No Strings

Chapter 24

I was bloody furious. Why had Jake appeared just when I had talked myself into being excited about the night ahead? How dare he time his arrival back home so bloody perfectly? How dare he exist?

Now, when I was on my way to dazzle Ollie, all I could think about was that look on Jake's face when I opened the door. The way he had looked at me ... God, I was turned on just remembering.

Nina wolf-whistled when she saw me. "You look hot girlfriend!"

Even Rob looked appreciative. He stopped talking mid sentence and took my outfit in with a gratifyingly stunned look on this face. He usually treated me in a slightly off-hand manner, as if I were still fifteen. The way he was looking at me now made up for all the Jake angst. Almost.

Ollie grinned widely and offered me his seat. "You look amazing," he said and leant over to the barman and ordered me a glass of champagne. Smooth. I was impressed.

Nina winked at me. Rob was still staring at my tits and I smiled to myself. He had never shown any evidence of even noticing I had tits before.

He cleared his throat and managed to drag his eyes to my face. "How are you Sarah?" he asked in his deep voice

"Great!" I beamed at him. How could I not be? I had two gorgeous men hanging on my every word. If I'd known it was this easy I would have dressed like this all the time.

Rob leant on the bar. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off me and a pleasant buzz had started up in my chest. On the other side of me, Ollie reached across the bar to take my glass of champagne and handed it to me.

"Cheers," he said and held up his own glass. He had a nice smile. I reckoned I might enjoy tonight after all.

We all got a bit drunk. I remember a lot of laughing and then ending up somewhere in Soho where we did shots and danced drunkenly. It had been a while since I had let go like that on the dance floor and it felt great - spinning around, Ollie's hands on my hips, grinning stupidly at each other and then Ollie was gone and it was Rob who was holding me, towering above me as I giggled and gyrated against him wantonly. I seemed to have forgotten this was Rob. Nina's brother. Who I was supposed to be keeping my hands off. But the alcohol had well and truly obliterated my inhibitions and there was a wildly desperate need in me to let go and forget anything else.

Then we were outside and the streets were wet with rain and I stumbled in my high heels, and Rob grabbed my elbow to steady me. Where was Nina? I looked back and saw a couple pressed against the wall of a closed cafe snogging. furiously. It took me a moment to recognize Nina's pink coat and Ollie's blonde head. I laughed.

"We ought to leave them to it," Rob said in my ear, his voice deep and smooth, his hand on my waist.

I looked up at his face, at once so familiar and at the same time disturbingly new. His eyes had darkened and he pulled me closer to him as it suddenly dawned on me that he was going to kiss me and I didn't want him to.

I pulled away and pretended to look for something in my clutch bag, while I attempted to analyse that reaction. How long had I lusted after this man? I suddenly felt very sober.

"I think I ought to go home, Rob," I said. "Can you get find me a taxi?"

Once home I closed the door and leant against it, my head still swimming slightly. I couldn't pretend not to be excited by Rob's sudden interest but I was a little puzzled at this unfamiliar reluctance to do anything about it. Rob would make a great boyfriend wouldn't he? He was sexy and clever and I knew practically everything about him.

There was a tap on the other side of the door and I jumped. Only one person would be doing that at this time of night. I couldn't face bloody Paul right now. Not after tonight. I couldn't be dealing with another bloody man. But then I remembered. There was someone else who might be knocking on my door at 2am, a man who I suddenly wanted to see very badly.

And when I opened the door he was standing there, dressed in an immaculate white T-shirt and worn jeans. And I needed to cover up the delight I felt at seeing him.

"Have you been hanging around waiting for me to come home?"

He just looked at me, his blue eyes shadowed in tiredness.

"I can't do this," he rasped. "I can't live here and not touch you."

A great surge of excitement coursed through my body, immediately superseding any sensible thoughts I ought to be having at that moment. It was Jake saying these things for God's sake. Jake, the man I couldn't get out of my head.

Without waiting for a response, he walked towards me, his eyes burning into me, and I backed away until my legs hit the sofa and I fell backwards onto it, Jake looming over me.

There was a spark of some undefinable danger in his eyes as he took hold of my wrists and pinned my hands by my head.

"You look fucking hot in that dress," he said, his eyes raking over my chest. "I should have told you that earlier."

His knee nudged between mine and I watched the way his thigh flexed under the denim of his jeans. Jesus, the man was gorgeous. And he looked good in white. It contrasted with the tan of his skin. And the fact that he was looming over me, pinning me to the sofa, physically overpowering me, was turning me on beyond belief.

He was staring at the hard nipples that were clearly visible under the tight fabric of my dress, but he didn't move.

"Jake" I gasped.

He smirked. Oh God, I had missed that smirk. It was the self satisfied smile of a man who knew the power he had over me.

"You like it when I pin you down," he said as a statement rather than a question.

I just gazed up at him.

His fingers tightened around mine. "Do you know what you do to me, Sarah?"

"Tell me," I murmured.

"You make me crazy," he said. "You make me want to do things to you that I shouldn't do."

"Like what?"

He shook his head.

"Tell me."

He groaned. "I want to tie you up. Make you beg for it. Be rough with you. "

Oh God. Had he been home all the time I had been out thinking about these things? It made me breathless thinking about that. "Right now I need you to touch me," I gasped.