In the Market for Love - By Nina Blake Page 0,17

away. A woman like her. Men must swarm around her.

Perhaps he should have been more forceful when he’d followed her out to her car. When their lips accidentally brushed against each other, it was all he could do to control himself. Heaven knows he wanted to take her into his arms, crush his lips against hers, never let her go.

He couldn’t work her out. That night she’d been so determined not to let things go any further. Her body language had told him that. Yet at the same time she seemed fragile as though she’d been hurt and was protecting herself. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

Her lush dark lashes were lowered as she gazed at the documents on the desk, her toned arms stretched out as she fingered the corner of one page. She had no idea how enticing she looked and that only made her more alluring.

Surely she must feel the same way he did. It wasn’t possible for her to create such craving within him without feeling an inkling of it herself.

Yet he wanted her to feel more than a rivulet of desire. He wanted her to surge with hunger for him the way he did. Part of her would never be enough. He wanted the complete woman.

He’d let her go once. That wouldn’t happen again.

“We can wait,” Rachel said. “They won’t be long.”

She wanted him to wait. That was the last thing he was going to do.

“They might be longer than you think,” he said.

Though Marcus wasn’t shy with women, he seemed to be taking his time with Samantha. No doubt he’d use the opportunity to get to know her a little better.

But for the life of him, Jake couldn’t imagine why any man would choose Samantha over someone like Rachel. Samantha was attractive and seemed lovely, but she wasn’t the woman that Rachel was.

Then he’d never met anyone like Rachel before.

He felt it in the smile which crossed his face when she made her playful retorts. In his heart when she told him of the hardships she’d been through. In his stomach which became a tempest in her presence.

“We’ve still got a little bit of time to ourselves,” he said.

And he wasn’t going to waste it.

* * *

A shiver of anticipation washed over Rachel.

Time for what? Time for him to not phone her. Time for him to not kiss her. Jake clearly had no idea of the emotions simmering inside her, no idea of the turmoil he was causing her. Then again perhaps he did.

And now she was alone with him. When Samantha and Marcus had been here, there’d been a campaign to manage, a job to be done, decisions to make. Without them, Rachel found herself in a no man’s land where her thoughts were skewed and she no longer knew what she wanted.

She pushed her chair back and meandered over to the window, gazing at the luxurious expanse of city and harbour before her. She’d felt warm earlier and had removed her jacket but now she felt strangely exposed in sleeveless top and slim fitting skirt. She crossed her arms.

“Enjoying the view?” Jake asked.

“It’s truly stunning,” she said. “We don’t have a view like this at my office.”

To her, it was a symbol of how different their two worlds were. Jake’s world included million dollar views from the luxury location of his advertising agency. Meanwhile she worked for a small scientific research organisation with ageing office furniture and cheap rent in an old building on the other side of the city.

Was it was possible to appreciate surroundings as elegant as this if that’s all you’d ever known? Jake didn’t have anything with which to compare this. He only knew what it was like to come to work in a chic modern interior, sit on leather upholstered chairs and look out at Sydney Harbour.

“You’re right,” he said. “It is stunning.”

She wasn’t sure he was talking at the cityscape. He was standing behind her. While she’d been mesmerised by the view, he’d followed her to the window and she hadn’t even noticed.

“And I suppose your house has a spectacular view too, does it?” she asked.

“Yes, I live in Mosman. With a view of the Sydney Heads. It’s quite a view.”

The Sydney Heads. The two distinctive land masses through which all vessels entered the harbour. It shouldn’t have surprised her that his address would be equally as impressive as his office.

“Tell me, “ she said, “Do you take it for granted when