Perfectly Broken by Emily Jane Trent

more
aggressively than any woman he had known. Then she proceeded to run
from him. And was still keen on leaving. There was no commitment
between them, and with a woman like Susanna, anything more than a
couple of intimate interludes would be asking for trouble.
    The fact that she was honest about it was a
point in her favor. She said: I’m not a one-man woman . There
it was, stated in a few words. It was a crazy idea to think he
could win her over. Did he have the right to ask her to change her
lifestyle? For him?
    Did he even want to? Where was this going? But
Tomas knew one thing: he wasn’t ready to part from her. He took her
arm and guided her out of the restaurant, heading for Butlers
Chocolate Café. It was cold outside and he put his arm around her,
quite liking the feel of her close.
    “Do you like chocolate?”
    “Is there any woman who doesn’t?”
    They walked briskly toward the café. Tomas
spotted it and went directly for the door. Once inside, they rubbed
the sleeves of their coats and stamped their feet to warm up.
    “It’s freezing out there,” Tomas said.
    She smiled. “Get used to it. This is winter in
Dublin.”
    Tomas found an empty table and handed her one of
the small menus. “What’s your pleasure?”
    She bit her lower lip and gazed over his body.
“Well, when you put it like that…”
    He rubbed her ankle under the table. “Don’t
tempt me.”
    Susanna studied the menu for a moment. “I’ll
have the hot chocolate and milk chocolate honeycomb crunch
bar.”
    “Same thing my sister, Alaina, ordered when she
brought me here.” He grinned. “Decadent.”
    She smiled. “That’s me.”
    A tingle ran through his body, but Tomas tried
to still his reaction. He wasn’t sure how the night would progress.
“I’ll have the whiskey truffle bar and coffee.”
    The orders were placed and quickly delivered. If
Susanna’s enjoyment of dinner had been a sight to see, the vision
of her letting the milk chocolate melt in her mouth was even
better. In between bites, she sipped her hot chocolate. Tomas was
sorry to see her push the plate aside with the treat half
eaten.
    He took the last bite of his and looked into her
blue eyes. The next words out of her mouth were unexpected. He
cringed to think that she would say goodnight and the evening would
be over. It had been just dinner , after all.
    While he struggled to come up with something to
delay the inevitable, Susanna smiled. “Want to get high?”
    Around her? Yes . The thought of what it
would lead to had him hard and ready. “We can go to my hotel
room.”
    She nodded.
    Walking toward the Ashling Hotel, Tomas wasn’t
cold at all. He was heated to his core. The prospect of having
Susanna alone, even if only once more, made him hot. There were all
kinds of reasons not to take her to his room. But he had never been
one to play the sure thing, or take the safe route.
    As he had said, the thrill of high risk was an
adrenaline rush. But never more so than with Susanna. He was taking
a chance with her, and the odds of the results being disastrous
were high. But the promise of having her in his arms pushed him
toward the precipice. Tomas would take his chances. He was a
gambler at heart.

    * * * * *

Chapter 9
    At the hotel room, Tomas put the Do Not
Disturb sign out and secured the door. It was dark out and the
lights of the city glimmered below. Stepping over to look out,
Susanna admired the view she had seen many times, but somehow it
looked better that evening.
    It wasn’t the smartest thing to be alone with a
man for the second time in one week, considering the power of the
attraction. Abstinence was not her strength.
    He stood behind her, and Susanna could feel his
breath against her cheek. She leaned back with her head on his
shoulder, and he put his arms around her waist. His embrace felt
strong and possessive. Admittedly, she liked it. Being with Tomas
was different.
    Tomas lifted her hair and kissed the back of her
neck and under her