CHAPTER TWELVE
‘I THOUGHT the plan was for you to look over my proposal.’
Leo looked across at the frosty woman holding onto the railing on the pool deck as if it were the only thing keeping her alive.
‘And we will. But first there is a magnificent sunset to enjoy and an even better dinner to eat.’
‘I’m not very hungry.’
‘You didn’t eat lunch.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘My chef makes it his mission to inspect each plate that is returned. He pays particular attention to the full ones.’
‘I wasn’t hungry then either.’
‘And the sunset?’ ‘What about it?’
‘You haven’t disparaged the sunset yet.’
Her lips twitched at his attempt at humour. ‘I’m working up to it.’
Leo smiled. After their tense meeting in his office earlier he’d decided there was no way she would be sleeping alone while she was on his yacht but that perhaps he needed to make up for his earlier behaviour and woo her a little. Not that she was making it easy in a fitted blouse and short summer skirt that drew his eyes to her shapely legs and made him want to lay her across the elegantly set table beside the pool and have his wicked way with her. Frankly, polite conversation was the last thing he felt like right now!
‘Work up to it while we eat,’ he suggested, gesturing for her to take a seat at the table. She eyed it as if it were a guillotine and he hid a smile. She was a definite challenge and one he was surprised to find he didn’t mind rising to.
‘I think someone must have misinterpreted your intentions when they set this table,’ she murmured almost to herself.
Leo glanced at the gleaming silverware, crystal glasses and a centre candle waiting to be lit. It was a romantic setting and just as he’d ordered.
‘It’s not to your liking?’ he asked as he held out her chair.
She sat, but was careful not to brush up against him. ‘It’s a touch intimate.’
‘Not for what I have in mind.’
She met his eyes sharply as he sat down opposite her. ‘Which is?’
‘Let’s eat first. I always find I argue better on a full stomach.’
Lexi laughed despite herself and told her heart to stop its unruly fluttering.
‘Would you care for wine tonight?’
She needed something to ward off the charming man opposite her and nodded up at the waiter holding two bottles in his hand.
‘Red or white, ma’am?’
‘White. Thank you.’ She watched as her glass was filled with sparkling wine and realised she was finding excuses not to look at Leo lest he see how affected she was by the sight of him, the golden rays of the dying sun turning him into a bronzed god. His blue eyes were brilliant in his tanned face, his muscular legs accentuated by the low-riding denim jeans, the sexy casual top … Jeans? Since when did he wear jeans? And why, oh, why, did he have to look so good in them?
‘You’re wearing jeans!’ She knew she sounded accusing and took a fortifying gulp of wine to hide the gauche comment.
He looked down at himself. ‘You don’t like them?’
No, she didn’t like them—she loved them.
‘You don’t normally wear them to a business meeting.’
He smiled. ‘How’s the wine?’
Lexi recognised that he was changing the topic—again—and noticed his own glass had been taken away.
‘You’re not drinking?’
‘I don’t drink alcohol.’
She gazed at him and wondered if he recognised that his decision to abstain from alcohol was just another way he was different from his father and scolded herself for still trying to find things about him she liked.
The waiter returned with a plate of tempting seafood and, despite her misgivings, Lexi found the whole dinner to be sublime. The chef delivered a six course menu degustation of light seafood and vegetarian dishes that couldn’t help but imbue a sense that all was well with the world.
Lexi flopped back in her chair and eyed the man opposite her in the flickering candlelight, the quiet evening only broken periodically by the slap of a fish as it broke the surface of the sea, and the soft lilt of jazz music that played through the yacht’s complex sound system.
Leo seemed relaxed as well and surprisingly the conversation had flowed easily. He’d told her a little about his travels and his business and had asked her plenty about her own, getting her to explain some of her ideas about where she wanted her business to go. She’d felt a little self-conscious at first but he’d proven an avid listener and was one of the few people whose eyes didn’t glaze over when she went on and on and on about her passion. Whenever she was out with Aimee and this happened her friend would slice her hand dramatically across her throat to let her know when she was boring the pants off her listener.
‘I don’t think I told you that you look extremely beautiful tonight. I like your hair down.’
Lexi’s heart lurched in her chest and she told herself to calm down. He was paying her a compliment, nothing more.
She stared at him and did her best to feel composed but he was like a sublime male animal relaxed back in his chair, his eyes intent on her face, making her think about how he had looked as he’d risen above her last night and entered her body. How he had felt in her hand. Big … almost impossibly big.
‘Nothing to say, angel, moy?’
My angel, he said. But she wasn’t his and never would be and maybe that tiny hint of wishing it otherwise meant that she’d had just a little too much wine.
‘Maybe—’ she cleared her throat ‘—we should just get on and look at my proposal.’ She made to get up and collect her laptop from the sofa she had dropped it onto when she’d first come out on deck but he waylaid her with his hand on her forearm.
Lexi stilled as his thumb brushed across the underside of her wrist, tingling sensations causing goose bumps to rise up on her skin and a shiver to ripple all the way down her spine.
‘What’s the rush?’
The rush was that she was becoming seduced by the balmy night, the candlelit table, the soft music, the wine, the man … Oh, boy, the man!
‘Come. Dance with me.’
‘Leo, I can’t do this.’
‘Sure you can. You stand in the circle of my arms, put your hand in mine, and then you let me lead.’
He smiled wolfishly and she gave a short laugh. ‘Very funny.’
He stood up and came around the table towards her. ‘Let me show you.’
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. ‘Leo, don’t. I can’t think straight when you touch me.’
His smile was one of pure male satisfaction. ‘You know the secret to a man’s heart.’
‘I don’t think it’s your heart that’s affected by that comment.’
His arm came around to the small of her back and he started moving her in time with the music. ‘Maybe not my heart, but another major organ is definitely involved.’
‘Only a man considers his ego a major organ,’ she said loftily.
He laughed and Lexi felt as if some foreign being had invaded her body and switched off her brain. What was she doing flirting with him like this? He didn’t want her. And, even if he did, could she sleep with him again without being swamped by her insecurities? And did she want to? No …
‘Leo, please … don’t play games with me.’
His eyes narrowed and she looked away. ‘Someone hurt you. Someone other than your father.’ His quiet concern made her stumble and he gathered her even closer against him, her heart pounding out a litany that was totally out of time with the music.
She felt ridiculously safe in his arms—which was like saying a bunny was safe with a wolf—but did she feel safe enough to talk about Brandon?
She hesitated and remembered all that he had told her the night before. ‘I was younger and he was immature—I was too, I guess. We met at university, in the library, and he was persistent. It wasn
’t till later that I found out a couple of his friends had made a bet that he couldn’t get me into bed … We were intimate a couple of times but … sex has never been my forte and he soon found someone else.’
Someone else to take her place before he’d even told her their time together was over!
Leo swore. ‘He was your first lover.’
Brandon had been her only lover besides him. Not that she was going to tell him that.
‘Lexi?’ He stopped moving and took her chin between his finger and thumb and forced her eyes to his. ‘He was your only lover.’ The statement was made with quiet conviction and she cringed.
Oh, God, was it so obvious? ‘I never knew nights on the Aegean could be so balmy,’ she announced cheerfully as she tried to pull her chin away to look out over the sea.
He tightened his grip, his eyes boring into hers. ‘He made you feel inadequate?’
Finally the man asked a question. And if she could be more embarrassed she didn’t know how. ‘Can we please talk about something else?’
‘Lexi, you are the most beautiful, sensual woman I’ve known and last night was …’ He hesitated. ‘Moy bohze, I get hard just thinking about last night.’ He swore softly. ‘I get hard just thinking about you!’
Lexi was shocked by the vehemence in his tone. ‘Is that unusual?’
Leo groaned. ‘Angel, that’s unheard of for me. But I can see you’re having trouble believing that and I’m sorry for my contribution in making you feel that way. Whatever that jerk said to you, I can guarantee he was speaking of his own inadequacies, not yours. This morning I was an ass and … Angel, you take my breath away. I thought that was obvious.’
His voice resounded with raw emotion and Lexi felt years of angst and uncertainty fade into the atmosphere. ‘Not to me,’ she said huskily.
Leo made a growling sound low in his throat and a thrill of excitement shot through her blood. ‘Then it’s time I did something about that.’
He drew her slowly back into his arms and tilted her chin up so that she was looking at him. ‘I want to make love with you, Lexi. I want to pleasure you and banish whatever negative memories your first lover erroneously planted in your beautiful head once and for all.’ He swallowed heavily. ‘Tell me you want that too.’
Lexi’s breath caught and she stared at him. Emotions bubbled up inside her and her mouth went dry. How did someone resist an invitation like that, knowing what was likely to happen next?
They couldn’t.
At least she couldn’t. Maybe it was time to stop thinking so hard about the future and to just live in the present. She knew he still had secrets but she wasn’t looking to marry the guy. This was just … well, she didn’t know what this was other than another night in the arms of a man who made her feel fantastic about herself.
Banishing her doubts and deciding to take a chance, she raised her eyes to his. ‘Yes.’
He expelled a rough breath as she placed her hand in his and let him lead her to the corner of the deck to a white sofa, wide enough to encompass ten people with room to spare. He moved back from her and leaned against the side of the boat, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes enigmatic in the light cast by the moon and a few well-spaced down lights. ‘Take off your blouse.’
Lexi stood before him and let out a ragged breath of her own, self-doubt tightening her throat. But then she saw the fierce hunger shining in his eyes and it just seemed to melt away. It was time to reclaim her femininity and she realised that was what Leo was helping her to do.
And rather than feeling inadequate, she felt excited. Sensual. Thrilled.
Lexi stepped back and held Leo’s gaze as her fumbling fingers worked the buttons down the centre of her blouse. When she was done, she slowly shrugged out of it and goose bumps rose up over her skin as Leo’s gaze dropped to her breasts. The night was cool, but she knew her nipples were pointed because of the way this man was looking at her more than the temperature of the air.
‘Now the bra.’ His voice was thick and as slumberous as his eyelids.
Lexi reached behind her and unhooked her bra. She crossed one arm over her breasts and let one strap fall to her elbows and then the other before cupping her hands over both breasts, feeling even more empowered as she saw his nostrils flare. She held her hands in front of her like some practised courtesan and his eyes cut to hers. ‘Drop it.’ She held her breath and did as he asked, not sure what to do with her hands as he stared at her.
So maybe not such a great courtesan after all …
He was so still as he looked his fill of her it was almost unnatural and, as if she’d done this a thousand times before, she arched her torso slightly in his direction in silent supplication. Last night she had worried that he would find her too small, now she felt as if she was without equal.
His eyes dropped to her legs. ‘Lose the skirt.’
Lexi’s lower body flooded with warmth at his rough command. She didn’t know how it was that he turned her on so completely but her body was ready for his, even though he hadn’t touched her yet—this striptease seducing her as much as it was him. Feeling sexually charged, she ignored her skirt and bent forward instead, hooking her fingers around the edge of her black silk knickers and, making sure that her skirt didn’t ride up, she let them slide to the floor. Then she slowly straightened, running her hands up her legs as she did so. Enjoying the way his breath hitched at her provocative movements.
She tilted her face up and studied the fierce intensity lighting his eyes, which looked almost black in the dim light. She didn’t think she’d ever wanted anything more than she wanted to make love with this man right now and she stepped forward into his personal space.
‘Your turn.’
She watched him take a deep shuddering breath and then he ripped his beautiful top up over his head, one of the seams tearing loudly in the still night.
‘You really need to have more respect for clothing,’ Lexi teased, releasing a shuddering breath as his hot hands reached out and spanned her waist. He tugged her forward one more step until there was barely a breath separating them and then his eyes connected with hers. ‘I’m not in the mood to be gentle.’
She trembled and her own hands rose to spread out over his impressive pectoral muscles, her gaze drinking in the bronzed perfection of his chest and the sexy line of fuzz that bisected his abdomen. ‘Neither am I,’ she said on a rushed breath.
Her words seemed to release him from some dream state because he groaned and pulled her roughly in to him, her breasts scraping pleasurably against the hair on his chest as he lifted her to his mouth. She let out a long, low sound as he found her peaked nipple and suckled her firmly, her arms winding around his neck to clasp his head.
‘Put your legs around my waist,’ he growled against her aching flesh.
She did as he asked and Leo bunched her short skirt higher, his fingers digging into the soft globes of her bottom. She was the most exciting woman he had ever known and he couldn’t get enough of her.
He delved into her wet heat and he nearly came apart in his jeans as she writhed against him and opened readily to his intimate touch.
‘Bohze, Lexi, you’re so wet.’
‘For you. Only for you,’ she murmured against the side of his neck.
Groaning, he laid her on the soft sofa behind them with one hand and released the zip on his jeans with the other. She clung to him, her hands on his face, in his hair, her voice one soft continuous moan against his lips. He positioned himself at her entrance and was about to surge deep when her hands stopped their urgent exploration and he felt her stiffen.
‘Leo. Protection.’ Her voice was a breathless whisper close to his ear and it took him a moment to focus enough to digest what she had said.
Then he cursed. ‘Damn. Are you on the Pill?’
She shook her head and a lick of unease spiked in his brain when he realised just how close he was to losing control. He never trusted women with contraception.
Cursing
again, he fumbled around in the sagging back pocket of his jeans for the condom he’d put there for just this purpose.
‘Hurry up, it’s getting cold down here.’
Leo smiled down at her. ‘Now we wouldn’t want that happening, would we?’ He sheathed himself and shifted between her splayed thighs and leaned over her. ‘Lie back,’ he ordered gruffly, running his hands over her creamy torso and tweaking her nipples as she reclined fully, her dark hair rippling on the pale cushions.
Leo held her gaze as he moved into position and then, unable to extend the anticipation any longer he pushed into her in one slow, powerful thrust.
She made a low keening sound and closed her eyes and so did he. She felt like heaven. Her body so tight. So slick. So soft.
‘Leo, oh, God.’ Her torso arched off the sofa as he plunged in and out and set up a fierce rhythm.
He felt his climax building too quickly and tried to contain it but for once he couldn’t. The erotic image of Lexi splayed out before him, her breathy moans of pleasure …
‘Lexi.’ It felt as if her name was wrenched from some place deep inside him. ‘Come for me, angel, I can’t …’ He grimaced, sweat beading his brow as he concentrated on giving her pleasure and, just when he thought he couldn’t hold back any longer, he felt the telltale contractions as her orgasm hit and he let go in a rush, throwing his head back and practically baying to the moon in ecstasy.
It took forever to come back to earth and steady his heartbeat, the aftershocks of what they’d shared weakening his whole body till he could barely lift himself off her.
He rose up onto his elbow and looked down at her, spread out under him, sated, replete and as comatose as he felt, and he felt his chest constrict. Unnamed emotions rolled through him, seeking purchase, and he buried his face in the side of her neck, not wanting her to see just how much their lovemaking had affected him. Like last time, the instinct to flee gripped him and then her soft hands drifted over the sweat cooling on his back and he felt instantly calm. ‘I think I like it rough,’ she murmured, planting soft kisses along his hairline.
His Last Chance at Redemption Page 13