Her voice was shaking and she realised she had backed up against one of the comfortable beds. The frame was jabbing into her lower back.
‘What are you doing?’ she exclaimed as Dante tried to take one of her towels away.
‘You can’t have a massage while you’re wrapped up like a mummy,’ he pointed out.
‘I’m sure the masseur will tell me when to lose them,’ she protested, taking a step to one side.
She frowned as she watched Dante pick out a bottle of massage oil from the selection on the shelf. ‘Shouldn’t we wait for the masseur to do that?’
And then the penny dropped. Dante had no intention of calling a masseur.
Bolts of alarm stabbed at her chest. She couldn’t do this. She had gone along with it up to now to allay his suspicions, but this was as far as she could go. It had to stop.
‘Get on the couch, Karina.’
Her mind was racing as she tried to find a way out of her predicament.
‘Okay,’ she agreed finally. ‘But we do this my way.’
Dante’s stare was dark and amused. That was how she planned for it to stay.
‘This starts with you,’ she said firmly.
His brow creased as he looked at her, and then his lips pressed down with amusement. ‘I have absolutely no objection to being dominated.’
‘Good,’ she said lightly. ‘Now we’ve got that settled, would you like to undress and lie down?’
All that was left was for her to instruct her heart to continue beating and breath to enter her lungs.
Dante had absolutely no worries about exposing his body to her and Karina hid her blush as he deftly stripped off his shirt and jeans. Turning towards the robes she’d noticed hanging nearby, she grabbed one and put it on over her towels before dropping them to the floor. Dumping them in a wicker basket marked ‘Laundry’, she belted her robe and an oil to use on Dante, choosing sandalwood—sultry, spicy and perfect for him. Warming it between her palms, she tried not to let her gaze linger on his powerful body, which was now stretched face down on the couch, awaiting her attention.
He shifted position impatiently. ‘When you’re ready...’
‘I thought this was supposed to be our chance to relax? What’s your hurry?’
‘We’ve both got work to do,’ he growled.
‘Thank you for reminding me,’ she said dryly, and with a deep breath she began, but not before she’d draped a towel over his taut buttocks. If she couldn’t see them she would be able to resist feeling them beneath her hands!
Dante tensed the moment her hands touched him. She hadn’t expected that. She hadn’t expected the muscle memory in her fingers to hold such an acute recollection of the play of muscle beneath his skin. Her breathing quickened when he groaned with pleasure. She was obviously doing something right. Applying more pressure, she allowed herself to enjoy his silky heat. His body was hard and muscular, and there were sinister ink whorls on his powerful back and on his biceps. The staggering width and strength in his shoulders, tapering to a lean waist, reminded her how she’d felt when he’d loomed over her.
He was built to scale, she remembered, her mind going back to that night. Thinking about such things was easy and safe, but actually doing anything like that again was another story; a story that was lost in the darkest part of her mind...
‘Giving up already?’ he demanded.
She swallowed convulsively, caught in the act of an extremely erotic thought. ‘Of course not.’
She grew in confidence and Dante relaxed. Leaning over him, she threw all her weight into the massage, kneading his knotted muscles until they softened. She had plenty of time to think about the man she was getting to know all over again. Before she’d come to his ranch she’d had a vague idea that he would live in solitary splendour with an army of servants to do his bidding, when now she knew that nothing could be further from the truth—
‘Is that it?’
She was startled to find Dante sitting up and staring her in the face.
He shrugged and swung off the couch when she didn’t reply, tucking the towel she’d covered him with around his waist. ‘Your turn now,’ he said.
She flinched back as he stripped away the linen sheet he’d been lying on and replaced it with a clean one. ‘Well?’ he prompted. ‘What are you waiting for?’
She couldn’t move. She was filled with dread, but if she made him wait he would become more suspicious than ever. If she did as he asked, he’d see what she had been trying to hide from him.
She’d gone too far to get out of it, she decided, and her back was a safe zone. Unbelting her robe and slipping it down her shoulders she climbed up on the table and made sure she was lying on her stomach. Nervously, she waited—and tensed when Dante moved the robe down further but still covering her buttocks.
She relaxed as much as she could—which wasn’t much at all—and remained on full alert when he moved away. She couldn’t see what he was doing and the anticipation was killing her. The first touch of his hands nearly sent her into orbit. It delivered shockwaves to every part of her body. Her nipples pebbled, her breath quickened, and her body moistened, though she had contracted like a sea urchin flinching from a touch.
Sensing she was super-wired, he soothed her with long, firm strokes. Dante had always been the master of pleasure, and he knew just which muscles to work. He began at her shoulders and worked his way down her body with wicked skill. She was annoyed with herself for responding so eagerly, but all it took was a few short minutes and it was as if his hands had lifted the tension out of her, allowing her body to respond and soften, allowing her troubled mind to forget. Turning her face into the sun-bleached sheet, she inhaled deeply as she allowed herself to enjoy the experience of having Dante work her body. It was impossible not to progress her thoughts to that other night, and that deeper pleasure when she’d been in heaven, or somewhere very close.
When he stopped she almost cried out with disappointment, and only relaxed when he drizzled more oil on her back. The oil was warm and Dante’s touch was soothing, and very soon the last of her tension had seeped away. Turning her head, she risked a glance at him, and saw the warmth and humour in his eyes.
Humour had always been her undoing where Dante was concerned. It was his most lethal weapon. She turned her face back into the sheet again, smiling. Humour was personal between them. It brought them close, and had done since they’d been young. She thought again about the night of the party, when Dante and her brother’s friends had teased her as a matter of course. She’d given back as good as she’d got, accusing them of being more use to a horse than a woman and then not much use at all. They had laughed and drifted away...all except Dante.
‘Don’t you trust me, Karina?’
‘Sorry?’ She was confused for a moment as the past and the present clashed.
‘I asked you to turn over,’ he repeated.
‘Onto my back?’ The consequences of doing so destroyed her relaxation at a stroke.
‘Unless there’s another side of you I don’t know about?’ Dante murmured to himself.
Grabbing for the towel he presented her with, she covered herself and sat up. ‘That was great. Thanks. But I’m done.’ She was already swinging off the table. ‘I need another shower,’ she explained. ‘I’m covered in oil—’
Breath rushed out of her as Dante scooped her off the couch.
‘Where are you taking me?’
‘Where I should have taken you from the start.’
He was striding down the gym. Panic overwhelmed her and she stiffened like a board. A surprised breath shot out of her when he set her down outside the door. Balling his hands into fists, he slammed them into the wall on either side of her face.
‘What’s wrong with you, Karina?’ he gritted out.
Apart from her
longing for shadows to hide in, or a door to slip through, did he mean? All out of options, she turned her face away from his.
‘Don’t hide from me,’ Dante ground out, and cupping her chin he forced her to look at him.
‘What’s wrong with you, Dante? Do you find it so hard to believe that there’s a woman in this world who can resist you?’
‘You know that this has nothing to do with sex.’
‘Do I?’
‘And if it were, is that so terrible? I’ve seen the way you look at me. Either you’re lying to yourself or you have a problem, Karina. Which is it?’
Firming her lips, she refused to speak.
Letting her go with a frustrated sigh, he stood back. ‘I give up. Get dressed.’
Pulling away from him, she stalked angrily back to the changing room, where she found her clothes and tugged them on. She didn’t care about her appearance or her hair. She just wanted to get away—away from Dante and his scrutiny, and his questions.
But he was waiting for her on the other side of the door. Slouched on one hip with his hands dug into his pockets, he leaned back against the wall. ‘Before this project forced you out of the shadows, you were hiding away in your brother’s hotel.’
‘Hardly hiding,’ she argued. ‘I was working for my living.’
‘Living life vicariously,’ he continued, as if she hadn’t said a word. ‘Arranging other people’s big occasions. Making other people happy, and making a name for yourself into the bargain. I think that was a side benefit you hadn’t expected.’
‘Any more words of wisdom or can I go?’ Drawing herself up, she looked past him.
‘You do a good job, I don’t deny it,’ Dante continued unperturbed, ‘but the fact that you were so good brought you to everyone’s attention, which I imagine was the last thing you had in mind—especially when it brought you to my attention.’
‘You are one arrogant—’
‘You have a gift for organisation,’ he said, talking over her in a low, intense voice. ‘You cast your fairy dust on every party or event, but then your carefully constructed house of cards came crashing down when I walked back into your life. You couldn’t ignore your secrets then, could you, Karina? For years you’ve done everything you could to avoid me, but now I’m back. The one person you should have confided in is back, and you won’t get away with silence now.’
Huffing out a frustrated breath, she shook her head firmly. ‘I have nothing to tell you.’
‘You’re a liar.’ He pushed his face into hers. ‘You never used to be a liar, Karina. So, what’s happened to change you?’
‘You,’ she said icily. Her passion had soared way past the danger level, and caution had gone out of the window as they confronted each other unblinking. ‘You think you know so much about me—but did you also know that I was a virgin that night?’
‘Deus!’
She had the satisfaction of seeing Dante’s look of horror, but little else. She was ashamed of herself for telling him that way. She had never meant to use it as a weapon, and on her birthday night she hadn’t wanted to stop him. She had wanted to go the whole way with Dante, and had set out to do just that. Dante hadn’t taken advantage of her. She had taken advantage of him.
‘If this is this the truth, Karina, why didn’t you tell me?’
‘Why didn’t you ask?’
‘You—’ Dante broke off to rake his hair in the familiar gesture that made her feel guiltier than ever, for springing something else on him that he couldn’t possibly have known. ‘Why, Karina?’ His eyes were black with emotion.
‘I thought you’d laugh at me if I told you.’
‘Laugh at you?’ he demanded incredulously.
‘We didn’t have that type of relationship. We were friends. I was a tomboy—one of the gang. You were always bragging about your conquests, all of you.’
He gave a short laugh. ‘I didn’t make love to you because you were one of the gang.’
‘We were both wild that night—reckless.’ Her mouth dried as she remembered. ‘That’s how we were—how you expected me to be. I didn’t want you to think I was...soft.’
‘It isn’t soft to be a virgin. It’s a life choice, and one some people stick to because it suits them.’
Shaking her head, she disagreed. ‘Don’t make me out to be some sort of saint when I was stupid and naïve. I wanted you. I wanted a magical end to my birthday. I didn’t think any further than that. And it was special—for me at least. It was everything I’d ever dreamed of and so much more. But then you sent me from your bed and I was devastated. How do you think I can trust you now?’
‘I made a mistake,’ Dante admitted. ‘You were savvy and smart, and we moved with the same wild group. You seemed to know it all. You were so beautiful that night and I wanted you. There seemed no point in waiting once you made it clear that you felt the same.’
‘If you’d known I was a virgin, would it have made a difference?’
‘Honestly?’ His lips pressed down as he thought about it. ‘No, not if that was what you had wanted. But I would have been more careful with you.’
He groaned as he thought back to a night of hot, hungry passion when a go-slow had never been on the cards. ‘I wanted you for all the wrong reasons. You were like a flame, drawing every man at the party towards your heat, and I had to have you. I had to claim you to show everyone you were mine.’
‘And then you had to discard me?’
‘And then I came to my senses,’ he argued. ‘I tried to save you from myself—a man who was nowhere near ready to settle down. I know you were trying to pretend you were someone else that night, and you’re doing it again. You won’t tell me what’s hurt you, because you think you can tough it out on your own. How’s that been going for you so far, Karina?’
‘Let it go, Dante. Our lives have moved on.’
He shook his head. ‘You carried my child. You’re my friend—or you used to be. You’re Luc’s sister. Choose any reason you like, but that makes you my concern whether you want to be or not. You can’t hold this poison inside you for ever or it will rot you from the inside out.’
‘Let the past be!’ she exclaimed. ‘I don’t need anyone to rescue me, especially not you. I’ve done okay and I’ll do even better in the future. Yes, I was wild and, yes, I got pregnant, but when I lost my baby I knew my wild days were over for good, and there was only one way back, which was to have a purpose in life. Only then could I find my way forward again. You’re wrong about me hiding away in Luc’s hotel. I went after a career with the same single-minded determination that I went after you that night.’ She dashed her tears away impatiently. ‘And if our baby had lived, I would have done everything I could to be a good mother.’
‘You don’t have to convince me. I know that’s true. But we’re talking about then, and this is now, Karina. Let me help you. It’s not a sign of weakness to reach out, and if you’re in trouble, please, trust me enough to help you make it right.’
‘You can’t,’ she said flatly, withdrawing like a wounded animal into her burrow.
‘Deus, Karina! How are we going to work together if we can’t communicate on any level?’
‘This conversation has nothing to do with my work, and my personal life has nothing to do with you.’
‘It has everything to do with me,’ Dante argued fiercely. ‘If someone I care about hurts, I won’t turn my back on them.’
She shook her head and stubbornly refused to change her mind. ‘In my case you’ll have to make an exception.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SHE GLANCED LONGINGLY towards the ranch house.
‘Yes, you should go,’ Dante agreed. ‘Why don’t you just give up and go home? I’m sure you can find a replacement to organise the polo cup.’ He shook his head with annoyance.
‘I’m not going anywhere until I’ve finished this job,’ she said firmly.
Dante shook his head. ‘It’s not that easy, Karina. That decision is no longer yours to make. Either you tell me what you’re hiding or you can leave.’
‘You’re threatening me?’
Dante remained silent.
‘I have one week left. In that time I’ll draw up my initial plans. The rest I can do from Rio. I’ll tell you everything you want to know—’
‘When will that be?’ Dante asked harshly. ‘Will you tell me to my face? Or will you text me on your way home? Perhaps you’ll remember to send me an email when you get back to the safety of Rio. Why should I believe anything you say, when you stun me with the news that you were a virgin that night—horrify me with the fact that you lost our baby, and then hold back on this? You’re not a woman I recognise, Karina. You’ve become a stranger to me.’
Stung and shocked by Dante’s coldness, she fired back at him, ‘And you’re a man without a heart—a man who pushes everyone away except strangers, because they never get too close, do they, Dante? You bring people to your ranch and do so much good work on the projects, but by your own admission you don’t know the name of a single person you help. You’re more damaged than I am. You were hurt as a child and you still bear the scars of your father’s contempt. You shy away from relationships. You’re frightened of love. You’re frightened to lay yourself open to hurt again.’
‘I’m not frightened of anything!’ His laughter was cruel as if he meant to hurt her.
‘Prove it!’ she challenged.
Driving his mouth down on hers, he did exactly that, kissing every rational thought from her head. Numb with shock for a moment, she felt his need as her own and kissed him back. Matching his passion, she fuelled it, knowing she had driven him to this. They had driven each other to the extremes of what it was possible for either of them to withstand.
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