Chapter Eighty

'I have a room booked at the Airport Hilton Hotel,' Collins breathed in her ear. 'Come with me after the wedding is over... We can be together.'

A hotel room... Jasmine's emotional recoil was instant.

No!

It would make her feel like a call girl, visiting a totally impersonal room for sex, and an airport hotel hammered home how fleeting that visit would be. Yet she could not bear not to have him for as long as she could.

'I'm not going to a hotel with you, Collins' she said.

He frowned. 'Why not?'

'Because I said so. We can go some other place... Like... My apartment,' she swiftly countered, pulling back from him to plead her choice. 'It's at Randwick. Not far from Mascot Airport. We could go there. Then I won't feel so bad when you have to leave in the morning.'

He frowned again. 'I don't want to make you feel bad, Jasmine. That's not my intention.'

'I'd hate waking up alone in a hotel room, Collins,' she rushed out, panicking at the thought he might withdraw from any further intimacy. Sharing pleasure was his agenda, not giving pain. 'I'd rather wake up to my goldfish,' she quickly added, hoping that would amuse him again.

The frown cleared as his mouth quirked into a smile. 'I could get jealous of those fish.'

'I don't kiss them.'

'I'm relieved to hear it.' He kissed her again, a slow sensual promise of what was to come in the hours they would have together. In her home, Jasmine thought with dizzyjoy. Which would make it all the more real, more intimate, more memorable. Taking him there, having him there, grounded him in surroundings that were hers and hers alone.

'I'll order a car to be waiting for us,' Collins murmured, his voice furred with the desire he had to contain for a little while longer. 'As soon as Leonard and Favour take their leave...'

'Yes,' she agreed, and despite knowing he would be gone in the morning, she could not quell the hope in her heart.

Collins Templeton still wanted her.

He might always want her.

____

Collins didn't like the idea of going to Jasmine's apartment. He cursed himself for not having thought anything through before taking her from Khalid. Now, finally, they were at the farewell stage of the wedding with Favour and Leonard circling the guests before going off on their honeymoon.

The car he'd ordered was waiting at the gates to Wisteria House, and Collins was faced with taking Catherine Jasmine , to a place she would have made distinctly her own, and that was getting too close to her.

He was awake to what it meant when a woman invited him to her home ground. It gave her the sense of having some kind of propriety rights over him. As a general rule he avoided the situation, offering a less personal get-together or making some excuse to be elsewhere.

The problem was, he'd never wanted a woman as much as he wanted Jasmine Leclaire. He'd given in to her wish with barely a hesitation, driven by the compulsion to have her under any circumstances, not even caring about consequences.

It was stupid.

He'd end up paying dearly for it, too. She'd be etched more deeply in his mind, the memory of her nagging at him when he didn't want to be nagged. Yet even knowing all this, he couldn't bring himself to stop what had been arranged between them. She was standing by her mother, right at the doorway which led to the staircase and out of here. Just a few more minutes...

'Collins, old buddy...' Leonard clapped his shoulder and shook his hand vigorously. 'Thanks for coming. Really appreciate it.'

Leonard looked drunk with happiness. Getting married to Favour was certainly sitting well with him.

'You're hooked, man, but I guess the bait was worth taking,' Collins said, grinning at his old friend.

'Right on!' Leonard agreed smugly. 'Beat you to it, Collins.'

A typically competitive remark, but there was no race being run here.

Not in Collins mind. Marriage was way down the track for him, though when he looked back at Jasmine, his mother's words, did beg the question—how often was a guy struck as hard as this by a woman?

He was aching to hold her again.

But that would pass once he'd had his till of her. Just strong chemistry, he told himself. In fact, going to her apartment might be a good thing, reducing their connection to something ordinary. Not like his memories of their intimacy at the beach. That had been such a fantastic experience it wouldn't be human not to remember it as something special. Tonight would be different. Not that he wanted her any less, but her bedroom was not an evocative setting of sand and sea and moonlight.

'I guess you'll be off as soon as Leonard goes,' his mother said.

'Yes.' He tore his gaze from Jasmine to pay his respect to the woman who'd always stood by him through thick and thin. She was literally standing by him now and he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

'It Was good to see you, Mum.'

'Don't stay on your mountain too long, Collins,' she said wistfully. 'There's more of life to live. I'm going to envy Leonard's mother her grandchildren.'

He frowned at the sentiment she had never voiced before. It was the wedding, focusing her thoughts on family, he reasoned. Though he was her only child. Had that been a sorrow to her? Did she long for more children through him? Yet she'd always preached he had his own life to live and set him free to do it, as, free as any mother could.

He shook his head as his gaze swung back to Jasmine . He wasn't ready for marriage and he wasn't ready to father children. Both were serious commitments. He'd give them his best shot when the time came but that wasn’t now. There were industry awards coming up that he could capitalise on big-time. And he would.

This night with Jasmine was a brief time-out. He wasn't about to let it become anything more. She knew the score, didn't she? He didn't want to leave her feeling bad.

She was kissing Favour goodbye. The bride moved on to her parents— the last farewell. Jasmine looked at him, her sexy golden-amber eyes gleaming with the same sizzling impatience he felt.

Mutual desire.

No question she wanted what he wanted.

He wasn't doing any wrong by her. There could be no harm in just one more night. And the pleasure...