Surrender in Silk by Susan Mallery Page A

naked and the sheet and blankets were tangled around their feet. There hadn’t been any physical proof. Her active life-style had taken care of that years ago. “How did you know?”
    His smile was rueful. “You were too surprised by everything.”
    “Oh.” She felt herself blushing and she looked away. “I’m sorry if it was horrible.”
    “It wasn’t.”
    He placed his hand on her bare belly and stroked her skin. From there he moved up to her breasts. He cupped first one, then the other. Within seconds she was trembling and ready. He leaned close and took her nipple in his mouth. He licked the tight point, teasing her to mindlessness. Then he drew his hand down between her damp curls.
    “If we make love again, you’ll be sore,” he said.
    She parted her legs. “I’ll be okay.”
    He smiled. A real smile. One that took her breath away. She realized she knew almost nothing about this man’s life. Not the details, anyway. But she knew him . She knew his soul. Surely that was more important.
    She touched his short dark hair. “Maybe I won’t hurt so bad if I’m on top,” she said.
    He laughed and hauled her close. As they touched from shoulder to shin, as his erection pressed into her belly, she felt a sense of homecoming. As if this was where she’d always belonged.
    “How come you’re still a virgin?” he asked.
    “I was a jock in high school and college. Most men don’t find that very sexy. I never got asked out, never went to my prom.”
    He kissed her forehead. “I apologize for the stupidity of my gender.”
    “It’s okay.”
    “I have a cabin in Colorado. It’s not much, but it’s private and the view is spectacular. We could spend the week there.”
    For the second time that day, she fought tears. This time she won. She smiled and nodded. “Let’s go.”
     

    Just before dawn of the last day, she woke up alone. Jamie stretched, then reached for Zach, but he wasn’t there. She satup. The back of her neck prickled uncomfortably, and she sensed something bad was coming. She even knew what it was.
    A week ago, if someone had told her it was possible to memorize every inch of a person, to bring him to exquisite pleasure with her hands, mouth and body and still not know him, she would have thought that person was crazy. Now she understood the truth.
    She and Zach had spent the past week together. She knew everything about his body and nothing about his mind. He silenced her questions with kisses. They ate together, read together, made love together and yet they were strangers.
    She stood up and grabbed a flannel shirt from the bedpost. After slipping it on, she pulled on thick socks, then made her way into the living room. Embers from the fire cast little more than shadows, but she was familiar enough with the room to find her way in the dark. She was well trained enough to hear his breathing in the silence as he sat on the sofa.
    She glanced at the window and saw the first hint of light. She wanted to get this over with before the sun came up. She didn’t want him to be able to watch her face. He read her too easily.
    “We leave today,” she said. “So just go ahead and say it, Zach. It’s over, isn’t it?”
    “It’s not that simple,” he said, his voice low and quiet in the darkness. “You have to choose.”
    She hadn’t expected that. She crossed to the small dining set in front of the kitchen and pulled out a chair. The smooth wood was cold on her bare bottom. She shivered. “Between you and my job?”
    “No, between your job and the real world. I made my decision a long time ago. I chose this world. I’ll never go back.”
    She’d known from the beginning it wasn’t going to work. She’d known when he didn’t let her inside, when he didn’tshare his heart, that this was just about sex. Maybe he picked a woman for every week off. Maybe she was the seventeenth one he’d brought to his cabin, just another notch on the bedpost.
    “The job isn’t like selling