The Price of Winning: London Calling Book Four Read Online Free PDF Page B

breadth surrounding her as he pulled her closer, enveloping her.
    But rather than feeling overpowered, Madeleine felt alive and sexy. She placed her hands on his biceps, tugging and crowding him closer.  
    He was built, a giant of a man compared to her lithe slimness. She’d never understood the appeal of that contrast until now. He was so extravagantly male she couldn’t help but feel the differences between them. Where he was hard and muscled, she was soft and slender.
    Madeleine parted her lips and delicately outlined his mouth with the tip of her tongue. Tracing the seam, she pushed a little, asking without words for him to allow her inside. Sebastian groaned and pressed his palm against her lower back. She felt his tongue touch hers, lightly at first then more insistently as she teased him by withdrawing then pursuing, receding then chasing.
    Coming up onto her tiptoes, she linked her hands behind his neck and threaded her fingers into his short black hair. With a tug she brought him closer and fell further into the dark maelstrom of their heated embrace.  
    It had been so long.
    Madeleine instinctively curved into him, thinking if she were only taller, it would be better for both of them. She pressed up on her toes but couldn’t get the leverage to hike herself any higher. Sebastian grunted and circled his hands around her waist, easing her back a little.  
    Oh God.
    They were standing fully clothed in the middle of her foyer, practically glued together. She jerked her mouth sideways so that her cheek lay against his. Distantly, she heard the muted sounds of traffic and a helicopter flying somewhere overhead. She could feel Sebastian’s slight stubble and wondered if he shaved twice per day. Leaning farther back, she paused and looked at him.  
    Which was a mistake, because all she saw was his reddened lips, the scar that jagged across and under his chin, and the intensity of his inky, black gaze. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. More than a little confused, she lowered her eyes. The first two buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing darkly tanned skin and a few sprinklings of hair.  
    A low and ominous rumble, louder than thunder, pulled them apart. Madeleine snapped her attention back to Sebastian, her pulse racing still faster. “What—”
    He smiled, which she already knew to be a rare thing, and his face transformed. Handsome was too tame a description. Normally, he was strong and masculine with a dark, sensual magnetism. But now he was all of that with something more—a lightness that made him seem younger and slightly less overwhelming.
    “Did you hear fireworks?” he teased. “Because I think I did.” He began to lower his head again, his eyes never leaving hers.
    When he was like this, she forgot he could ever be intimidating. She could drown in him, steep herself in pleasure.
    Except she was scared.
    “I don’t think those were fireworks.”
    No sooner had she said the words than another loud clap reverberated outside, this time accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. “Something’s wrong.” She shifted, anxiety overtaking her. “It sounded like an explosion.” She hated how weak she sounded, but loud noises threw her back into those awful moments years ago when her attacker turned his gun on her.
    Sebastian carefully reached down and clasped her by the hand to lead her to the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. “Let’s check whether we can see anything from up here.”
    Madeleine felt brief, unwanted gratitude for his support. In the insanity of the past few minutes, she’d forgotten this man had frightened her enough to send her all the way back home from England. Granted, she’d more than stood up for herself when he came knocking at her door, and Dominic had tried, again and again, to convince her that Sebastian was an honorable sort of man. But still. Nearly from the beginning she’d sensed a darkness lurking behind his eyes.
    However, looking into