Page 51 of Earl
“You are Earl Drummond, and you said women are usually after you for your money. Me telling you that I am different is not going to make you believe me. I am immensely proud and very focused on my career.” She bit her lip and took another step back.
“You are a busy man…,” shaking her head vigorously, he watched as her hair flew around her shoulders. “I need time to think this through, to consider if this is something I can deal with.”
“Cathy?” He held out a hand pleadingly, his expression intense. “I made a bloody mistake, and I am paying for it. Let me make it up to you, please.”
“I need time.”
His hand dropped aimlessly at his side, his expression bleak. He was aching. Every inch of his body, not just his sex was yearning for her. He wanted to touch and taste and devour. And he wanted to sink himself so deep inside her and never come back out.
He had imagined she was beautiful, but nothing he had conjured in his mind had prepared him for the actuality. Her hair was tumbling down her back, with several strands falling over her left breast.
“Do you want me to beg?” He asked softly. “I am prepared to do just that.”
“You think I am doing this to torture you?” She cried. “God!” Lifting a hand, she rubbed the side of her face, her distress evident. “You hurt me. I promised myself that I would never allow a man to get that close to do that much damage. And it took several weeks of talking over the phone for me to…”
His eyes lit up.
“For you to do what?”
“Nothing.”
“Cathy.”
Her head lifted, and she felt her entire body going still. He was melting her with his smoldering gaze. What he did to her just now was something she never dreamed existed. And she was dangerously close to…, she cut off the thought.
“You made me feel things,” she told him softly. “And then you stopped calling me. I suffered as a result…”
“And I will never do that to us again. You have my word.”
She shook her head. “I need time.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. I…”
“How much?” His voice was harsh, his expression implacable as he waited for a response.
“Two weeks.”
“One.”
“You don’t…”
“Seven days Cathy and that is it. We need each other. That was clear from the very moment we started this online thing. We both knew it was different. It frightened me and I wanted to escape, but I am going to embrace it.
When we kissed…,” he took a deep breath. “When I touched you, it became a foregone conclusion that what we have is intense and powerful. I am not walking away.” Turning towards the doorway, he headed out with her trailing behind him.
She watched as he picked up his jacket and shrugged into it before turning the handle of the door and opening it.
Her heart ached to see him leaving and she almost begged him to stay. But she couldn’t take the chance. She knew instinctively that if they went all the way, she would be lost. And she had to think.
She was about to close the door when he turned and hauled her up against him.
“I am not giving up or going away,” he rasped before swooping down to take her lips in a kiss that had her clinging to him. His mouth moved over hers with an intensity that stole her breath.
She clung, her fingers grabbing hold of his jacket as she sank into the mind-altering kiss. Her blood surged feverishly inside her body, her nipples turning into pebbles as his tongue searched and found every crevice of her mouth.
He ended the kiss abruptly, letting her go and staring at her, gray eyes bright and feverish. Balling his hands at his sides to keep from touching her again, he turned on his heels and practically ran down the steps.