All They Need(72)

Mel’s car was parked in front of his town house when he arrived. He pulled into the garage and collected his briefcase. She was waiting for him on the front doorstep when he exited the garage. He frowned when he saw she was only carrying her handbag.

“You’re not staying?”

“I’m not sure.”

He wanted to ask what she wasn’t sure about, but decided to concentrate on the positive instead of the negative. She was here, and once he had her on the other side of his front door he could get her naked.

He proceeded to do just that and they were nearly an hour late for their dinner booking. Fortunately it was a Tuesday night and the restaurant wasn’t overly busy so they weren’t forced to go hungry. Afterward, they went back to his place and had coffee before he made love to her on the sofa with the late-night news playing in the background.

He slipped into a doze afterward and woke to find Mel collecting her clothes from the floor.

“Where are you going?” he asked drowsily.

“You should be in bed.”

“Come with me and it’s a deal.”

She hesitated a moment before nodding. He led her upstairs to the bedroom, where he watched, amused, as she pulled her toothbrush from her handbag and proceeded to brush her teeth.

“Prepared for any contingency, Ms. Porter?”

“I like to keep my options open.”

It was an offhand comment, but it stuck in his mind as they got into bed together. He curled his body around hers and kissed the nape of her neck and told himself that he needed to chill a little. It was early days with Mel—very early days—and he needed to stop reading so much into everything.

Right now, right this minute, life was good. Only an idiot would throw that away in order to worry about some nebulous future.

He kissed the nape of Mel’s neck again, savoring the feel of her in his arms.



MEL WOKE TO THE SOUND of running water. It took her a moment to orient herself to Flynn’s town house. She rolled over and pushed her hair away from her face as she remembered last night—Flynn hustling her inside so he could make love to her, Flynn urging her to try his favorite entree at his favorite Thai restaurant, Flynn kissing the nape of her neck before she drifted off to sleep.



She smiled a cat-that-ate-the-cream smile. It had been a good night. And, better yet, she hadn’t woken with that horrible, suffocating sensation again. Maybe she was starting to get the hang of this having-a-man-in-her-life-again thing. “You’re awake.”

Flynn stood in the bathroom doorway, a towel wrapped low on his hips. She took a moment to appreciate his sheer masculine beauty before responding. “I am awake. I can’t believe I didn’t wake up earlier. I never sleep in.”

“It’s only seven-thirty, so don’t get too carried away. And I was sneaky getting out of the bed. Like a ninja.”

She threw back the covers. “I’d better get going. I’ve got some errands to run this morning and a guest checking in this afternoon.”

She was very aware of him watching as she got out of bed. Like sleeping together, she was getting used to being naked with him. Slowly but surely.

“Do you mind if I have a quick shower before I go?” she asked.

“Help yourself. To anything,” he said.

She dropped a kiss on his shoulder as she brushed past him on her way into the en suite and he slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her back for a more thorough kiss. She felt him grow hard against her thigh and smiled, breaking their kiss.

“Someone’s going to be late for work if he isn’t careful,” she said.

“If I didn’t have an eight-thirty meeting on-site…” he said regretfully.

She rubbed her cheek against his and kissed his neck before slipping from his grasp. She took a quick shower, and by the time she emerged he was fully dressed in his suit, looking as crisp and elegant as a GQ advertisement.

“Look at you, Mr. Perfect,” she said as she watched him strap on his watch.

“Says the sexy naked lady.” His gaze seemed very bright and very blue as he eyed her across the bed. “What are you up to for the rest of the week?”

She knew what he was asking—when she was free to see him again. She bought herself a few seconds of breathing room by searching in her handbag for the spare pair of panties she’d tucked into the side pocket, just in case her desire for more of Flynn’s lovemaking had proven more powerful than her misgivings regarding staying the night.