One More Time - Louisa George Page 0,26

body. ‘Would you look at that?’

‘Oh.’ She smiled and pretended to be surprised. ‘Naked. How did that happen?’

‘Not naked enough.’ He gripped her hips and dragged her back to him, struggling with the need to have her now. On the kitchen floor. Against the bench.

Knowing that if he took her into his bed he wouldn’t want her to leave. Would want to wake up with her tomorrow. And maybe the next day. But not knowing how the hell to control this ache inside him. ‘I know, let’s have some champagne to seal our deal.’

‘Are you trying to get me drunk? Just one small one.’ Standing behind him, she peered over his shoulder. The fridge light lit up her face. No—her laughter lit up her face. ‘Max Maitland, you have four bottles of champagne but no milk. No food...at all. What do you eat?’

‘I eat at work.’

‘That’s it? Don’t you cook?’

‘No. I can cook—I just don’t. We could phone out for takeaway. But in my book eating is cheating.’ He popped open a bottle and poured bubbles into two long-stemmed glasses. Offering her one, he pointed towards the bedroom. ‘Now, Nurse Radley, we have a lot of policies to work through... Shall we...?’

Her mouth formed a playful pout as she pretended to weigh up her options. Then she smiled, long and slow, and led the way. ‘Hell, yes.’

6

‘How could you?’ Gabby tied Max’s shirt-tails into a knot at her hip as her post-the-best-sex-of-her-life-times-three glow withered, just like the poor scrap of life she was looking at. Wilting and thirsty, the geranium’s head hung limply in the weak early-morning sunlight. ‘What the heck have you done to my plant?’

A bare-chested Max stepped onto the deck and handed her a cup of coffee. ‘Yours, is it? I thought it was a present.’

‘It’s a present that now needs life support. You clearly can’t look after it, so I claim part custody until you learn. It’s ours then.’

‘Okay. But you have to take charge of feeding time.’ His arms snaked round her waist as he hugged her from behind. His heat wrapped around her like a cocoon. She leaned against him, unable to be angry after such an amazing night. He’d made sure she’d got exactly what she wanted, and when. And now she was hungry for more.

But still she was confused by the new turn of events. She had a bed buddy. It was the kind of thing other women did. People she read about, women she heard chatting in bars, sophisticated women, women who knew what they wanted and where they were going. Not grown women who, in their families’ eyes, could never make up for a mistake committed over a decade ago.

And yet here she was. In a penthouse apartment with six feet three of sinful sex. Making up for a long time of celibacy.

Her nonna would be screaming a tirade of insults down from heaven. Brazen. Sinful. Devil’s child.

She fought the instinct to put her fingers in her ears and block out the imaginary noise. Old Gabriella would have hung her head, like the plant, and withered and conformed to what was expected. New Gabriella laughed. ‘We have something. That’s a hoot.’

But as she peered more closely at the droopy leaves the laughter melted away. Nonna would be grinning along now. Serves you right, wicked girl. Again.

‘Well, we did have something. Maybe it’s a sign.’ Celestial retribution. She touched a leaf. It came off in her hand.

Max grinned and stooped to pour his coffee into the plant pot. ‘I’m not good at these kinds of things. I did warn you.’

‘Wait! What are you doing? It needs water, not a caffeine hit. What are you trying to do? Kill it off completely?’ She dashed inside to get a glass of water and poured it over the wilting plant. ‘And it looks so lonely out here.’

‘It’s just a plant, for goodness’ sake.’

‘It’s the beginnings of a garden, Max. And it needs care and attention.’

‘So do I.’ He wrapped her in his arms and leaned in for a kiss. ‘Starting right now.’

Her back arched as she leaned away from him, hands flat on his chest. The towel from after their shower hung loosely at his hips. One false move...one very good move...and he’d be naked. She could already feel how hot she was making him. How hard. ‘Promise me you’ll take more care of it. Or no more kisses.’

‘Na-ah. No promises.’

She shook her head. Wove her leg around his and pressed her nipples against