Layla compressed her soft full mouth and pushed her rippling fall of fiery hair back from her taut brow, where a stress headache was beginning to tighten its grip. Her cousin’s best friend, Aria, who had originally planned to accompany Emily, had broken both legs in a car accident. Sadly, that was the only reason why Layla was being invited to take Aria’s place and, equally sadly, Layla didn’t want to accompany Emily, even though it was a very long time since Layla had enjoyed a holiday.The unhappy truth was that Emily didn’t like Layla. Emily had never liked Layla, and even as adults, the cousins avoided spending time together. A much-adored only child, Emily had thoroughly resented the arrival of another little girl in her home, and Layla wasn’t even sure she could blame her cousin for her animosity. The White’s had hoped that their daughter would see Layla as a little sister, but perhaps the fact that only a year separated the two girls in age had roused competitive instincts in E

In receipt of a chilling glance from Emily, who was standing at the bar with Freddie, Layla hurriedly turned her head away, color sparking high over her cheekbones. Freddie had gatecrashed their night out. Emily had been overjoyed and, within minutes of Freddie’s appearance, had made it clear that Layla was a gooseberry.Layla sipped the sickly sweet concoction that Freddie had insisted on buying her. She pondered what she was going to do with the rest of her evening. Where was she to go? At least in a crowd, she was virtually invisible and drew no particular attention.Emily pushed her way through the crush and settled her impatient blue eyes on Layla. Why are you still here? I assumed you’d have left by now. Layla straightened. "I’m coming back to the apartment tonight," she warned her cousin. I’ve spent two nights sitting up in reception and I’m not doing it again.I can’t believe how selfish you’re being!’ Emily complained. You wouldn’t even be having a holiday if it wasn’t for m

Taken aback by that prosaic comment and struck by an outlook that came remarkably close to his own, Lucas elevated an ebony brow. But it was a most enjoyable one.Layla almost hit him with the shocking survey figures on the level of female sexual dysfunction and dissatisfaction in society, but decided to keep wannabe-Dr-Layla firmly under restraint. "I certainly hope so," she said, her face heating at the very thought of what she had already agreed to do with him. She fretted that alcohol could be affecting her judgement, although she had only had two drinks and hadn’t finished the first.But no, she wasn’t drunk, not even tipsy because she always got giggly if she drank too much. Yet in retrospect, her agreement to spend the night with him seemed so cold-blooded that she agonized over it for a nerve-racked few minutes. Yet wasn’t that attitude more sensible than waiting in the nave hope that someone would eventually offer her both romance and commitment? She was almost twenty-five ye

"I’m more tart than sweet," Layla warned him."Sugar cloys," Lucas husked, and he wondered if that was the very basic truth that explained his reaction to her. She was independent and outspoken, and he had never met anyone quite like her before.He stroked a finger across the pulse flickering madly at her collarbone and her breath tripped in her throat. "You keep touching me..."His eyes glowed with potent gold. I can’t keep my hands off of you. Is it a problem?’Layla’s lashes screened her eyes. She wasn’t used to being touched, and he did it with such ease and spontaneity. Her mother had been physically demonstrative when she had been sober, and their brief time at the commune in Wales had been almost happy. But, after her mother’s death, her uncle’s family had been much more reserved, and Layla had received little physical affection from them. She said in a low voice, thinking she had better watch herself with him because somehow he was getting under her skin in a way she had not f

"It was private," Layla told him succinctly, her lush mouth folding into a compressed line. Now that it’s done, can we just go back to where we were?Do we go back to where we were? In a different mood, Lucas would have laughed at that wording. But he was in the grip of angry astonishment, his every assumption about her wiped out. He didn’t like surprises, but as Layla shifted up to him in a reminder that he was still inside her, he discovered that his body was much less particular. He stared down at her with stunning dark golden eyes. He was her first, and there was something mysteriously satisfying about that discovery. She was so tight and warm and wet. A struggle to control his every move, he sank deeper and a breathy little sigh that certainly wasn’t a complaint escaped her.Layla shut her eyes again, ripples of pleasure reclaiming her, that momentary stab of discomfort forgotten. She could feel his girth stretching her and his hips grounding into hers with every slow, heavy thru