Now, watching his mother square up against the woman he just decided to make his wife was simply unacceptable.
“Oh for God’s sake,” Douglas muttered as he rose, frustrated with denying himself. He grabbed Julia’s hand and pulled her roughly out of her chair and straight into his arms.
She stiffened and pushed against him, her hands at his chest, her eyes alert and surprised.
She tilted her head back to start to ask, “What are you –?”
He ignored her reaction and did what he’d wanted to do since her first night at Sommersgate, indeed, since he first saw her fifteen years ago.
Douglas kissed her.
While one arm held her tightly against him, wrapped around her waist, his other hand slid down her back to splay across the small and press her h*ps more tightly against his.
She pushed against his chest with more strength and moaned a suffocated denial against his lips, opening her mouth under his. Given this golden opportunity, he took unfair advantage, sliding in his tongue and deepening the kiss.
The moment his tongue touched hers, his body ignited. She tasted of a hint of coffee with an underlying sweetness that was intoxicating. Both his arms closed around her pulling her more deeply into him as his tongue went from invading to coaxing. He used it to tease her and his hands to mould her against his hard body.
This, he was pleased to note, worked.
He felt her hands abruptly stop pushing against his chest and they started to slide up, stopping when her fingers curled at his shoulders to hold on. Her lips relaxed and her head slanted to give him better access.
He didn’t hesitate in accepting her invitation.
It was then the kiss went wild.
She clung to his shoulders, her fingernails biting into his flesh as she matched his heat, her tongue duelling with his. He felt his blood heating, his heart pounding, her body remarkably hot through her clothes.
Finally, one of her hands lifted, gliding up his neck, her fingers slid into his hair as she held his head to hers, giving herself fully to the kiss. She pressed her soft body to his, the heat of her searing his skin through his clothes as her passion exploded. She gave him everything he wanted and he took it, gladly, and then took more. He heard her moan again but this time not in denial but with desire, the sound of it sending his blood speeding through his veins and he pulled her body even closer to him, trying to absorb her very essence.
He had expected it to be good but he hadn’t expected it to be like this.
She tasted sweet and she smelled of tangerines and jasmine. All he could do was feel her, taste her and smell the exotic scent which defined her – delicious, tangy, soft, wet and gorgeous. She surrounded his senses so completely that everything else but her faded away. The sensations were so extreme, he was sorely tempted to throw her on the ground and have her right there in the dining room.
His body tightened at the thought and before he could lose all control, he tore his mouth from hers and took a ragged breath.
“Jesus,” he muttered.
She pulled out of his arms and stood shakily in front of him with the fingers of both hands pressed to her lips. Her green eyes had darkened to jade and she was staring at him in wonder.
“Jesus,” he repeated, this time as a curse to stop himself from reaching for her again before her reason returned and the moment was shattered.
He knew, though, that it was way too soon and Douglas was an expert strategist. He would never make a move toward a desired goal before the time was right.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, her voice low and soft, nearly a whisper, but there was accusation in it.
“I’m leaving for a few days, I’m not certain when I’ll return,” he returned instead of answering her, trying to regain some control.
“No!” was her startling reply. She sounded frightened and her eyes flew to the door where Monique had exited.
“Julia,” he said her name but watched as she looked away from him and seemed to be fighting to gain some control.
“Fine,” she replied, changing her mind like quicksilver. “Fine, I’ll be fine, we’ll all be fine. Just go.”
She wouldn’t be fine and she was beginning to understand it. And, for some reason, this pleased him.
“I’ll leave you my mobile number. Call if you need me or you can always get me through Samantha.”
She squared her shoulders and tilted her chin. “We’ll be fine.”