Gary shrugged and grinned before stepping back into his spot. “Can you blame me for checking her out?”
Lexie flushed to the roots of her hair. Glancing around at smiling faces, she finally dared a glance at Dominic, only to discover he had moved closer, his dark eyes intense upon her, despite the humor in his voice.
“Perhaps, like a good schoolmaster, I should remove you from temptation. Why don’t you serve?” Dominic handed the ball over and took Gary’s place beside Lexie.
“The view’s pretty great from back here, too,” the cocky voice answered.
Lexie was constantly amazed at how different Dominic was with the people who worked for him. There was nothing of the unapproachable stranger. The respect and affection he engendered was constant and impressive. The people of Poseidon worked hard, but they worked as a team.
“Serve the ball, Gary.”
“Party pooper.”
Lexie laughed, and Dominic’s head swiveled her way. The look in his eyes stole her breath.
She jerked her gaze away and concentrated on the game.
The action was fast and furious—and fun. Lexie began to see that part of what made Poseidon great was its people, their dedication to excellence, whatever they did. They played as hard as they worked.
Her hands stung from the impact of the ball, but she was getting better. She’d missed too many, but Dominic was always there to cover. Their team was ahead until Bradley joined the other side.
He glared across the net at her, and abruptly she remembered his hand gripping her arm, his anger at finding her with the geeks, even though he’d given her access. What was his problem with her?
He served the ball as hard as Dominic, and it rocketed straight toward her. She knew she could never return it, but her feet wouldn’t seem to move.
Dominic threw himself in front of her just in time, spiking the ball so it could be returned, but because Lexie hadn’t moved, he unbalanced her, and they both fell to the sand.
Dominic rolled quickly to take the brunt of his weight from her and pulled her close.
Time froze as she lay half-sprawled across his hard body, every cell in her body wanting to inch closer, to plaster herself against him.
She jerked up, but his hand at her back held her captive for a second, plenty long enough to feel his body’s reaction to their nearness.
The heat of the day, the fire of his touch…Lexie was dizzy, dry of mouth, unable to breathe. Unable to think, as those dark eyes held her in thrall.
“You all right, Lexie?” someone asked.
The team crowded around them, and Lexie sprang to her feet. “I’m fine.” Her vision grayed and she swayed slightly.
Dominic steadied her. “Come with me,” he commanded. “You have been out in the heat too long.” He pulled her off the sand and reached as though to pick her up. She took an awkward step to the side.
He dropped his hands. “Please. Sit under the tree. I will bring you water.” All playfulness had vanished; his voice turned formal again.
“I’ll be fine—” But she was talking to his back.
Lexie walked to the shade, sank to the grass and dropped her head to her bent knees. She was in over her head.
In just moments, she felt him even before she heard him approach.
“Here. Drink this. I have also brought a damp cloth.”
It would be cowardly to remain curled up against her legs, right? But oh, how she wanted to hide.
Almost as much as she wanted to be near him.
Oh, Max. I don’t want to believe Dominic knew.
She felt a cool dampness slide over the nape of her neck and shivered. Her nipples rose, her every sense aware of his nearness.
“Lexie, drink this. Please.”
Though it went against every grain of sense, she lifted her head to find his own very near, his breath whispering across her cheek.
Ebony eyes studied her, troubled and weary. He was so alone, even in the midst of this crowd of people who admired him so.
His head moved toward hers a fraction, and she stopped breathing. Stopped thinking, caught in a moment of exquisite longing for a state of grace she’d experienced only once.
In this man’s arms.
Her eyelids began a slow descent as his mouth neared hers.
“Lexie, are you all right?” Mrs. Murray rushed toward them.
Lexie jerked back. Dominic straightened, cursing beneath his breath.
“Oh—I—” Mrs. Murray halted, glancing back and forth between them. “Perhaps I should—”
Dominic handed Lexie the glass, his face a stone mask of reserve. “It’s all right, Mrs. Murray. If you would care to sit with her a moment, I will see to a few details.”
Without a glance backward, he walked away, his long strides putting distance between them.
“I’m sorry, Lexie. I didn’t realize—”
Lexie squeezed the older woman’s hand, still shaken by how close she’d come to casting away every concern but how badly she’d wanted him to kiss her. “It’s fine. Dominic was only being a good host.”
Mrs. Murray, ever the soul of discretion, didn’t argue. But her eyes betrayed her doubts.
Dominic made it halfway across the recreation area, cursing himself soundly, before he noticed where he was. He stopped, hands on hips, and exhaled a great gust.
So much for his holiday from reality. If Mrs. Murray hadn’t come up, he’d have had Lexie on the ground beneath him, lost in his fury to protect her, to seal her, to mark her as his.
Damn Gary for noticing that tempting backside. Damn Bradley for playing rough. Damn every man here for wanting her. She was his.
But she could not be, not until he could prove her innocent. He was not so lost in lust that he couldn’t see the danger of trusting the wrong person. The wrong woman. It was an early lesson he’d taken too long to master.
He wanted to smash something with his fist. He wanted to fight, to rail against the fates who dropped a woman like that in his life at the very worst time—and made it impossible for him to know whether to trust his heart or his mind.
Then he heard her laughter. And sighed. What would it take to free him from the spell she’d woven?
What would it take to wipe her out of his mind?
Six days. In six days, the gala. In seven days, he could have her out of his life. He wouldn’t have to see her every day, have to hear the laughter she gave to everyone but him. Wouldn’t have the constant reminder in the smiles she left behind on the faces of everyone she met.
Then he could concentrate. He could redouble his efforts to eliminate the threat to Poseidon. He could give his sister more attention when his own wasn’t so frayed.
Seven days.
A lifetime. And at the end, what would he have?
His life back, an orderly, controlled life. Not a tomboy in sight.
Damn it.
The laughter rang out again, and he followed its music. Lexie rode the carousel, a dark-haired toddler in her lap. She sat the wooden horse easily, smiling at the child whose relaxed posture indicated total trust.
She would be an incredible mother. Dominic could so easily picture the nursery Lexie would create, a magical kingdom to make a child as imaginative as she was. The small dark head nestled between her breasts, and Dominic was seized by a powerful image—his own dark-haired child, carried in that woman’s body.
He went hard in a rush. Even more dangerously, longing swept through him like a storm. She could be a traitor, he reminded himself. A spy. There was nothing sensible he could do but wait.
And try to stop wanting her.
Chapter Seven
He could be a thief, Lexie thought as she glimpsed Dominic a while later, surrounded by employees all vying for the attention of the man responsible for this remarkable company. Women preened for him here much as society ladies had done at the Starlight Ball. Men respected him, admired him, sought out his counsel. Was he a charlatan, a power monger, or the man who’d wiped
grease from her cheek?
She itched to confront him, to get it all out in the open.
Don’t you dare jeopardize your contract with them, trying to be my champion. But Max didn’t understand how badly she needed to know. Lexie was caught between loyalties, between her dearest friend and the man she could not seem to forget. She wanted choices she didn’t have.
She entered the ladies’ room in search of a faucet, as much to cool the cauldron of her mind as to splash her sun-warmed skin. When she entered, she heard voices and readied herself to be friendly when all she really wanted was refuge.
Then the words sank in, hasty whispers.
“I’m telling you that Mr. Stafford blew up at one of the temps over nothing at all, and even the boss is looking worried. My friend Janine in Accounting says there’s a problem, that the company’s in trouble.”
“Poseidon is steady as a rock, girl. What kind of foolishness you listenin’ to?”
“My husband and I just bought our first house. If I lose my job—”
“Get on with you—that ain’t gonna happen. Anyway, Lightning Quest is coming out real soon, and we gonna be rollin’ in the bonus money. I hear it’s the hottest thing ever to see the market.”
“Then tell me why the boss told us to double-check every badge, every day. Something’s wrong, I’m telling you. I’ve never seen him so worried.”
“He ain’t never let us down before, and he ain’t gonna do it now. You just ain’t been here long enough, girl. I been here practically since the beginning. This company been through rough times before. That man don’t get scared. He pulled rabbits outta the hat before, he can do it again.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Why you think everybody believes that man walks on water? ’Cause he always comes through.”
Lexie heard the stall doors open and quickly shuffled back to the outside door, her mind whirling.
Poseidon was in trouble?
She didn’t need anyone to tell her that the devotion of Dominic’s employees was returned full measure by him. Hadn’t she watched him all day, surrounded by people who considered him a hero? She’d watched him accept their regard with no puffed chest, no monster ego, just a quiet acceptance of his role as the pillar on which the phenomenal success of this company rested.
If the company was in trouble…if the success of Lightning Quest was that important…
How far would Dominic Santorini go to safeguard the well-being of all these people?
Lexie sank back against the wall. Here, at last, was a reason she could believe. She’d fought the image of Dominic, even cold as he’d seemed, being a man who would pay any price for ambition. Oh, he was ambitious all right—no one who wasn’t could have created the powerhouse that was Poseidon out of nothing.
She’d read up on him since they’d met and knew the story now—how he’d started with only the money from selling his car—and his formidable intellect and will. He’d gathered a group of people together and kept them all going on a shoestring budget, literally working out of the garage below his tiny apartment.
With a combination of killer hours and fierce determination, he’d created a company that now employed several hundred people, with billions of dollars in sales worldwide. And he’d done it and still commanded the affection of his employees, who seemed to be his extended family.
So if his back was to the wall and all that was threatened, how far would he go to protect them? It made an awful kind of sense, eased her mind a little that she had not been so wrong about the nature of the man who had stolen his way inside her heart on that magical night.
But it didn’t excuse what might have been done to her dearest friend. And she still didn’t know what to do.
Perhaps it was time to go. The party was far from over, but her energy had run out. Head whirling, she began to work her way through the crowds, trying to find the path to the parking lot.
She passed through a grove of trees, wondering what drew the crowd she could see gathered in the open area past the horseshoe pit. As people moved, she caught a glimpse of two figures in some sort of combat.
A fight? Surely not. Everyone at Poseidon seemed to get along so well. She shook her head and kept going, but when she reached the right flank of the group, she glanced over and stopped in shock.
Dominic was one of the figures. Lean runner’s legs, strong bare feet, arms flexing with ropy muscle, he towered over Josh Logan.
And aimed a kick at the boy’s head.
Lexie gasped, then realized he didn’t make contact.
She frowned and moved closer, trying to understand what was going on. “What is this?” she whispered to her nearest neighbor.
“Boss is teaching Josh martial arts.”
“He knows martial arts?”
“Oh yeah, honey. You should see him and Mr. Stafford go at each other in the gym. They’ve been training together for years. Both are real gung-ho about it—that’s how he gets all those muscles, that and running every day.”
She watched Dominic stand next to Josh, murmuring in low tones, one hand on the boy’s shoulder. Josh’s adoration shone clearly in his gaze. Then Dominic turned and saw her. For a second, he hesitated, an odd look on his face, his gaze seeming to bore right through her.
Then Josh looked over and spotted her. He waved, a self-conscious grin on his face. “Mr. Santorini, he’s showing me how to defend myself.”
She resisted the urge to shrink back into the crowd. “That’s good. What are you learning?”
Josh’s face lit. “Want to join us?”
Lexie stepped back. “Oh, I don’t think I—” Around them, people began to clap and urge her forward.
“Come on, Ms. Grayson. It’s not hard—well, not the first part, anyway.”
She hazarded a glance at Dominic. He gave nothing away, his usual mask firmly in place.
“Come on, I’ll show you what I just learned.” Josh moved closer. “See, hold your arms like this.” He demonstrated. “Now come at me and try to hit me in the chest.”
“Josh, I can’t hit you.” Lexie didn’t think she’d ever hit another person in her life. “I don’t like fighting.”
“This isn’t fighting, Ms. Grayson. This is self-defense.”
“I don’t care. I’ll take my chances at talking my way out of trouble.” She grinned, backing up another step.
She came up against a hard chest and jerked as if she’d touched a hot stove. Whirling, she realized that Dominic had moved behind her.
Ebony eyes she’d never forget seemed to see down into her soul. “Sometimes one has no choice. Talking is not always an option.” He moved a step closer, his very presence making the air around them shimmer with heat and memory. “Allow me to show you a few basic moves.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t think so.” She’d never minded the limelight but right now she was painfully aware of all the attention upon them. “I’m not really the physical type.”
Dark eyes raked her, and she might as well have been naked. “I beg to differ.”
She backed up a step. “Why don’t you two go ahead? I’ll play like I’m a girl and just watch, all right?”
The people around them chuckled.
“I thought you did not like being treated differently because you’re a woman.”
In the midnight depths, she saw a pirate. Remembered a hot Sunday afternoon.
A hotter Sunday night.
Lexie swallowed hard. “Depends on who’s doing the treating,” she answered tartly, rewarded by another round of laughter.
Dominic studied her, and suddenly she was back in her swinging bed, feeling his hard, powerful body, knowing his exquisite touch. Swept away on a tide of rapture so intense she could barely breathe.
He broke off the glance and turned to Josh.
Released from the spell, Lexie’s knees turned to mush.
“Remember, Josh,” he said, but he looked back at her. “Do the unexpected. If your opponent expects resistance, do
the opposite.” He held up one hand, closed into a fist, then released it. “Give way. Melt, do not force.” Grip, relax. Grip. Relax. “It will upset your opponent’s balance and give you the advantage.”
“Yes, sir,” Josh replied, but Lexie was left trying to figure out if there was a message there for her.
He was never what she expected.
Dominic turned away and focused on the boy, ignoring her completely as he continued to demonstrate.
Lexie took his advice. She melted. Into the crowd, away from his very disturbing presence.
As she neared the pavilion, she heard the music. Normally Lexie loved to dance, but right now, dancing was the furthest thing from her mind.
“Hey, Lexie, come join us. Know how to line dance?” Bob’s eyes sparkled.
She shook her head. “I’m not really into country music.”
“You like to dance, though, right? Girl with your bubbly personality’s got to love to dance.”
Lexie shrugged slightly. “Usually, but maybe not tonight. I think I’d better go.”
His eyes rounded in horror. “You can’t leave this early—the party’s barely getting started. Come on, just one dance, okay? If an old geezer like me can learn to do it, a pretty young thing like you surely can.” He leaned over and whispered like a conspirator, “Besides, rumor has it they’re doing the Chicken Dance next.”
“No way.” The Chicken Dance had roots in the German communities surrounding Austin, but she’d never done it.
Bob lifted his hands. “Would I lie to my new friend? Come on, Lexie, live a little.” Behind his carefree manner, she saw the widower trying to learn to live again.
So she relented. “All right. One dance.”
“One dance and the Chicken Dance.”
She grinned. “It’s a deal.”
Dominic did not dance. He could, and often would, when necessity called, but he barely remembered a time when he had danced for sheer pleasure—
As Lexie danced now.
And Dominic watched, unable to keep his eyes from her.
Watching was enough. Almost enough.
Texas Magic Page 10