Lovers In The Afternoon

She couldn’t deny that she was surprised at the amount of pleasure she had known with Adam tonight, a pleasure she had known beyond all doubt that he felt too, his responses open and complete. Their sex-life during their marriage, as with everything else during that year, had been a disaster. Adam had been so experienced that in her innocence she had felt inadequate, and she had resented the way he had tried to control her body, her responses automatic and emotionless, refusing to be dominated by him. But the lovemaking they had shared tonight hadn’t been restricted by any of that resentment, had been uninhibited. But that Adam should want such a relationship to continue she couldn’t accept, not when the breakdown of the marriage and subsequent separation had been such a traumatic experience for her. They simply couldn’t pretend they were two people they weren’t.

‘The first shocks me,’ she replied coolly. ‘The second surprises me. Do you honestly not remember what it was like between us, the bitterness, the pain of knowing we were all wrong for each other from the start?’

‘As a married couple, not as lovers,’ he insisted forcefully.

‘Have you forgotten what that was like between us?’

‘Didn’t this evening prove that it doesn’t have to be that way?’ he reasoned.

‘I’m still the same person, Adam,’ she told him with a sigh. ‘I’m still sixteen years younger than you are, with the same inexperience—no matter what happened here tonight,’ she added pointedly. ‘I’m still the same klutzy person I was when we were married——’

‘That’s a new name for it,’ he laughed softly.

‘I read it in a book somewhere,’ she dismissed impatiently. ‘It seemed to suit me perfectly.’

‘It does,’ he nodded, still smiling, his eyes a warm grey, crinkled at the corners.

‘Don’t you remember how angry all those “incidents” used to make you!’

‘You’re right, I was intolerant——’

‘You’re missing my point, Adam,’ she said frustratedly. ‘It would take a saint to put up with all the things that happen to me in one day—and that’s one thing I know you aren’t!’

‘Have I been angry tonight at all?’

‘That was only one night,’ she sighed her impatience. ‘It would drive you insane—it did drive you insane, on a regular basis.’

‘Haven’t you heard, lovers are more tolerant?’

‘Adam!’

‘Leonie?’

She glowered at him. ‘You aren’t listening to a word I’ve been saying.’

‘Of course I am,’ he placated. ‘You’re young and klutzy.’ He smiled. ‘I really like that word, it describes you exactly.’ He sobered. ‘As a husband I was rigid and intolerant, lousy at making love to you. As a lover I will be generous and understanding—and very good in bed.’

‘In your experience,’ she snapped waspishly.

He raised dark brows. ‘You sound jealous, Leonie.’

She felt the heat in her cheeks. ‘I most certainly am not!’

‘It’s all right if you are.’ His arms came about her as he moulded her body to his. ‘From a wife it would sound shrewish, from a lover it sounds possessive. I like that,’ he stated with satisfaction.

That wasn’t all he liked from the feel of his body pressed so intimately against hers, aroused for the third time tonight. Leonie couldn’t pretend not to be shocked by this evidence of his renewed desire; their sex life had deteriorated so badly at the end of their marriage that it was an effort for them to make love once a week; Adam had never wanted her three times in one night before!

‘Adam, please stop this.’ She pulled agitatedly away from him as her own body quivered in reaction to his. ‘You’ve had your fun——’

‘It was mutual,’ he drawled confidently.

‘Not that sort of fun!’ she snapped. ‘God, I can’t believe this is really you proposing this preposterous arrangement! Have you thought of the consequences of your actions?’

‘I already know you’re on the pill to regulate your periods.’ He dismissed the idea of pregnancy.

‘Not those consequences!’ It was embarrassing how intimately this man knew the workings, and malfunctions, of her body! ‘We both have families, Adam, have you thought of their reactions to the relationship you’re suggesting?’

‘My father and your sister.’ The amused glow to his eyes left for the first time that evening. ‘I’m thirty-nine and you’re twenty-three, do you really think either of us needs their permission?’ he ground out.

‘Your father hates me.’ She deliberately didn’t mention her sister’s feelings towards Adam, although she was sure they were both aware of those feelings; it had been one of the reasons their marriage had proved such a failure.

‘My father doesn’t understand you,’ Adam corrected gravely.

‘There’s nothing to understand,’ she dismissed scornfully. ‘I am what you see. A little more accident-prone around you and your father, but otherwise I’m an open book.’

‘Then a few of the pages must have got stuck together, because I never felt that I knew you completely either!’ He gave a deep sigh. ‘I don’t intend to argue about the past with you now, Leonie.’

‘Lovers don’t argue?’ she mocked.

His mouth quirked. ‘Only when they know it will take them back to bed to make up.’ He took her back in his arms, his mouth claiming hers.

Her lips parted of their own volition, allowing access to the thrust of his tongue, trembling as desire claimed her, clinging to the broad width of his shoulders as she swayed weakly against him.

‘Stay tonight, Leonie,’ he urged against the creamy warmth of her throat.

She was tempted, God how she was tempted. But she couldn’t do it. It had taken her eight months to put herself back together after the devastation of loving this man; she couldn’t leave herself open to that sort of pain again.

‘No, Adam.’ She pushed away from him, breathing hard, knowing by his own ragged breathing that he was as aroused as she was. ‘There’s something else lovers can do,’ she told him tautly. ‘They can end the relationship at any time; I’m ending it.’ She turned on her heel.

‘Where are you going?’ Adam asked softly.

‘Home!’ She didn’t even turn.

‘How?’ his gentle question halted her. ‘Your car is still at Thompson Electronics, your keys to the car are in your handbag, your money, too, in case you were thinking of taking a taxi home, and your bag is in my car downstairs,’ he reminded softly.

She had done it again! ‘So much for my grand exit,’ she said dully as she turned around.

His smile was sympathetic. ‘It really was very good.’

‘Don’t humour me, Adam,’ she snapped.

‘Lovers——’

‘We are not lovers!’ she bit out between clenched teeth. ‘And we never will be. Now if you’ll give me your car keys for a few minutes I’ll go down and get my bag.’

‘No.’

‘You can’t keep me here by force, Adam!’ There was an edge of desperation to her voice.

‘I don’t intend to,’ he soothed. ‘I’m going to get dressed and drive you home.’

‘My car——’

‘Will be locked into the car park by this time of night,’ he pointed out.

She looked at her wrist-watch; it was after midnight! ‘If you will just let me get my bag I can get a taxi home.’

Adam shook his head. ‘I can’t let you do that this late at night.’

‘That doesn’t sound possessive, Adam, it sounds autocratic,’ she taunted him.

He smiled. ‘It’s concern for your welfare,’ he mocked. ‘Lovers are like that,’ he told her softly before going back into the bedroom.

Leonie stared after him frustratedly; she should have known that today was going to end as disastrously as it had begun. She should also have known Adam would have something to do with it, had felt a premonition of his presence while waiting to be rescued from the lift, her clumsiness always more pronounced whenever he was around.

She had been too stunned, too conscious of Mrs Carlson’s presence, to do any other than follow Adam’s lead of it being their first meeting when the other woman introduced them in his office. And once she recovered from the shock of seeing him again after all this time she was too intrigued by his behaviour to do any other than go along with the pretence. And as she had admitted to him, it was easier too. But the pleasant atmosphere of their evening together had seduced her into doing something she would rather forget, something that she wouldn’t allow to be repeated, her reaction to Adam totally unexpected, given their history together.

Her breath caught in her throat as Adam returned to the room, the business suit replaced with a fitted black shirt and black cords. Adam never dressed this casually!

‘Changing your image, Adam?’ she taunted to hide her reaction to him.

‘Like it?’ he smiled, not fooled by her attitude for a minute.

She more than liked it, she wanted him again! It was ridiculous when she had been married to this man for a year, when they had been separated for over eight months, to feel the same instantaneous flood of emotion towards him as she had when she first met him almost two years ago. And yet looking at him now she did feel it, her mouth dry, her palms damp.

‘You look very handsome,’ she told him primly. ‘Now could we please leave?’

‘Certainly.’ He picked up his car keys.

‘Lovers are obliging too, are they?’ She couldn’t resist taunting as she preceded him out of the apartment and into the lift.

‘Any time,’ he said suggestively, his body pressed up against the back of hers. ‘Just say the word,’ he encouraged throatily.

She frowned her irritation, moving gratefully away from him as they walked over to the car, their footsteps sounding loud in the black stillness of the night. Adam proved to be right about her bag, it lay on the floor of the car as he opened the door for her to get in.

‘You can pick your car up tomorrow,’ Adam suggested during the drive to her home, the car roof up now in the cool of the night.

‘Tomorrow?’ she frowned.

‘When you come for our meeting,’ he nodded.

Her eyes widened. ‘You don’t seriously expect me to still come to that?’

He glanced at her, his brows raised. ‘Of course.’

‘But I—Wasn’t that just a set-up?’ she frowned.

‘I wanted to see you again,’ he acknowledged. ‘And it seemed a good way to arrange it in view of the way you’ve felt about seeing me again, but I do also want my office decorated.’

‘Not by me,’ she shook her head determinedly, quivering at the thought of having to see this man on a day to day basis in connection with her work.

‘By you,’ he said firmly.

‘No!’

‘Yes,’ he insisted softly. ‘I really was impressed by your work on the lower floor.’

‘Adam——’

‘Yes, Leonie?’

She drew her breath in sharply at his tolerant tone. ‘I am not going to work for you,’ she told him stubbornly.

‘Yes, you are,’ he nodded confidently.

‘You can’t force me!’

‘I wouldn’t even attempt it,’ he assured her mildly. ‘But I think you might find it a little awkward explaining to your boss, David isn’t it, the reason you won’t work for me.’

‘You wouldn’t make me do that?’ she groaned.

Adam shrugged. ‘I don’t see what else you can do.’

‘But David has plenty of other designers, much more capable ones than me!’

‘I don’t want them,’ he stated calmly. ‘I want you.’

‘Please don’t involve my career in this, Adam,’ she pleaded desperately.

‘All I want is my office decorated, is that too much to ask?’

His innocence infuriated her! ‘You aren’t just asking anyone to do it, I was your wife!’

His expression softened into a reminiscent smile. ‘I’m not likely to forget that.’

‘But I’ve been trying to!’ She was twisted round in her seat as she tried to reason with him. ‘I’ve put my life back together, made the career for myself that I gave up when I married you. I am not about to let you jeopardise that.’

‘But I don’t want to.’ He shrugged broad shoulders.

‘You’re forcing me into a situation I don’t want. You deliberately sought me out for this job, didn’t you,’ she accused.

He nodded. ‘I bought the company because I knew you had worked there once.’

‘You—you did what?’ she gasped.

‘Well, I had to have a valid reason for seeing you, I knew you would flatly refuse to go anywhere where you knew I would be.’ He shrugged. ‘So I bought Thompson Electronics.’

It was an example of the arrogance she had always associated with him in the past; if he wanted something then he went out and bought it. He had once bought her with that same wealth and self-confidence that had blinded her to how wrong they were for each other.

‘Then you wasted your money,’ she told him tautly. ‘Because nothing would induce me to work for you.’

‘I didn’t waste my money, the company is a very profitable one,’ he announced calmly. ‘And I don’t intend to induce you into doing anything; surely you’re adult enough that you could design something for my office suite without letting personalities enter into it?’ he raised dark brows.

‘It isn’t a question of that,’ she said stiffly. ‘I just don’t want to work for you. Wasn’t one member of my family enough for you?’ she added disgustedly.

‘You mean Liz?’

‘Who else?’ she scorned.

‘Liz was the best personal assistant I ever had.’

She had been a little too ‘personal’ as far as Leonie was concerned! They had met because of her sister’s relationship with Adam, and they had parted for the same reason. ‘Look, I’ll talk to David tomorrow,’ she told him tautly. ‘I’m sure he’ll be only too glad to send someone else over to work with you.’

‘I don’t want anyone else,’ Adam said flatly. ‘I wondered about you and him for a while, you know,’ he added softly.

She looked over at him with startled eyes. ‘David and I?’

‘Mm,’ he nodded.

Her mouth tightened resentfully. ‘And what stopped you wondering?’ she snapped.

He shrugged. ‘Your dates were too occasional for them to be anything more than placating the boss who has designs on you,’ he dismissed.

Leonie’s eyes widened. ‘You’ve been having me watched!’ she realised disbelievingly.

‘You are my wife——’

‘Was,’ she corrected tightly. ‘We’re legally separated, and once the appropriate time has elapsed our divorce will be finalised.’

‘I was just seeing if we couldn’t speed up the proceedings,’ he explained.

Leonie blinked at him for several timeless minutes, unable to believe what she was hearing. ‘Are you trying to say you were after evidence of adultery against me?’ she said with disbelief.

Adam shrugged. ‘I thought you might feel more comfortable about our new arrangement if we were already divorced. I knew that I couldn’t wait three years for you.’

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t oblige!’ Somehow the knowledge that he had done such a thing hurt her unbearably. God knows she had enough evidence of adultery against him! But she had chosen not to subject any of them to the embarrassing ordeal of revealing their personal lives in public. Knowing that Adam had considered doing it to her made her angry.

‘Maybe I should have had you followed,’ she glared at him.

‘Oh, I’ve been living very quietly since you left me,’ he dismissed.

‘Quietly doesn’t necessarily mean alone,’ she snapped.

‘In this case it does.’

And she knew the reason for that; Liz had continued to stay with her husband Nick. ‘Look, we’re getting away from the subject,’ Leonie sighed. ‘You’ll have to have someone else do your work for you.’

‘No.’

‘Adam, I will not be bullied by you into doing something I don’t want to do.’

He held up his hand defensively. ‘Have I tried to bully you? Did I bully you into anything tonight?’ he added throatily.

Her mouth tightened. Tonight had been incredible, there was no denying that, and plenty of women would be only too agreeable to the sort of non-committal relationship Adam was now offering her. But not her. She had made a fool of herself over this man once, she wasn’t going to do it again.

‘Admit it was everything you thought it could be,’ he encouraged softly. ‘No complications of marriage, other people, just you and me making beautiful love together.’

Just talking about the experience made her body tingle. ‘But it couldn’t stay that way indefinitely,’ she reasoned impatiently. ‘Sooner or later one of us would expect more——’

‘Not me,’ Adam assured her with finality. ‘I’ve tried being married to you; it didn’t work out.’

She swallowed down the pain his casual admission of their year together caused. It hadn’t worked out, she would be the first to admit that, but to hear Adam talk so casually about the commitment they had made caused a constriction in her chest, as if someone had physically struck her.

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