THE DEAL by Marsh, Nicola (electronic reader txt) 📕

first deal. He loved his work and he was going to love being a partner in the firm even more.

Not as much as he could love Kara.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to dislodge her image. Impossible. The memory of her naked body had burned onto his retinas. Whenever he’d closed his eyes in the last few weeks, she’d surface, reducing his already minimal sleep to practically zero. No wonder he felt like crap. Why the hell did she have to be money-oriented? The one woman he could’ve grown to love and she was the antithesis of what he wanted.

Matt dragged his fingers through his hair. He’d conquered the habit years ago, deeming it too uncool for an up and coming lawyer but it had been something he’d done more frequently in the last month or so. In fact, ever since he’d realised he may have feelings for Kara despite her greed, and all his old uncertainties had flooded back.

Hell, his life would be a dream if Kara loved him. Instead, she’d acted her part to perfection during their weekend away, fooling his friends and father, just as the damned deal specified. Sadly, she’d almost fooled him too.

Sure, the sex had blown him away but he’d wanted more. For the first time in his life, he wanted it all. And he couldn’t have it. The money put paid to that little fantasy. In naming her price, Kara had tarred herself with the same money-grabbing brush as his latest stepmother and he wouldn’t be trapped like his father. Not ever.

However, that didn’t stop him from wanting her. He had to see her. She’d sounded cool on the phone the few times they’d spoken lately. What happened to the fiery temptress who had whispered and moaned beneath him, urging him to please her? Just the thought of it made him hard, a situation that had become all too familiar whenever he thought of their two wild nights together.

A knock on the door interrupted his lascivious thoughts.

“Go away, Saunders. I’m not in the mood.” He’d been anticipating a visit from his friend, hell bent on giving him the usual third degree about Kara.

“Are you in the mood for anything else?”

He sat bolt upright, stunned as the woman he’d just been fantasising about materialised before his eyes. What’s more, her voice matched the one in his head, all breathy and seductive. And the long trench coat belted at the waist was definitely the stuff of fantasies.

“What are you doing here?” he managed to croak, clearing his throat so he didn’t sound like a pond of frogs in chorus.

In reply, she shut and bolted the door. As she turned back, he caught a tantalising glimpse of lace-topped stocking. Wow, she wasn’t wearing a skirt. His heart stopped beating for a second at the thought she wasn’t wearing anything at all, then proceeded to gallop away at a million beats a minute.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” she waggled her finger at him as she perched on the edge of his desk. “So I decided to remedy the situation.”

He shifted in his seat, unable to tear his gaze away from her endless legs criss-crossed mere centimetres away. He needed to get up, to get away before he reached towards her. However, the tempting vision sitting in front of him had inflamed his libido and there was no way he could get up and let her see him like this: wanting, eager, burning for her.

Struggling to keep his cool, he tore his gaze away from her legs. Unfortunately, staring into her eyes wasn’t much better. Their luminous glow matched the lawyer’s lamp on his desk, a deep shadowed green, casting a muted light over everything.

“Are you here to talk?” He swallowed, trying to dismiss the ardent gleam in her eyes as a figment of his wishful imagination.

“Sort of.”

She slid off the desk and stood in front of him. His heart pounded as she fiddled with the coat’s belt and its giant buttons. Surely she wasn’t going to take it off, right here in his office? His fingers clenched, gripping the chair arms like a drowning man grabbing hold of a life buoy. For he was drowning, drowning in a wave of sizzling lust like he’d never experienced before. He struggled not to gape as he caught a glimpse of lacy black teddy before she secured the sash and hid that one peak at heaven.

“What does that mean?”

“I think it’s time we sorted out a few things, don’t you?”

Her hands had stilled but his imagination didn’t and he jumped to his feet and pinned her against the desk, holding her hands behind her back.

“You call this talking?” Kara murmured, pressing her body to his, tilting her head to welcome his kiss.

Matt’s lips devoured her, nibbling and tasting with the abandon of a starving man. It was no ordinary kiss and there was nothing sweet about it. Kara opened her mouth to him, drawing him to her.

“I like the language you speak.” His mouth broke contact as he traced a feather-light trail down her cheek.

So much for being in control. She’d hoped to drive Matt wild with need yet all she’d done was inflame her own. Not that she had much say in it. At the moment, her body was doing all the talking.

“I’ve missed you,” she said, clinging to him.

“Likewise.” He pulled away and looked down. She squirmed under his scrutiny, suddenly vulnerable. “That’s some get-up you’re almost wearing.”

“What, this old thing? I use it all the time to tempt pig-headed men to see what they’re missing out on.”

“You better not.” He crushed her to him, kissing her emphatically to prove the point.

“Uh, Matt?” Her hands trailed down his