He took hold of my arms and I struggled to release myself from his touch. “Rain—”
“Don’t touch me,” I spat, shrugging out of his hold. “Let me out of here. Now.”
“So you can go back out there to that smarmy git?” He grabbed me and hauled me against his chest, causing the breath to leap right out of me. “If you have no intention of sleeping with that arse then you are playing a dangerous game.”
“Of course you’d assume that I’d use sex to get what I wanted.” I curled my lip in disdain as I stared up into his handsome face. He was too close. Much too close. “Let me go.”
His grip tightened and I found myself spun around as he pressed my back to the door. “What else is any man supposed to think when you’re out there flirting your arse off with that guy? And here I thought you didn’t flirt.” His breath puffed against my lips.
“I only do it on special occasions,” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“You need to stop,” he said. “How far are you willing to take this?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“That’s funny . . .” He pressed his hard body into mine and I sucked in a breath at the thrill that rippled over me. “Because it certainly feels like my business.”
“Craig.” I tried to plead as lust and desire fogged my brain. “Please, just leave me alone.”
“But I can’t seem to help myself,” he murmured seconds before his lips brushed gently over mine.
My mouth tingled at the soft whisper of a kiss.
Our eyes locked and we could see nothing else but each other. As my chest heaved with excitement and anticipation it brushed against his, and I felt the movement of his increased breathing against my breasts.
He stroked my hip with one hand while his other reached up to cup my face. His thumb swept along my jawline in the lightest touch, and yet that light touch might as well have been a sensual caress for the reaction it elicited in my body.
My nipples tightened as he drew his fingers down my neck and followed the sweetheart neckline of my dress. My chest rose and fell in deeper movements, pushing my cleavage farther into his touch.
I watched his face while his eyes followed his fingers as he caressed the plump rise of my breasts. Goose bumps prickled up all over my skin, drawing his gaze back to mine. The blazing heat in his blue-green eyes made me whimper, and that sound seemed to snap something inside of him.
His mouth slammed down on mine hard and furious, and I moaned as his hand cupped my right breast and squeezed gently. I gripped his T-shirt in my hands as I pressed deeper into his body and his wet, drugging kiss.
I’d always wondered what his kiss would be like and now I knew.
It was ferocious and sexual and surprisingly just what I wanted.
He left my lips to kiss his way down my throat, nuzzling my neck where I’d sprayed my perfume. “Fuck,” he groaned, sliding his hand down from my hip to my thigh. He lifted my leg, my hemline rising so he could press his erection deeper between my thighs.
Lust squeezed me tight, low in my belly, making me wet.
I’d never wanted a man more in my life.
And that scared me right out of my desire-soaked fog.
“No.” I pushed at him, jerking my leg out of his grasp. “Craig, stop.”
He slumped against me, leaning his forehead on my collarbone as he tried to catch his breath. “Rain.”
I heard the pleading in his voice and stiffened. “Let me go,” I whispered softly.
Craig’s head snapped up and he glowered at me, all the unfulfilled passion in his eyes scorching me. “Why are you running from this?”
I pushed against his chest. “Because I’m not this person. I don’t do one-night stands.”
“Maybe I’m not asking for that.” He glared at me.
I eased away from him, pushing my dress back into place. “You want me because you can’t have me.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t fucking tell me what I’m feeling.”
“I need to go.”
He braced his hand against the door, barring my way. “Back out to him?”
I shook my head because I couldn’t go back out to Angus like this. Craig had lipstick on his mouth, which meant mine was now smudged. “Home. Thanks to you.” Angry now, I pushed his arm away, unlocked the door, and hurried out, practically throwing myself out into the main club so he couldn’t stop me. Without looking in Angus’s direction, I fled the bar and Craig Lanaghan, at once cursing the bartender to hell and back for ruining my first night of revenge and thanking him for giving me the excuse to get out of a situation with Angus I really didn’t want to be in.
Rain
In the end I was glad to have escaped Angus mid-revenge. It was the whole flirting, seduction campaign that got to me. As much as I tried to convince myself that Darcy would understand what I was doing, the truth was I knew she wouldn’t.
Craig’s anger at my tactics and the subsequent passionate interlude in the toilet at Club 39 had nothing to do with my decision to review my current strategy.
Really.
It didn’t.
Okay, so it did. A little. I mean I was already realizing it on my own . . . Craig just nudged me over the edge.
So as I determinedly tried to erase the memory of the best kiss I’d ever received in my life I opted to rethink my approach regarding Angus. I believed part of the reason it so quickly turned flirtatious with him was because of the environment we were in. A nightclub. It was all about dancing, drinking, lowering your inhibitions, and yes, sex.
Perhaps if I encountered Angus “accidentally” in a different environment I’d be able to change the course of our interactions. I knew it wouldn’t be easy because he was a sleazebag who clearly wanted to get into my knickers, but I had to try.
Darcy had told me that Angus liked to work at Black Medicine coffeehouse in Old Town. A coffeehouse was certainly more about conversation than flirtation (for the most part), so I decided it was my next step.
I wasn’t a stranger to Black Medicine. With its carved wooden furniture, delicious coffee, and quirky ambience, it was my kind of place. Most of the time I was too busy these days to do anything but drop by for a takeaway cup of coffee, but for however long it took me to get Angus’s attention, the coffeehouse would become like a second home to me.
I got there early enough to grab a table near the back of the room where I could face forward and see people entering. Two hours, two green teas, and one panini later I was still sitting watching the door. I had a book with me but I was afraid to really crack it open and get lost in it in case I missed Angus coming in for a flyby coffee. So instead I pretended to read the book, all the while staring straight over the top of the pages. If anyone were paying attention to me they’d think I was a crackpot.
For those two hours I tried to keep my focus solely on Angus, but just like it had for the last forty-eight hours plus, my mind wandered to Craig. I honestly couldn’t believe the intensity of the chemistry between us. It was off the charts! But I had to wonder . . . Craig was this incredibly sexual man. Flirtation and heat just oozed out of him. So perhaps the kind of kiss we shared was merely due to his inflated sexuality and it actually had nothing to do with a real connection between us. In that scenario, I was going to be the one who got hurt—chemistry like that and the fact that I liked being around Craig meant lust would develop into something more for me. I wasn’t the kind of girl who could have sex without letting my emotions get tangled up in it all, and as much as Craig insisted this wasn’t just about sex for him, I wasn’t sure I fully trusted that as truth.