High-Society Secret Baby - Maxine Sullivan Page 0,21

again so soon. He’d never known anything like it before.

They came together.

Then his heartbeat slowed, and he eased back to look down on her. She was staring at him with wonder, her eyes telling him she couldn’t believe she had climaxed again so soon. He knew the feeling, even as he still wondered about her. For the moment he would take what she offered, give as good as he could get. As long as he remained aware she might be manipulating him, she wouldn’t get away with too much.

Then her eyes lowered to his chest, looking away from him again. “We haven’t used any protection,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

His heart lurched in his chest. She wasn’t telling him something that hadn’t already occurred to him. “It’s too late tonight. We’ll discuss it tomorrow.” He scooped her up in his arms.

“Where are we going?”

“To take a shower together,” he said, striding into the bathroom. Standing her on her feet, he reached over and turned on the hot water. “And after that—” he lowered his head for a long kiss and when it had finished, steam was swirling around them “—we’re going to start all over again.”

Five

Cassandra stretched herself awake to the sound of native bird life, then realized where she was.

In Dominic’s bed.

And Dominic was no longer next to her.

She sat up and looked around, blushing when she saw her silk nightgown draped over a chair. The last time she’d seen it, he’d been lifting it over her head.

Oh, my.

The temptation to stay there and relive the night was strong, but she needed to check on Nicole. Peeling herself from under the bedclothes, she grabbed the nightgown to hold in front of her as she crossed the hallway to her bedroom.

No, make that Nicole’s room now. Dominic would not let things go back to the way they were.

She had to admit she didn’t want that, either. Dare she believe that on another level something else might have changed, too? Could they now be as compatible outside the bedroom as they were inside it?

The crib was empty, and she assumed Dominic had taken Nicole to give her breakfast. And then she heard her daughter’s laughter coming from downstairs, and she relaxed. Interested in seeing how he would cope, she quickly took another shower—her stomach giving a little quiver at the memory of showering with Dominic during the night—and then she dressed in a tank top and a tiered skirt that swished about her legs. Hoop earrings made her feel a bit like a gypsy woman.

At the kitchen doorway, it was obvious by the slight mess that Dominic had already fed Nicole her cereal, and now the little girl was happily sitting in her high chair, playing with a selection of her small toys.

He looked up from pouring coffee, his hand stilling. The masculine appreciation in his eyes made her stomach flutter. And the sensuality in them made her tremble. He knew the secrets of her body now. She could not hide from him.

“Good morning,” he said huskily.

“Good morning.” To cover her blush, she walked toward Nicole, pretending he didn’t affect her. “Morning, sweetie,” she murmured, kissing the top of her daughter’s head, then took a step toward the cupboard to get a coffee mug. She would stay calm, she told herself. She would not panic that he knew how easily she had succumbed to him. Just because—

All at once he was in front of her, pulling her up against his already hard body, reminding her how aroused his dream had made him. Her breath quickened. She could think of nothing more sensual than this man fantasizing about her.

He lowered his head, his mouth closing over hers. She slid into the kiss like water into a pond. Everything seemed so right between them. So natural.

It couldn’t last.

Things never did.

She wasn’t sure how long before the kiss ended, but when it did, she quickly stepped around him and went to the cupboard.

“I see you’ve already fed Nicole,” she chatted, not wanting him to know her thoughts. “Thanks for doing that. She would have been hungry.”

There was a short silence. Then, “I thought it time Nicole and I got to know each other.”

Elation swept through her, the words so sweet.

But as she poured herself a coffee, she admitted that being “sweet” wasn’t exactly one of this man’s more notable traits. Dominic was renowned for being a shrewd judge of character, in business and out of it—except when it came to her,