Sinfully Summer: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

by Aimee Duffy

  Ric ran a hand through his hair. The elevator doors opened and he ushered Alexa in, giving him a second to think about how to reply. She winced and stumbled on her heels. Grabbing her by the waist, he carried her to the far corner so she could support her weight on the bar.

  ‘Turn around,’ he ordered.

  She did and held onto the metal bar with both hands. He sunk to his knees and lifted her left foot. ‘What are you thinking trying to walk in these ankle breakers?’ Shaking his head, he unbuckled the strap and slid it off. He almost rubbed the soles, but remembered his earlier comment. Rubbing her feet would surely give her more ammunition.

  ‘They’re gorgeous. Do I need any more reason than that?’

  ‘I’m sure if you asked your chiropodist, he’d have a few.’

  Alexa’s lips quirked as he removed the other heel. ‘Like I said. I’m twenty-three, not forty.’

  Ric straightened and handed her both shoes. She accepted them with a smile that swiftly morphed into a scowl. ‘People like me?’

  ‘Alexa, you’re irresponsible, childish and in the papers every other week. To say you have a less-than-stellar reputation would be an understatement.’

  Alexa’s grin disappeared. With both hands planted on her hips and the shoes dangling from her fingers, she glared at him. ‘I’m not childish.’ Unable to help it, his brow rose. ‘I’m not. Just because I don’t want to settle down, or turn into a boring old fart doesn’t mean I’m immature. I know how to act at your stupid functions, I do it for my own business, but in my free time I do what makes me happy.’

  The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. He exited then turned back when he didn’t hear her follow. ‘Do you need me to carry you again?’ Ric put his arm against the door to stop them closing.

  ‘I’m going back to my room to soak my feet.’

  She didn’t meet his gaze this time; instead she looked down at the shoes in her hands. Had he hurt her by calling her childish? Honestly, if he were accused of any of the things he’d said to her, the less-than-stellar reputation would have pissed him off the most. Her public antics didn’t seem to faze her at all.

  ‘Later. We need to find a way to work together without tearing each other to shreds. Come on.’

  Alexa met his gaze, defiance etched in the firm press of her lips. ‘Not a chance.’

  Scratch hard work, the woman was impossible.

  ‘Don’t make me drag you out, Alexa.’

  Her eyes widened and her shoulders squared, but she pushed passed him into the corridor. Following, he watched her try to hold back a wince as her toes curled against the carpet with each step. The progress to his office was slower than it should have been. Regardless of his earlier denial of attraction, Ric couldn’t deny his curiosity about how smooth and firm those endless legs were. Like a man on the edge of a cliff, he feared it would only take a slight breeze to push him over.

  His blood was at boiling point by the time they reached his office, but his anger had evaporated. Memories of Alexa sprawled over his desk, eyes swirling with confused lust and completely at his mercy made the pulse in his groin more prominent. She paused at the door, but didn’t enter. Instead she wobbled down the hall to her room.

  Ric let out a relieved sigh and followed her. At least he wouldn’t have the distraction of the memory of Alexa on his desk for this conversation. He had to be firm, find a middle ground so they could focus on what was important. Then he could relax knowing the ball was going smoother than everything else. There was no way he’d let his ludicrous attraction to the young beauty overwhelm him.

  Every small step Alexa took across the cold floor of the office felt like she was walking on spikes and fire. Not that she’d ever admit that to Ric. The shoes were fab and made her legs look sexy, but they weren’t made for dancing. She placed the gorgeous creations on the desk and sunk into the chair he had assigned her earlier, exhaling a breath when her weight shifted onto her bottom.

  Ric frowned at the shoes on the mahogany desk. ‘That’s bad luck.’

  Alexa sniggered. ‘Didn’t peg you for someone who listened to old wives’ tales.’

  The frown didn’t leave his forehead, but his lips twitched like he fought a smile. God forbid he allowed himself to. He may crack that flawless tanned skin.

  He sunk into a chair at the opposite side of the desk. Alexa didn’t know how he managed it, but the air seemed to suck out of the room and his presence was the only focal point. She tried to breathe evenly. Showing weakness when she had to hold her own against him was hard enough. She couldn’t let him see how much he affected her loony hormones.

  ‘We have to win over some respectable members of society, not to mention find an appropriate venue. I expect you to be more reasonable when I ask you to do something and have the maturity to know that you shouldn’t be out drinking until this hour when we have a meeting arranged for early the following day.’

  The words were so similar to those her father had thrown at her for years. She had to bite her tongue against the petulant retort she’d thrown at Robert every time he’d told her to grow up. Ric didn’t have a trust fund to threaten to withdraw if she didn’t obey. But he hadn’t asked anything completely unreasonable so far. That included his request for coffee, but she wasn’t his PA and wouldn’t cave to those demands. Better to start as she meant to go on. Getting up ridiculously early was bad enough.

  ‘When you ask me to do something involving the ball, I’ll do it, but I’m not your slave.’ He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. ‘Once my friends go home, there won’t be any more late nights. But you have to be reasonable, too. I’m supposed to be on holiday. I promise to be discreet and keep out of the news.’

  Before she’d started her company, Together, she had never worried about what the papers printed. If she continued to do as she pleased she’d never get the clientele she needed to give Robert the trust fund back. At the moment it was her last resort back-up. Then maybe it wouldn’t feel like she was his possession, like he owned her.

  Ric’s frown hadn’t smoothed out. ‘Fine, but if something comes up I expect you to do what needs to be done. Trust me, if Lydia hadn’t left me when I have so much going on, I would have found someone else.’

  Ouch. First his accusation of her childish behaviour and now this. She squared her shoulders and pulled her expression into Robert’s dead-pan glare. ‘Working with you wouldn’t be my first choice either.’

  One side of his mouth pulled up. Alexa’s heart stuttered. She had to remind herself every time he smiled that he was really a blackmailing git. An arrogant man who lived his life for work. A man who she shouldn’t even have on her hot-totty radar.

  ‘Yet it seems we’re stuck with each other.’ The half-smile disappeared and she had the urge to kick herself at the disappointment. ‘How about you just…behave how Lydia would for the next month and we call a truce? It will make both our lives easier.’

  ‘Make your life easier, you mean.’

  Amusement sparkled in his eyes and she knew she was right. Pressing her lips together, she fought the urge to scream her frustration. Ric wasn’t the kind of man to back down. He was a younger, hotter version of her father with just the right amount of arrogance to pull it off. That thought alone should put her libido on ice.

  ‘It will be easier for us both.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘What were you doing out until this time?’

  Alexa grinned. ‘Dare number two.’

  He eyed the top half of her body with his jaw taut. ‘Flaunting your body in public this time?’

  The icy question had her chin dropping. He couldn’t think she was that bad. ‘No. It was Jenna’s turn tonight.’

  His posture relaxed. Alexa wondered why he would be angry at her for flashing others anyway. He’d made it clear he didn’t want her and she had told him she wasn’t interested. So what if she did run the length of Marbella in her knickers? Then she remembered. Stick-up-his-ass Ric was all about respect. If he took her to a function to ne
twork and half the room had seen her naked they wouldn’t take her seriously.

  ‘Do I get to hear what the dare was?’

  The smile he threw her way made her silly hormones leap with joy. She had to get out of there. Now. Before she did something daft on this desk. Alexa rose and tried to hide her wince by placing both hands on the table.

  ‘Not a chance,’ she told him, forcing a grin onto her face while her feet felt like they would crack under her weight.

  Ric rose and scowled down at the hands supporting her. ‘Try flats tomorrow.’

  She nodded, not willing to argue when her feet hurt this much. It would be a shock if she could even fit them into pumps in the morning. Still, when she glanced at the Jimmy’s on the desk, Alexa knew she’d happily take the pain again if it meant wearing something so pretty.

  He rounded the desk and offered her his elbow. She took it gladly and tried to shift as much of her weight as possible onto him. Snatching up the shoes in her free hand, she hobbled to the door and down the corridor with Ric supporting her.

  He hit the button and the doors opened. After helping her in, he stepped back out. ‘I guess you’ll have to wear the navy suit tomorrow again. One more day shouldn’t kill you.’ He grinned.

  As the doors began to slide shut, Alexa couldn’t hold back. ‘Yeah, like that’s going to happen.’

  His scowl was the last thing she saw. She smirked and leaned back against the cool pole. They’d been shopping and she now had a new conservative wardrobe for her time in Marbella. Alexa had checked his schedule for the month and it was packed with ‘mortuary’ gigs and non-fun. Still, she was doing this for her business and herself. She could bear the penguin-suited functions and her silly craving for Ric’s hot body. Now all she had to do was forget the sight of that chest.

  It couldn’t be too hard. After all, he had the personality of an accountant.

  Chapter Five

  ‘Purple?’

  Alexa’s skin prickled at the sound of his husky, accented voice. She kept her gaze focused across the road, firmly on the ocean, refusing to turn back to face him until her heart slowed enough to think around the blood pounding in her ears. It was ridiculous the sound of his voice affected her like this.

  Ric offered his elbow and she had no choice but to make eye contact. She nearly swallowed her tongue at the amusement tilting his lips. With as little sleep as they had, he looked fabulous whereas she had circles under her eyes to rival a panda.

  ‘Beats navy,’ she answered and slid her hand through the crook of his arm.

  Like a gentleman, he led her down the marble steps to the waiting limo. All she knew from Ric’s curt phone call to her suite at seven this morning was that the owners of the yacht would meet them in a speedboat in the harbour, so she’d sensibly opted for a dark purple knee length dress. It was tight enough not to blow up in the wind and expose her flesh. But standing next to him in flats made her feel like one of the seven dwarfs—Sleepy at the moment.

  Ric waited until she scooted over and he slid into the seat beside her. She was hit again by his intoxicating smell, but this time she was prepared. Scooting closer to the opposite side, she rolled down the window and leaned her head against the frame.

  He eyed her curiously. ‘Do I smell that bad?’

  Maybe if she closed her eyes and couldn’t see him, the mortification would go away. ‘No, my stomach’s queasy.’ Which was also true, but she could handle that.

  His laugh shivered through her and she was glad when the car pulled away from the road. Alexa made herself focus on the reason they were there. ‘Tell me more about the owners.’

  ‘Two American men own the yacht. Justin is planning to take Mark on a European tour as a second honeymoon in a month or so, but they have to return to the States for work before that.’

  ‘They’re married?’ He nodded. ‘I’m glad I wore Prada.’

  He chuckled again and she made the mistake of not looking away. When he let loose like that his face relaxed and he looked young, carefree and even sexier. She turned back to the window to look out at the tourists setting up on the beach for the day, wishing it was her.

  ‘We have to convince them to trust us to take care of their boat while they’re in the States. Justin is very attached to it.’

  Alexa nodded and shut her eyes. Yawning, she shifted until her weight rested against the inside of the limo. Functioning on so little sleep was tough, especially without coffee. Even her body’s reaction to the infuriating Spanish hunk next to her couldn’t keep her alert today.

  A hand shook her shoulder a second later and she snapped her eyes open. ‘What?’ She scowled at Ric.

  His warm smile made her heart stutter. ‘We’re here.’

  Stunned, she turned to look out the window and caught sight of two men a few yards down the beach near the harbour. She couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep. Scowl still in place she turned to glare at Ric. ‘You could have woken me sooner, now I’m going to be fighting the cobwebs in my brain to concentrate on the conversation.’

  He frowned at her. ‘If you’d gone to bed at a reasonable hour, this wouldn’t have happened. Don’t mess this up, Alexa.’

  He abruptly left the limo and a jolt of anger chased away the rest of the sleep from her brain. If he hadn’t blackmailed her to begin with, she wouldn’t be in this position at all.

  Alexa left the car and followed Ric across the beach. The two men were blonde, tanned and toned all over. They both had oodles of sex appeal in their swim shorts. The best men were always either gay or married. She sighed. Not that she was looking, but if she was these two wouldn’t have been on her no-way-in-hell list. Anyone who’d buy a yacht this huge and sail around Europe for a second honeymoon couldn’t be boring.

  Ric introduced them and she shook both Justin and Mark’s hands. They winked at her and she grinned.

  ‘Wow, this will be the first time we’ve had a proper celebrity on Madame Dior,’ Justin said to Mark.

  She was about to ask who the celebrity was when Ric jumped in. ‘I assure you, Alexa will be on her best behaviour.’

  Oh. They’d meant her. She fought the urge to curse Ric out. Two days ago he’d said he hadn’t known who she was, now all of a sudden he was defending her against behaviour he had claimed to know nothing about. Git wasn’t strong enough an insult.

  ‘We’re not worried about that, just excited. The old girl hasn’t seen anyone other than our families.’ Mark linked his fingers with Justin and smiled.

  ‘Really?’ she asked. The boat was huge, more like a cruise ship than a private vessel.

  Justin nodded. ‘And we’re really sorry, but we have a meeting in an hour at the other side of the city.’

  She noticed Ric’s shoulder’s tense. ‘That’s okay,’ Alexa assured them before grumpy Castillo could make an appearance. ‘We can come back another time.’

  Mark shook his head. ‘That’s not what we meant. There are two boats here. Ric, you used to race speedboats right?’ At Ric’s nod, he continued. ‘You should be able to get you both there and back. Justin and I will give you a quick tour and leave you to check the place out. If it’s what you two are after, you can give us a call later.’

  Ric nodded, his gaze flashed to hers and away so quickly she swore she imagined the unease there.

  ‘You raced boats?’ she asked. If her mouth hung open a little, she didn’t care. Ric, stick-in-his-ass appearances-are-everything raced speedboats. She knew he had been involved in extreme sports, but she’d always figured it would be the dullest kind.

  Justin chimed in. ‘He was one of the best, too. They have a tournament here every summer and four years ago he won.’

  Ric shrugged. ‘I haven’t raced since then.’

  She wanted to ask why not, but shut her mouth in time. The answer shouldn’t interest her. He was who he was now, and the more curious she got the more dangerous he was to be around. They were organising a party together and at the end of it they’d both go their sep
arate ways.

  ‘I bet on you that year,’ Mark added with a grin. ‘Won enough to take this dude over to Italy for the weekend.’

  Alexa guessed that might have something to do with them renting out their love boat for a ball they had no interest in. Ric smiled at Mark, but his shoulders hadn’t relaxed.

  ‘We better get going or we’ll be late,’ Justin announced and led them down to two speedboats next to the harbour.

  After a quick tour of the deck, Mark and Justin left him alone on their yacht with Alexa. She’d been quiet on the ride over. Maybe still trying to wake up, like she’d said. She looked thoughtful, though. He wished the men hadn’t mentioned his speedboat racing stint.

  The boat was bigger than it looked from the shore. Justin had boasted an ability to host almost two hundred guests on this level alone. There was a glass room in the centre, sporting a huge bar and toward the back was a stage that would be perfect for the band they’d booked.

  Ric had a good feeling about the place. Raising money for the charity was important, there weren’t enough Marias and Antonios to save all the children without homes, and having the ball here would attract the rich and curious.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked.

  ‘Honestly, I can’t picture you racing a boat. I’d thought that would be too much fun.’ The corners of her lips tilted, but her face looked too pale.

  ‘I meant the boat, Alexa.’ Curiosity shone from her eyes, but he wasn’t going into his crazy adolescent behaviour with her.

  She looked around again. ‘There’s enough room for a decent sized party.’ The boat swayed on the waves and she grabbed the railing for support.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Her face had taken on a shade of green and sweat beaded on her brow.

  ‘I think I need to visit the bathroom.’

  She had motion sickness, either that or the effects of the alcohol she’d drunk the night before were catching up with her. Ric sighed heavily and darted a glance around the deck. There was no bathroom in sight.

  ‘Let’s try a level down.’