Shit. What had come over her? She swallowed several times. “Okay, sorry. I understand. I didn’t mean to…it wasn’t my plan to…” She shook her head and glanced at the floor. “Of course. You…don’twantto. You’re not interested. Sorry.” She took a step back and pressed her lips together.
Moreau exhaled long and deep. When she looked up, she saw that he was gripping the edge of the counter, his knuckles white again. “It doesn’t matter what I want.”
She blinked, not understanding what he meant.
“You kissed me because your brother told you not to.”
For a few seconds, she just stared at him without saying a word — then her heart sank as her blood pressure shot up. Was that what he thought was going on?
“Well, thanks a lot. If you think I base all my decisions on what Dax says, you’re no better than the rest,” she replied coolly and turned away from him, fed up with all these arrogant men who felt they could dictate what she thought and what she should and shouldn’t do. She tried to push past him.
She didn’t get far, though. Lucas wrapped a rough hand around her wrist and pulled her forcibly back.
“Okay,” he said harshly, narrowing his eyes. “I’ll play along: Why did you kiss me?”
“Because I wanted to,” she said, unmoved, snatching her hand from his. “Because it was the first thing I have reallywantedin a long time…and for a fleeting moment, I thought I could actually have it.”
Silently, Lucas looked at her.
Wonderful. She sighed and closed her eyes. “Whatever. I thought we might be compatible, and I was hoping to relieve some stress with you. But…” She rubbed her fist over her still-rapidly pounding heart and took a deep breath. “You know, my life currently consists of work, exams, and studying. It would be nice to have a distraction now and then. Twenty minutes a week when I don’t have to think. But I’m obviously not the only one who allows Dax Temple to impose rules.”
She stepped back abruptly and hurried toward the unoccupied cloakroom. She was about to reach for the waist-high door to grab her jacket herself when a possessive hand landed on hers and forced her to a sudden halt.
“Distraction,” a dark voice whispered in her ear and her breath caught in her throat as his soft lips brushed over it. “Is that all you want?”
She felt Lucas’ heat on her back, and with his free hand on her hip, he slowly pulled her back, making her heart rate quicken. “Yes. That’s all.”
“Short-term happiness?”
“Yes.”
“Dax…”
“Will never know.”
She felt him nod, noticed it because his lips brushed her neck, light as a feather, before his beard scratched the sensitive, excited skin.
Her soft gasp was interrupted by Lucas’ words. “I only have one rule.” He slid his hands down her hips, slipping his rough fingers under the hem of her skirt until he found bare skin, drawing circles on the inside of her thighs before sliding higher.
“Which is?” she whispered, closing her eyes. She sank against his hard chest, felt how he was big and hard against her ass. Because of her.
“No lies. No talk. Only sex.”
“No talk? What does that mean, I…”
He gently bit her neck before tracing the outline of her panties with his index finger, avoiding the middle.
She suppressed a moan. “Okay,” she gasped. “No talk. Anything else?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“No drama.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want you to tell me that there is nothing that could get you – and therefore me – into the press. They leave me alone. It has to stay that way. I won’t risk that for any woman in the world.”
