The Reunion Lie. Lucy King
was over and done with. She’d be right with him. Hanging off his arm, flinging a wave in the direction of her former classmates and sailing out. Quitting while she was still ahead. Leaving with her head held high and her self-esteem not quite as close to rock bottom as it had been before. And then she’d be heading for home, putting the whole crazy night behind her and moving on.
It had better be one hell of a kiss, though. Her commitment to the idea was irrefutable. Just the thought of having his mouth on hers, properly this time, was making her heart thump and her knees wobble. His, on the other hand...Who knew how he was intending to approach it?
‘OK, well, fine,’ she said, feeling all hot and tingly again at the prospect of the two of them kissing, ‘but could you at least try and make it look convincing?’
Taking her hand and tugging her towards a gap in the crowds from where they’d have maximum exposure, Dan shot her a quick smouldering smile. ‘I’ll do my best.’
* * *
In the event, Dan didn’t have to try all that hard to do his best. Zoe’s instant, scorchingly hot response to him—the way she melted into him with a soft sigh, the tightening of her arms around his neck and the pressure of her pelvis tilting up against his, and then the little moans she started making at the back of her throat—was as mind-blowing as his was to her, and within seconds the kiss had taken on a life of its own.
Kissing a woman certainly wasn’t something he’d never done before. On the contrary it was an activity he’d engaged in a lot during his thirty-three years, generally with great success, but he’d never had a kiss quite like this one. He’d never had his mind go quite so blank quite so fast. He’d never had the feeling that the world around him was disintegrating. And he’d never experienced such a swift rush of desire, such instant heat nor such a reckless longing to toss aside his control and give in to such clamouring raw need.
Who knew where the intensity of it, the insanely desperate urge to flatten Zoe against the nearest suitable surface and get her naked, came from? It could have simply been down to intense and sizzling chemistry that now surged between them. It could have merely been that emotions seemed to be running fever high this evening. Or it could have been the fact that the three-date-only rule he’d instigated following Jasmine’s blabbing to the press usually precluded sex by its very nature, and he was missing it. Whatever it was, and, really, his brain was in no state to try and work it out, Dan didn’t want the kiss to end.
And it might not have done had a distant wolf whistle followed by a cut-glass-accented suggestion they get a room not sliced through the fog in his head and brought him thumping down to earth.
Reluctantly drawing back, he stared down at the woman in his arms. Her eyes were glazed, her cheeks were pink and her lips were rosy from the pressure of the kiss, and her breathing was all ragged and shallow. She looked as shaken as he felt and at the realisation that she’d been as affected as he had his self-control rocked for a second. He could still feel every inch of her pressed up against him, was achingly aware of her breasts crushed to his chest and all he could think about was doing it again.
But he couldn’t do it again, could he, because one kiss had been the deal and that had been accomplished. More thoroughly and disturbingly than he could ever have imagined.
‘Thanks,’ said Zoe huskily, unwinding her arms from around his neck and placing her hands on his chest instead.
‘You’re welcome.’
She tilted her head and a slow sexy smile curved her mouth. ‘That should have done it, don’t you think?’
‘Done what?’ he muttered, too dazzled by the smile and too preoccupied and baffled by the way his skin was burning beneath her palms and his blood was still burning through his veins to have a clue what she was talking about.
‘Convinced them.’
For a moment he was about to ask ‘They who?’ but he managed to pull himself up just in time as his brain cleared enough for reason to put in an appearance. Right. Her ex-classmates. The bullies. The reason for the kiss. ‘If it didn’t I can’t imagine what would,’ he muttered.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and her eyes darkened, and the expression on her face suggested she was tempted to suggest another one. But she didn’t, thank God, or heaven only knew what he would have done.
‘So now I suppose you’ll be off,’ she murmured, lifting her eyes to meet his once again.
He nodded. ‘I will.’
She tilted her head. ‘Pity. In a way.’
Yes, it was, he thought, momentarily distracted by the intensely fiery look of desire in her eyes and the reciprocal surge that shot through him. And didn’t that pull him up short, because his agreement to help Zoe out had been conditional on his participation being brief and on his terms, and the thought that he could so easily be persuaded into something more was deeply unsettling. ‘But necessary. In another.’
‘Then you’d better let me go.’
‘Right.’ He had. So why were his arms tightening around her instead of loosening? Why wasn’t he turning on his heel and getting out of there just as fast as was humanly possible?
Oh God, he thought, his heart thudding with alarm and his entire body going still. What the hell was going on? Surely he wasn’t thinking of staying, was he? He couldn’t. He’d be nuts to even consider it.
So why was he now wondering if he could do more to help Zoe, the way he should have helped Celia? Why was a flicker of the guilt that he thought he’d dealt with years ago now leaping around in his stomach and battling with desire?
He couldn’t stay, he reminded himself firmly, setting his jaw and ruthlessly stamping out the guilt. He didn’t need to. Celia was fine. She hadn’t needed him. The two cases bore no resemblance whatsoever. Besides, the potential fallout from being some kind of white knight here was huge, and why he kept forgetting that he had no idea.
Or was it as big a deal as he was making out?
Zoe hadn’t recognised him, he realised, his head suddenly pounding with possibilities. No one else here seemed to. Had he really become so paranoid that he thought everyone everywhere was out to get him? Was he really so vain that he thought everyone knew who he was? And how long was he going to let what Jasmine had done influence his decisions?
‘Dan?’
The sharpness of Zoe’s voice jerked him out of the tangled confusion of ideas and thoughts churning around his head. ‘What?’
She pushed at his chest. ‘Let me go.’
‘In a minute.’
‘What?’ Her eyes widened and filled with alarm that mirrored his own. ‘No. Now.’
‘Why?’
‘Why? Because it’s what we agreed, and if you don’t release me right now it’ll be too late.’
It already was. At least for him. Because now all he could think was that he could help her. That he had to help her. ‘What if I’ve changed my mind?’
She looked aghast. ‘You can’t.’
‘Why not? I got the impression you wanted more from me than just a kiss.’
‘Maybe, but that was before.’
‘Before what?’
‘Before I changed my mind too. You were absolutely right. I’m in way too deep for this kind of thing. I’ve had enough and I really don’t think I can take any more.’ She flicked a quick glance to her right. ‘Oh, God, they’re on their way over, and believe me you do not want “us” to be subjected to the horror that is Samantha Newark.’
Dan felt a shudder rip through her and any lingering doubt that he was doing the right thing instantly vanished. ‘Is she the one who gave you the bruises?’
She looked back at him