Say It with Diamonds

by Lucy King

  Bella didn’t have time to notice the elegance of the house because the minute the door slammed behind them Will was pinning her up against it with his body, planting his hands on either side of her head as his mouth crashed down on hers.

  She moaned and threw her arms around his neck and tilted her hips to grind against him, the desperation to have him hard and deep inside her almost too painful to bear. The kiss deepened, spun out of control and then they were groaning and panting and grappling at clothing.

  Bella thrust her hands beneath the lapels of Will’s jacket and off it came, dropping to the marble floor, along with his coat. He eased her out of hers and then his hands were shooting down to the hem of her dress and bunching it up while her hands fumbled with his belt.

  And then just when she thought that finally, finally, she’d have him inside her, Will broke off and jerked back, his breathing ragged and his face dark. ‘Wait,’ he muttered.

  Wait? Wait? Bella’s heart thumped and a shiver ran down her spine. What on earth did he want to wait for? Hadn’t they waited long enough? Surely he couldn’t be having another attack of the scruples? ‘Why?’ she said hoarsely.

  ‘Not here,’ he muttered, taking her hand and pulling her along the dark shadowy hall towards the stairs. ‘This time I want you horizontal. And naked.’

  Oh, thank God, she thought, relief pouring through her as she twined her fingers tightly with his and followed. That was fair enough. She wanted him horizontal and naked too.

  It took a while to get to his bedroom. Every five seconds Will would stop and either bend her over the banister or press her against the wall to give her hot kisses that melted her bones. His hands didn’t leave her, and by the time he backed her into his bedroom she was shaking with such desire that her knees were about to give way.

  He kicked the door shut and then his fingers found the side zip of her dress and slid it down. The silk pooled in a heap at her feet and Bella stepped out of it, standing in front of him in nothing but a strapless bra, knickers, stockings and high heels.

  She heard his sharp intake of breath, watched him swallow, and a surge of primitive female satisfaction darted through her.

  Then he tumbled her back and she landed on the bed with a soft thud and as she watched Will kick off his shoes and strip off the rest of his clothes it was her turn to catch her breath.

  God, he could really give Rodin’s Adam a run for his money in the hot bod department. Everywhere she looked he was tanned skin sprinkled with dark fine hairs, and lean hard muscle. Her eyes darted over his shoulders, his chest, and then down over his taut abdomen to his mouth-watering erection and her insides turned to molten heat.

  Will lowered himself onto the bed beside her and Bella felt a delirious smile spread across her face. He rolled over her and as her arms went round his neck and his mouth came down on hers the uppermost thought in her head was that this was without doubt going to be the best birthday she’d ever had.

  And then as their tongues met and his hand tangled in her hair she couldn’t think about anything at all except the way he made her feel.

  She bent her leg and hooked it round his to pull him closer and tilted her pelvis so she could feel the tip of his erection press against the sensitive nub of her clitoris.

  She heard him groan, and shuddered. Desire pounded in the pit of her stomach as she ran her hands over the muscles of his back, taking her time, caressing and marvelling at his heat and the tightening of his skin wherever her fingers trailed.

  Will drew back, and stared down at her, his eyes glittering and fathomless. ‘You know, you really are going to kill me,’ he muttered, winding a hand beneath her to unclip her bra.

  Bella arched her back to help him. ‘The feeling is entirely mutual,’ she breathed as he removed her bra and tossed it aside.

  His gaze dipped to her mouth and, even though they’d been kissing only a second ago, her lips tingled and ached and every inch of her was desperate to feel his mouth on hers again. ‘Did I mention I looked up belladonna on the internet the other day?’ he murmured, setting his mouth to her neck and cupping her breast with the hand that wasn’t taking his weight.

  Bella’s breath hitched in her throat. ‘And?’

  ‘Apparently among its side effects are minor visual distortions, an inability to focus on near objects and an increased heart rate.’

  ‘Interesting,’ she said, wondering how much longer she was going to be expected to contribute to this conversation, because with the way her brain was disintegrating a couple of seconds was all she had left.

  ‘I thought so. Especially since I appear to be suffering from all of them.’

  ‘Oh, dear.’

  ‘Know of an antidote?’

  ‘Abstinence?’

  He pressed his mouth to the pulse hammering at the base of her neck and Bella bit her lip. ‘Really not an option at the moment,’ he murmured.

  ‘Inoculation, then?’

  He gave her a smile that had her stomach quivering and then bent his head to her breast and flicked his tongue over her nipple and Bella moaned. ‘That sounds more like it,’ he murmured, shifting lower, his mouth moving, hot and wet, over the skin of her stomach.

  With every inch of her feeling as if it were on fire, Bella couldn’t prevent a whimper escaping her lips as he hooked his thumbs over the top of her knickers and slid them, her suspender belt and her stockings down her legs. He dispensed with her shoes and finally she was as naked and as horizontal as he was.

  And then she felt the touch of his mouth against the molten burning centre of her, and nearly jackknifed off the bed. Her heart hammered as sparks of ecstasy began to shoot through her.

  Bella squirmed as her head swam and then when Will planted his hands on her hips, anchoring her to the mattress and keeping her where he wanted her, she let her eyelids flutter closed and gave herself up to the pleasure. Because, God, he was good at this.

  Her hands flexed against the sheets and then dug into his hair and she had to bite on her lip to stop herself screaming as the pressure inside her started to build. Her head dropped back, her knees fell open wider and as he delved deeper, harder, his tongue stroking faster and faster over her clitoris, Bella couldn’t take it any more.

  Everything inside her tightened into a tight ball of tension and then shattered. Her back arched. Her breath caught. And then she was spinning off into a whirlpool of bliss, the waves of pleasure rolling over her so hard and so fast that she thought she might drown in the sensation.

  As the tremors racking her body faded and her breathing and pulse regulated Will kissed his way back up her body until he was lying on top of her and pressing her to the bed. At the desire blazing in his eyes, Bella’s heart rate picked up all over again.

  ‘Happy birthday?’ he murmured.

  ‘What do you think?’ she said, giving him a lazy sated smile. ‘As presents go that was much better than an arnica plant.’

  Will frowned and propped himself up on his elbows. ‘Are you comparing me to a plant?’

  Bella grinned at the look of pique on his face. ‘Very possibly.’

  ‘I think I’m devastated.’

  She leaned up and pressed a quick kiss on his mouth. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Will shook his head in mock regret. ‘It’s way too late for an apology. I think my ego might be bruised beyond belief.’

  Bella grinned again. ‘Then I recommend you take arnica. It’s good for bruises.’

  His eyes glinted with a deliciously wicked gleam. ‘I’ll bear it in mind. Although right now I think I’d rather take you.’

  She lifted her arms above her head, stretched against him and shot him a smouldering smile. ‘Oh, well, in that case I’m all yours.’ She batted her eyelids up at him. ‘Feel free to do whatever you want with me.’

  For a moment he just stared down at her, and then, as if struck with a cattle prod, Will was rolling off her, grabbing a condom from the drawer of the bedside table and ripping it open with his teeth. Her
heart thudding madly, she bent her knees, opened her legs, and then he was sheathing himself, moving between her legs and surging forwards and entering and filling her in one smooth powerful thrust.

  Bella let out a rough groan and wrapped her arms around his back and her legs around his waist, and clung on for dear life as he captured her mouth with his.

  And then he began to move inside her. Slowly, rhythmically and smoothly, and maddeningly in control.

  Which would have been amazing, devastating even, if she’d wanted slow smooth and control. But she didn’t. She wanted fast and frantic and furious. She writhed against him, but it got her nowhere. He was the one setting the pace. He was the one in control, as if he somehow needed to prove that this was controllable, and it was driving her nuts.

  Desperation clawed at her insides and she dragged her mouth away from his. ‘I never did tell you what I really wanted for my birthday, did I?’ she said, her voice sounding thick and rough and heavy with desire.

  Will went still. ‘No,’ he muttered, his jaw tight with the effort of holding onto that infernal control of his. ‘You didn’t.’

  ‘Would you like to know?’

  ‘Now?’

  ‘It’s relevant, believe me.’

  ‘Fine.’

  She planted a hand on the back of his neck, lifted her head and whispered in his ear. A few short words. Highly descriptive. Highly explicit. Leaving him in no doubt whatsoever about what she wanted from him right now.

  She drew back and looked into his eyes and saw that her words had had exactly the effect she’d hoped for. Gone was the infuriatingly rigid control. Gone was any memory of slow and smooth. Instead she saw nothing but raw, naked need in his glittering gaze.

  Bella arched an eyebrow, gave him the hint of a suggestive smile, and then with a low growl Will was pulling out of her, flipping her over, gripping her hips and then plunging back inside her so hard, so deep that she nearly climaxed right then and there.

  She leant on her elbows and pushed back against him, going completely mindless as he drove into her and hit her G-spot over and over again while trailing kisses up and down her spine.

  Her blood pounded in her ears, her heart thundered, and pleasure and heat coiled low in her stomach. Will snaked one arm around her, pressed his hand against her and stroked her clitoris, and her breathing quickened.

  He leaned over her, murmuring how good she felt, telling her exactly what she was doing to him, and his voice, so hoarse and rough, scraped over her nerve endings, ratcheting up the delicious tension coiling deep inside her.

  And then he was sitting back, taking her with him, pulling her tight against him and slamming into her as deep and as hard as he could, and without warning Bella splintered. As pleasure exploded though her, shooting through her veins, making her shudder and tremble and whimper, Will wrapped his arms around her, and she heard him groan, felt him tense and pulsate deep inside her as she clenched and squeezed and quivered around him.

  She could feel his heart hammering against her back, feel the heat of his body seeping into hers and as her trembling subsided she relaxed against him and tried to keep the wide smile off her face. But it was hard not to grin when he was stroking her breast, rubbing his thumb over her nipple and kissing his way along her shoulder to her neck. Feeling deliciously wanton and languid, Bella shuddered and felt him twitch deep inside her in response.

  ‘So that was what I wanted,’ she murmured as evenly as she could, eventually easing herself off him and twisting round to kiss him on the mouth. ‘Now why don’t you tell me what you’d like for your birthday?’

  She took care of the condom and pushed him back so that she could lie flat on top of him. With a soft ‘Oof’ Will landed on the pillows and slid his arms round her. ‘My birthday isn’t until March,’ he said, giving her a faint smile as he ran his fingers lightly up and down her back. ‘And I wasn’t exactly doing you a favour.’

  She tilted her head and determinedly didn’t think about how there’d be no more of this come March. ‘Then perhaps there’s something I could do to apologise for comparing you to a plant.’

  A flicker leapt in the depths of his eyes and she felt him stirring against her thigh. ‘Well, if you absolutely insist.’

  ‘I do.’ She nodded. ‘I’m all for equality.’

  ‘What did you have in mind?’

  Giving him a wide smile, Bella arched an eyebrow and began to slide her way down his body. ‘If you really can’t think of anything, I’ll be forced to take matters into my own hands.’

  She wrapped her fingers around his growing erection and Will blew out a long shuddering breath. ‘That’s absolutely fine with me.’

  So much for attrition, thought Will some time later, his eyes closed as he listened to the soft sound of Bella’s breathing.

  There he’d been, confident he was in the driving seat, that he was in control, when she’d whispered what she’d like him to do to her, and all control had vanished. His mind had gone completely blank and all that had remained was the primitive all-consuming need to possess her.

  So who exactly had worn down whom?

  Not that it mattered any more. Over the course of the past couple of hours they’d worn each other down—and out—in a highly satisfactory manner, and he was back to thinking that an affair with Bella was the best idea he’d ever had and thanking God that she’d managed to change his mind.

  ‘I think we should establish some sort of boundaries, don’t you?’

  Bella’s husky voice cut across Will’s musings and he opened one eye and glanced down at her, his eyebrows snapping together in a frown.

  Hmm. Boundaries. Good point. Slightly strange that it had been brought up by her when he was always the one to dictate the terms of his affairs, generally before they’d even started, but never mind. Whoever had brought it up was irrelevant. Establishing boundaries was the priority and he rather thought he’d be interested to see what she came up with. A novel approach for him, perhaps, but then everything about his dealings with Bella was novel.

  ‘What do you suggest?’

  She caught her lip and hmmed. ‘A time limit would be good. At the very least.’

  Ah, his favourite kind of boundary. ‘What were you thinking?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know really … How long is the collection on display?’

  ‘A month.’

  ‘Great. Then how about we stop when it does?’

  Will twirled a lock of her hair around his finger and watched it change colour in the dim light as he contemplated her proposal.

  A month ought to be fine. It was longer than some of his affairs, not as long as others. Perfectly reasonable, and would give him plenty of time to satisfy his craving for her. ‘That sounds sensible.’

  ‘Of course if either of us wants to get out before then, maybe if you get bored or something, then we can stop.’

  Will felt his eyebrows shoot up. ‘You really think I might get bored?’ That didn’t seem likely from where he was lying.

  She smiled up at him. ‘It could happen.’

  He rolled her over, his body tightening as he stared down at her and lowered his head. ‘Then we’ll just have to get inventive, won’t we?’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  BELLA was about to get very inventive indeed.

  But not because she was bored. Far from it. She and Will had been seeing each other every night for the last fortnight. Some lunchtimes too, and she was loving every minute of it. Deciding to have an affair with Will was without doubt the best idea she’d ever had.

  They’d been out for dinners and met up for walks in the park. They’d stayed in and she’d cooked. Last week he’d dropped by her shop. He hadn’t even said hello, had just flicked the sign on the door to closed, then fixed her with a gaze that had her heart thundering, taken her hand and pulled her into the workshop at the back. He’d lifted her onto her workbench, bunched her dress up and given her the quickest, hottest sexual experience of her life. When she’d fin
ally managed to get her breath back, she’d dragged him up to her flat and they’d spent the rest of the afternoon there, testing out the strength of various pieces of her furniture and discovering that while her sofa was sturdy, the bar stools in her kitchen were less so.

  So she was far from bored.

  No. The reason she was marching through Soho, heading in the direction of a very specific shop, was while the sex was fabulous and more thrilling than she could ever have imagined, Will’s reluctance to talk about himself, the reasons for his aversion to commitment in particular, was driving her nuts.

  On the rare occasions she had broached the subject, or any subject of a personal nature for that matter, he’d employed more effective countermeasures than an intercontinental ballistic missile. If they were out, he’d shoot her a dazzling smile that scrambled her brain to such an extent that she forgot what she’d been asking. If they were in he’d give her a look that had her horizontal and writhing beneath him within seconds.

  She’d tried to work it out for herself but had drawn a blank. That something had caused it was obvious. It was all very well not wanting to be tied down at the age of, say, twenty-one, but to be single at thirty-six, when Will was gorgeous and intelligent and sometimes really quite funny, simply wasn’t normal. Under normal circumstances he’d have been snapped up years ago.

  But what was at the root of it remained a mystery. He was as reluctant to chat now as he’d been keen to before the launch party, and that she found strange.

  Arriving at the shop and pushing the door open, Bella reminded herself yet again that it shouldn’t matter. Their fling was temporary so she had no need to know why Will was so averse to commitment. But knowing that she had no need to know anything that personal about him didn’t stop her wanting to know. It didn’t stop her wanting to know what made him the man he was. What had caused the shadows in his eyes that she caught glimpses of from time to time.