Chapter 79

Vivian curled against him like a contented kitten, her sultry gaze half-lidded with playful seduction. "You initiated this embrace, darling. So really, I'm just accepting your generous invitation."

Her fingertips danced along the column of his throat as she tilted her chin upward. When her lips brushed his Adam's apple, she traced its contour with the tip of her tongue. "Mmm...you smell divine," she purred.

Adrian's throat worked visibly as heat pooled low in his abdomen, his body responding with unmistakable enthusiasm.

The hard ridge pressing against her hip made Vivian squirm in mock protest. "Good heavens, that's...impressive," she slurred with drunken amusement, her voice dripping with honeyed mischief. "But perhaps a bit too impressive for comfort."

"Vivian," Adrian growled in warning, his voice rough with restraint.

Undeterred, she hooked a finger beneath his chin, her eyes sparkling with liquid mischief. "Why so serious? Afraid you can't handle me? Or..." Her lips curved in a wicked smile. "Is the mighty Adrian Blackwood all bark and no bite?"

Something primal snapped in Adrian's gaze.

His hand slid beneath her blouse, fingers skimming up the delicate curve of her waist before claiming the soft swell of her breast in a possessive grip.

"Ah—" The breathy sigh escaped her parted lips before she could stop it, her body arching instinctively into his touch.

He cradled her face, his mouth descending toward hers with predatory intent.

Then the world tilted violently.

A tidal wave of nausea surged up Vivian's throat. With a strangled "urk," she barely managed to turn her head before the contents of her stomach erupted in an undignified torrent.

Adrian recoiled, but not quickly enough to avoid collateral damage.

The luxurious car interior filled with the pungent stench of alcohol and half-digested canapés.

Mortified, Vivian wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before curling into a miserable ball in the cleanest corner of the seat, promptly passing out.

Adrian studied her sleeping form, his expression darkening with unspoken questions. Was this simple drunkenness? Or did her body reject him on some fundamental level? Even inebriated, was she confusing him with someone else while her subconscious rebelled? This marked the second time she'd ruined an intimate moment with gastrointestinal rebellion.

Morning light stabbed through Vivian's eyelids like tiny daggers. The pounding in her skull rivaled a construction crew at full tilt. Worse still, she discovered herself draped over Adrian like some sort of human octopus.

Last night's humiliation came rushing back. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, wishing the plush mattress would swallow her whole.

"Enough pretending." Adrian's voice cut through her misery like an arctic wind. "If you're conscious, get off me."

Without ceremony, he disentangled himself from her clinging limbs, leaving Vivian to face her shame alone.

Reluctantly, she peeled her eyes open to find Adrian sitting up, the morning light sculpting his bare torso into a landscape of taut muscle and golden skin.