Unmasked (Revealed #1) (15 page)

Shit, shit, shit!

Cringing at being caught in my blatant snooping, I felt my cheeks begin to burn as I frantically tried, and failed, to think of a suitable excuse. Whichever way I thought about it, there was no excuse for that article about
him
being on
my
laptop. Bugger.

‘I … um … I didn’t mean to pry …’ Which was obviously a lie, because if I hadn’t wanted to pry, I wouldn’t have been searching about him on the sodding internet. This was awkward. I couldn’t believe I’d left my laptop lying around in his house like that – I was such an idiot sometimes. ‘I was just curious about you … and that came up. I’m sorry.’ I stumbled over my words, completely mortified to be caught looking into his private life like some stalker fangirl.

‘Not as sorry as I am.’ For a second, I thought he meant that he was angry at my snooping, but as he turned his head towards me I saw Sean’s frown line was the deepest I’d ever seen it, making him look far older than his years as his face contorted with pain so palpable that I felt the urge to go and comfort him.

As I held my ground on the stool, our eyes met as Sean started yet another round of our mutual staring. This seemed to happen so frequently that it was almost becoming our ‘thing’. A heavy, tense silence hung between us as his eyes burned into mine, before he finally shook his head and observed me thoughtfully.

‘I don’t know what it is about you, Allie, I barely know you … but you … you make me feel like I can open up. I’m starting to want things with you that I haven’t allowed myself to want for a very long time.’ Behind my ribs, a small explosion of happiness burst from my heart as it fluttered with hope, my chest expanding with the idea that perhaps Sean also felt this incredible connection between us. Could it really be possible?

Just before I did something stupid like throw myself into his arms, I thought it through again and brought myself harshly crashing back to earth. What the hell was I doing indulging my fantastical imagination where Sean Phillips was concerned? I’d literally just read about the string of women he had bedded and discarded – the very
long
string of women he had bedded and discarded. Was I completely stupid? This regretful, puppy-dog eyed, sympathy act was no doubt a strategy he had used on countless girls before.

‘Oh, really?’ I said, raising an eyebrow sarcastically and refusing to let myself fall for his smooth lines. He might be stunningly handsome and amazing at all things sexual – OK,
really
amazing – but I was savvier than that, and regardless of how much I was drawn to him, I would not allow myself to be added to his list of conquests. Well, not again, anyway.

Seeing my casual brush-off, Sean looked momentarily shocked, before frowning, standing, and turning his body in my direction. It looked like he was about to charge across the room and melt my defiance with some of his magical touch, but instead, both of his hands shot to his hair and ran through the dark locks until it was well and truly messed-up. Suddenly looking at me with oddly alert eyes, Sean rolled his neck and began to walk toward me, every one of his long, sure strides raising my defences until he was right before me and I was bristling with panicked awareness.

What was it with him and ignoring the usual etiquette of personal space? Could it be that he just couldn’t help himself because he felt the odd magnetism between us too? Oh God, I’d never had so many conversations running through my brain at once – this man well and truly scrambled my usually logical thoughts. Once again his close presence set my body on fire and melted any vague resistance I might have to him. I drew in a shaky breath, desperately trying to cling to the last threads of my composure and not throw myself at him like I wanted to.

‘I can see why you wouldn’t believe me …’ Sighing as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, Sean shook his head as a torrent of emotions seemed to play across his troubled face. ‘It’s just difficult for me to explain.’

He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, his eyes trying to convey some message to me that I was completely unable to decipher. As I sat there with my emotions on a full spin cycle, Sean must have opened and closed his mouth at least six times, on each occasion closing his eyes and clenching his teeth together as he went to speak, as if whatever it was he wanted to say was too painful or too difficult to vocalise.

To my complete shock, he gave up on speech and after blinking twice, simply leant in to softly place his lips on mine. His kiss was gentle, exploratory, and almost chaste, causing my heart to expand as warmth flooded my system from his tenderness. Moaning huskily, I parted my lips, beginning to give myself over to the slow seduction of this infinitely tempting man and his skilled kisses when my mind paused on that final thought. Skilful kisses. Sean really was good at this, which presumably meant it was something that he had practised quite a lot … As I briefly dwelt on that, the rational part of my mind kicked in and reminded me about his string of ex-lovers and the broken hearts he had stomped on, causing me to pull back and sever the contact of our lips.

I might have allowed myself to sleep with him last night when I was clueless about his identity and lack of morals, but now I knew about his past I wouldn’t be so careless again, and I gave myself a mental slap around the face to collect some of the anger needed to repel him.

‘Is this the only way you can communicate with people? Through a quick fuck?’ I accused, straightening my back and desperately trying to ignore the way my lips were tingling from his kiss.

I watched as Sean’s face fell in shock, but then almost immediately irritation seemed to bloom in his eyes. ‘
A quick fuck
?’ he repeated slowly and clearly, causing both the ‘k’s at the ends of the words to click precisely from his tongue as he over enunciated them.

Swallowing loudly at how annoyed he looked, I felt my resolve beginning to crumble under his intense scrutiny. He hadn’t blinked at all, not that I’d seen anyway, and as usual I found myself frozen and helplessly returning his gaze. God, this man could win a staring competition with a bloody statue.

I strongly suspected that I’d be helpless to resist his charms if Sean chose to kiss me again, so I hoped my bluntness might help protect my falling heart by deterring him. ‘I read about you and your co-stars, Sean, and seeing as you disappeared straight after we’d done the deed last night it’s fairly clear that’s all I am to you too,’ I said as brusquely as I could, but his intense look was making me start to falter in my words.

Widening his stance, he crossed his arms over his broad chest, and stared down at me, looking far more intimidating than I’d ever thought he could. But then his features briefly slackened and twisted, just as they had earlier when he’d stood by the sofa. The speed at which he could change from cocky and domineering to withdrawn and remorseful was quite astonishing. ‘You really believe that crap you read?’ he asked quietly, jerking a thumb towards my abandoned laptop.

That was definitely a question he was expecting me to answer, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. My throat was thick from a mix of emotions, but on top of that, I was tired of all this strain, and as I watched his face I found I didn’t even have the energy to muster up a head nod. This was exhausting.

My lack of reply didn’t sit well with Sean, because after watching me for a second or two I saw the moment that his jaw tensed, eyes darkened, and his cheeks flushed. ‘You barely know me, so don’t you dare judge me,’ he growled, his jaw working furiously as he gritted his teeth so hard that I actually winced. Jesus. For a second I thought it was anger flowing from him, but after watching his eyes flick nervously around the room I decided it actually appeared to be embarrassment. Perhaps even shame? Did he regret his casual treatment of the women who had shared his bed? Was that why he looked like this?

Unfortunately, he was infuriatingly difficult to read, his tense body language and seemingly regretful expression not really aligning. At a total loss for what to say, I simply remained silent, watching his apparent turmoil but not knowing what I could, or should, do to help him. ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about. There are things you don’t understand …’ he muttered, shaking his head forcefully. Sean’s eyes cleared marginally before he tipped his head to the side and gave me a thoughtful look.

He’d obviously decided we’d spoken enough on that topic because his troubled expression was suddenly replaced with a smirk and I was left in the odd position of wishing that his embarrassed self would come back – he might have been a little awkward and odd just now, but at least he’d seemed genuinely truthful. This smirky, arrogant façade appeared totally false, and if I wasn’t mistaken, was just used to hide his deeper feelings. Whatever they were. God, this man was complicated.

‘Besides, you enjoyed our “quick fuck” just as much as I did, Allie.’ My mouth popped open to object, but I immediately found myself unable to lie out loud, because when all was said and done, I
had
enjoyed it. Every passionate, pleasurable, demanding minute of it. Instead of the denial I had planned, a short, huffed breath left my throat instead. I had more than enjoyed it – I’d loved it. I didn’t admit this of course. No, I shook my head in rejection, knowing my weak denial wouldn’t pass for one minute if he had any vague idea about reading body language, because clearly even now I was fully aroused and ready to go, and that was just from his mere presence in the room.

Watching my response carefully, Sean let out an indifferent grunting noise and reached up to tip my chin towards him. His contact and fragrance sent my body flying into alert, but even though I knew with every shred of common sense that I needed to move away from him, I just couldn’t. It was like his hold over me turned my limbs to concrete and rendered them completely useless. Holding my chin firmly between his finger and thumb, Sean then lowered his parted lips toward mine, our eyes still locked as if he were asking for silent permission. He must have seen that I was torn but turned on and willing, because the next second he closed the final gap between us, his warm breath tickling me just moments before his soft skin pressed to mine.

As soon as our lips connected I felt the full, devastating force of his hungry, possessive desire. God, this man really was something else. His total confidence and ability to meld me to his ways sent a searing rush of heat straight between my legs. Instantly I was craving more, even as I tried to keep my mouth firmly shut against his advances.

His lips worked against mine for several seconds, lapping and nibbling as I clenched my jaw against my crumbling resolve. ‘You don’t want this?’ he asked huskily, his heat rushing over my face as his lips hovered just above mine.

I knew Sean would stop if I asked him to, but I didn’t ask, because truthfully, I didn’t want him to. Ever. Drawing in several ragged breaths through my nose, I maintained my pretence for just a while longer by weakly shaking my head, but seeing as it was held within his grip I only really managed a pathetic wobbling. ‘Oh no, I’m going to need to hear it verbally, Allie,’ he demanded softly as I made a feeble attempt to move away from Sean and the magnetic pull he had on me.

As lame as my attempts were, I gave up almost immediately when I realised that the bar stool was blocking my backwards path and Sean’s free hand was gripping my hip and holding me firmly in place. It would take significant force to get away, and I just wasn’t strong enough, or intent enough to bother trying.

Instead I whimpered needily as he lowered his face so our noses were touching, and moved a hand to my breast and casually rubbed the pad of his thumb across the nipple. Oh God. One touch and I was a lost cause. Desire was zinging around my body, my nipple now hard and puckered and desperate for more as I squirmed pathetically, trying to look like I was resisting but really loving every second of it.

My aroused writhing caused him to stop immediately. ‘You’re not enjoying this?’

Yes! Yes! I’m loving it! I want it!,
I wanted to cry, but I instead forced a stubborn shake of my head as a gasp of pleasure flew from my lips. I wanted it, Sean knew I wanted it, but this tease was ridiculously arousing and so I continued with my attempt at playing hard to get. Even as I was shaking my head, I could feel his thumb’s presence near my nipple and I felt my body marginally arching towards him and completely giving my game away.

My eyes fluttered shut for the briefest of seconds before Sean gave my chin a gentle caress, his fingers trailing briefly along my jaw to my temple and back, a sign I took to mean that he wanted me to keep them open. Prying my heavy lids back up I found his blue pools still locked on mine.

‘I’ll stop if you want me to. Do you want me to stop, Allie?’ he asked breathily, as his hand dropped between my legs and began to rub slowly against my knee and then higher. Just below the clothing my flesh was throbbing wildly. I knew I shouldn’t respond to him, I knew there was a distinct chance that I was going to get devastatingly hurt in the long run if I chose this path of pleasure over sensibility, but I just couldn’t help myself, not when it felt this good, and I finally gave in as my hands reached up to clutch at his shoulders. ‘
Oh God
… no … please don’t stop, Sean.’

‘You want me?’ he asked, as he hunkered his shoulders down so we were at the same height and he was looking me directly in the eye. Too breathless for words, I nodded as Sean began to wedge his hips between my thighs, spreading them wider as his free hand splayed high up on my inner thigh both soothing and upping my arousal simultaneously. ‘Verbally, Allie, let me hear it, my gorgeous girl.’

‘Yes. I want you.’ I didn’t hesitate for a millisecond.

One second he was staring intently into my eyes, and then the next he was crashing his lips down onto mine and thrusting his tongue against my mouth with a low groan. Anxious to absorb as much of this man as I could in my time here, my lips opened to him immediately, allowing his tongue to lash against mine with almost desperate strokes as I returned his fervour with everything I had.