A REASON FOR MARRIAGE

“From what I recall you were doing a fair amount of looking yourself.” She hitched up her chin. “You know you’re an asshole, Simon. You claim that you’re nothing like the man people say you are, but that’s just a lie. You accused me falsely of something I didn’t do, didn’t bother to apologize for it, threatened me and tried to blackmail me into coming back to work for you by withholding my payment until now. For some reason you think you can drag me in here and charm me with your looks and your words and I’m supposed to run back into your arms? Well, it’s too bad that’s not going to happen, and now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to the party -”

Simon smiled, revealing gleaming, strong white teeth, and Sara felt momentarily dizzy. He rocked back on his heels and a different light came into his eyes. An altogether more dangerous light, and Sara could see that she was effectively trapped.

“Let me get out of here, Simon”

“No,” he said firmly.

“No?” she asked, surprised at his response.

He moved even closer, “I’d have apologized if you’d given me a chance to, Sara,” he said softly.

Sara blinked. She knew that he was right, but her emotions had gotten the best of her. That was the problem…Whenever she was around him, she couldn’t seem to be able to handle the way she felt. She felt vulnerable and she didn’t want to feel that way. She’d felt it out there when he’d ignored her throughout the ceremony. She’d felt it when she had seen him pay so much attention to that other woman and she felt it now. Despite the fact that she was so mad at him, she still wanted him. Her entire body ached for him and being stuck in an empty room with him wasn’t helping matters at all.

She stared at his bow tie sitting neatly at the base of his neck and wished she was a vampire, able to sink her teeth into his jugular vein and get into his bloodstream so powerfully he could never shake free of her. Her heart was thumping with the need to hold him to her any way she could. Her hands curled, the urge to claw and dig in sweeping through her in a fierce wave, driving her nails into her palms to stop such primitive and futile action.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Sara had to stop this now. Stop it and walk away like she’d done weeks ago.

Before she gave her heart, soul and body to him. Though weren’t they his already?

“You look very beautiful, Sara,” Simon murmured.

His words jolted her into looking up, meeting the simmering warmth in his eyes. “Thank you, Simon. You look very handsome too, but I really should get back to the party now,” she said, although she made no effort to leave because her feet seemed rooted to the spot.

Simon didn’t move out of her way. Instead, his head dipped towards hers. A kiss was coming. Sara’s heart catapulted around her chest. Her mind screamed that this was the moment to stop him. But her whole body yearned to feel again how it was with him and when his mouth touched hers, there was no thought left of pulling back. Any last shred of denial was swamped by a rush of blood to the head, blood that sang for all the sensations she craved.

Simon’s mouth came down onto Sara’s with all the devastation of a match being put to a dry piece of tinder. Three weeks of build-up exploded inside her. Her hands curled into his chest and he pulled her so close to his body that all she could feel was rock-hard muscle and his arousal. Sara could feel moisture gathering between her legs and she moved unconsciously, as if she could assuage the need building there.

With a move she wasn’t even aware of Simon shifted them, so that Sara was now pressed against the wall. Eyes closed, she could only feel and experience, and give herself up to the onslaught on her senses. Simon’s hands were in her hair, around her face. His mouth was relentless, not breaking contact, his tongue stabbing deep-and she was as insatiable as he.

Her arms wound up around his neck, clinging, hands tangling in his silky hair. She finally broke her mouth away for a brief moment, sucking in harsh breaths. Her heart hammered as she felt his hands move down, moulding over her waist, cupping under her buttocks, pulling her into him even more.

She opened her eyes, but they felt heavy, Simon’s face was close, his breath feathering across her face, his mouth hovering. Feeling bereft, Sara reached up again and pressed her mouth feverishly to his, her whole body arching into Simon’s, reveling in his hard strength. No other man had ever made her feel so hot, so sensual.

Simon’s hands went to her gown and she could feel him pull it down so easily since it was strapless. She could feel his fingers grazing her skin, the curve of her breasts. She didn’t protest-she couldn’t. Impatient to touch him too, she ran her hands over his shoulders. She felt the muscles move underneath as his hands pulled her gown lower.

His mouth left hers and blazed a trail of kisses down over her jaw and neck. Sara’s head fell back. All she was aware of was here and now and how badly she craved this touch. His touch.

Simon’s arm supported her as he tipped her off balance slightly so she leant further back. His mouth was on the upper slope of her breast and all her nerve-endings seemed to have gathered at the tip, so tight it hurt.

When she felt him expose her breast, her breath stopped. Simon cupped the voluptuous mound with one hand, his thumb passing back and forth over the hard aching tip. Sara bit her lip and looked down. She was breathing fast, trying to balance, holding unto the wall as if that could stop her tipping over the edge of this sensation. Between her legs she burned, and she could feel herself fighting the urge to push into Simon’s body.

“So beautiful…” he breathed, looking down at her cupped breast with its pouting dusky peak.