Salazar's One-Night Heir

by Jennifer Hayward

  She nodded. A play of emotion moved through those beautiful eyes. “What you said about trust... I have trouble trusting because of what happened with a previous relationship of mine. I was engaged to a man named Davis Hampden Randolph when I was twenty-three—of the banking Randolphs. My father does business with him.”

  He tipped a brow. “An arranged match?”

  She shook her head. “I was mad about Davis. I was about to marry him and move to Savannah when I found out weeks before the wedding he was mad about his mistress too—he just wasn’t going to marry her.”

  Shades of his father. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “That must have been difficult.”

  A shadow whispered across her gaze. “I was a political choice for him. Funnily enough, when I gave him the ring back, it turned out I was the last to know.”

  His stomach hollowed out. He knew that humiliation. Had watched his mother go through it more times than he could count. And he, he had not made the situation any better by deceiving Cecily, then walking away.

  He curled his fingers around hers. “I promise I will never hurt you like that. You will get honesty from me but never pain.”

  Her chin dropped. “Every time I’ve invested myself in someone in my life I’ve gotten hurt, Alejandro. Melly, Davis, losing my mother, my father’s lack of caring...” She shook her head. “I know this is a practical thing between us—exactly as I was for Davis. That we are doing this for our child. But I need to know if I put my trust in you, that trust is inviolate. That you are willing to invest in us too.”

  He almost laughed at the unnecessary nature of the request. He’d been invested in her from the beginning—far more than he ever should have been. He thought it might be that extreme vulnerability of hers—how it tapped into a part of him that remembered all too vividly what it felt like to be at the mercy of the world. To have those who should have protected you fail in their promises.

  It made him wonder about Sebastien’s analysis of him. If perhaps he was capable of more with Cecily because he did care about her. Maybe that, he ventured, was what he could offer her beyond the love he couldn’t give her. He could be the one person who never let her down. Who taught her she was worthy of that promise.

  He set his gaze on her. “I am invested,” he said quietly. “I’ve always been invested. I proposed marriage between us because I thought it could work, because we are good together. Because you have many of the qualities I admire in a woman, not just because you are having my baby. But you need to believe it can work too, Cecily. You need to trust me again.”

  She nodded. “I’m learning to. But there’s only so many of these landmines I can take and still do that, Alejandro.” She arced a brow at him. “Is there anything else I should know? Because you should tell me now and not later.”

  “Yes,” he said silkily, running a finger down her cheek. “I have a date with Antonio at the shooting range in twenty minutes. Which means you have time to rest up for our date tonight and find a sexy dress to wear, because we,” he added deliberately, “are picking up where we left off last night, querida. No distractions, no manufactured dramas and no interruptions.”

  Her eyes widened. He lowered his mouth to hers, giving in to the lush temptation in front of him. “And if Stavros comes knocking,” he murmured against her lips, “I swear I will kill him with my bare hands.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  CECILY HAD NEVER been so nervous in her entire life. She had changed her dress three times while Alejandro had showered and shaved after his shooting date with Antonio and still she wasn’t convinced she’d made the right choice.

  Champagne with a definite hint of pink, the sultry dress hugged her body like a glove, plunging at the neckline to show off the curves of her breasts, dipping in to highlight her tiny waist then flaring out over the full line of her hips. Very Marilyn Monroe, she’d thought as she’d purchased it on Madison Avenue last week. Sexy as Alejandro had requested. But was it too much?

  “Oh, no,” murmured Calli as they stood under the elegant marquee set up on the Waldenbrook grounds. “You look like an angel. A very wicked angel. Alejandro can’t pick his tongue up off the ground.”

  Her gaze slid to her fiancé who stood speaking with Sebastien and Antonio. He looked gorgeously sophisticated and untouchable in a black tuxedo, dark hair slicked back from his face. As far removed from the man she’d met in Kentucky as it was possible to be. And yet tonight she was sure she knew him. That she’d always known him. What was terrifying was what that meant.

  The night she’d spent with Alejandro in his cabin had been a forbidden assignation with no consequences attached to it. Tonight there were so many consequences involved her stomach was doing backflips.

  She was about to place herself in the hands of a man she hoped wouldn’t shatter the last piece of heart she had left. To fully trust him as she hadn’t yet let herself do because she needed to in order to make this marriage work. For the child they were going to have.

  That didn’t mean it wasn’t terrifying. Because it was. Keeping that level head she’d promised herself was going to be key, banishing those feelings she still harbored for him to restricted territory, except keeping a level head was almost impossible to do as the man in question executed a subtle seduction over dinner in the beautifully set up marquee.

  Seated with Stavros, Calli, Antonio and Sadie at one of the round tables dressed with white linen, candles and fresh roses, it was all she could do to keep her mind on the conversation with Alejandro’s eyes and hands on her the entire evening in an orchestrated campaign meant to drive her mad.

  Her composure was in shreds by the time they got up to dance, Sebastien and Monika kicking things off. The Englishman and his wife had eyes only for each other, the deep love they shared patently obvious. It led to dangerous thinking on Cecily’s part. If Sebastien, once a confirmed bachelor, as steadfastly opposed to marriage as Alejandro had once been according to Monika, could change so much with the right woman, perhaps Alejandro could too?

  And that, she castigated herself as Alejandro took her hand and led her onto the dance floor to join Sebastien and Monika, was the kind of thinking she needed to avoid if she was going to survive this relationship.

  Heart hammering in her breast, pulse beating so fast she felt like she was in a drag race, she allowed him to pull her close, his fingers wrapped around hers, her head tucked beneath his chin.

  Their fit was so perfect, so right, it sent her spiraling back to that night in Kentucky when he’d held her beneath the stars. When she’d given up fighting the attraction between them because it was simply too powerful to resist.

  His heart beat a steady, staccato rhythm beneath her ear. A sigh left her lips.

  Alejandro drew back, his gorgeous, inky black eyes glittering with amusement. “Are you all right, querida?”

  “Fully recovered,” she murmured, “from this afternoon at least. This campaign you are waging has me distinctly on edge.”

  The grooves on either side of his mouth deepened. “You seduced me last time. Surely turnabout is fair play?”

  “I seduced you...the operative words. I knew what I was doing then.”

  “And now?”

  “Now I have no idea what I’m doing.”

  “Yes you do,” he said softly. “You know this is right. Why so nervous, angel?”

  “Because,” she whispered, so caught up in him she was a lost cause, “it was...magical.”

  His gaze darkened. Tightening his arm around her waist, he brought his mouth to her ear, his stubble rasping the sensitive skin of her cheek. “I will make it magical. Trust me.”

  She melted, her insides dissolving into liquid honey. He pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot behind her ear, sending a shiver through her. She arched her neck to give him better access, tiny bolts of electricity exploding across h
er skin as he tasted her with an open-mouthed caress.

  “Oh,” she said, jolted out of her reverie. “That’s odd.”

  “What?”

  “Sadie just walked off the dance floor.”

  He straightened, his gaze flicking to Antonio who stood at the side of the dance floor, looking a little dazed. “That is odd.”

  She watched Sadie hurry toward the house, her heels sinking into the grass. She stopped, removed her shoes, then ran the rest of the way, stilettos hanging from her fingers. As if she couldn’t move fast enough.

  “Should I go after her do you think?”

  “No.” The curtness of Alejandro’s tone claimed her attention. The banked fire in his eyes held it. “No distractions, no drama and no interruptions,” he said meaningfully. “Let them handle it.”

  Her stomach curled. When the song ended, her fiancé had a quick word with Sebastien and Monika, wrapped his arm around her waist and walked her across the lawn toward the house. Her heels kept sinking into the grass just as Sadie’s had. Pulling to a halt, she bent and tugged them off.

  Alejandro increased his pace, Cecily half running to keep up with him. When they reached the cobblestoned walkway he swung her up into his arms and carried her up a set of back stairs she hadn’t even known existed.

  “Could be glass,” he said blithely.

  “You just like carrying me,” she teased.

  “Yes,” he agreed, “I do. And it gets us there faster.”

  She clung to him as he walked down the hallway toward their suite. Outside their room, he paused and shifted her weight to open the door. She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing his mouth down to hers for a kiss. The hot, open-mouthed caress was wild and delicious, sizzling the blood in her veins.

  Muttering an oath, he broke the kiss. She made a sound of protest, twining her fingers tighter into his hair. He ignored her, turning the handle and carrying her inside.

  His eyes were like burning coal as he set her down. “Stavros already thinks I’m out of control when it comes to you.”

  “And are you?” she asked archly.

  “Not yet,” he murmured, walking her backward until she collided with the hard surface of the wall. “We are, after all, on the other side of the door. But there’s still time yet.”

  Oh, my. Her shoes clattered to the floor as he buried his fingers in her hair and kissed her—slow, drugging caresses that made her sag weakly against the plaster. Good Lord the man knew how to kiss. How had she even resisted this?

  Lost in him, in the wild scent of pure, aroused male, she obeyed when he nudged her legs apart and stepped between them. Heat in the air, so thick she could taste it, she gasped as he settled his hips against hers, imprinting her with a hot, hard masculine demand she could feel right through the fabric of his trousers.

  “Alejandro,” she whispered.

  Palming her thigh, he pressed his thumb to the hollow where hip met leg and spread her wider apart. She flattened her palms against the wall as he thrust against her with a slow, erotic focus that stole her breath.

  Dark, sensual eyes met luminous blue. “You want me, angel? I want to hear you say it.”

  Her tongue seemed glued to the roof of her mouth. He moved closer, resting his hands on the wall on either side of her, letting her feel every hard, pulsing inch of him.

  “You’re punishing me,” she breathed.

  “Sim,” he agreed. “I can’t focus. I can’t think anymore for wanting you. So say the words, querida. End this.”

  She closed her eyes. Rested her forehead against his chest, bones too weak to hold her. “Make love to me, Alejandro,” she whispered. “I want your hands all over me.”

  He picked her up and carried her to the massive, king-sized bed with a speed that made her dizzy. Sitting down with her on his lap, he ran his thumb over her trembling bottom lip before he took possession, his kiss a shimmering, sensual meeting of the mouths that promised only exquisite pleasure.

  Her skin felt cool as he slipped the straps of her dress from her shoulders and pushed it down to her waist. Bare under his gaze, body vibrating with tension, she felt her nipples harden in blatant invitation. The lust in his eyes as he drank her in coiled her insides tight. Her heart slammed in her chest as he bent her back over his arm and sampled one rosy tip, then the other, the erotic flick of his tongue, the hard suction of his mouth driving her wild.

  She moved restlessly beneath him. Lifting his mouth from her flesh, he set her on the bed, stretched her out like a feast for his consumption. Her eyes were glued to his as he placed a warm hand on her thigh, pushed her dress up to her waist.

  “Alejandro.”

  “Shh.” His big palm scaled the taut, trembling skin of her abdomen. “We’re both wound up. I’m going to give you some relief first, meu carinho. Make you feel good. If I take you now, it won’t be good for you.”

  She could almost guarantee it would be, but she wasn’t about to argue when he sank his fingers into the sides of her panties and stripped them off. Her teeth dug into her lip, palms went damp as he pushed her thighs apart with gentle hands and settled himself in between them.

  She tensed as he slid his palms beneath her hips to lift her up.

  “Let me,” he murmured, breath hot against her most intimate flesh.

  And then there was only the delicate slide of his tongue against her overheated, aching body. Light so light, it was just enough to tease, to make her crazy. She arched into his touch, a desperate plea on her tongue. Deeper he delved, his sensual, leisurely enjoyment of her as he stroked and tasted her making it clear he loved to do this to her.

  It turned her on to watch. Made her crazy. She cried out when he closed his mouth over her sensitized flesh and sucked gently. Shoved a fist in her mouth as she absorbed the waves of pleasure that rolled over her. Slow and languorous at first, they gathered in intensity as he consumed every centimeter of her as if he couldn’t get enough.

  She begged him hoarsely for relief. He captured her swollen nub between his teeth; razed her sensitive flesh. A flash of white lightning chased through her, fleeting, almost there. And then his mouth was back, the delicious lap of his tongue speeding up in intensity and she tipped over the edge, falling headlong into a shimmering river of pleasure so intense it locked her spine.

  * * *

  Alejandro moved up Cecily’s beautiful body, nuzzling her damp, velvety skin, absorbing the tremors that racked her limbs. He was shaking, so into her reactions he was hovering on the razor’s edge.

  Leaving her bathed in the aftershocks, he rolled off the bed, stripped off his clothes and slid on a condom, his flesh so sensitized, so swollen, he had to grit his teeth to do it. Cecily watched him from the bed, looking so sexy and disheveled, half-clad in the golden dress, having been thoroughly consumed by him, he was tempted to take her like that. Like a fallen angel.

  But he wanted her naked more—all of her lush curves bare beneath his hands. And he knew exactly how he wanted to take her because he’d been dreaming about it for weeks.

  Stepping back to the bed, he wrapped his fingers around hers, drew her up onto her knees and unzipped the back of her dress. Sliding it over her head, he exposed her delectable, hour glass figure.

  His eyes held hers. “I want you on your hands and knees,” he murmured. “Can I have you like that?”

  A flush crept into her cheeks, her eyes huge, glittering sapphires against pale honey skin. There was shock there, yes, but also a deep pulsing excitement that pushed his own higher. Dropping a kiss on her shoulder, he placed her on her hands and knees. She was trembling, anticipating his touch as he joined her on the bed, caged her legs between his and found the sexy hollow of her back with his mouth.

  She arched into his touch with a low moan. His blood fizzled in his veins. Trailing his hand over the slope of her
beautiful bottom, he slid his fingers between her thighs and rubbed at her damp, silken skin with the heel of his hand. A gasp escaped her. He bit down on his lip, leashing the urgent demand of his body as she pushed back against his hand, riding his touch.

  He waited until she was wet and more than ready for him before he covered her body with his; rested his throbbing length in the curve of her buttock.

  It was hot and erotic to have her like this, utterly at his mercy. Her fractured, shallow breathing said she felt it too.

  “Cecily,” he murmured, pressing his mouth to her back, “you with me?”

  She nodded. He ran his hand up the inside of her thigh and widened her stance. One hand on her hip, he guided the crest of his erection to her slick, wet flesh.

  Her breath hitched. “I’ll take it so slow,” he murmured. “I promise you. Trust me.”

  Her body was silken and welcoming, wrapping around him like a hot, velvet glove. It took every bit of his experience, his self-control, to move slowly, allowing her body to adjust to his. Finally, he was buried inside her, hips flush with her buttocks. Tipping his head back, he exhaled. She felt impossibly tight, impossibly good—like heaven on earth.

  “Alejandro,” she murmured, reaching a hand back to him.

  “Shh.” He set a palm against her stomach, anchoring her, holding her in place as he stroked deep inside her. It was more intense for her this way, he could feel it in the tension of her body, in the low sounds she made at the back of her throat. Relaxing as her body melted around his, she met his thrusts with an eagerness that threw all his composure out the window. Shredded his self-control.

  “Angel,” he murmured, flattening his palm against her stomach, feeling the tremors that raked through her. Blood pounded against his temples as he took her hips in a firm grip and stroked into her with hard, soul-shaking thrusts that threw him right to the edge.

  When he reached between her legs to take her with him, she made a broken sound. “Alejandro—”