Free The Mammoth Book of Erotica Presents The Best of Saskia Walker by Saskia Walker Page A

knew where she stood.

    One day, that was too much. It also wasn’t enough.
    I wanted more than he could give me, she reflected, staring across Frank and Sherri’s kitchen at her ex-lover with a rueful sense of acceptance. She was fated to love a man who couldn’t settle.
    It was then that she noticed he had his hand latched over his belt. With a sharp intake of breath, she realized it was the same belt she had given him as a gift, two years earlier. And he’d used it for more than holding his jeans up. He’d used it to stop her struggling against him during sex, which had made her struggle all the more.
    Leonie shivered at the memory.
    Mike stopped speaking.
    Her gaze shot up to meet his.
    He was smiling at her accusingly. He knew she’d been looking. He must have been keeping a subtle watch on her. She glanced away from his knowing stare, but images of what he used to do with that belt still flashed through her mind. He’d worn it on purpose today, she was sure of it. He’d worn it to remind her of what they used to be like together.
    Sherri was pouring him a cup of fresh brew. The aroma reached Leonie, rich and intoxicating. Pride blossomed in her chest, levelling her head somewhat.
    Mike took the cup, breathed the scent in, and then drank heavily. He had a way of holding his cup, ring finger through the handle, cup cradled in his palm. He nodded as he put the cup down. “The sample you sent tasted superb, undoubtedly one of the finest harvests of the year, but there’s something really special about tasting it where it’s grown, with the people who made it this way.”
    He put his hand out to shake Frank’s all over again.
    Sherri was beaming. “Dinner will be ready in about an hour. If you’d like to freshen up after your journey, I’ll show you to the guest lodge.”
    Mike nodded, but turned to Leonie. “Leonie could show me.” His gaze raked over her. “I need to go over some facts and figures with her anyway.”
    Bastard
.
    “Of course,” Sherri replied, and winked over at Leonie.
    Had she sensed there was something between them? She looked from Sherri’s smiling face to Frank’s startled one. The atmosphere had shifted, yes, and their attention was fully on her. They must have guessed.
    “This way.” She led him out of the back door, down the steps and along the path to the annexed lodge. It was a prefab building with a dozen rooms used for guests, and for the workers in the busy harvesting season. It was here in this simple place that she’d made her home for the past year, and here where Sherri had made Mike a room up, right next to hers.
    “They seem to be good people,” he commented, as their footsteps crunched on the gravel path.
    “They are, and they worked hard for this. I think they’ll be fine when I leave.”
    “It was an ambitious project, but you’ve helped them on their way. You put your stamp on the franchise. That was obvious from England.”
    He must have been watching her reports, and he wasn’t even on the overseeing panel. His job was in marketing, unless that had changed and Tansy hadn’t told her.
    “Overseeing the plantation has been good for me. I needed to strike out on my own, prove I could do what I was preaching to others about.”
    She put her hand on the screen door of the lodge, pausing, and met his gaze. “The board seemed pleased with my work.” Two weeks before, she’d indicated that she was ready to move on. “Do they want me back in London, or elsewhere?”
    He didn’t answer her question. He merely smiled.
    She opened the door and went inside, her back to him as she paused and waited for him to follow.
    The narrow corridor had twelve doors off it, and a storage cupboard at the far end. Plain and utility, the building smelled of citronella. Leonie had long since learned that the underlying citrus insect repellent was barely combated by her most expensive perfume. Once the screen door shut behind him, she heard his bag drop to the floor and felt