He’d been watching her during the entire wedding ceremony. She’d stood there, close to Sabrina, as Sabrina and Daniel had exchanged their wedding vows. But Paul hadn’t even listened. He’d only had eyes for Holly. He’d never seen a more sensual woman, one who was sin personified, and he’d had more than his fair share of gorgeous women thanks not only to his good looks, but also to his financial success and his family connections.
Many a Hamptons mother would shamelessly deposit her own daughter in his bed if she could, in hopes that he was in the market for a wife. He wasn’t. It wasn’t the right time. He liked variety, and his career as a highly skilled negotiator who brokered multimillion-dollar mergers and was richly compensated for his services demanded his full attention. Besides, there was still plenty of time to have a family and kids ten years down the road. As long as he married a young enough woman, it didn’t really matter when he started his own family.
“Are we waiting for something?” Holly’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
“I was just admiring the view,” Paul deflected, and locked eyes with her, looking deep into her blue irises. She didn’t blink.
Yes, sinful, that was exactly how she appeared. A woman who knew the effect she had on men and was using her considerable assets to make those men surrender to her. For a short moment, he wondered whether he could risk getting entangled in her web, but another look at those luscious red lips, and he squashed that fleeting doubt. She would be gone soon, and the distraction that she would provide was as welcome as it would be short-lived.
Paul eased the passenger door shut and walked around the car, before taking the driver’s seat. With another look at Holly, he turned the key in the ignition and heard the car hum in response. He felt the subtle vibrations of the engine travel through his groin, reminding him that he shouldn’t waste any more time.
“I’m staying at my parents’ house a couple of miles down the coast.” From the corner of his eye, he noticed Holly open her mouth as if she wanted to voice a protest, her chest lifting at the same time. He knew what she wanted to say before she had a chance to express her concern, and preempted it. “They’re gone this weekend. We’ll have the house to ourselves.”
It was darn lucky, too, considering that his parents hadn’t been traveling much lately. But his great-aunt Mirabelle, who’d been a midwife for over forty years, was getting on in years, and his parents had decided to look in on her in her little house near Boston.
He maneuvered the sports car out of the parking spot and pulled into the street. There was virtually no traffic, and he could drive the route in his sleep, enabling him to focus his attention on Holly. And her dazzling figure. Her creamy skin. Her hard nipples that pressed through the fabric of her dress.
Paul sucked in a breath. Thoughts like that were likely to cause a car accident, or at the very least, make him spill in his pants before he’d even arrived at his parents’ house.
“Why did you proposition me?” The question was out before he could stop himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He wanted to bang his head against the steering wheel.
“You think I propositioned you?”
He took his eyes off the road. “Didn’t you?” He lifted his hand from the wheel and slid it over her hand that rested on her thigh. Warm skin greeted him and sent a tingling sensation through his arm. “Or did somebody set you up to play a prank on me?”
Holly freed her hand from his.
Instantly, disappointment coursed through him. But before he could say or do anything, he felt a hand slide onto his thigh.
“Does this feel like a prank?”
Heat shot to his groin, and his heart began to thunder. Confidence flooded back into him as if somebody had opened the locks to a dam. “Could you maybe be a little clearer and move your hand a bit higher up?”
He didn’t really expect Holly to meet his challenge. When she did, however, he nearly jumped out of his seat. Her hot palm cupped his erection, pressing against the hard flesh without hesitation.
“You mean like this?” Her voice sounded innocent, though her words weren’t.
Yes, she was sin personified.
Paul clenched his jaw, fighting the onslaught of sensations her wicked touch unleashed in him. “You’re a very direct woman, Holly. I like that.”
She removed her hand and placed it back in her lap. Her action left a void that surprised him. As if the brief touch had created a sudden yearning only Holly could satisfy.
“No use beating about the bush. After all, we’re both adults. We’re free to do what we want,” Holly said, and glanced out of the passenger window.