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  Holly gave her friend a teasing smile. ‘Sometimes I wonder if you hate Max as much as you make out.’

  Sabrina’s laugh sounded forced. ‘Don’t you start. I get enough of that from my parents and my brothers.’

  ‘Are they still on at you about choosing wedding dress design instead of medicine?’

  ‘Only every time I see them.’ Sabrina sighed. ‘That’s the trouble with coming from a long line of medicos. They think I’m going to get sick of playing dress-up, as they call it, and go back to university and study medicine. Mind you, if our brides keep cancelling their weddings, I might have to do exactly that.’

  Not if Holly could help it.

  * * *

  Holly had only been back at her flat for an hour or so when her doorbell rang. She checked her peephole and found Zack standing there, holding the peonies he’d bought from her earlier. She had wondered at the time if he was going to hand them straight back over the counter to her and had been annoyed at herself for feeling disappointed when he hadn’t. She was still trying to get her head around his surprising willingness to run with their ‘engagement’. What possible reason could he have for doing so?

  Because he wants you any way he can have you.

  Holly shivered at the thought. She wanted him any way she could have him too. It scared the hell out of her how much she wanted him. Her body was a traitor. It tingled every time she thought of him. And now, with him standing on her doorstep, her body was so excited it was trembling from head to foot.

  She opened the door of her flat at the same time as Mrs Fry, who lived across the hall, opened hers. Holly mentally groaned. The last thing she needed was her nosy landlady to cross-examine Zack. ‘It’s okay, Mrs Fry. I’ve got this.’

  ‘Are you a salesman?’ Mrs Fry asked Zack, sizing him up and down with her birdlike gaze.

  ‘No. I’m a lawyer,’ Zack said.

  ‘Oh...’ Mrs Fry’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is Holly in trouble with the law?’

  He gave one of his charming smiles. ‘Not as far as I know. I’m a family court lawyer. Holly and I are...engaged.’ His slight hesitation over the word made Holly wonder if he was having second thoughts about their ‘engagement’.

  Mrs Fry turned her wide-eyed gaze to Holly. ‘Is that true?’

  Holly wanted to deny it but the thought of her mortgage stopped her. So what if she ran with this charade for a bit? It didn’t mean she had to sleep with him. She could keep things platonic, couldn’t she? Well, as long as her self-control held, that was. ‘Yes, it is.’

  Mrs Fry nodded as if that news pleased her. ‘It’s about time this young lady had a man in her life. She’s been living here for months and not had a gentleman caller once. It’s not natural, not for a young woman her age. When I was her age I was married with four kids. I was starting to wonder if she was—’

  ‘Will you excuse us, Mrs Fry?’ Holly said. ‘We want to celebrate our engagement tonight.’

  Mrs Fry turned her attention back to Zack. ‘I don’t normally allow my tenants to have sleepovers, but in your case I’ll make an exception. But keep the noise down, okay?’ She looked at the peonies he was holding and swung her gaze back to Holly. ‘He’s definitely a keeper. What girl doesn’t love a man who buys her flowers?’

  Holly could feel her cheeks sending off enough heat to set off the fire sprinklers. Zack was smiling, his gaze twinkling, which only made her face fire up all the more. She waited until Mrs Fry had gone back to her flat on the other side of the hall before she invited him in. ‘Sorry about that,’ Holly said once they were inside and the door closed. ‘My landlady can be a bit over-the-top.’

  Zack looked like he was trying not to laugh. He handed her the peonies. ‘For you.’

  Holly took the flowers and bent her head to smell their light fragrance. The soft petals brushed her nose like dozens of silk tissues. ‘Thank you...but why didn’t you give them to me as soon as you bought them?’

  His smile was lopsided. ‘I thought it might make you appreciate them more if you had to wait for them.’

  Holly gave a mock scowl. ‘Odious man.’

  There was a short silence.

  ‘Erm...would you like a drink or something?’ Holly said. ‘Please take a seat. I’ll just put these in some water.’

  He followed her into her tiny kitchen. His head almost brushed the light fitting and even when he sat on one of the two kitchen chairs either side of the narrow table, his legs came out the other side. He was still wearing his business suit, but he’d removed his tie and undone the top three buttons of his shirt, revealing a hint of springy dark chest hair. His late-in-the-day stubble was even more pronounced than it had been a couple of hours ago, and she wondered how it would feel against her skin.

  ‘How long have you been living here?’ he asked.

  Holly opened the cupboard to find a vase. ‘Too long. I’m having renovations done at my new house but they’re taking twice as long as I expected.’ She put the vase on the bench top. ‘And they’re costing twice as much.’

  ‘Do you have a move-in date?’

  ‘Not yet.’ She sighed and untied the ribbon from around the peonies. ‘I just keep paying the bills and praying it won’t be too much longer.’

  ‘Your landlady seems nice.’

  ‘Nice?’ Holly laughed. ‘Mrs Fry means well, but she drives me nuts. I call her Mrs Pry behind her back. She’s the biggest gossip about the place and pedantic as anything. She actually measures the distance between the rubbish bins with a ruler and issues you a caution if you’re a millimetre out.’

  He gave a low, deep chuckle. ‘It takes all types, I guess.’

  Holly arranged the peonies and set them in the middle of the table. ‘Thanks for these.’

  ‘My pleasure.’ His eyes held hers in a silent lock that made her heart pick up its pace.

  She moistened her lips and rubbed her hands down the front of her thighs. ‘So...would you like a glass of wine or tea or juice or—’

  He stood and came around to her side of the kitchen, stopping just in front of her. ‘Why do I make you so nervous?’

  ‘I—I’m not nervous.’ Holly’s voice stuttered along with her heartbeat.

  He picked up one of her curls and wound it around his finger. ‘You have such beautiful hair.’

  The slight tether of his finger around her hair made her scalp tingle and her breath catch. ‘Thank you...’

  He slowly unwound the lock of her hair and tucked it behind her ear. ‘I’d really like to kiss you right now but I’m not sure how it would be received.’

  Holly glanced at his mouth. Wanting. Wanting. Wanting him to kiss her. Needing it like she needed air. Had she ever wanted a man to kiss her more? ‘Why do you want to kiss me?’ Her voice was so whisper soft she wondered if he’d even heard it.

  His fingertip went on a lazy exploration of her lower lip, sending her sensitive nerves into raptures. Then he went to her top one, tracing it in the same slow, methodical manner. Her lips began to buzz, the need to feel more pressure building, not just on her mouth but also deep within her body.

  ‘I want to know if your mouth is as soft and sexy as it looks.’ His voice was low and gravel rough, making her want him even more.

  Holly suppressed a shudder of delight at the feel of his finger doing another round of her lips. She could taste his salt on her mouth and wondered if she had enough self-control rostered on duty to stop at one kiss. ‘I guess one kiss would be okay...since we’re engaged and all.’

  A dancing light came on in his eyes. ‘So you’ll agree to run with this for a while?’

  Holly swallowed. ‘It looks like I haven’t got any choice. Twitter has nothing on Mrs Fry. She’ll have spread the news so far and wide by now it would be pointless trying to deny it.’ She paused for a beat and added, ‘And I told my family.’

  ‘Oh, really?�
�� A slow smile tilted his mouth. ‘How did they receive the news? Were they happy for you?’

  ‘Ridiculously happy,’ Holly said. ‘You’d think I’d told them I’d won a mega-draw lottery or something.’

  Zack cradled her face in his hands, his fingers warm and gentle against her cheeks. Who had ever cradled her face before? It made her sway towards him, closing the distance between their bodies until she could feel his chest against hers, his muscular thighs brushing hers. She hadn’t been this close to a man in years. Two and a half man-drought years.

  But this was nothing like being held by either of her exes.

  Zack’s touch lit spot fires in her flesh, making her heart race and her blood pound. She watched as his mouth came down towards hers as if in slow motion, every nanosecond he took making her throb and ache all the more.

  ‘Are you sure about this, Holly?’

  Of course she wasn’t sure. She had already suffered the humiliation of two broken engagements and this one would be her third once it came to its inevitable end. But she had to get through her sister’s engagement party, not to mention get her business back on track. A temporary flirtation with the world’s sexiest man was too tempting to walk away from. If nothing else it would give her battered self-esteem a much-needed boost. ‘I’m sure,’ Holly said. ‘It’s not like I’m promising to marry you for real.’

  He gave a soft laugh. ‘Glad to hear it.’ His gaze went to her mouth and the atmosphere tightened. His lips finally—Thank You, God!—touched down and covered hers, softly at first like the brush of an idle feather. But then he came back for more, increasing the pressure as if something carefully restrained inside him had broken loose. His mouth moved with building urgency against hers, his tongue gliding through the seam of her lips to play with hers.

  To tangle.

  To dance.

  To mate.

  Holly snaked her arms up around his neck, standing on tiptoe so she could feel the burgeoning rise of his male flesh. Raw primal need flashed through her body, a tight ache that was concentrated deep in her feminine core. Every fibre of her being went into raptures as his mouth moved with increasing urgency against hers. She kissed him back as if this was the last kiss she would ever have, her tongue duelling with his in a cat-and-mouse caper that made her blood tick and her heart trip with excitement.

  His teeth grazed her bottom lip, and then he took it between them in a soft nip that made the base of her spine tingle. Need rushed through her, a desperate clawing need that made her wonder if she was going to be able to control her response to him. Her body was out of control. Way out of control. Expressing wants and urges she hadn’t realised she’d had—her inner core contracting, pulsing with longing, her legs shaky with the effort of standing upright.

  A shiver coursed down her spine as his teeth nipped her lower lip again, the gentle sweep of his tongue following. She made a whimpering sound and softly bit his lip, stroking her tongue over it as he had done to hers. She drew his lip into her mouth, sucking on it, teasing it with the flicker of her tongue, mimicking the most intimate caress a woman could do to a man.

  His mouth came down on hers, firmer this time, his tongue driving into her mouth with heart-stopping expertise. There was a thrilling familiarity about his kiss as if they had kissed in a past life and finally found each other again. There was no bumping of teeth, no awkward head positioning, no excess saliva or stale breath. He tasted familiar and strange...like something exotic she hadn’t realised until now was her favourite flavour. It was a magical meeting of mouths, of lips and tongues and a spiralling need to get closer. She couldn’t get enough of him, the glide of his tongue making her senses soar, her heart stammer and her self-control throw its hands up in defeat.

  His hands went to her hips and brought her up against his hard body. She could feel the proud jut of his erection and wondered if he could sense how turned on she was. She had never felt desire like it. Her body was on fire, trembling with need. She made a sound against his lips—part whimper, part gasp, part prayer for him to continue.

  His hands tightened on her hips, his mouth moving from hers to trail a blazing pathway of heat against the sensitive skin of her neck. Had anyone ever kissed her there? Just below her ear where it seemed every nerve in her body had gathered? Sensations rippled through her flesh, making her aware of every point of contact with his body. Her pelvis was on fire, her feminine mound aching inside with the need for his possession. She could feel the intimate swelling and moistening of her body, the signal of high arousal she had never felt from just a kiss before. She’d barely felt it during what little foreplay her exes had bothered to give her. Was it possible to come from just a kiss? She could feel the pressure building in her body, an exquisite pressure she had never felt before with such bone-melting intensity.

  Zack’s mouth moved lower, discovering her collarbone. Who knew her collarbone was an erogenous zone? Before his mouth had found it, it had just been her collarbone. Now it was a hive of fizzing sensations as his lips and tongue moved along its length and she couldn’t help thinking of what it would be like to do the same to him, but not on his collarbone. She had resisted being so intimate with her exes even though they had pleaded with her. But suddenly she could imagine doing it with Zack. Running her tongue along his hardened length the way he was doing to her.

  ‘You smell beautiful,’ he said, so close she could feel the movement of his lips against her skin. ‘Like spring flowers.’

  ‘Erm...I’m a florist?’

  She felt him smile against her mouth. ‘I should stop kissing you.’

  ‘Why should you?’ Had she just said that?

  He lifted his head to meet her gaze, his eyes dark and lustrous with desire. ‘You don’t want me to stop?’

  Holly shrugged as if she didn’t care either way. ‘It’s been a while since I kissed a guy. And we’re just kissing, right?’

  His gaze went to her mouth. ‘It feels like more but maybe that’s just me.’

  ‘You’re a good kisser.’ She flicked her tongue over her lips, tasting him. Missing him. Wanting him. ‘I can see why women are falling over themselves to get into bed with you.’

  His hands came back up to cradle her face, his eyes meshing with hers. ‘I want you but you know that, don’t you?’

  She sucked in a ragged breath. She wanted him too. So much it hurt. But she had to resist him. She couldn’t be the pushover he thought she was. She had backbone, sure she did. She just had to find it. ‘Sometimes we can’t have the things we want.’

  A devilish glint appeared in his eyes. ‘You want me.’

  Holly pulled out of his hold and put some distance between them—not an easy task in a kitchen as small as hers. She was aware of him in every cell of her body. Damn it. Every cell of her body was calling out to him to ignore her last statement and pull her back into his arms and kiss her like he had done before. ‘I’m not interested in getting involved with someone right now. I have other priorities.’ She looked up to meet his gaze but instead of the how-could-you-lead-me-on? glare she was expecting, she saw compassion.

  ‘What happened between you and your fiancés?’

  Holly grimaced. So he, like every other person in the country, knew about her not one but two failed engagements. Oh, joy. ‘Both of them bailed before the wedding at the last minute. One the week before, the other the day before.’

  ‘Ouch.’ He winced in empathy. ‘That would’ve hurt.’

  ‘Not just emotionally, but financially.’ She whooshed out a sigh. ‘Neither of them were prepared to help out with the costs and I was so fed up with them I didn’t push it.’

  ‘So you’ve been single ever since?’

  ‘Yep. And loving it.’ Holly leaned back against the kitchen counter and folded her arms. ‘Trouble is, my family thinks I’m missing out. My three sisters are all either married or about to be. My parents have been ha
ppily married for thirty-three years and can’t bear the thought of me being left on the shelf. That’s why my youngest sister’s engagement party next month is such a big deal for me. I’ve been dreading it ever since she sent me the invitation.’

  ‘Aren’t you happy for her?’

  Holly unlocked her arms and gave him are-you-for-real? look. ‘Of course I am, but if I go without a partner, my mother will take it upon herself to find me one. She’s a hopeless matchmaker. Even worse than Kendra. Which is basically why I’ve agreed to pretend to be engaged to you. I feel bad about all the lies I’ve told my family, but I can’t go to that damn party without a partner.’

  There was a pulsing silence.

  Holly couldn’t stop staring at his mouth, reliving every moment of his kiss. Her lips were still tingling from the sensual pressure of his and she could still taste him—the hint of mint and salt that made her want him to kiss her all over again. She waved a hand in the direction of the fridge. ‘Erm...would you like a drink or something?’

  His gaze was studying her mouth just as she had been doing his. Was he too remembering every moment of their kiss? Wanting more? Aching for more? His eyes came back to hers and a lazy smile tilted his mouth. ‘If I told you what I want right now, you’d probably slap my face.’

  Holly’s insides quivered with longing and she wondered if he could tell how hard it was for her to resist him. But of course he could tell. No woman had ever resisted him. That was why he was making her his latest mission—because she’d rebuffed his advances. ‘I must seem quite a novelty to you.’

  Another frown flickered across his brow. ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘I haven’t fallen into bed with you as soon as you smiled at me.’

  ‘Not yet.’ His frown disappeared but something about his slanted smile suggested he thought it was only a matter of time before she did.

  Holly put the kitchen table between them, knowing if he so much as touched her she would find it near impossible to resist him. ‘So...would you like a cup of tea or something before you go?’