by Abby Green
When his hand left her breast and his mouth left hers she let out a husky breath of disappointment. She opened heavy eyes to see two dark glittering pools of green and black, swirling with depths that reached inside her and tugged hard.
Cesar’s fingers slid under the strap of her dress, dislodging it. Her heart-rate accelerated. The first tendrils of panic pierced the haze of heat.
‘Cesar... I...’
‘Shh...’ he said, and that hand was busy peeling down the strap of her dress.
As if knowing just how to subdue those faint tendrils of panic, he kissed her again, pulling her under even more. Making her hot, making her need. Making something tight coil inside her until she had to move to try and alleviate it.
When air whistled over the bare slope of her breast Lexie tore her mouth away, breathing hard. Cesar was breathing harshly too. He was looking down, and she followed his gaze to see her breast, its nipple pink and tight and pouting. His hand seemed huge and dark against her pale skin.
‘Dios...you are truly exquisite.’
His thumb moved back and forth over her nipple, making it pucker, grow harder. She bit her lip to stop from crying out at the exquisite feeling. The tightening sensation deep in her belly was sharper. She could feel wetness between her legs, against her panties.
She couldn’t think...couldn’t rationalise. She wanted to know how his mouth would feel on her. Tasting her... His tongue... But something was trying to break through. Sense, sanity...self-preservation?
Cesar pulled away from her abruptly, adjusting her dress at the same time, covering her up, and then Lexie heard it: the insistent knocking on the privacy window. A cold wind whistled over her skin.
She felt completely dazed, and could only watch as Cesar, who looked as if nothing had happened, pressed a button and said a few words in Spanish. He turned back to her, but already shame and embarrassment were clawing up inside Lexie.
An insidious image of his usual lovers inserted itself into her brain. She would bet that he didn’t subject those cool beauties to such sensual attacks in the back of his car.
She pulled the strap of her dress up fully, covering her sensitised breast. Through the window behind Cesar’s head she could see people milling, see the flashing pops of cameras. See security people waiting for them to emerge.
Realisation sank into her belly like a cold stone. Of course he didn’t normally do this. He’d engineered that kiss purely because he’d known exactly how close to Salamanca they were. He’d known they were about to emerge from the car and had wanted to make things look as authentic as possible.
She couldn’t meet his gaze, and tried to pull away when his fingers caught her chin. ‘What?’ she spat out, livid with herself for the dart of hurt that she shouldn’t be feeling. ‘Do I not appear sufficiently dishevelled to make the paparazzi believe we’ve been making out like teenagers?’
He flushed angrily. His accent was stronger. ‘That was not premeditated, Lexie. But now that you mention it...’
Eyes sparking, Cesar covered her lips with his mouth again and Lexie fought him, closing her mouth. But with expert precision and ruthless intent Cesar proceeded to show her just how pathetic her little outburst had been. Within seconds her mouth was open under his and he was bending her head back with the force of his kiss. And she was matching him, her anger heightening the tension between them.
Cesar was losing it. He knew he was losing it. But he couldn’t take his mouth off Lexie’s. He’d never tasted anything so sweet. Or so wicked. The way her lush mouth softened under his...the feel of that body under his hands. Her breast...that hard peak under his thumb... He’d wanted to taste it.
Dios.
Cesar finally pulled back, heart hammering. He did not ravish women in the back of his car. He was cool, calm, controlled.
Right now he felt anything but. He could hardly see straight. His body was on fire.
Lexie was looking at him with huge bruised eyes. She thought he’d done that on purpose. And he had—but not for the reasons she obviously suspected. He’d wanted to make sure there was no ambiguity about how he felt about her.
He cupped that delicate jaw, a little aghast that his hand shook minutely. Her mouth was pink, swollen. He couldn’t help running his thumb across that pouting lower lip, feeling its fleshy softness.
‘Make no mistake, Lexie, I want you...and not just to distract the crowds. You know the truth of what I said earlier. We will be lovers for real.’
CHAPTER FOUR
WE WILL BE lovers for real.
Lexie’s hand was held tight in Cesar’s. She hadn’t had time to respond because the driver had opened the car door. And, as much as she wanted to pull free, right now she needed the support. They’d just run the gauntlet of the press outside. Lexie had felt so raw after those kisses that she’d probably looked as green as an ingenue at her first premiere.
Cesar had seemed as cool as a cucumber. He’d even rustled up a smile. It was galling. Shouldn’t he be the one flinching and snarling?
Lexie finally managed to pull her hand free, once they were in the marble lobby of the very exclusive hotel that was hosting the event.
Cesar frowned. ‘Are you all right?’
Lexie wanted to scream. She felt wild, dishevelled. Not herself. ‘Not really,’ she ground out. ‘I need to freshen up before we go in.’
She spotted the powder room and made a beeline for it. Once inside she found it was mercifully empty and she let out a great shuddering sigh of relief. When she looked in the mirror she nearly lost the ability to breathe again.
Her hair was mussed. Cheeks bright pink, mouth swollen. Eyes huge and glittering far too brightly. Lexie pulled tissues out of the box and started to repair the damage. Damn him. She cursed him roundly. Once again she was floored by how instantaneous his effect on her was and how her body betrayed her every time, jumping gleefully into the fire without any hesitation.
When Lexie was done she surveyed herself again and caught her own eyes in the reflection. There were shadows and secrets in their depths that only she could see. Someone like Cesar could never guess at them. She might be stronger now, but once she’d been utterly broken and had never thought she’d be whole again.
But when Cesar touched her it made her feel whole. It made her forget everything. Forget what had happened to her. There was none of the reflexive instinctive fear that had come when other men had kissed her—even if that had been in the safe environment of a film set.
We will be lovers.
Lexie couldn’t seem to stem the tiny flicker of hope inside her. As inconceivable as it seemed...as unsuitable as Cesar Da Silva was...perhaps he was the one who could repair something in her that she had believed destroyed a long time ago? Just allowing that thought to enter her head made Lexie sway on her feet as a giddy mix of excitement and terror rushed up inside her.
There was a knock at the door, and then, ‘Lexie, are you okay?’
Lexie’s breath jammed in her throat. Her recent thoughts were too nebulous, too scary. She called out threadily, ‘I’m fine. I’ll be out in a second.’
When she did emerge she didn’t like the spurt of emotion at seeing him leaning nonchalantly against a pillar, nor the way his gaze raked her face. He straightened up and just like that her mind started becoming fuzzy again.
She reined herself in with an effort. More people were milling around now, but to Lexie’s relief he didn’t take her hand again. He put it to her lower back instead, to guide her into the main ballroom where the dinner was being held. His touch burned like a brand through the back of her dress.
Lexie didn’t like how aware she was of other women staring at Cesar, of the flurry of whispers that would stop as they grew close only to start up again after they’d passed. It reminded her uncomfortably of what it had been like to walk into
a crowded room after the story had broken about her and Jonathan Saunders.
Cesar guided her to a seat and once she was sitting took his own, beside her. He stretched his arm out behind her, and his thumb was rubbing back and forth across the top of her bare back. Lexie almost closed her eyes as her body responded violently: nipples peaking, belly softening, warmth pooling and spreading.
His voice came close to her ear. Too close. ‘Relax. You look as if you’re about to shatter into pieces.’
Lexie opened her eyes and turned her head, and Cesar’s face was so close she could see the darker flecks of green in his eyes. Green on green—an ocean. She had the bizarre urge to reach up and touch his face, and had to curl her hand into a fist to stop herself.
The line of his cheek was a blade, giving his features that edgy saturnine impression. Something came over her—perhaps the knowledge that she could touch him in public as it would be expected. She lifted her hand and touched his jaw. She felt it clench under her hand and looked at him. His eyes had darkened and something hard shone through their depths. Cynicism.
It made her snatch her hand back. But not before he caught it with lightning swiftness and captured it, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the skin just as he had in the car. It was no less devastating this time.
‘You are quite the actress...’
Before Lexie could respond with some acid retort that might deflect from the fact that a scary poignancy had gripped her on seeing that cynicism, a menu was being handed to her by a waiter and she had to accept it. There was no room for poignancy; she didn’t care if Cesar was cynical.
Lexie stared at the menu blankly for a moment as she regained her composure. Damn the man. Again.
But of course the menu still remained largely incomprehensible to her. Another kind of dismay filled her—especially when she was so keyed up. She didn’t need this particular vulnerability right now.
‘It helps if you turn the menu the right way up.’
His voice was low and gently mocking. Lexie’s hands tightened on the thick vellum as embarrassment washed through her in waves, making her hot. She sent a glare to Cesar, who had that tantalising smile playing around his mouth again.
She turned the menu around but of course that made no difference. She could see the waiters taking orders now and started to panic. With the utmost reluctance she said to Cesar, in a low voice, ‘What would you recommend?’
He glanced at her for a moment and then perused his own menu and said, ‘Personally I’d recommend the quail starter—’
‘Quail?’ Lexie asked, feeling ill at the thought.
Cesar looked at her. ‘Well, there’s a brie starter too.’
‘I’ll have that,’ Lexie said with relief.
Cesar glanced back at the menu. ‘Then there’s a choice of salmon risotto, beef carpaccio...’
‘The beef,’ Lexie said, too ashamed to look at Cesar. Especially when she thought of his multi-lingual lovers who would be well used to these situations.
He said from beside her, ‘Not everyone is used to menus in French—it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.’
Lexie’s own mortification made her lash out. ‘Don’t patronise me, Cesar. I’m not stupid, I’m just—’
But before she could finish a waiter had arrived and Cesar was ordering for both of them. Lexie clamped her mouth shut. Did she have to let every tiny detail of her life out whenever she opened her mouth?
When the waiter moved on Cesar’s attention was taken by someone sitting to his left, and Lexie was facing a table full of people looking at her with varying degrees of curiosity.
To her immediate right was an older woman who leaned into Lexie and said in an American accent, ‘My dear, you’ve quite set the cat among the pigeons, arriving with one of the most eligible bachelors in the world.’
Lexie smiled weakly. To her relief, she discovered that the woman was as charming as she was obviously eccentric and rich, and she regaled Lexie with stories of her ex-pat life in Spain.
Relieved to have an excuse to avoid that green-eyed scrutiny, Lexie conversed enthusiastically with the woman.
* * *
Cesar willed himself to relax for the umpteenth time. The food had been served and eaten. Lexie had managed to spend most if not all that time ignoring him. It was unprecedented. He’d never had this experience with a woman before. And certainly not with one he’d kissed.
When he’d noticed her struggling with the menu, and that she’d had it upside down, a lurch of emotion had tightened his gut. He remembered her story about how she’d got started in the industry, leaving home so young, and presumably leaving school. She hadn’t gone to university. She obviously wasn’t as sophisticated as the women he was used to. And yet there was something refreshing about that.
Just before they’d been interrupted she’d said angrily, ‘I’m not stupid.’ But that was one thing that had never come into his mind. Lexie Anderson had more intelligence sparking out of those blue eyes than he’d ever seen in his life.
With some of his previous lovers Cesar had found himself calling things off purely because of mental exhaustion. It was as if they felt they had to prove to him what worthy candidates they were by conversing in three languages at once, about complicated political systems that he had no interest in. And in the bedroom more than one had been keen to initiate kinky scenarios that had felt anything but sexy.
But with Lexie...every time he looked at her he felt kinky. He wanted to tie her down to some flat soft surface and ravish her.
Perhaps it was due to the fact that when they’d stepped out of the car earlier, to face the press, his body had still been humming with an overload of sexual frustration, but the experience hadn’t been half as painful as he’d imagined. Having Lexie by his side had seemed to mitigate his usual excoriating feeling that the lenses of the paparazzi had some kind of X-ray vision.
When he saw her dining companion get up to leave the table he felt a rush of satisfaction. Now she would have to turn back to him. Cesar wasn’t unaware of the looks she’d been drawing all evening in that provocative dress. She outshone every other woman. Literally. Cesar couldn’t even recall seeing another woman. It was as if she’d blinded him. With lust.
He didn’t like the hot spokes of anger that lanced him every time he caught some man’s gaze sliding to her abundant curves.
* * *
Lexie could sense Cesar beside her. Waiting... Mrs Carmichael had gone to the bathroom and she was ready for his gaze to be censorious for having avoided him so obviously.
Taking a breath, she turned back—and just like that a jolt of pure electricity shot through her belly. Cesar had his hand on the back of her chair again, far too close for comfort. He’d taken off his jacket and his shirt was pulled taut across his chest, doing little to hide that stunning musculature.
He spoke. ‘What I said earlier...before you turned your back on me so comprehensively...’
Lexie flushed and was about to remonstrate, but she knew she couldn’t. She felt like a child.
‘Mrs Carmichael was interesting,’ she supplied a touch defensively.
‘I know Mrs Carmichael very well and she is interesting.’ His lip curled slightly. ‘About the most interesting person here.’
Lexie glanced around at the very important-looking men and women. ‘But aren’t these your friends?’
Cesar all but snorted, surprising Lexie.
‘They pretend to be my friends because I come and bid an obscene amount of money at their auction and then go. The only reason I do it is because I believe in this particular charity and because the money goes directly to the source, rather than via a dozen government agencies.’
‘Oh,’ Lexie answered, a little taken aback at Cesar’s words.
She’d have put him in the same category as many r
ich people who contributed to charity for far too cynical reasons. But this was a worthy charity; it was aimed at combatting sex trafficking—a cause close to Lexie’s own heart. She knew it was not one that was especially ‘trendy’ in the media, so the fact that Cesar was endorsing it had to help.
‘Mrs Carmichael told me about it.’
Cesar picked up a card with his free hand and held it out to her. ‘Here’s a list of items to be auctioned—see if anything takes your fancy.’
His insouciance and his air of almost bored expectation that she would expect to be indulged made Lexie feel bizarrely disappointed. Then the fact that she couldn’t read the card sent a spurt of anger up her spine. Something bitter gripped her.
She whispered angrily, ‘I might not be as intellectual as your usual lovers, Cesar, but you really don’t have to treat me like some kind of bimbo just because I’m blonde and—’
‘That’s enough.’ Cesar straightened up, his hand tensing across the back of her chair, his fingers touching her neck in a very light but subtle admonishment.
She tensed against her inevitable reaction and could have laughed. To all the world they must look besotted. Close together, staring at each other, intent...
She could see in his face that he was surprised at her response. She moved, dislodging his hand slightly. ‘I’m sorry. I overreacted.’
Cesar grimaced faintly. ‘I didn’t mean for it to sound so dismissive or flippant.’
Lexie was once again taken aback by his ability to apologise. Slightly mollified, she said, ‘Maybe I’ll want to bid on something myself?’
To give Cesar his due, he didn’t laugh before he said, ‘Do you know how much the cheapest item is marked at?’
Lexie shook her head. He glanced down and then looked back up, naming a price. She paled and said faintly, ‘I guess I won’t be bidding, then.’
Cesar handed her the card and Lexie took it. She should really tell him—especially if he was going to have her so on edge—that even reading a menu would be a challenge for her.