Secret Affairs: The End of Faking It / Her Secret Fling / The Ultimate Risk

He laughed, pulling her dripping wet pony-tail down the way he liked to, tipping her chin up to meet his mouth. But the laughter died as the kisses deepened and steam rose in its stead.

It was as it had been that first night—a gentle tease to begin with. Until she couldn’t resist opening and he immediately went deeper, pushing for more. She lifted her hand and combed her fingers through his silky, thick hair.

His hands slid down her arms, sweeping the droplets from her skin. The hard heat of him burned through his wet shirt. All steel male—with unmistakable purpose.

She managed the first couple of buttons, but he had to do the rest, until she could spread the two halves of cotton and sweep her hands across the hot planes of his chest. Beautiful, hard and hot for her. He saw the look on her face and suddenly tumbled her to the floor, claiming dominance as she’d known he would. The cold tiles were welcome on her burning skin, helping her see straight for one moment of sanity.

‘Stop.’

He lifted his head and looked at her.

‘You’re a player, right, Carter?’ she muttered breathlessly. ‘This doesn’t mean anything.’

He brushed the back of his fingers along her jaw. ‘Not if you don’t want it to.’

‘Just fun.’ She rocked, desire making her body move instinctively against his. All she ever had was just a little fun. Nothing more. This had an elemental undertone of something serious that she wanted to eliminate, but the need to have him was beyond necessity now. That big black hole deep inside her had been ripped open and demanded some good feeling to fill it. Like the good feeling she got when kissing Carter.

And then he did kiss her. She closed her eyes as he moved over her—slowly nibbling across her shoulders, his hands working to peel her tight swimsuit down, exposing her breasts. He kissed down her sternum, down to her stomach and then looked back up at what he’d bared. His hands lifted and he cupped her. She shivered at the touch, insanely sensitive there. He rose swiftly, his mouth hot and wide as his tongue swirled around one nipple.

She arched violently, pushing her heels down hard on the cool tiles to get her hips higher—hoping he’d just grip them and surge into her. She wanted it to be powerful and fast. She wanted him to be there now.

But damn him he was slow and toying and touching her all over. His hands slipping into soft parts that she usually held reserved. She tried to guide him back, tried to move her own into dominance—to distract him—but he was focused on his own determined exploration. And it was undoing her completely.

Her whole body broke into a sweat. It was as if she’d walked into a steam room—suddenly she was so hot, and she couldn’t get any of the burning air into her windpipe. She writhed more beneath him, trying to make him move faster—move over her and take her swiftly. She needed it to be finished, because she couldn’t cope with heat.

All she wanted was him inside her, riding her, releasing his strength into her. Her mind and body fixated on that one thing—his possession, his pleasure. Not hers. She got hers from his. That was what she wanted. Not this searing way he was playing with her.

‘Carter!’ She gasped as his fingers stroked against the strip of her swimsuit between her legs and then slipped beneath the stretchy material. She twisted, suddenly trying to escape him as the strokes grew impossible to bear.

She was drowning, drowning, drowning in the intolerable heat. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t control anything. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as the sensations become so strong they scared her.

He lifted his lips from her damp skin. ‘Relax.’

How was she supposed to relax? Her toes curled as she flexed every muscle she had, trying to wring the tension from her. But it wouldn’t leave her. Instead it worsened.

He sucked her nipple into his mouth and slid a single finger inside. The agony was too complete and she jerked violently—away from the source of that frightening intensity. Wrenching herself free from his hold and scooting back on the tiles.

He swore. ‘Did I hurt you?’ Rising sharply to his knees, his chest heaving, he stared across to where she now sat half a metre away.

She shook her head, breathing hard and shivering as the sensations still scudded through her. But they were weakening now, becoming manageable.

‘Penny?’

‘I just needed a second.’ Panting, she moved back towards him. Wanting to get the situation under control. She wanted him under control. And she knew how—to hold him, kiss him, suck him in deep and squeeze him hard.

Both her mouth and sex were wet with that want. But it was her mouth that wanted first—to lessen his potency. She’d pleasure him enough to make him tolerable for the rest of her, to make him speed up. She wanted him quivering beneath her. She’d be in control again and watch him ride the wave; she wanted to witness the orgasm rippling through him. She wanted to be the source of that pleasure.

Because that was the pleasure in it for her.

Silently Carter watched her crawl back towards him. Still he said nothing as she knelt in front of him. But she felt his ragged breath when she ran her hands down his chest. She spread her palms wide on his thighs, and then she narrowed in on her target. Oh, yes, she loved the size of the erection that greeted her. Her fingers twisted, searching for the zip so she could free him. But all of a sudden he grabbed her hands and stopped her.

She looked up at him. ‘Don’t you want me to?’

He stared hard into her face—from her mouth to her eyes. ‘The setting isn’t working for me,’ he said. ‘We should get out of here.’

She sat back on her heels and swallowed. Suddenly cold. Suddenly aware she was half naked. She wriggled her breasts back into her cold wet swimsuit with absolutely no dignity whatsoever. Not able to look at him again until she was as covered up as she could be, with the towel like a tent around her. By the time she did look across at him he’d fixed his own clothing and was standing waiting for her.

He held out his hand. ‘Come on.’

She couldn’t refuse his offer of assistance. But as soon as she was on her feet he dropped her hand. He was careful not to walk too close. She was careful not to stare at his strained trousers. She really wished he’d let her do something about that. She really wanted to, wanted him, but it had to be her way. Only, as she’d suspected from the first, Carter wasn’t one to let that happen.

They got to the door and Carter turned the handle. It didn’t move. He twisted it again. Then the other way. It still didn’t move.

‘It’s locked,’ Penny said. ‘Did you lock it when you came in?’

‘No.’

Penny frowned and tried the door herself. Then she looked through the small window to the darkened foyer beyond. ‘Jed must have locked it.’

He must have had a quick look in and seen the empty pool—and not seen their entwined bodies in the dark corner at the end of the room. He thought she’d gone so he’d locked it up for the night.

‘So we’re stuck in here?’

‘Looks like it.’ She swallowed and drew the damp towel closer around her shoulders.

‘We could bang on the door, he’d hear us, right?’

She shook her head. ‘He’s up one floor and he listens to his iPod.’

Carter rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath.

‘Don’t make trouble for him,’ Penny said quickly. ‘I talked him into it. It’s my fault really.’

‘Why do you come here after hours? Why not when it’s open?’

‘I like having the pool to myself. It gets really busy before and after work.’

‘You don’t think it’s dangerous?’

‘I’m a really strong swimmer. And Jed knows I’m here.’

‘He’s useless at his job, though, isn’t he? He doesn’t know I’m in here too.’

‘He’d have heard the lift you were in and thought it was me going back up. He probably thinks I left the building while he was down doing the lock-up.’

‘Don’t try to make excuses for him.’

‘He has a young family, he doesn’t get much sleep and he needs the job, Carter. Leave him alone.’