The Seduction Game

“You have no idea how badly I want you,” he said and then he took her hand from behind his head and lowered it until it rested on his raging erection. “See what you do to me?” he asked. “I don’t think any woman has ever made me feel quite like this.”

Inexplicably, the slide show Meg had shown her ran through Kate’s mind. She shivered as she considered the feel of Will beneath her palm. He did indeed fall into the above-acceptable category. In fact, she suspected he might even fall into the last few slides that Meg had labeled “a girl can only dream.”

“Like what?” she whispered, unable to stop herself from moving her hand a little, feeling the full length of him.

“Desperate,” he said, leaning into her touch. “Aching. Unable to see, never mind think straight, when you’re so close.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked, unable to keep the longing out of her voice. She wanted him to say he was going to strip her. Touch her. Kiss her. Kate needed him to, but he stepped away. Putting her firmly out of his range. She wanted to grab him back. Immediately. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to go home and take a very cold shower,” he stated. “And then if you want the honest truth, Kate, I am going to take myself in hand and deal with this hard-on.”

Oh my God…Kate opened her mouth to speak but shut it a mere second later. Will was going home to pleasure himself? Why did that idea make her knees weaken all over again? “But you said…”

“I know what I said, and God knows I want you. Badly. But you’re not ready.”

“I don’t—”

“And I’m not going to rush you.”

“But…but I want you to rush me.” The moment the admission was out of her mouth Kate did a victory dance in her head. Like she should be dressed in hot pants and lime-green leg warmers singing, I am woman, yo, hear me roar. “I want you to, Will. Right now.”

He groaned, pulled her into his arms, and silenced her with another kiss. This one was fast, frantic, hard, and by the time Will let her go, Kate was panting with need.

“You’re not ready,” he hissed. “I don’t want to rush you. I want you to want this as much as I do.”

“I do.”

“God, Kate, believe me, I doubt anyone could want this as badly as I do right now. I’ve thought about it constantly. From the moment we met. The moment you walked out from around your monitors I knew how much I wanted you. You were, are, so fucking captivating. I can barely keep my eyes, or my hands off you. It’s been what, a week since we met? It feels like longer. Like it’s been months.”

She nodded. It felt like that for her, too.

“It is very difficult for me to take this slowly with you,” he said and it seemed like the admission was wrenched from him. “Kate, please do not make it any harder.”

“I’m not trying to.”

“You don’t need to try.”

“But, Will…”

He shook his head and took her into his arms. This time it wasn’t to kiss, he simply wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He was…hugging her, and Kate swallowed against a weird sort of lump that was now dancing around in her chest.

“I’m going to kiss you once more,” he whispered. “Just once more and then I’m going to leave. I’ll text you in the morning so we can arrange our next date. Tomorrow maybe?”

“I’m dyeing Meg’s hair tomorrow,” Kate whispered. “She’s going electric blue.”

He laughed, though there was little humor in it. “Then in the evening. As soon as you’re free. As soon as possible.”

“Okay.”

And as always, Will was as good as his word. One more kiss. One more hug and he cursed softly before letting her go and racing from the room. Kate found herself standing alone, aching and panting, wishing that he’d stayed.

She rushed across to the window and watched as he made his way across to his car. By the light from her building she could see his Elvish ears peeking through his hair and she couldn’t help the surge of deep longing that pulsed through her.

She wanted him so much. Wished she had the courage, the goddamn balls, to tell him to stay—to do what he’d promised—but the shyness, the agony of embarrassment that he made her feel, had been too strong.

She groaned as his car sped away. Little dust clouds swirled on the road, and all the while she found herself disbelieving the situation. That it had really and truly reached this point.

Will Thornton.

He’d started off as the enemy, and only just a handful of days later he’d become something else entirely. He made her feel things that made no sense. Want things that scared her. And it wasn’t just about the attraction. It was the whole freaking package.

The enemy. The game.

Kate had a funny feeling that by the time this was over Will would be anything but that and the game might take a twist that neither of them could ever have imagined.





Chapter Seventeen


It was a full week later when Kate sat opposite Will in his dining room. Her very first visit to his apartment. She was wearing another dress. This one was gray, had flocks of little cream birds printed all over it, and was as equally as short as the last. Her hair was pulled back into a long braid and she was wearing her kinky secretary glasses again.

She was delightful.

“Have some wine,” he said, nudging the bottle, but Kate shook her head and shot him a smile.

“I’ve had plenty. Too much already.”

“You barely drank.”

“Because I have a very low alcohol tolerance. I told you that when we went to the Japanese place.”

“That you did.”

“So there.”

Will smiled at her tone and poured himself a second glass. He needed it. Dutch courage, false courage. He mocked himself. They’d spent every single evening together since that first date, and quite a few times Will had picked her up for lunch, and had even been given the third degree by Meg. Or maybe third degree was the wrong phrase. Meg had simply cornered him and made it quite clear what she would do if he dared upset her beloved friend. Will had grinned at her words because it pleased him to know Kate had someone who was in her corner, and he couldn’t help but admire the other woman’s belligerence as well as her loyalty. The fact that he’d never had anyone with blue hair flying about her face give him a dressing-down was also something to consider. Kate was introducing him to a world of firsts, and he liked each and every one of them.

In fact, it seemed to Will that the more time he spent with her the more time he wanted to spend with her, and it was the weirdest situation he’d ever found himself in. He’d never wanted to be with a woman as much as he did Kate. Had never been content to make out and then simply leave, panting and hard, and ready to just about burst.

But Kate was different and it had felt important, though Will had no idea why, to take it slowly, to make sure she was ready, that she ached as much as him. And fuck, did he ache. He woke up thinking about her, went to bed thinking about her, and all day she was in the background of this thoughts. Just sort of there. An awareness. She would not be removed.

Will was at the point now of thinking he didn’t want her to be.

Only it couldn’t last. He knew that. Not like this.

The Risings continued to sit between them, although only yesterday Kate had asked if she could return to the travel agency for another viewing. He took that as a hopeful sign, and he’d begun moving the builders back in, not to her side of the complex but they were back to work. Still, it was a situation that had to resolve itself soon and he had other issues to deal with regarding it.