‘Really? It’s doing me a favour to kiss me and then tell me I’m boring?’

‘I should never have kissed you in the first place.’

‘So why did you?’ She breathed in and out, forcing air into her lungs. ‘Not once, but twice. The kiss on the beach—all right, let’s say that was an accident. But you kissed me again, didn’t you? If I’m so boring, why did you do that? Were you just teasing me? Doing me a favour, giving boring old Flora a thrill? Did you just do it to hurt my feelings? It was patronizing, Conner. You made me—I was…’ She couldn’t even say the words. ‘If you didn’t want me then you should have just left me alone. Or are you so bad that you just have to cause hurt?’

‘Bad? You think I’m bad?’ He pressed her against the wall, his body hard against hers. ‘I’ll show you what bad is, Flora.’ He brought his mouth down on hers with punishing force, kissing her with raw, explosive passion, the slide of his tongue explicitly sexual and unbelievably seductive.

And she melted. Her head spinning from his skilled assault on her senses, she kissed him back, feeling fire dance inside her belly. She wasn’t capable of thought or speech—all she could do was respond to his demands. She did so willingly and when he finally lifted his head she stared at him, mute.

‘I’ve been called bad by a lot of people,’ he said hoarsely, his hands planted either side of her head so that she couldn’t escape his gaze, ‘and most of it has been justified. But I’m damned if I’m accepting that criticism when it comes to you, Flora Harris. If I was as bad as people think, we would have already had sex.’

She was dizzy with need, unable to make sense of what he was saying. ‘But you don’t find me attractive.’

‘No?’ He slid his hands over her bottom and pulled her into him so that she felt the hard ridge of his arousal pressing against her. ‘What I really want to do right now is strip you naked and take you hard and fast until we’re both so exhausted that neither of us can move. And then I want to do it again. And again. Do you understand me?’

She gave a little whimper of shock and his eyes darkened.