One More Sleepless Night

by Lucy King

  ‘True on both counts,’ she agreed with a brief nod. ‘But a phone call would certainly not have done for the main reason I’m here.’

  ‘Which is?’

  Deciding that neither a subtle approach nor skirting around the issue would break through such determined lack of emotion, but that getting straight to the point might at least provoke some sort of reaction, Nicky took a deep breath. ‘Right,’ she said, pulling her shoulders back, straightening her spine and looking him straight in the eye. ‘Well. You see, the thing is, I’d like to give that kiss another try.’

  *

  When he’d looked through the spyhole and seen Nicky standing on his doorstep, smiling and waving, distorted but still lovely, Rafael had thought that someone somewhere really had it in for him. That he must have done something really terrible in a former life, because this was the second time she’d surprised him at a door and, while she might not have been armed with Don Quijote on this occasion, her impact had been no less devastating.

  Which was why, feeling as if the whole sodding universe was conspiring against him, he’d been momentarily tempted to tiptoe back and hole up in his office in the hope that she’d give up and leave. However, given the not-particularly-subtle way he’d walked to the door, he’d realised that unfortunately that wasn’t an option so he’d had to brace himself and let her in.

  To a man whose defences weren’t as indestructible as his now were, Nicky Sinclair, tanned, relaxed and smiling, wrapped in a dress that showed off her lovely curves and shod in high peep-toe wedges that added inches to her already willowy height, might have presented the ultimate temptation.

  But not to him. Oh, no. Distance and time had given him ample opportunity to fortify his defences and they were now sky-high, unbreachable and as solid as rock, so he was immune.

  If his detached approach felt like harder work than it should have done, it was merely that he’d been briefly thrown off balance by her unexpected appearance. And if he’d nearly dropped his glass when she’d mentioned trying the kiss again, well, that was simply surprise at her boldness, nothing more.

  ‘What kiss?’ he asked nonchalantly, aware she was waiting for some kind of response.

  Nicky shot him a look that suggested she wasn’t convinced by his nonchalance one little bit, and arched an eyebrow. ‘The one you gave me that last Sunday. The one by the pool.’

  ‘Oh, that kiss,’ he said as if it hadn’t been on his mind constantly over the last fortnight.

  ‘That’s the one. So what do you think?’

  ‘About trying it again?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Well, it’s an interesting proposal,’ he said, and shot her the hint of a cool and with any luck condescending smile, ‘and a very flattering one, of course, but I’m afraid it’s out of the question.’

  Nicky tilted her head and bit her lip as she stared at him. ‘Out of the question?’

  He nodded. ‘Out of the question.’

  ‘Why?’

  Good point. Why was it out of the question? he wondered, his gaze dropping for a split second to that lip before he snapped back to his senses and dragged his eyes back up. ‘I’m rather surprised you’d want to.’

  ‘Are you?’

  Now she was the one who sounded surprised, and frankly that was odd because surely she couldn’t have forgotten her total lack of interest in that kiss. ‘You didn’t seem all that keen at the time,’ Rafael said, and reminded himself that whatever it was that was stabbing at his chest it couldn’t be hurt because he’d got over all that weeks ago.

  ‘No, but things have changed.’

  ‘How convenient.’

  ‘Not entirely, but is my perceived lack of interest your only objection?’

  ‘Not by a long shot.’

  ‘Then what else is it?’

  For a second he just stood there looking at her, his mind boggling. God, where to start? ‘For one thing I don’t particularly want to.’ That was as good a place as any.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘It wasn’t exactly a success the last time we tried it,’ he drawled, thinking that that was at least partly the truth. ‘So why on earth would I want to go through it again?’

  ‘It would be better this time. I guarantee it.’

  ‘There isn’t going to be a this time.’ And he could guarantee that.

  There was a brief pause while she glanced at his jaw, his shoulders, and lifted her eyebrows. ‘Are you absolutely certain about that?’ she said eventually. ‘Because you look remarkably tense for a man who isn’t interested in experimenting with one harmless little kiss.’

  Harmless? Kissing Nicky? Hah. Rafael forced his shoulders to loosen up and then shrugged. ‘Well, I’m not,’ he said as if he couldn’t be more relaxed. ‘I, for one, have moved on.’

  She nodded and bit her lip. ‘Ah.’

  ‘As I told you at the time my attraction to you was mercifully short-lived, and I got over it days ago.’

  ‘Oh, yes. I remember. It was an aberration. The sun or the wine or something.’

  Now it was his turn to arch an eyebrow because she sounded so continually sceptical and somehow knowing that it was seriously beginning to wind him up. ‘Is it really that hard for you to believe your charms aren’t irresistible?’

  ‘Of course it isn’t.’ She regarded him thoughtfully and as she did so an odd thread of trepidation began to wind through him. ‘But if you’re not interested, as you claim, if you’re no longer attracted to me, and if that kiss was so unimportant, why for the last ten minutes have you been staring at my mouth as if desperate to feel it beneath yours again?’

  The foundations of his defences wobbled, and Rafael set his jaw to hold back the sudden burst of desire that he’d managed to convince himself he’d obliterated but was now pounding away at them. ‘I haven’t.’

  ‘You have.’

  ‘Must be a trick of the light.’

  ‘Right,’ she said with a slow nod. ‘And I suppose the way your eyes are darkening, the way you’re clenching your fist and that muscle hammering in your jaw must be tricks of the light too?’ Her gaze dropped to the zip of his shorts behind which he was helplessly swelling and hardening. ‘Not to mention the way your—’

  ‘OK, enough,’ he said, and slammed his glass down on the counter, suddenly so sick of the way his body, his senses and everything about this conversation were so out of control that he couldn’t hold back. ‘Maybe I am attracted to you.’

  ‘Aha, I knew it,’ she said with a triumphant little smile.

  ‘Maybe I would like to kiss you again,’ he continued, now on an unstoppable roll. ‘Maybe I would like to drag you to the floor, strip you naked and bury myself inside you, but it’s not going to happen.’ About that he was absolutely certain. ‘Nor am I going to let you kiss me, however seductively you try and dress up your request.’

  For a second Nicky just looked at him, that damnably distracting mouth dropping open in shock at his outburst. ‘But why ever not?’ she said, her breathing ragged and her cheeks pink.

  ‘Because you’re not well,’ he said tightly.

  Her eyebrows shot up. ‘What?’

  ‘You’re not well.’

  She frowned. ‘Have you been speaking to Gaby?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What did she say?’

  ‘That you needed a rest.’

  ‘Which I’ve now had,’ she said, taking a step towards him. ‘Yes, I’ll admit that I haven’t been all that great, and my lack of response to you initially was part of it, but I’m better now. Much better.’

  As if that made any difference, he thought, wishing he could take a giant step back and get out of her mind-scrambling orbit. ‘I’m delighted to hear it,’ he muttered roughly.

  ‘So much so that over the last couple of weeks I’ve found myself thinking about you. About that kiss.’ She paused and tilted her head. ‘And whenever I did there was this kind of spark. Right here.’ She splayed her hand low on her abdomen.


  Rafael focused on a huge arrangement of flowers sitting on the breakfast bar to her right. ‘Good for you.’

  ‘It was. It is. And it could be good for both of us because now there’s more than just a spark.’

  ‘You could spontaneously combust and it wouldn’t bother me one little bit.’ Were those dahlia pinnatas?

  ‘I feel I’m about to.’

  ‘That’s your prerogative.’ They were, and if he wasn’t much mistaken there were some spathiphyllum wallisii in there too. He looked a little harder. Yep. Definitely spathiphyllum wallisii.

  Nicky let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Rafael, what is your problem?’

  He reluctantly dragged his gaze back to her and pushed his hands through his hair. ‘You’re a friend of Gaby’s,’ he stated flatly.

  A pause. ‘And?’

  ‘And I don’t get involved with friends of any of my sisters.’

  ‘Why on earth not?’

  ‘I did it once and it didn’t work out well.’

  ‘What happened?’

  God, what hadn’t happened? ‘I married her.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Quite,’ he bit out. ‘It went wrong and in the ensuing mess I nearly lost my sister as well as my wife. Do you really think I’d want to risk that happening again?’

  ‘Do you really think it would?’

  ‘I’ve no idea, but it could and I have no intention of putting it to the test. So forget it. Just forget it.’

  Nicky slowly tapped her mouth with her index finger as she presumably considered his position. ‘Look, Rafael,’ she said eventually, pulling her shoulders back and fixing him with a disconcertingly probing look. ‘Aren’t you rather over-analysing this? I’m not suggesting we get married or anything. Or even really get involved in a relationship. Heaven forbid, that’s the last thing I want. All I’m suggesting is a kiss.’

  Just a kiss? Was she nuts? He let out a sharp laugh. ‘Really? Do you honestly think it would stop there?’

  ‘Well, OK,’ she said with a grin, ‘if we’re being honest, I’m hoping not. I’m hoping that if the kiss works out well then maybe we can take things further.’

  ‘Further’s the problem,’ he all but snapped.

  ‘Why? When is an afternoon of hot sex ever a problem?’

  ‘When it gets complicated.’

  ‘It won’t,’ she said firmly. ‘It never does with me. Look, now I’ve got my health back I’m not interested in anything permanent, truly. So neither you nor your relationship with Gaby are under any threat whatsoever from me.’

  She walked over to him, smiled up at him, desire blazing in the blue-grey depths of her eyes, and put her hand on his chest. ‘Come on, Rafael,’ she said softly and his vision blurred. ‘Haven’t you wondered what it would be like? A proper kiss. With both of us involved…’

  Rafael felt as if he’d been thumped in the gut. Her proximity blew all rational thought from his head and left it empty of everything except harsh clamouring need. His skin beneath her hand burned and his head pounded. He had wondered what it would be like. Endlessly. And that was precisely the trouble.

  ‘Honestly, it’s just one little kiss,’ she said, her hand sliding higher, curving round his neck and threading through his hair. ‘How can one little kiss hurt?’

  Beneath the onslaught of her scent, her warmth and her innate sensuality those cracked and weakened foundations crumbled, and down crashed his defences.

  As they lay in smithereens at his feet once more Rafael knew he didn’t stand a chance. That since the moment he’d seen her through the spyhole he’d never stood a chance. He’d tried, but Nicky had battered down every one of his objections with logic and one smouldering smile after another, and now the pressure of wanting her was just too much.

  There’d be time for explanations and regret and the chance to figure out what the hell was happening later. But right now he was drowning in need and he couldn’t resist any longer.

  With a strange sense that somehow this had been inevitable from the moment they’d met, Rafael gave up and gave in. ‘Come here,’ he muttered, and yanked her into his arms.

  TEN

  Oh, thank God for that, thought Nicky as Rafael crushed her against him and slammed his mouth down on hers.

  She’d known it would be tough to convince him that kissing her again was a good idea, but she’d never imagined it was going to be that hard. Goodness, the man was stubborn.

  For a moment back there she’d feared her seduction skills were so rusty he’d never crack because she’d hurled everything she had at him and he’d just stood there firing back all those reasons why he wasn’t going to kiss her, tight-jawed and as implacable as rock.

  Well, almost as implacable as rock, she amended, her head beginning to swim as desire swirled around inside her, because she’d finally broken through all that idiotic denial, the not particularly convincing aloofness and all those baffling objections and, boy, was she glad she had.

  Gone was the rigidly stoical Rafael of seconds ago, all buttoned up and resistant, and here was the man by the pool. Six feet three inches of wild and uncontrollable passion.

  Her lips parted and as he pushed his tongue between them she groaned and sank against him. One of his arms wrapped itself around her waist and he buried his other hand in her hair, in an exact imitation of how he’d kissed her before but with one crucial difference.

  And that was her response. There was nothing cold and numb about that this time. His tongue touched hers, and she jerked as if electrocuted. Sparks shot straight through her and her blood began to sizzle. Heat pooled in her pelvis and spread throughout her body like a fever.

  As they kissed the heat intensified and her insides began to burn as if a thousand fires had sprung to flame in the pit of her stomach.

  Unable to help herself, Nicky moaned. Oh, how she’d missed this. This heady feeling of wanting. Of being wanted. Of the delirious desperation that intense need caused. She’d missed the feeling of drowning in desire, the unstoppable thundering of her heart and the giddy aching of her body.

  For the first time in weeks she felt truly alive. Vibrant and on fire, and she pressed herself closer, wrapped her arms tighter, and kissed him back even more fiercely.

  After what felt like hours, they broke off and she stared up at Rafael and blinked, fairly reeling at the strength of her reaction to him. His eyes were glittering, dark with desire, his breathing was ragged and she could feel his heart thundering against her. As it seemed he couldn’t move or speak either she thought that perhaps he was as stunned as she was, and the knowledge sent primitive satisfaction surging through her.

  ‘Well?’ she murmured huskily.

  He blinked, frowned, and then gave his head a quick shake. ‘Well, what?’

  ‘Didn’t I guarantee it would be better this time?’

  He blew out a soft shaky breath. ‘You did.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘It was better.’

  There was nothing wrong with better, thought Nicky, but the imp inside her, the one who’d been slumbering away for weeks now, was waking up. It yawned and rubbed its eyes and made her say with a coquettishness that she didn’t usually go in for, ‘Just better?’

  ‘Much better.’ His mouth curved into a faint smile and he raised his eyebrows. ‘Why? Think you can improve?’

  ‘Oh, there’s always room for improvement,’ she murmured and lifted her head for another divine kiss.

  And this time when their mouths met Nicky’s brain well and truly went AWOL, because within seconds Rafael had taken control and was angling her head and deepening the kiss and sliding his hand up her side as he kissed her.

  His hand curved round her breast and settled, and at the feel of it caressing her achingly sensitive flesh she sighed into his mouth. He brushed his thumb over her nipple, sending more of those tiny electric shocks skidding through her, and she melted against him.

  Oh, this was heavenly, she thought dazedly. Absolutely heavenly. Instinctively she
tightened her arms around his neck and tilted her pelvis against his erection and rubbed. He groaned and pulled her even closer, kissed her even harder and blew her mind.

  By the time they broke for breath this time her bones had dissolved and she was glad he had some kind of hold on her because otherwise she’d have collapsed into a puddle of lust on the floor.

  ‘God, I’d love to see how we can improve on that,’ she said shakily, and thought that she doubted it was possible because how could you perfect perfection?

  He brushed a lock of her hair back and tucked it behind her ear. ‘Would you?’

  The oddly tender gesture coupled with the hint of promise in his voice and the suddenly wicked glint that appeared in his eye shot her pulse so far through the roof and stole her voice so totally that all she could do was nod.

  He let her go and nudged her gently back. ‘Then take off your dress.’

  A great boulder of desire rolled the length of her body, nearly wiping out her knees, and she swallowed hard. ‘Now?’ she breathed, and inwardly winced at the way he’d evidently turned her brain to mush because was he really talking about next week?

  He gave her a slow smouldering smile that had her stomach flipping like a pancake. ‘Now.’

  How could she do anything but comply when she was so completely spellbound by him and the dizzying effect he had on her?

  Everything but him and the way he was looking at her faded into a blur. As she slipped out of her shoes, her hands went to her side of their own accord and she slid the zip of her dress down and with Rafael watching her every move so closely Nicky was aware of her body in a way she never had been before.

  The whisper of her zip sounded abrasively loud in the eerie silence of the afternoon. The soft cotton of her dress brushing against her skin sent tiny shivers scuttling down her spine, and her fingers trembled a little as she slipped the straps off her shoulders and let the dress fall to the floor in a pool of pale yellow. Her heart reverberated like a kettle drum and her blood roared in her ears as she watched Rafael swallow once, then slowly run his gaze over her nearly naked body.