Free You Belong To Me by Patricia Sargeant Page B

Just as he’d remembered. He brushed her full lips until they parted on a sigh that seeped between his fingers.
    He caressed her pointed chin, trailing his fingers along the delicate structure. Her head tipped back, baring her long, slender neck to his hungry eyes. His body throbbed with the need to stroke his tongue along those supple lines. He clenched his teeth and forced back the urge. Instead, with infinite care, he cupped her head and laid his lips over hers.
    He tasted her gasp, soft and sultry, and responded by gathering her close and nibbling her moist bottom lip. Nicole’s tongue slid out to tease his upper lip, and he throbbed against her belly. A fresh gasp rose from her throat. He moaned and she swallowed it. But the sound shattered the passionate haze.
    Nicole stumbled back, breaking free of Malcolm’s loose, single-armed embrace. She locked her shaking knees and nervously licked her lips. A mistake, judging by the steam emanating from Malcolm’s hot-chocolate eyes.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Her voice shook.
    Malcolm’s gaze darkened with unquenched desire. “Kissing you.” His voice stroked her, connecting with every reawakened erogenous zone.
    Nicole swallowed hard. “Why?”
    Malcolm cocked an eyebrow. “Because I wanted to. As I said, Nicky, I want another chance with you.”
    â€œYou really are big on second chances, aren’t you? First, Los Angeles and now you. If you can’t think of me as just your business partner, then perhaps we should reconsider our contract.”
    â€œIt was just a kiss, Nicky. And I stopped as soon as you moved away.”
    Nicole didn’t think what they’d shared could be described as “just a kiss.” It was a phenomenon, one she instinctively knew she could never share with anyone else.
    â€œI want you to leave.” She touched her fingertips to her still-trembling lips. “Now.”
    â€œAll right. I’m going.”
    Malcolm turned and left the bedroom. Nicole followed close behind him.
    â€œI’m sorry I upset you,” he continued, shrugging into his coat. He turned to face her. “But, Nicky, the passion wasn’t all on my side.”
    Nicole funneled her reawakening desire into anger. She marched past Malcolm to the front door, yanked it open, and waited for him to walk through. Her arm trembled with the effort not to slam the door behind him. She dropped onto the arm of the love seat and pulled at her hair.
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    Tyrone would kill him if he’d done anything to hurt this project, Malcolm thought as he drove away from Nicole’s apartment. First, his partner would give one of his sermons on the evils of impetuosity and the gravity of business responsibilities. A lecture that would make him want to take his own life. Then Tyrone would quite simply choke him with his bare hands.
    Malcolm didn’t know what had come over him. His need for Nicole had suddenly overwhelmed him. When she’d slipped her tongue into his mouth and pressed her lithe body against him ...
    The ringing of his cell phone shattered the image and cooled his heated skin.
    â€œMalcolm Bryant,” he announced.
    â€œLeave my family alone,” the caller demanded.
    â€œYou have the wrong—” The line disconnected. “Number.” Malcolm shrugged and ended the call.
    The memory of the few nuisance calls, all hang ups, he’d received the past week crossed his mind. His cell phone was listed only on his business card. In the three years he’d owned this phone, he’d never experienced such a rash of misdirected calls. He wondered what had changed to cause this problem.
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    The next morning, a stranger sat in his car watching her as Nicole neared the end of her jog. His silver BMW stood at the curb in front of her apartment building, which served as her finish line. She tensed. Despite the chill in the early morning air, she prepared to do another lap around the