by Leanne Banks
“No,” she finally said.
“Good,” he said. “Now put on a T-shirt or a robe or something. You’re sending the poor locals into a frenzy.”
She laughed with delight. “Omigoodness, if I believed half of what you say, then I would be convinced I’m the most desirable woman in the world.”
“By the end of this trip, you will be,” he told her and slid his arm around her for the benefit of everyone who was watching. He wanted them to know she was with him. “Any chance you could do something boring like shopping or getting one of those spa treatments women like so much.”
Biting her lip, she looked into his eyes and he felt an unexpected jolt. “Am I making you nervous? Am I making the man who drives race cars for fun nervous?” she asked in disbelief.
“I wouldn’t use the word nervous,” he said.
“Then what word would you use?”
“Let’s just say you’re keeping me on my toes,” he said and gave in to the urge to brush his lips over hers. “I’ll see you after the dinner meeting and my speech. Order anything you want from room service then put on a beautiful dress and get ready for a walk on the beach.”
“What if I didn’t bring a beautiful dress with me?”
“Then go shopping,” he said. “I need to leave. Todd will take you anywhere you want to go within reason,” he added when he remembered the Para-Sailing.
Within minutes, Mallory finished her fruity beverage and went back to the hotel. She’d packed some cute dresses, but nothing she would consider beautiful, so the pressure was on to find something. She showered and left the resort, and Todd took her to several recommended shops. Nothing grabbed her, so she returned to the resort and looked through the shops there.
Surprisingly enough, she found a hot-pink silk halter-neck dress with sparkles at the bodice and a few scattered throughout. The shopping goddess was on her side. The shop had the dress in her size.
She took it upstairs and immediately changed into it. She curled her hair and added a touch of exotic eye makeup and lip gloss. Hungry, but too excited to eat, she turned on the television and sat on the bed.
Thirty minutes turned into an hour. An hour turned into two. Restless and wondering what had held up Alex, she turned off the television and walked onto the balcony. She closed her eyes as the sea breeze brushed over her. The sound of the surf soothed her. If her mind weren’t whirling a mile a minute, the sound would lull her to sleep.
She couldn’t help wondering what she was doing here in Alex’s suite. Yes, the suite featured five bedrooms, four bathrooms, full kitchen, formal dining room and a large living area that offered every convenience imaginable, but she was starting to think she’d lost her mind by joining him.
Inhaling a deep breath in search of calm, she caught a hint of his cologne. She opened her eyes and found him standing in front of her.
“You looked so beautiful,” he said, lifting his hand to touch a strand of her hair. “So peaceful.”
“The sound of the ocean helps,” she said, looking at him, noticing that his tie was askew and his shirt pulled loose. “Everything okay?”
“It could be better. I finished my speech and was leaving the ballroom when my ex came out of nowhere.”
Mallory stared at him in shock. “Your ex?” she echoed. “Which ex?”
He shot her a dark look. “Chloe Renfro.”
“Oh,” Mallory said, recalling a willowy blonde. She felt a stab of jealousy, but refused to give in to it. “How did that happen? Does she live here? Have a place here?”
“No to both. She must have found out about my appearance from someone.” He pulled his tie the rest of the way loose. “I knew she was going to have a difficult time with the breakup, but I never predicted this.”
“You can’t totally blame her for having a hard time getting over you. I mean, if a woman grew accustomed to receiving your undivided attention, it could be pretty difficult when your attention goes elsewhere.”
“I never gave her my undivided attention,” Alex said. “I made it perfectly clear from the beginning that there would be no strings for either of us. Our relationship was not headed for anything permanent.”
Ouch. “I wonder how she knew to find you here.” An uneasy thought occurred to her. “Unless you brought her here another time.” The image tainted the trip for her so swiftly that she tried to push it aside. “But that’s none of my business.”
He put his hand on her arm. “Mallory, I haven’t brought any other woman here but you.”
She exhaled, feeling a trickle of relief. “What did you do about her?”
“I arranged for her to get on a flight back to the States,” he said with a grim expression on his face.
It dawned on Mallory that this was the flip side of the positive attention and adoration Alex received. “Do you have to deal with this kind of thing often?”
He shook his head. “Despite your impression, I’ve grown very selective with my dating partners. Just because I’m photographed with a woman doesn’t mean I’m intimate with her.” He shook his head and shrugged off his jacket. “Enough. I won’t allow this to spoil the rest of our evening.”
She watched him pull off his socks and step into a pair of canvas shoes. He extended his hand to her. “Ready for that walk on the beach?”
She smiled slowly and accepted his hand. “Sure, let’s go.”
They took the elevator down to the lobby. At the luxe lounge, Alex bought her a fruity drink and a beer for himself and excused himself from employees who approached him.
Feeling their curious gazes, Mallory was relieved when they stepped outside. “So much better,” she said when her feet encountered cool sand.
Alex kicked off his shoes and left them at the foot of the steps leading to the resort. “Beautiful woman, beautiful night. What could be better? Come here,” he said and pulled her into his arms. He pressed his mouth against her and tasted her with his lips and tongue, making her feel delicious.
“Mmm,” he said in approval. “More.”
Her heart tripped over itself. She pulled back and laughed breathlessly. “After our walk.”
“I’m surprised you have the energy after all you did today,” he muttered as they walked toward the shore.
“I had some downtime while I waited for you.”
“Second thoughts about coming,” he said.
“How did you know?”
“I could tell,” he said.
Surprised, she frowned at him. “How is it that you read me so easily?”
He shrugged. “It’s mostly because I want to,” he said. “I watch your face and body for signs. I do the same kind of thing when I’m negotiating. You’re just a lot more fun to watch,” he said, sliding his hand to the top of her opposite hip.
Mallory couldn’t deny how wonderful she felt at this moment. With the ocean beside her, the sand at her feet and Alex’s arms around her, she couldn’t imagine anywhere she would rather be.
“I had a wonderful time today. Thank you for bringing me,” she said, looking up at him.
“You were supposed to say you missed me desperately,” he said in a mocking tone.
“Just as you missed me,” she said innocently.
“Trust me, you had more fun than I did.” He shook his head. “Poor Todd couldn’t keep the men away from you. It’s a wonder I didn’t have to fight off a few of them to get to you.”
She laughed. “Would you have really done that?”
“You like that idea, do you?” he asked, squeezing her against him.
Heaven help her, she did, at least in theory. How crazy was it that she was preaching liberation on one hand yet loving it when Alex went primitive on her? She couldn’t admit it aloud, though. She heard the strains of beach music coming from a resort up ahead. The romantic sound tugged at her.
Alex came to a stop and swung her against him. “Dance?”
Her heart skipped and stuttered. “Yes,” she said and began to follow his lead. “You�
�re a good dancer,” she said. “When did you learn?”
“When I was young. It was a requirement in my family. My mother was determined that her sons would be civilized and have good manners. I hated every minute of it until I started noticing the opposite sex. Then I figured out that dancing is a damn good way to get close to a woman you want to get to know better. But there’s an even better way,” he said, sliding his hand down to the back of her waist and drawing her intimately against him.
He felt so good, so strong, and Mallory was so tired of resisting him. She’d always told herself he was the perfect man for a fling. He brought out a wildness in her and made her feel as if it were okay.
She felt something inside her rip so strongly she could almost hear it. Restraint, resistance, she was impatient with living under her code of caution.
“If you and I get closer,” she began, her heart beating like a drum in her chest.
“We will,” he said, dipping his mouth over hers and away, revving up her temptation.
“I want to keep it confidential,” she said. “Secret.”
He paused a half-beat. “You want me to be your secret lover?”
“I don’t want my parents hurt by any sort of publicity,” she said. “And that’s the last sensible thing I want to say.”
“Are you ready to go wild?” he asked and lifted the inside of her wrist to his mouth. “You taste so good. I can’t wait to taste every inch of you.”
“Then don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t wait.”
Six
But he did wait, and the waiting just made the tension inside her stronger. Mallory had expected Alex to whisk her back to the hotel and immediately devour her. Instead he continued to dance with her on the beach, taking her mouth in long, drugging kisses that made her knees turn to liquid.
The darkness surrounded them like a cocoon of privacy. No one else was anywhere within sight. She wasn’t aware of anyone else. She was solely focused on Alex.
He slid one of his hands all the way up her side to the outer edge of her breast and caressed her from the outside of her dress. She felt her nipple harden from the indirect touch. She craved feeling his skin on hers.
An edginess built inside her. “Shouldn’t we go back to the suite?” she asked, biting her lip against a moan as he slid one of his fingers just inside her dress to her bare breast.
“We will,” he said. “Trust me. I want to take my time with you. Once we get back to the room and I take off your clothes, it will be hard for me to slow down.
“Your skin feels so soft, so edible,” he murmured, dipping his mouth to her throat again.
Her pulse spiked.
“I love the way your body responds to me,” he whispered. “When I touch you, you take a little breath and hold it. Is that because you want more? Or less?”
She bit her lip at the sharp wanting he caused inside her. “More,” she whispered and boldly pulled at the buttons at the top of his shirt. She splayed one of her hands across his smoothly muscled chest. “I want to feel you, too.”
He sucked in a sharp breath as if she’d surprised him. Tipping her head backward, he slipped one of his hands through her hair and took her mouth again. This time his kiss was more aggressive, more purposeful. He slid his thigh between hers, and Mallory’s breath just stopped.
Feeling his arousal pressed against her, she reacted purely on instinct, undulating against him.
Alex swore under his breath. “Time to go. But if this were a private beach,” he said, and a shocking visual raced through her mind of Alex, naked and taking her right there. The power of it shook her.
She stumbled as he led her toward the resort. He caught her against him. “Okay?”
Mallory had never been this aroused in her life. Never wanted so much to take and be taken by a man. “Yes. No.” She swallowed over the emotion building in her throat, a combination of apprehension and anticipation. “I—just—really—want you.”
He met her gaze and she saw the same hunger mirrored in his eyes that she felt in every pore of her body. He took her mouth in a quick, but thorough kiss. “You’re going to get me,” he promised in a gritty, sexy voice and urged her toward the resort.
As soon as they stepped inside, he took a right down a different hallway. “Let’s take the back elevators. I’m not in the mood for small talk with one of my employees.”
As if even the elevator knew not to impede Alex, it immediately appeared and Alex pulled her inside. As soon as the doors closed, he took her mouth again, urgency emanating from him.
Dizzy from his touch and the heat he generated inside her, Mallory clung to him as the elevator door swept open. A man stepped inside, giving her a second and third look before he got off the elevator three floors later.
Self-consciousness trickled through her and she closed her eyes.
“Did you know him?” he asked.
She shook her head and met his gaze. “Does it show on my face? How I feel?” she asked. “That I’m so turned on I can’t—”
He covered her lips with his finger. “You’re not alone,” he told her, and the elevator finally arrived at their floor.
Alex led her to the suite and before he’d closed the door, he was pulling her into his arms. “There’s something about you,” he said in a rough voice. “It must be in your skin, in your voice, deeper. I just know I have to have you. All of you.”
Tugging her farther into the suite, he pulled her down on the sofa with him and took her mouth in a consuming kiss that made every cell inside her buzz with need and pleasure.
Skimming one of his hands up her side, he found the side zipper of her dress and pulled it down. With his other hand, he untied the knot of silk at the back of her neck. He pulled the soft, sensual material down, baring her breasts.
She felt a whisper of coolness from the sudden exposure, but the heat of his gaze warmed her. He lifted his hands to her breasts, taunting her already sensitized nipples and she looked away, swallowing a moan.
“Oh, no,” he said, putting his hand under her chin and drawing her gaze back to his. “No hiding,” he said. “No holding back. I want to see every look, feel every response, hear every sound you make.”
Shoving aside her doubts and insecurities, she reached for his shirt and unfastened the rest of the buttons. “Fair is fair,” she said, her heart racing like the wind. Urged on by his gaze and her need to be close to him, she pushed his shirt down and pressed her swollen breasts against his chest.
Her moan mingled with his. She felt the muscles of his biceps tense beneath her hand. He swore and took her mouth in a searing kiss.
In the middle of that endless kiss, he pushed her dress aside and slid his hand between her thighs. With unerring instinct, he found her most sensitive, most secret place.
His groan vibrated throughout her. “You’re so hot, so wet,” he said, his low voice full of approval and need. “I want you everywhere at once,” he said and pushed her against an oversize pillow. He skimmed his mouth down her throat to her chest and then he slid his tongue over one of her nipples. A second later, he drew the aching tip into his mouth and she felt a corresponding twist of sensation low in her belly.
As he stroked her between her thighs at the same time he consumed her breasts, Mallory felt her head began to spin. Tension, need and a wanting so vast it shook her to the core. She felt herself climbing to a precipice. He’d taken her there before in the car. But this time, she didn’t want to go without him.
“Alex,” she managed to say, pulling herself upward. “I want—” She broke off and swallowed. “I need you to—” Meeting his gaze, she lowered her hands to his slacks and tugged his belt loose. “Inside me,” she said in a voice that sounded husky to her own ears.
His eyes nearly black with arousal, he stood, stripping off his slacks and underwear. Transfixed by the sight of him, she stared at his muscular body from his strong, wide shoulders over his well-built chest, flat abdomen and his large masculinity jutting from his p
elvis.
His size made her wonder if she was ready for him.
Still watching her, he pulled a packet from his pocket and put on the protection. Then he slowly covered her body with his. She felt his erection between her thighs and everything except being with him fled her mind.
He rubbed against her intimately and she arched to take him inside. Sliding his hand between their bodies, he played with her again. Each stroke made her more desperate for him. “Please,” she whispered, but she didn’t want to beg.
“Hold on,” he told her and pushed her thighs apart and thrust inside her.
His invasion stole her breath. “Alex,” she breathed and they began to move in an age-old rhythm of possession and surrender. She could feel how much he wanted her, how much he craved her. It was as if he wanted to capture her spirit and soul to light the darkness in his, and Mallory knew nothing would ever be the same for her again.
The next morning, Alex awakened early as he always did. Propping his head on his elbow, he looked down at Mallory, stretched out on her side with the sheet wrapped around her waist. Her brown hair fell in shiny, sensual waves over the top her chest and shoulders. The sight of her voluptuous bare breasts taunted him. During their multiple rounds of lovemaking last night, he’d noticed how her nipples hardened just by him looking at them. Everything about Mallory’s body responded to him.
Her responsiveness seemed to go deeper than her skin, although he sensed she wanted to hold some part of herself back. The more Alex was around Mallory, the more he wanted all of her.
He liked the way she pushed back at him. She didn’t need his money, and wasn’t at all interested in the notoriety her relationship with him could bring her. Her desire to keep their affair secret amused him at the same time that it pinched his pride. If he decided he wanted more from her, though, he would change her mind. Some might consider him arrogant, but for Alex it was just the truth. It was very rare that he didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted Mallory and he intended to enjoy every minute of their secret lover weekend. He would make sure she enjoyed every minute, too, but he would give her a little break, noting the violet shadows under her curly eyelashes. He knew he’d worn her out last night.