The Beautiful Widow - By Helen Brooks Page 0,47
touching her with any part of himself yet enveloping her in his body warmth. ‘It’s driven me insane playing the boss when I want to be much, much more to you.’
‘I’m—I’m not what you want,’ she whispered.
Steel expelled a quiet breath. ‘Yes, you are.’ He reached out and touched her lips with his finger. ‘From the moment I set eyes on you, in fact.’
‘That’s—that’s just lust, sexual attraction.’ She let her hair fall forward, hiding her expression. ‘You didn’t even know me then.’
‘But I know you now. I know so much about you now, and you know plenty about me too. What have the last six months meant to you, Toni? All those chats late at night when everyone else has gone? Did you look forward to them? Enjoy finding out little things about me?’
She wanted to sag against the car door as his words hit home. It was only in this moment of blinding truth that she realised she’d lived for those times with a strange, intense excitement that had no rhyme or reason. ‘You did that on purpose?’ she whispered helplessly.
His smile this time was merely a twitch. ‘I scared the hell out of you six months ago and I didn’t want that to happen again. You didn’t trust me, maybe you still don’t trust me, but we’ve moved forwards quite a way since then. Not enough—’ this time his smile was self-deprecating ‘—not when I want to know you inside out; how you think and feel about everything, especially me. And I’m not talking about your sexual desire here. I know you have the taste of me and want more from the way you respond when I so much as touch you. But that apart, how do you see me? I asked you that once before and you didn’t answer me. Why was that, I wonder?’
She shook her head, unable to reply.
‘Don’t shut me out, Toni. I want you and you want me and what we have is too powerful to fight.’
Her head jerked slightly as she drew in a steadying breath. He was talking about sex. In everything he’d said he’d only mentioned wanting her, nothing more. No talk of commitment or for ever or … love. And why would he? She knew that wasn’t on Steel’s agenda.
‘I don’t intend to rush you, in spite of how I’ve behaved today,’ he said very calmly as she continued to remain silent. ‘But however slow we take it, you and I are going to progress. That is set in concrete.’
‘Steel, it takes two to agree something like that,’ she said a little more strongly. He was taking a lot on himself!
‘Four, in this case. I’m aware of that too.’
Four? And then she realised he was talking about Amelia and Daisy. To her mortification she became aware that in the last heady, intoxicating few minutes her precious girls hadn’t featured in her thoughts. It had been all about her and Steel. Frankly horrified at herself, she lifted her eyes to his. ‘I told you once before
I have no intention of introducing the twins to a series of “uncles".’
‘And I told you then I was pleased to hear it. I still am. I don’t intend for there to be a line, Toni. Amelia and Daisy know you work for me and they are bright little girls. They’ll accept me in their life as a friend of yours.’
‘A friend?’ It would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
‘Exactly.’ He smiled. ‘Until you are ready for something more. I want you but I don’t want to hurt you or cause you to feel threatened or have regrets because you feel I’ve seduced you into my bed. And I could do that so easily. We both know that.’
The male arrogance was too much. She glared at him. ‘Really?’ she said with scathing sarcasm. ‘You’re irresistible, is that it?’
Steel moved half into her seat, lowering his head and taking her mouth. He savoured the shape of her lips, the sweet taste of her, and after a token struggle he felt her mouth open beneath his probing. Within moments she was there with him every inch of the way as he deepened the kiss with the intent of showing her exactly what he wanted to be doing to her at that moment. He finished the embrace with a row of nibbling kisses along her jawline, stopping at the corner of her lips, and by then her breathing was raspy and her cheeks flushed with passion.