Purchased For Pleasure

‘It is a long time.’

His cool tone was at odds with the banked heat simmering in his eyes and she shivered despite the warmth of the room.

‘So a quick catch-up before cutting you loose isn’t so bad, right?’

She forced a fake laugh, expecting him to join in and agree.

‘No.’

Typical Ty: short, sharp, to the point and the opposite of what she expected him to say or do.

‘What?’

‘I said no.’

‘No, you don’t want to catch up or no, you don’t want to be cut loose?’

Oh-oh, why did her voice have to do that, go all soft and low and husky? As if she were baiting him? Tempting him?

It was his fault. Less than a few minutes in his company after six years and she’d fallen into flirt mode automatically.

He shook his head, a slight frown appearing between his brows, accentuating the age lines that fanned from the corners of his eyes. Though little could detract from his good looks Ty looked older, weary, as if he’d fought a thousand battles.

‘I don’t want a quick catch-up.’

‘Oh.’

She couldn’t stand this. He was confusing the heck out of her just as he’d always done by keeping his emotions under tight control while burning her up with those ‘come get me’ eyes.

‘I want a long one. I want to hear everything you’ve been doing. Everything.’

His eyes darkened to the colour of her favourite stone, a deep blue sapphire, and the comparison disconcerted her. She didn’t want to compare him to anything as precious as her grandma’s heirloom ring.

‘It’s been way too long, Katie.’

His smooth, steady tone did little to placate her as she tried to ignore the way her heart thumped when he said her name in that familiar way.

‘Uh-huh,’ she said, wishing she could think of something witty to say rather than standing here captured in the intensity of his stare, wondering if he knew the effect he was having on her after all this time.

‘So what do you want to do?’

Fling myself at you?

Tear your clothes off?

Have my way with you?

She had to think of something sensible to say, something to break the tension.

‘What do you want to do?’

Rather pathetic but at least she’d put the onus firmly back on him. Let him make the decision. She couldn’t think straight and control her impulse to jump him at the same time.

‘This.’

His husky tone sent a shiver of anticipation skittering down her spine and before she knew what was happening he had tugged on the steel links binding them, hard.

She fell against his body, the wind knocked out of her, reaching for him to steady her as his head descended, blocking out the harsh glare from the mass of light bulbs around the mirrored walls.

Oh, wow…

His lips crushed hers, frantic, hungry, but oh-so-sweet. Her mouth burned beneath his as his kiss demanded and she gave without thought, without reason.

Pure, blind need shot through her body as she responded to him on some kind of instinctive level.

This can’t be happening, flickered through her mind as his tongue nudged her mouth open, urgent, exploring, begging her to match him for pleasure. Not again.

Her stomach dropped away as his commanding kiss deepened, logic fleeing as his tongue ran along her bottom lip, driving her crazy with longing.

She’d missed this, missed him more than she’d realised, and as his teeth followed where his tongue had been, nibbling and nipping with precision, she realised the strange whimpering sounds filling the air were coming from her.

‘Ty.’ She whispered his name, lost in waves of electrifying sensation as her body trembled under his expert touch, currents of desire shooting every-which-way.

No other man had ever made her feel this way. Only Ty.

And it had been six, long years.

She strained against him, encountering hard evidence of how much he wanted her. Her eyes flew open and she turned her face away, staring at their reflected embrace in the mirrored walls. Reality sank in as she watched him rain kisses up her throat and she pushed him away, barely able to tear her gaze away from the mirrors. He followed her stare, a lazy smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

‘We still look good together, huh?’

His words roused her from the sensual fog that had enveloped them as reality crashed in.

What was she thinking, responding to him like this?

She was a big girl now, not some love-starved, naïve tourist who’d landed in a new country and ended up staying.

‘Dream on,’ she muttered, hating how she’d melted into a mushy marshmallow under his hot kiss, hating that he was right even more.

They did look good together. Too good. A picture she’d believed in six years ago before realising it was a mirage and mentally ripping it in half.

He chuckled, tracing a finger from her cheek to her jaw-line with torturous patience.

‘Maybe I was out of line with that kiss but I think you wanted it as much as I did.’

Damn him for knowing her almost better than she knew herself.

‘I’m tired. I responded without thinking.’

Yeah, and she practically melted into a heap at the feet of the nearest sexy guy whenever she was exhausted—which happened to be often considering the office hours she kept. As if.

He grinned. ‘Great response. Maybe this catch-up was meant to be? Maybe your subconscious prompted you to buy me because you still want me? Maybe—’

‘You’re full of it,’ she said, mortified by how easily he could read her, by how that one kiss had resurrected a whole host of sensual memories she’d assumed long forgotten.

The impulse to be fun and spontaneous had not been one of her brightest ideas. She’d end this now if she could get her brain to slip back into gear and her heartbeat back under control.

Ty ran his free hand through his hair, the usual short-back-and-sides that suited him so well, and for an irrational instant she had the urge to do the same.

‘Insult me all you want but I’m not going anywhere. Though can we catch up some other time, maybe tomorrow? I’ve had one helluva week on the job and I’m beat.’

He did look tired and as a grimace of pain distorted his handsome features and his posture stiffened she wondered what he’d had to face over the last few years. When they’d first met he’d been fresh from BUD/S, the intensive training to become a SEAL, and as fit as a Mallee bull back home. Now he looked dead on his feet.

‘Besides, I need some sleep if I’m to perform all those odd jobs you probably have lined up for me over the next week.’

Kate heard the teasing lilt back in his voice and sighed, ignoring his innuendo. She’d had a long week meeting killer deadlines at Femme and she didn’t want to prolong this. Seeing Ty again had her more wound up than she’d anticipated, and as for that kiss…

‘You want to go through with this? Are you insane?’

‘Not like I used to be.’ He grinned, the same smile that had captivated her so many times in the past. ‘And, yeah, being your Odd Bod for a week could be interesting.’

Sighing, she said, ‘It’s not going to happen but we’ll talk about this in the morning. I don’t have the energy to argue with you right now. I think you’re crazy, you don’t, so let’s agree to differ till I sort you out and we go our separate ways. Now, unlock me, please.’

‘Sorry, you’ll have to do it.’

‘Come on, give a girl a break. No more games. Give me the key.’

His grin widened. ‘I can’t. In case you haven’t noticed, my left hand is connected to your right and the key is in my left pocket. At the risk of dislocating my right shoulder, I think you better do the honours.’

She stared, annoyed at the twinkle in his eyes and the devilish smile, sure that he could remove the key if he really tried. However, he didn’t move an inch and continued to watch her as if he was enjoying every minute of her discomfort.

‘Well, what’s it to be? Do you prefer being linked to me indefinitely or rummaging around my pockets and seeing what pops up?’

Ignoring his laughter, she struggled with the decision. Sink or swim time. Either way, she’d always been lousy in the water.

‘You’re such a child.’

Kate delved her hand quickly into his pocket; thankfully the key wasn’t too deep and she didn’t have to feel around. Though it could’ve been fun.

‘Not half as childish as you.’ Ty chuckled. ‘I’m not the one pouting.’

She thrust the key into the lock and turned. Typical of her luck this evening, it stuck.

‘I’m not pouting. Help me with this, will you?’

She jiggled the key to no avail and his chuckles turned to laughter.

‘If you’re not pouting you must be limbering up those lips for another kiss. They’re looking rosy and full and very, very sexy.’

Her patience snapped and heat seeped into her cheeks as his smooth words recalled her attention to the crazy way she’d responded to his unexpected kiss moments before.

‘Cut the suave act, sailor boy. I’m not in the mood. Let’s open this damn lock so I can get out of here.’

‘Here, let me try.’

As his hand enclosed hers she couldn’t ignore the heat. It sizzled through her body every time he touched her, even at the innocuous touch of his hand trying to open the lock.

She’d lied. She was definitely in the mood.

‘There. You’re a free woman.’

I wish.

Unfortunately, seeing Ty tonight, swapping banter with him, even getting mad at him for that presumptuous kiss had woken her up.

She wasn’t as free as she’d like to think.

She might have got over him a long time ago and moved on with her life, but it hadn’t taken much more than a kiss to snap her emotions back to attention and right now they were firmly focussed on the sexy SEAL.

The lock snapped open and the bracelet sprang apart, clattering to the floor at their feet, and Kate winced as her wrist freed. She’d been so engrossed in her reaction to Ty turning on the charm that she hadn’t realised the hard plastic and steel had bitten into her soft flesh.

‘Thanks.’

She glared at him, wishing he didn’t look so darn appealing when he smiled, absent-mindedly rubbing her wrist.

‘Let me do that.’

Before she could protest, he reached over and captured her wrist between his hands, slowly massaging till the circulation returned to her aching flesh.

‘Mmm…that feels good,’ she murmured, her eyes drooping with fatigue.

However, as the pain in her wrist eased a deeper, more demanding ache increased, an ache she’d determinedly ignored for years. His hands were warm, firm, attuned and she imagined them leaving her wrist, travelling up her arm to her tight shoulders and then sliding down the rest of her body.

‘Better?’

Her eyes flew open as he relinquished her wrist and her gaze locked on his, questioning, hungry, reflecting the need she knew must be visible in her own. That all-seeing blue stare that had captured her so long ago, mesmerising her in the blink of an eye.

‘Would you like a lift home?’

She shook her head, knowing the last thing she needed right now was to be holed up with him in the confines of a car.

‘Thanks, but I’m fine. I came with the girls and we’re headed back to the office.’

He glanced at his watch. ‘We’ve been here a while. Maybe they’ve gone?’

‘Don’t worry about it. If they have I’ll take a taxi.’

Kate knew she sounded petulant but couldn’t bear being this close to him one second longer. If he took her home she’d be tempted to ask him in and, considering her reaction to his kiss, she knew exactly where that could lead.

Her sex life had been one, continuous dry spell since her last brief relationship had ended eighteen months ago and she had no intention of letting Ty be her drought breaker.

He laid a hand in the small of her back and guided her to the door. ‘Let’s check it out. It’s no problem, really. Where do you live?’

‘Beverly Hills.’

‘Pretty impressive.’ He looked at her with admiration and pride filled her.

‘My grandparents built the place. We hooked up after you left. They welcomed me with open arms, then died within a few months of each other shortly after our reunion. Amazingly, they left the house to me. Pretty special, huh?’

It had been a beautiful gesture and she liked to think they’d come to love her as much as she’d loved them in the short time they’d had together.

‘Sure is. I’m glad you had someone to look out for you.’

He dropped his hand and insanely she missed his warm touch.

This wasn’t good. Curiosity was one thing, kissing him and opening up to him about her grandparents was in another realm. She needed to get home before she really lost it and told him a few other deep, dark secrets.

‘Look, I really have to go,’ she said, her voice harsh and cold considering they’d just been making small talk.

‘What’s wrong?’

He stared at her and raised an eyebrow as if he couldn’t fathom what he was looking at and she hated the traitorous leap of her heart that the hint of concern in his voice might actually mean he cared.

‘Nothing, why?’

‘You’re wound tighter than a spring. You used to be spontaneous and eager and able to laugh at yourself. What happened? Did inheriting the family jewels change you?’

She clenched her fists, barely registering the sting of fingernails biting into her palms when all she felt like doing was kneeing him in his family jewels.

‘I’m just tired. Besides, you don’t know the first thing about me any more.’

He straightened and she had to tilt her head to look up at him. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. We used to have a connection and I intend to use the week ahead to catch up.’

Catch up.

Two simple words that held a staggering array of connotations, of the various ways in which they could catch up, and her heart flipped in a perfect somersault with double pike at the thought.

Sighing, she followed him to the doorway and, before they walked through it, reached out and touched his arm.

‘Why are you doing this, Ty?’

He stopped and swivelled to face her, his features softening. ‘You haven’t called me that in a long time.’

‘It’s been a long time,’ she responded, suddenly saddened by their lack of contact over the years. ‘Now answer my question.’

He shrugged. ‘A week isn’t all that long and I’m a sucker for a good cause. The orphanage is home to those poor little kids and they deserve a chance in life.’

She’d meant why was he doing this to them, insisting they spend a week together when they’d been finished for years.

However, she let it slide for now, the sadness creeping across his face telling her how much he sympathised with the orphans.

‘Still the same old Ty? Always out to save the world.’

‘It’s what I do. Why do you make it sound like I’m on an ego trip or something?’

‘Aren’t you?’

He swore softly and she changed tack. ‘Are you on leave?’

‘Yeah, one week.’

‘Why didn’t you just donate money rather than giving up your week?’

The thought had niggled since she’d seen his name on the list of prospective guys for sale. His job had always come first and she doubted that would have changed. After all, it was one of the things that had driven them apart.

He shrugged and looked away. ‘I thought the auction might raise more money than I could give.’

He was lying.

She knew it the minute he glanced away. Ty was as straight as they came. He always looked a person in the eye and called a spade a shovel, which made his reticence to discuss this all the more intriguing. He’d been a stand-up guy when they’d first met, too much so if his blunt declaration their marriage would never work with one absentee partner all the time had been any indication.

‘There’s more to this. You’re hiding something.’

‘Still the snoop, eh? You won’t find your next story here.’

This time he looked straight at her, something akin to challenge etched in the darkening depths of his eyes.

If there was one thing she thrived on it was a challenge and sailor boy knew it.

‘Maybe not, but you can’t blame a girl for trying. Perhaps I should just let it all go and agree to this crazy scheme, and then use it to my full advantage.’

Not that she’d seriously contemplate spending the week with him, but it was nice to gain the upper hand with Mr Confidence.

His voice dropped, low and husky, eliciting a whole host of visceral reactions she’d rather not decipher.

‘Now you’re talking. If you let it all go this week could be more fun than I thought.’

He ran his hands lightly over her upper arms in a soft caress and her legs trembled, her desire needing little to rekindle. One touch. That was all it took to make her burn for him just as she used to.

So much for gaining the upper hand.

‘Goodnight, Ty.’

She spun on her heel and strode away, eager to put as much distance between them as possible.

His taunting laughter followed her down the long corridor. ‘You can run but you can’t hide.’

‘Wanna make a bet?’ she mumbled as she lengthened her stride and hoped to God that Di had waited for her.

CHAPTER THREE

‘AREN’T you the dark horse? Fancy waiting to the end to bid and snaffling the best of the lot.’

Kate had been grateful Di had waited for her after the auction. And, clearly realising her boss needed some space on the trip back to the office, Di hadn’t asked her any questions. Apparently now, though, she was fair game.

‘Don’t you have work to do?’ Kate shuffled papers around, hoping to get rid of Di pronto.

Predictably, it didn’t work. The woman had an inquisitive nature worthy of an up-and-comer in the publishing business.

Di perched on the edge of her desk and shoved aside the papers Kate had been fiddling with. ‘Nothing that can’t wait. Come on, spill the beans. Where did you two disappear to after the show? In a cosy little friendship bracelet, no less.’

Kate sighed, pushing the thought of Ty’s dynamic kiss to the far recesses of her mind.

‘There’s nothing to tell. We unlocked ourselves, had a chat to establish boundaries and that was it.’

Di pounced on her. ‘Aha! I knew it. Why would you need to establish boundaries? Did something happen between the dishy SEAL and my intrepid boss?’

‘Ex-SEAL,’ she corrected automatically.

‘How do you know that?’

Great, she thought. Slip up number two in less than a minute. Di was no slouch, which was why she’d hired her.

She could’ve fluffed her way out of it and rambled on about the announcer saying he was an instructor these days, but she knew Di wouldn’t let up until she had nothing less than the truth.

‘I know Tyler James.’

A deafening silence followed her revelation till Di let out a squeal. ‘Ooh, I knew there was more to you than meets the eye. Here I am feeling sorry for my workaholic old boss and she’s out there running around with hot sailors.’

‘Hey! Enough of the old stuff and I’m not running around with anybody. I met Tyler about six years ago when he was a SEAL. He isn’t just an instructor. He’s had his fair share of action.’

Both in and out of uniform and lucky for her she’d been privy to Ty at his best.

‘I just bet he has,’ purred the younger woman.

‘For heaven’s sake, get your mind out of the gutter.’

‘Why, when it’s so much fun?’

Di slid off the desk and wandered around the office, trying to look nonchalant and failing miserably. ‘Is that why you put in a bid, boss? Looking for a little action?’

Kate threw a pencil at her. ‘Out. Now. Get back to work before you’re fired.’

‘You wouldn’t dare. I’m your right-hand gal.’

Di smirked and flounced out of the room, her bright orange skirt swishing around her ankles.

Kate sat back and laughed. Di was right. She was the best PA she’d ever had and, what was worse, the young woman knew it. However, why did she have to be so accurate in her assumptions about Kate’s nonexistent love life?

Seeing Ty had awakened her dormant hormones in a big way; her skin still tingled at the memory of his hands rubbing her wrist. No man had ever affected her as he did.

He’d been a dynamite lover, her first, but despite that mind-blowing kiss earlier she had no intention of revisiting that part of her life.

Though in all honesty if she hadn’t been bound at the time there was no telling what her hands would’ve been tempted to do and she squirmed in her seat at the recollection. For a twenty-seven-year-old at the top of her game, her little ‘let’s get reacquainted’ experience with Ty had hot-wired her libido and how.

The phone ringing brought her back to the present.

‘Kate Hayden speaking.’

‘So, you did go back to the office. I thought that was just an excuse to escape.’

Ty’s husky tone did little to calm her racing pulse. If anything, the sound of his deep voice fuelled the fantasy she’d just been indulging in. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

‘You think I was trying to escape?’

His low chuckle fired her nerve-endings. ‘Oh, call it a feeling. You weren’t exactly falling all over me earlier this evening.’

She kept her voice deliberately cool, trying to ignore the erotic memory of their entwined bodies reflected in the mirror that leaped to mind. If that wasn’t falling all over him she didn’t know what was.

‘It isn’t every day a girl acquires an Odd Bod. Perhaps I was just nervous?’

She doodled on the pad in front of her, almost falling off her chair when she realised she was drawing large hearts with the initials K.H. and T.J. intertwined.

‘Yeah, right. The Kate I know is never nervous. Confident and bossy maybe. Nervous? No way.’

‘You forgot gorgeous,’ she murmured, wondering where the breathy voice came from.

She shouldn’t flirt with him, she really shouldn’t, but somehow he brought out that side of her without trying and she heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

‘That goes without saying.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Are you flirting with me, sweetheart?’

The endearment thrilled her, though she knew it was a game with him and suddenly, just like the old days, she joined in with gusto.

‘What if I am? I’m a woman, you’re an Odd Bod. Why not?’

‘Lady, you’re a chameleon. One minute you can’t get away from me quick enough, the next you’re sounding like Mae West. Why don’t I come up and see you some time?’

She leaned back in her leather chair, crossed her ankles and stared out at the twinkling lights of downtown LA, spread out like a fairyland forty storeys below. She adored this view, loved the hip city vibe, yet somehow sitting here chatting to Ty inspired her more than the vista she admired on a daily basis.

Playing with him was fun, even if she had no intention of following through, and it had been so long since she’d had any fun. How far could she push him?

‘What are you doing right now?’

Once again, silence greeted her.

‘Ty, still there?’

‘Yeah. Where did you say your office was?’

His voice dropped lower, reminding her of the intimacy they’d shared all those years ago when she’d hung on his every word.

‘I didn’t. Though if I let it all go like I mentioned earlier, I could invite you for a coffee at my place…’

Yeah, like that was going to happen. There was only so much her hormones could take and teasing him like this, flirting with him, was bad enough.

‘Do you mean coffee…or coffee?’

A delicious tingle ran up her spine and she knew for a fact he would give her a better buzz than any caffeine fix: rich, warm, addictive. And the high would last a heck of a lot longer.

‘Boss, I’m leaving.’ Di’s voice startled her as she stuck her head around the door.

Kate sat up straight. ‘Can you hold on a sec?’ she said into the receiver and covered it with her hand.