Page 80 of In Love and Revenge

‘Beauty,’ he chokes, running his thumbs over my cheeks before he surges forward with vigour, stealing my breath from me like it’s his.

That one word. The way he says it, like it meanseverything...

It sparks a fire in my soul, smashing the final thin barriers that remain.

I grab the lapels of his dinner jacket, hauling him to me. His balance falters and we slam back against my front door, our kiss growing frantic.

‘Tonight never happened,’ I gasp against his lips.

They curve with a flash of a dark smile. ‘Finally. Something we agree on.’

I kiss him back with explosive desperation, and he matches me stroke for stroke, breath for breath. It takes everything in me to tear my lips from his and turn to put the key into my front door.

Commanding, warm kisses cascade up and down my neck from behind, and I moan as he grabs my hips and yanks them towards him, grinding his erection into my arse.

‘Hurry up before I fuck you right here,’ he hisses, sucking on my skin, then grazing it with his teeth and sending heat racing up my spine.

There’s no mistaking it. The man is a certified big-dicked arsehole.

But right now, I couldn’t care less. Common sense has deserted me, waved off by my conscience, which has happily boarded the Rafael Fairfax fan club train.

I open the door and he spins me, hoisting me up into his arms and barging through it like the entitled prick he is.

Wrapping my legs around his waist, he slams the door closed with his foot and crosses the room in two strides, until he’s standing beside the tiny alcove that contains my bed.

‘You have to get on from the foot end,’ I pant against his mouth. ‘Because it’s a tight fit.’

‘Jesus,’ he groans, sinking his hands into my arse as I grind over the solid dick in his trousers.

I tug on his hair, deepening our kiss and tightening my thighs around his torso.

He pulls his lips from mine. ‘You need to stop, Aurora. I ...’

‘Why?’ I pant.

He kisses me again like he can’t control himself, sliding his teeth over my lower lip in a final, lingering tug before he withdraws and places me on my feet.

‘Can I use your bathroom?’

I blink at him in surprise. ‘Now?’

‘Right now,’ he says in a strained voice.

‘Um . . . sure.’

He stalks into my bathroom, cursing to himself, and closes the door without looking back.

I’m left, standing alone with soaking panties, and a chest heaving with lust-fuelled pants as I wait for a man I don’t even like to exit my bathroom. Tanya’s house creeps out of the recesses of my memory. This is what he did there. Sounded really into it with her, then escaped to the bathroom, acting like taking a piss was a more enjoyable experience than going back into a room with a woman who clearly wanted him.

He’s going to flush the toilet any moment, then walk out of there, declaring he’s changed his mind, and this was all a mistake.

And I’ll be left here like an idiot.

The toilet doesn’t flush. Instead, a roughly bitten curse echoes through the closed door, followed by the sound of the tap running.

A moment later the door flies open and Rafael strides out. He makes a beeline for me, his eyes blazing.

‘You’re wearing too many clothes,’ he growls, his eyes drinking in my dress as he rips off his tuxedo jacket then his bow-tie, like he’s fuming.