing that he was as aroused as she was. ‘There’s something else lovers can do,’ she told him tautly. ‘They can end the relationship at any time; I’m ending it.’ She turned on her heel.

‘Where are you going?’ Adam asked softly.

‘Home!’ She didn’t even turn.

‘How?’ his gentle question halted her. ‘Your car is still at Thompson Electronics, your keys to the car are in your handbag, your money, too, in case you were thinking of taking a taxi home, and your bag is in my car downstairs,’ he reminded softly.

She had done it again! ‘So much for my grand exit,’ she said dully as she turned around.

His smile was sympathetic. ‘It really was very good.’

‘Don’t humour me, Adam,’ she snapped.

‘Lovers——’

‘We are not lovers!’ she bit out between clenched teeth. ‘And we never will be. Now if you’ll give me your car keys for a few minutes I’ll go down and get my bag.’

‘No.’

‘You can’t keep me here by force, Adam!’ There was an edge of desperation to her voice.

‘I don’t intend to,’ he soothed. ‘I’m going to get dressed and drive you home.’

‘My car——’

‘Will be locked into the car park by this time of night,’ he pointed out.

She looked at her wrist-watch; it was after midnight! ‘If you will just let me get my bag I can get a taxi home.’

Adam shook his head. ‘I can’t let you do that this late at night.’

‘That doesn’t sound possessive, Adam, it sounds autocratic,’ she taunted him.

He smiled. ‘It’s concern for your welfare,’ he mocked. ‘Lovers are like that,’ he told her softly before going back into the bedroom.

Leonie stared after him frustratedly; she should have known that today was going to end as disastrously as it had begun. She should also have known Adam would have something to do with it, had felt a premonition of his presence while waiting to be rescued from the lift, her clumsiness always more pronounced whenever he was around.

She had been too stunned, too conscious of Mrs Carlson’s presence, to do any other than follow Adam’s lead of it being their first meeting when the other woman introduced them in his office. And once she recovered from the shock of seeing him again after all this time she was too intrigued by his behaviour to do any other than go along with the pretence. And as she had admitted to him, it was easier too. But the pleasant atmosphere of their evening together had seduced her into doing something she would rather forget, something that she wouldn’t allow to be repeated, her reaction to Adam totally unexpected, given their history together.

Her breath caught in her throat as Adam returned to the room, the business suit replaced with a fitted black shirt and black cords. Adam never dressed this casually!

‘Changing your image, Adam?’ she taunted to hide her reaction to him.

‘Like it?’ he smiled, not fooled by her attitude for a minute.

She more than liked it, she wanted him again! It was ridiculous when she had been married to this man for a year, when they had been separated for over eight months, to feel the same instantaneous flood of emotion towards him as she had when she first met him almost two years ago. And yet looking at him now she did feel it, her mouth dry, her palms damp.

‘You look very handsome,’ she told him primly. ‘Now could we please leave?’

‘Certainly.’ He picked up his car keys.

‘Lovers are obliging too, are they?’ She couldn’t resist taunting as she preceded him out of the apartment and into the lift.

‘Any time,’ he said suggestively, his body pressed up against the back of hers. ‘Just say the word,’ he encouraged throatily.

She frowned her irritation, moving gratefully away from him as they walked over to the car, their footsteps sounding loud in the black stillness of the night. Adam proved to be right about her bag, it lay on the floor of the car as he opened the door for her to get in.

‘You can pick your car up tomorrow,’ Adam suggested during the drive to her home, the car roof up now in the cool of the night.