That was a very good question. One, which, after Remy had admitted so much already, she wasn’t sure she should answer.
Except Sinclair had just been as open as she had regarding the attraction sizzling between the two of them. He could hardly deny it when the physical evidence of that was pressing against her.
She felt an inner elation just knowing, and feeling, his response to her. It was more, so much more, than she had ever hoped for after all these years of silence.
“Tell me,” Sinclair instructed abruptly.
She looked at him searchingly, noticing, for the first time ever, a slight vulnerability in the depths of Sinclair’s eyes and the almost defensive set of his shoulders. The fact he wasn’t trying to hide those things from her told her that this might be her only chance, a one-time offer—if it was an offer—to tell him what she had always wanted.
Him.
Remy moistened her lips before swallowing. “Given the choice, I would like the time and space for us to get to know each other again, both as adults, and to explore the pleasure I believe we could find together.”
Sinclair’s hands lifted to cradle each side of her face, and his gaze easily held hers captive. “That’s what you really want, the two of us, exploring this desire until one or both of us tires of it or each other?”
Surprising how much it hurt to think of Sinclair growing tired of her. But there was no way Remy was going to turn down what he might be offering now because of the fear of the heartbreak she would feel some time in the future.
“Yes,” she whispered. “That’s exactly what I want.”
He sighed. “I’m not the same man I was five years ago.”
“You’re harder, colder, and less forgiving,” she acknowledged bluntly.
“Make that completely unforgiving,” he bit out.
“Okay.” She nodded. “But I think we can agree I’m not the same person I was five years ago either. I’m certainly no longer that starry-eyed teenager. I’m a woman, Sinclair. One who is more cynical and less trusting.”
“Are you a virgin?”
She drew in a sharp breath, the change of subject taking her by surprise. But perhaps that was Sinclair’s intention. “I’ve always considered the statement of virginity to be subjective.”
“Explain.”
Two could play the shock game. “Well, I could suck lots of men’s cocks all day, every day, have anal sex every night with several more, but as long as my hymen remains intact, I can officially still claim to be a virgin. See? Subjective.”
Sinclair’s eyes had darkened with each word she spoke, until it was no longer possible to separate the iris from the pupil. “And have you?”
“Have I what?”
“Sucked men’s cocks and had anal sex.”
“I’m not sure whether yes or no is the right answer.”
“With me, the truth is always going to be the right answer,” he rasped.
She looked at him searchingly for several seconds, sensing there was underlying meaning to that statement. But if there was, she couldn’t read what that meaning was from Sinclair’s unsmiling expression.
She sighed. “Then the answer is no, I haven’t sucked lots of men’s cocks all day and had anal sex all night. But I’m not a virgin either.” Because she’d had one, awful, lover who had pretty much put her off taking another one.
He’d been one of the men in his forties she’d dated, but they’d had sex only once, and she hadn’t enjoyed it. Apparently, being older and experienced, along with self-confident, didn’t eliminate being selfish, and Graham had only been interested in his own pleasure rather than ensuring that of his lover.
“Good.” Sinclair nodded. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for taking your innocence,” he added when she looked at him curiously.
“How noble of you,” she taunted.
“How many cocks have you sucked?”
“This week, or in total?”
He scowled at her continued levity. “Stop being so smart-mouthed when all I’m trying to do is assess your physical experience.”
“And I happen to think that lack of knowledge of a potential partner’s sexual experience is part of the mystery.” Remy also knew you could look anything up on Google these days. Including how to suck a cock, she hoped. The anal sex too, just in case.
She hadn’t been lying when she’d admitted to having been looking for another Sinclair all these years, but that search hadn’t included exploring a physical relationship with any of the men she’d dated. Even before the act was over, she’d known it was a mistake to sleep with the one and only man she’d shared full physical intimacy with.
She hoped being with Sinclair, if he decided to fulfill her fantasy of being with him, would eliminate that unpleasant experience. She was still only half convinced this wasn’t all going to blow up in her face and she’d once again find herself with no Sinclair in her life.
She gave him a bright smile. “How many cocks have you sucked?”
“What the…? None!” he snapped.
“No exploring when you were at that exclusive boys’ boarding school with your brothers and cousins?” she teased.
“Only with my right hand.”
“No anal sex there either?”
“No.” Sinclair’s gaze had narrowed. “You’ve become something of a handful, haven’t you?”
“Maybe.” Remy gave an unapologetic shrug. “But from what I’ve observed today, your private life could do with a bit of a shake up.” She knew Malachi thought so too.
“Not so much it gives me a heart attack,” Sinclair drawled.
She gave his chest a reassuring pat. “Don’t worry, if you give me a chance, I’ll be gentle with you.”
He gave a shake of his head as he lifted his hands to cradle her face. “I have a feeling I’ll regret giving in to this.”
“But it just might be worth that regret if you get to come without the use of your right hand.”
“Jesus, Remy!”
She chuckled at his shocked expression. “I really am all grown up, Sinclair.”
“You really are.” He studied her face for several more seconds before his head lowered and his lips pressed gently against and then parted and explored hers.
There was nothing gentle about him as he kissed her over and over again, tasting and then lightly biting her lips before soothing that sting of pain with the moistness of his tongue.
Remy felt completely boneless, and it was only her arms about his waist beneath his jacket keeping her on her feet as she returned those kisses with the same hunger.
She’d fantasized about being kissed by Sinclair all her adult life but the reality of having those stern-looking lips soften as they thoroughly explored her own was exhilarating. The feel of his tongue sweeping her lips apart before thrusting into the heat of her mouth aroused Remy beyond any fantasy she might previously have had about the two of them ever being together.
Sinclair’s hands no longer cradled her face but now moved restlessly up and down her back and hips, before his fingers gripped the cheeks of her bottom and pulled her hips flush against the hardness of his.
Making her fully aware of the long length of Sinclair’s fully engorged cock pressing against her as evidence that he was as aroused as she was.
Kissing and touching her had caused that reaction, Remy marveled.
She groaned low in her throat as their kisses became deeper, hungrier, her arms up about his neck now, her fingers becoming entangled in the thick hair at his nape.
It was sublime. Heaven. Everything, everything, Remy had ever dreamed of or hungered for. Sinclair was everything she had ever wanted.
She realized in that moment that Malachi had been right and her youthful infatuation for Sinclair no longer existed.
It was more than that.
So much more.
Because no matter how many years it had been since she last saw Sinclair, or how he chose to live his life now, being kissed and held by him told Remy that Sinclair was Her Person.
The One.
The only one for her.
That he always had been.
Remy had no time to dwell on that earth-shattering realization, because Sinclair’s hands had now tightened on the globes of her bottom before he lifted her. Her legs instinctively wrapped about his waist, the two of them continuing those hungry kisses as Sinclair easily carried her across the room before placing her on the desktop and stepping between her parted thighs.
Her neck arched when he broke the kiss and his lips moved down the column of her throat, his breath warm against her as he sipped and tasted that sensitivity. A shudder ran through her whole body when his teeth lightly bit into the flesh where her neck and shoulder met.
Why had she never known that was an erogenous zone?
“Your skin is as soft and smooth as silk,” Sinclair admired gruffly. “And you taste like ripe, juicy apricots.”
Remy barely registered what he was saying. She was too lost in the wonder of being in Sinclair’s arms, of being kissed and touched by him, to be able to think of anything else, let alone make a verbal response.
Instead, she pulled him even closer, her throat angled in invitation for his lips to move lower to where her engorged nipples were aching to be touched too.
“I have a report back on Gary, surname Smythe, and he checks out. Gabriel has also just sent— Oops. Sorry,” Malachi added belatedly when he realized what he’d interrupted.
Remy gasped when Sinclair pulled away and then released her before stepping away completely.
She looked at him from beneath the shadow of her lashes. He might still be dressed in the formality of a three-piece suit, but his hair was tousled from where her fingers had been entangled in it just seconds ago. His cheeks were flushed. His lips were also red and fuller from the force of the kisses they’d shared.
Remy decided, as she slid from the desktop to lean against the heavy piece of furniture, not to look down any farther to see if there was still physical evidence that Sinclair had been as aroused by those kisses as she had.
He was no longer looking at her, but at his brother standing in the doorway. Malachi’s expression was one of mild curiosity, despite his apology for having obviously walked in on their intimacy.
He’d also said something about Gary… “What do you mean Gary ‘checks out’?”
Malachi shrugged. “All evidence says he’s exactly what you said he was.”
“Evidence?” she echoed sharply.
“I sent a couple of men to have conversations with other colleagues at your school. They stated he’s a workaholic with zero charisma. A check of his finances by Casper showed there hasn’t been a huge amount of money mysteriously appearing in his bank account, either.”
From that, Remy took it to mean that Gary hadn’t been involved in distracting her for the evening while someone broke into her parents’ house.
“What about Gabriel?” Sinclair demanded.
Malachi gave Remy an apologetic smile before answering his brother. “I sent him instructions earlier to go and take a look at Ralph and Gina’s house. He’s just reported back. He also sent several photographs,” he added with a knowing look in Remy’s direction.
“You had no right,” she accused, already knowing what this man Gabriel would have seen and photographed.
She’d finally found the energy to start sorting through the destruction of her parents’ home yesterday afternoon, but within ten minutes, there had been tears streaming down her cheeks as she picked up the pieces of some of family photographs that had been kept in the drawers of the dresser in the hallway, a lot of them ripped into several pieces.
“I had every right,” Malachi dismissed her objection. “The lock on the front door of the house was broken, and the door itself is barely being held in place by a few loose screws in the hinges.” He turned his phone so that Sinclair could see an image of that door on his screen.
“I couldn’t get a carpenter or locksmith to come to the house until Monday,” Remy defended.
“You would have if you’d reported the incident to the police,” Sinclair growled.
“I told you why I didn’t,” she snapped.
“As for the inside of the house…” Malachi ignored their exchange to click onto another image.
Then another.
And another.
More and more images that all caused Sinclair’s expression to become darker and then darker still.
What the fuck!
Sinclair hadn’t made a habit of taking an interest in home invasions, but even so, there seemed to have been an excessive amount of damage done to the home of Gina and Ralph Mitchell.
It certainly didn’t look like the “normal break-in” Remy claimed it was.
“You slept in the house after this happened?” he questioned abruptly.
Remy’s cheeks became flushed. “I wouldn’t say I actually managed to sleep—”
“Remy!”
She scowled. “I’ve already said that I did, yes.”
“The minute we’re alone together, you’re going to have your arse spanked for rank stupidity,” Sinclair ground out from between clenched teeth.
“Don’t call me stupid!” she came back heatedly.
“I said stupidity—”
“It’s the same thing.”
“No, it really isn’t,” he insisted. “You’re obviously a very intelligent woman. It’s your reckless behavior outside your career that I’m questioning.” He included her wanting a sexual relationship with him in that reckless behavior.
He really wanted to administer that spanking right now, and to hell with Malachi’s presence. But knowing his brother, Mal would probably stand and watch and then applaud him.
No, Sinclair would prefer it if they were alone when he chastised Remy. Kissing her a few minutes ago had only succeeded in making him hungry for more. All he could think of now was how pleasurable it would be if he was taking that “more” when he also happened to be spanking her arse. His leaking cock indicated approval for the idea too.
Sinclair closed his eyes as he imagined Remy lying across his thighs, arse in the air—no, bare arse in the air so he could stroke her rapidly reddening flesh in between those spanks.
And when had he become such a kinky bastard?
Since meeting Remy again, it would seem.
But she was a grown woman now, and by her own admission she wasn’t an innocent. She’d had lovers, some of them men even older than he was. The fact Sinclair hated even thinking of another man’s hands on her was on him to deal with, not her.
His immediate problem was to ensure Remy didn’t return to her parents’ house, after which he needed to set in motion discovering who was responsible for completely trashing Remy’s childhood home.
All while inwardly questioning what the hell his ex-brother-in-law had gotten himself involved in this time.
And whether or not the helicopter crash that had killed Ralph, Gina and the pilot, had been an accident at all.