A Night With Consequences (7 page)

Her words were cut off when his eyes met hers, when she saw the dark hunger in them, when all the breath seemed to leave her body.

‘Forgive me—I have to do this,’ he said, his voice rougher than she had ever heard it. And she swiftly realised that he wasn’t talking about the damp mark on her dress, but something far more intimate.

And, amazingly, this time her lips were ready for his. The rhythm of her heart altered and she closed her eyes. Why fight the inevitable? All evening she had been far too aware of Blake to not want to experience his kiss again.

Blake quickly realised that what he had intended as a gentle kiss, not wanting to frighten her, or rush her into anything that she was still not ready for, was swiftly turning into something else. Kara’s lips had parted on a sigh that suggested secret desire, and when he cautiously deepened the kiss, when he felt her response, when she kissed him back with a hunger that took him by surprise, he was unable to stop himself.

Fire built between them as their tongues entwined and danced and tasted and explored, as he nibbled her lower lip and she did the same to him. Every pulse in his body threatened to explode. And he knew that it would take every ounce of self-control to put her away from him afterwards.

Kara found it difficult to breathe; she could not understand what was happening to her. How could she allow Blake to kiss her like this? How could she want his kiss when she had always hated men with a vengeance? The lure had been building from day one, and the taster she’d had yesterday had woken something inside her, but even so …

Cautiously she risked looking at him, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw the raw desire in his eyes—gone in an instant, shielded from her gaze. If any man had looked at her like that in the past she would have run a mile, but she knew without a shadow of doubt
that Blake would never pressure her into anything that she was not ready for.

And the fact was—and this was as much of a surprise to her as it would be to Blake—she actually wanted him to make love to her.

She closed her eyes again, allowing the moment to seep into her mind, into her bones, into her heart, feeling an unaccustomed ache in the lower regions of her stomach. If Blake ended the kiss now she would feel bereft. She would have had a taste of heaven snatched away from her as quickly as it had arisen.

Of their own volition her arms snaked around him, trapping him, her body urging itself against his raw masculine hardness. It shocked and excited her at the same time. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever envisaged that she would be in a situation like this.

The wild throb of his heart beating against her own told her without words that excitement ran through his veins too, and that he was also deeply affected by what was happening.

Why, she asked herself, when for nearly a year she had worked for this man without ever feeling anything, was this happening now? No, that was wrong. She
had
been aware of him; how could any woman not be? But her fears were such that she had allowed her thoughts no purchase.

Now they were in danger of escaping the tight confines she had kept on them—in fact they had already escaped. They were not at the galloping stage yet, but they were sufficiently free of their reins to taste freedom. And, oh, how she liked it.

Based on pure instinct now, she ground her hips
against him, shocked by his hardness, but actually glorying in the fact that she was able to do this to a man. To Blake. Not
any
man—never any man. Would he allow her to set the pace? Already she was in danger of running rather than walking, and she could hear the drumbeats of her heart echoing in her ears.

Words seemed irrelevant. Words would shatter the atmosphere that cocooned them. And when Blake trailed his fingers down the exposed arch of her throat, pausing on the fluttering pulse he found there before moving lower to feel the soft swell of her breast, Kara’s breath caught in her throat. Her eyes fluttered open.

Blake was watching her, gauging her reaction, but she saw behind the reassurance he sought a hunger that matched her own. The grey of his eyes had deepened to charcoal, almost blending with the blackness of his pupils, though when he saw her looking at him he instantly lowered his lashes.

Kiss followed kiss followed kiss—deep, heart-stopping kisses that sent her spinning into a world she did not recognise, a world where senses were paramount. In these last few minutes she had become a woman—a woman filled with emotions she had often wondered about but never expected to experience. She felt as though she had been born again. And she wanted this moment to go on for ever.

It was disappointing, therefore, when Blake lifted his head, when his hands fell to his sides. Her first thought was that she had let him down, and she felt tears welling—until he tentatively suggested that they make themselves more comfortable.

Which must be why they ended up in bed!

Kara could only vaguely remember Blake lifting her into his arms and carrying her to his bedroom. For some reason her mind had gone numb. She had been aware of nothing except the feelings churning round and round inside her—feelings that needed both feeding and assuaging.

What had begun as a tingle had developed into a stampede of pulses, of hot pounding blood, of her heart beating so hard and so fast that she was afraid it would burst.

And all because he had kissed her!

Except that a kiss from Blake was more than just a kiss. It was a full-scale attack on her defences. It stripped away barriers, leaving her open and vulnerable. And bursting with excitement! If this was what making love was all about then she was glad that she had not gone through her whole life without ever knowing what she was missing.

Their kisses became more intense, more hungry, more
everything,
in fact. Not only did he kiss her mouth, make it his, sucking and nibbling, creating deep wells of passion that both shocked and thrilled her, he trailed kisses down the arch of her throat, causing her head to fall back in utter abandonment, and somehow he managed to remove her clothes at the same time.

When she heard his swift intake of breath Kara did not know what was the matter—until she felt his fingers touch a certain place on her back. Then she knew!

‘How did you get this scar?’ he asked, his voice unusually quiet.

Kara struggled with the truth, but decided that she needed to be honest. ‘It’s from the buckle on my father’s
belt. He didn’t mean to hurt me that badly.’ Not that he had ever said that, or even apologised. He’d been blind drunk at the time.

‘Whether he meant it or not, it should never have happened,’ growled Blake. ‘Did he beat your mother as well?’

Kara nodded.

Blake swore.

‘It’s a good job he is no longer alive or I would have great difficulty in keeping my hands off him. Only cowards hit women. Did you never report him, Kara?’

‘I was too afraid,’ she confessed. ‘He was a very big man. He’d probably have killed me.’

Blake swore again under his breath and cradled Kara in his arms. He held her for a long time, until he felt them both relax again, until he was able to push to the back of his mind everything that was bad and evil.

‘You are so brave,’ he told her, over and over again. ‘Brave and beautiful.’ He kept stroking her skin, and when she lifted her lips up to his he groaned and kissed her, and his heart leapt when she took his hand and put it on her breast.

Kara closed her eyes and gave herself up to the moment. Blake’s touch caused her breasts to engorge and become incredibly sensitive, and the moment when her nipples tightened into excruciatingly responsive buds was an experience she would remember for the rest of her life, even if it never happened again.

But even that feeling increased when he kissed her breasts, sucking her tingling nipples into his mouth, nipping them with his fine white teeth, until every one of her bones melted.

‘You are all right with this?’

Blake’s voice was gruff and hoarse, and his eyes, raised to hers, held an expression that shook her rigid. They were filled with an emotion that suggested he was in the grip of something much stronger than himself, something he was struggling to control.

And it was all because of her!

How could that be? How could kissing her do this to him? She was inexperienced, she didn’t know what was expected of her, and she wasn’t even very pretty. She was—

‘Kara?’

She looked at him, unaware that her eyes were huge and shiny, that her cheeks were flushed and she already looked as though she had been well and truly made love to.

‘Do you want me to stop?’

She rocked her head from side to side, not trusting herself to speak. How could she when both her body and mind felt as though they no longer belonged to her? Somehow he had cast his spell over her and she was now his to do with as he liked. She had gone from being a woman who was afraid of men to someone whose body was filled with a desperate need to be touched.

Needing no further encouragement, Blake trailed kisses across the divide from her breasts to her navel. All she had to do was lie there and enjoy!
All she had to do!
It was impossible. She could not keep a limb still. She wriggled and squirmed and was completely unaware of the sounds she made—sighs and cries, even tiny screams of pain. Yet it wasn’t pain at all.

And Blake was enjoying making her aware of her
body, of its erogenous zones, of the sensations just the lightest touch of his fingers or tongue could create. It was almost an act of cruelty. Delicious, mind-blowing cruelty.

But none of it—nothing—prepared her for the moment when he explored the most intimate part of her. She was shocked and stunned when she discovered how swollen and sensitive she had become, how moist, how responsive she was to his touch, how her body seemed to arch so that he could explore her more fully. She had never in her life known that such sensations existed, that simply by touch she could feel ready to explode.

Her fingernails dug into his shoulders, her body lifting from the bed almost of its own volition. ‘Make love to me, Blake,’ she said hoarsely, almost without knowing that she spoke. ‘I want you to make love to me.’

‘If you’re sure?’ His voice was as hoarse as her own.

‘I’m sure.’

And when he finally lowered himself over her, when he began to enter her, protecting himself first, she could hardly breathe. She was shocked, therefore, when he stopped, when she heard him swear softly.

Was she doing something wrong? She wasn’t experienced like his other girlfriends—was that it? Should she be doing something? Helping him? Sadly, she had no idea.

‘Blake?’

‘You’re a virgin.’ The words choked from his throat.

‘I thought you knew that.’

‘What I mean is that I cannot do this to you. I’ve never made love to a virgin before. It would be wrong to—’

Kara touched a finger to his lips. ‘You’re not doing anything I do not want. Please, Blake—please don’t leave me like this. I want it as much as you do.’ And she wrapped her legs even more tightly around his hips, grinding herself against him.

Blake groaned again, and after only a moment’s further hesitation plunged himself into her.

She felt a brief moment of pain, and then came the pleasure. Intense, mind-blowing pleasure.

‘Blake!’ Kara heard herself call his name over and over again, felt her hands clawing his back, heard him telling her that it was all right to let go.

And seconds later her world exploded.

I
T WAS
the last day of the conference. As Kara walked into the room she felt sure that every person present must know that she had let Blake make love to her last night. Her reflection as she brushed her hair had shown a different woman. A woman with stars in her eyes and a bloom to her skin. A woman who had well and truly been made love to.

She had spent the whole night in Blake’s bed, only returning to her room this morning to shower and dress. She had not gone down to breakfast—food was the last thing on her mind. And now she was afraid to look at Blake, because she knew that if she did her hormones would jump all over the place again.

‘You were amazing last night,’ he whispered when she reached his side. ‘I trust you have no regrets?’

‘We shouldn’t be talking like this,’ she whispered fiercely. ‘Let’s get on with things.’ Even so, she was unable to really concentrate, too conscious of what had gone on between them, and she was relieved when at lunchtime the conference finally drew to an end.

Blake’s closing speech included his thanks to her for all the hard work she had put in both prior to and during the last three days. ‘I do not know what I would have
done without my wonderful PA,’ he said. ‘The fact that everything has gone without a hitch is all down to Kara. Her organisational skills are second to none. I think a round of applause is in order.’

Hot colour flushed her cheeks as every pair of eyes turned on her. ‘I only did my job,’ she muttered, smiling awkwardly. And when he presented her with a bouquet of pink roses she was even more self-conscious.

‘You deserve some recognition,’ he said firmly. ‘None of my other assistants has ever reached your high standards. I can fault you on nothing.’

It was not until they had said their goodbyes to everyone and finally gone up to his suite that he shocked her still further. ‘I have another surprise for you.’

His voice was no more than a low growl in his throat now, and it sent a shiver of expectation across Kara’s skin. She braved a glance at him and saw the way that his lips were trying to contain a grin. He looked, she thought, like a little boy who was doing his best not to give away a secret.

‘A reward for a job well done.’

She waited.

‘We’re going on a few days’ holiday.’

Kara’s mouth fell open. She could not help it. This was the last thing she had expected. ‘What do you mean, a holiday? I can’t. I have my mother to think of. I couldn’t possibly leave her any longer.’ Even though the thought of spending more time with Blake was exciting, her mother was her top priority. Besides, Blake
never
took holidays. What was he talking about?