Free Humbug by Joanna Chambers Page A

pushed open the front door of my flat, it was to find the place dark and silent and very empty. Freddy was still out, thank God. I flicked on the lights, and Rob strolled past me, his gaze curious.
    “Do you want a drink?” I asked, following him into the living area and switching on more lights. “I’ve got wine or beer. Or something soft if you prefer.”
    Rob turned to look at me. His lips twisted up in a grin that was decidedly wicked. “I’d prefer something hard, and not to drink.”
    He didn’t take even a step towards me, just waited where he stood, his dark gaze challenging and amused.
    Cocky bastard.
    I liked that new cockiness though. I had a hard-on for it. For him.
    “C’mere,” he said, and I went, crossing the floor towards him, yanking off my jacket and dropping it on the floor on the way.
    His intent gaze glittered as he watched me approach, and the admiration I saw there, the attention—it blew me away.
    I stopped in front of him, waiting, my breathing shallow, my pulse racing. The air between us felt charged with something, something like electricity but not. Something real, almost tangible, but not. It felt like I should be able to touch it. Touch the thick current between us, grasp it like a rope and use it to reel Rob in.
    He reeled me in instead, reaching out to take my upper arms in his hands and pull me to him, pull me right up against him, our bodies colliding, hot breath mingling, lips not yet—not quite yet—touching.
    “I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to do this in the office,” he murmured, his gaze travelling over my face. “Just grab you and maul you.”
    I made a noise in my throat that made him grin and draw me even closer, till his mouth was grazing mine, but still not kissing me, still holding back that last little bit of connection I craved.
    “Did you know that?” he asked softly, and I felt his lips shaping the words against mine, his warm breath, gusting gently.
    I whimpered and he groaned, then pressed our mouths together, and all the electricity, or whatever it was between us, sparked. Flashed. Rob’s kiss was hot and deep, his tongue plunging into my mouth, tangling with mine. His arms came around me and he ground his hips against mine and it was so fucking good, hot and sparky and passionate. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this into someone.
    “Bedroom,” I muttered between kisses. “I want you naked.”
    He muttered his assent and I grabbed his hand, dragging him after me, out the living area and down the hall to my bedroom, every second that his mouth wasn’t on me feeling wasted.
    We tumbled inside and immediately started kissing again, lips pressed together even as we toed off shoes and grabbed at each other’s shirts to yank them off. I felt momentary embarrassment as I compared Rob’s impressively toned torso with my own leaner, less ripped one, but it was a feeling that burned away when I caught the heat in his gaze.
    He liked what he saw.
    He liked me.
    All the stuff he’d been saying about having a thing for me was true, and if I’d known, if I’d noticed…
    If I hadn’t been so fucking consumed with my job. God, the things I’d been missing out on and I hadn’t even known.
    “What do you like?” Rob murmured in my ear, making my neck prickle with pleasure, goose bumps rising on my skin.
    “Fuck,” I breathed, trying to make my brain work. “Anything. Everything. I don’t know. I just want your skin, your mouth—I want to come, want you to come—”
    I was incoherent, babbling. Rob chuckled, seeming amused, but it didn’t sting. His laughter was kind, maybe even fond.
    I shook my head a little against the dazed feeling and looked into his eyes—warm, brown, kind. God, I could lose myself in that gaze.
    “What do you want?” I asked huskily.
    He leaned into me and kissed his way up my jawline, to my ear. “To start with,” he murmured, his deep voice sending prickles of sensation down my neck, “I want to