She moved up onto her knees, wanting to see all of Gregorio as she slowly undressed him. That hard and muscled chest. The taut abdomen. The long length of his arousal. Those long and muscular legs.
She already knew he was going to look like a mythological god. All golden flesh and hard muscles.
‘Arms up,’ she instructed as she lifted and then removed his T-shirt completely, revealing his chest covered in a light dusting of dark hair, his nipples like bronzed pennies. She touched them lightly, glancing up at him as she heard his sharp intake of breath and felt his nipples pebble against her fingertips. ‘You like that?’
‘Yes.’
Gregorio had no idea what Lia’s sexual experience had been before tonight, and he didn’t want to know either. Here and now, the two of them together, it was so highly charged, so intensely pleasurable, that everything and every other woman he had ever known before Lia faded into insignificance. Forgotten. All he could see and feel was narrowed down to this woman. To seeing and feeling only Lia.
Her orgasm a few minutes ago had come as a complete surprise to him. He had barely touched her before she’d found her release.
He could only hope that quicksilver response was uniquely for him.
He sucked in a breath as Lia scraped her nails lightly over the hardness of his nipples, a slight smile curving her lips as she watched and obviously enjoyed seeing his response to her touch.
She could pleasure and torment him for hours if it meant he could see that smile on her lips while she did it.
Her eyes glowed dark grey, her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were curved into that seductive smile, slightly swollen from their earlier kisses.
‘Dios!’ Gregorio’s back arched off the bed as Lia’s tongue rasped moistly across one sensitised nipple, his fingers becoming entangled in the auburn hair draped across his chest as her lips completely engulfed his nipple with the heat of her mouth and she suckled deeply.
Gregorio was used to being the lover, the aggressor, and while women always responded with kisses and caresses he had never had one take charge of him in quite this way before. It felt strange, and yet somehow liberating at the same time—a measure of the trust that was slowly building between the two of them. Fragile as yet, but growing stronger the more time they spent together.
The things Lia was doing to him with her mouth and tongue made Gregorio’s body throb and ache.
Lia lifted her head to smile at him, her eyes sultry as her hands moved down to unfasten the top button of his jeans, quickly followed by the other three. Gregorio sighed his relief as his desire was no longer constricted by material, only to suck his breath in again as Lia’s hand caressed the length of him outlined against his black boxers.
‘I want to feel your lips and your hands on my bared flesh,’ he encouraged huskily. ‘Please...’ He lifted himself up and pushed his jeans and boxers down to his thighs.
Lia’s breath caught in her throat as her gaze feasted on his fully naked body. She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.
‘You’re—No...!’ she cried as the ringing of the doorbell sounded, shrill and intrusive. ‘God, no...’ she groaned as she buried her face against Gregorio’s chest.
‘Ignore it—’ A second loud ring, longer this time, cut across Gregorio’s protest.
‘It’s probably one of the neighbours, come to say hello to the new tenant.’ She sighed as she sat up.
‘That has never been my experience.’ He frowned.
‘That’s probably because you live in a hotel. I have to answer that,’ Lia snapped with impatience as the bell rang for a third time. Whoever was on the other side of that door was not going to receive a warm welcome from her—that was for certain. ‘Stay exactly where and how you are,’ she instructed Gregorio as she got up from the bed.
‘Sí, señorita.’ Dark eyes glittered with humour.
Lia cast one last, longing look at the lean and muscular length of Gregorio’s body before turning to hurry from the bedroom, straightening her clothes as she went.
The doorbell rang for a fourth time just as she wrenched the door open.
‘Oh, thank goodness!’ A relieved Cathy stood outside in the hallway, Rick at her side. ‘I was so worried about you.’ She gave Lia a hug.
‘I’m fine,’ Lia assured her, her mind racing as she wondered what she was going to do about Cathy and Rick standing on her doorstep when Gregorio was half naked in her bedroom.
No immediate answer came to mind.
‘You seemed so down at lunch,’ Cathy said. ‘I was worried about you, and Rick and I just had to come over and see if you were okay.’
‘I’m really fine,’ Lia repeated distractedly, her mind racing as she tried to find a solution to this dilemma.
There was no way she could get out of inviting Cathy and Rick inside her apartment. Not when they were giving up their evening to visit her. But, conversely, she couldn’t expect Gregorio to spend all evening hiding out in her bedroom.
As if that was really an option! Gregorio went where he wanted and did what he wanted. It went without saying that hiding in a woman’s bedroom would not be what he wanted.
‘You look a little flushed.’ Cathy looked at her in concern. ‘Maybe you have the start of a cold?’
‘Er... Cat...’ Rick said hesitantly beside her.
‘Or maybe it’s the flu?’ His wife continued to fuss. ‘There’s a lot of it about at the moment, and—’
‘Cat!’
‘What is it, Rick?’ Cathy turned to her husband impatiently.
Lia winced as Rick ignored his wife and continued to look past Lia into the hallway beyond. She knew without looking that Gregorio had left her bedroom, after all, and was now standing behind her.
She just hoped he had put his clothes back on first!
CHAPTER SIX
‘PERHAPS I SHOULD introduce myself?’
A fully dressed Gregorio—thank goodness—looked at Lia as the four of them stood awkwardly in the sitting room of her apartment. Lia really hadn’t had any choice but to invite the other couple inside.
‘Fine.’ It was the only word she’d seemed able to say since she had opened her apartment door and found Cathy and Rick standing outside in the hallway.
‘Oh, I know exactly who you are, Mr de la Cruz,’ Cathy assured him with a sideways glance at Lia. ‘We’re Cathy and Rick Morton. Friends of Lia’s.’
Lia winced as she sensed Cathy’s censorious gaze on her after that last announcement. It was questioning why, when they were such close friends, Lia hadn’t confided in Cathy regarding her friendship with Gregorio. She was going to have some serious explaining to do once Gregorio had left. Whenever that was going to be. Because of the four of them he seemed to be the most relaxed and the least intimidated by this situation. He also showed no inclination to leave.
Lia felt bad for not telling Cathy about Gregorio’s previous visit, or that she was working for him. At the time she had thought it was the right thing to do—that she would be avoiding Gregorio as much as possible in future, so telling Cathy about him was a waste of time. Look how well that had turned out!
But at least he had all his clothes back on and had tidied himself before he’d come out of her bedroom. Although the slightly creased T-shirt and tousled dark hair indicated that hadn’t been the case minutes ago.
Lia knew Cathy was going to want to kill her once the two of them could speak privately.
‘I remember seeing you with Lia at the funeral,’ he answered Cathy as the three of them shook hands. ‘And, please, you must both call me Gregorio.’
The pleasantries over, an awkward silence once again fell over the room.
‘Wine.’ Lia had finally found another word to say. ‘Let’s all have a glass of wine. I have red or white. Which would you prefer? The white is dry, the red fruity.’
Now she’d regained her voice Lia didn’t seem able to stop babbling, but at the same time her gaze couldn’t quite meet Cathy’s or Rick’s, and
she was avoiding Gregorio’s completely.
She felt so stupid. Like a child who had been caught out not being honest. Not that Cathy or Rick were in the least judgemental—it was Lia who felt as if she had somehow disappointed them.
‘You sit and chat with your friends and I’ll pour the wine.’ Gregorio spoke dryly, obviously knowing the topic of their conversation would be him.
‘I’ll help you.’ Rick hurriedly followed the other man into the kitchen area.
‘Cathy—’
‘He seems to know his way around your kitchen,’ Cathy observed softly as the two women sat down, Her brows rose as she watched Gregorio remove a bottle of red wine from the rack before taking glasses from the cupboard above.
Lia tried again. ‘Cathy—’
‘I have to say he’s an improvement on the last guy,’ her friend murmured appreciatively.
Lia’s eyes widened. It was the last thing she had expected the other woman to say. ‘You didn’t like David?’
‘He was your choice, so of course I liked him.’ Her friend shrugged. ‘Except I didn’t, if you know what I mean.’
No, Lia didn’t know what she meant. She had always thought Cathy and Rick liked David: the four of them had often gone out to dinner together, and they had always seemed to get on.
‘He could be rather condescending,’ Cathy added with a grimace.
Thinking back to those evenings, she realised David had talked down to Cathy and Rick. As if they weren’t quite of his social standing. Which was ridiculous. Cathy’s father was a politician, currently in government, and Rick’s family owned and ran a huge farm in Worcestershire. Rick himself was senior manager at a software firm here in London.
It made her wonder what else she hadn’t noticed about David during the months they had dated and been engaged. Whether Gregorio’s suspicions about him were well-founded. David had certainly proved himself to be a less than supportive fiancé after her father’s death.
Unlike Gregorio...
She might not particularly like the idea of Gregorio having his security men keeping an eye on her, but there was also a certain...reassurance—a warmth in knowing that someone cared enough about her to do that.
Lia chewed on her bottom lip. ‘About Gregorio—’
‘Don’t worry about it, sweetie.’ Cathy smiled as she leaned forward to give Lia’s arm a reassuring squeeze. ‘It’s a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. The man is gorgeous, isn’t he?’ She lowered her voice even more.
Lia glanced across to where Gregorio and Rick were chatting together like old friends—as it turned out, as she listened briefly to their conversation, they were two men who both liked football but supported opposing teams. Gregorio was laughing at something Rick had said, his dark eyes warm with humour, a relaxed expression lightening his austere features.
‘Yes, he is,’ Lia acknowledged softly.
‘He doesn’t seem at all cold and remote this evening,’ Cathy added approvingly.
Gregorio had been anything but cold and remote in her bedroom a few minutes ago. Burning hot and very close better described the two of them together. Just thinking about all Gregorio’s naked and responsive flesh was enough to cause Lia’s cheeks to warm in a blush.
Cathy gave her a knowing grin. ‘Do you want us to leave as soon as we’ve drunk our wine?’
‘No! I mean... No,’ she repeated softly as the two men turned curiously at her vehemence. ‘I think I may need saving from myself,’ she told Cathy with a groan. ‘I don’t know what I was even thinking. He’s just so—’
‘Overwhelming and sexy as hell?’ her friend supplied lightly.
Lia’s gaze could no longer meet Cathy’s. ‘Yes.’
‘Here we go,’ Rick announced in an over-hearty voice as he handed Cathy a glass of red wine. No doubt as a warning to the two women that they were no longer alone.
‘Lia.’
She glanced up at Gregorio as he stood beside her chair, holding out a glass a red wine for her to take. The humour gleaming in those dark eyes told her he had overheard Cathy’s last comment—and Lia’s response to it.
She turned her gaze away, her hand shaking slightly as she took the wine glass from him.
‘So, what do the two of you have planned for the rest of the evening?’ Rick prompted politely—and immediately had to thump Cathy on the back as she began to choke on a mouthful of wine. ‘What did I say?’ Rick looked bewildered by his wife’s reaction.
‘Never mind, love,’ Cathy answered once she’d caught her breath. ‘Let’s just drink our wine and pick up a Chinese takeaway on the way home.’
‘Lia and I have already eaten, but we could always order in food for you to eat here?’ Gregorio suggested lightly. ‘Alternatively, we could all go out for a drink together somewhere the two of you could have some food?’
Lia slowly turned her head to look at him. Who was this man and what had he done with the cold and arrogant Gregorio de la Cruz? Because this man certainly wasn’t the ruthless businessman who swallowed up companies with the voracity of a shark. Or the playboy billionaire she’d read about in the newspapers who had a different blonde on his arm every week.
‘Okay, this is getting a little weird now.’
Lia stood up decisively. She might have been in shock since Cathy and Rick had arrived, but she was recovering fast. And the four of them spending the rest of the evening together wasn’t going to happen.
‘Cathy and Rick are far too polite to say so, but they don’t want to spend the evening with the two of us—’
‘Hey, don’t put words in my mouth,’ Cathy protested.
‘Because they are both totally freaked out right now,’ Lia continued determinedly. ‘I’m freaked out right now, so I know they have to be too.’ She frowned at Gregorio. ‘The two of us aren’t a couple and we aren’t going out for the evening with anyone—least of all my two best friends. What happened earlier...’ She gave Cathy and Rick a self-conscious glance. ‘Shouldn’t have happened.’
‘I believe you are the one embarrassing your friends.’ Now Gregorio looked every inch the coldly arrogant man Lia had met at her father’s funeral: his eyes were narrowed and no longer warm, but hard as the onyx they resembled, and his sculptured lips were thin and unsmiling.
‘Not at all.’ Cathy stood up. ‘It’s time the two of us were going anyway. Rick?’ she prompted sharply as her husband made no move to get up out of his chair.
‘What? Oh. Yes. Sorry.’ He rose abruptly to his feet, then seemed to realise he still had a glass in his hand and looked around for somewhere to put it.
‘Here.’ Cathy took the glass and placed it on the coffee table next to her own. ‘I’ll call you in the morning, okay?’ She gave Lia a hug. ‘Nice to meet you, Gregorio.’ She nodded. ‘Say goodnight, Rick,’ she instructed dryly. Her husband still looked slightly dazed by the speed of their departure.
‘Goodnight, Rick,’ he repeated as he was pulled down the hallway by his wife.
The apartment door closed quietly behind them seconds later.
Leaving an awkward silence.
A very cold and very uncomfortable silence that caused Lia to give a shiver as the chill seemed to seep into her bones.
‘Your rudeness was completely uncalled for,’ Gregorio snapped finally.
‘No.’ Lia’s chin rose as she faced him. ‘No, it really wasn’t. I don’t know what happened between the two of us earlier, but it isn’t going to happen again. I won’t let it happen again,’ she added firmly. She was totally unsettled by their earlier passion. ‘And we certainly aren’t ever going out for the evening with any of my friends, as if the two of us are together.’
Gregorio was having to exert great willpower so as not to lose his temper. He made a point of never losing his temper—no matter what the provocation. But he had not encountered anyone as stubborn as Lia before.
He had been disappointed when he’d realised Lia’s visitors had to be Cathy and Rick Morton, the couple he had seen her wit
h at her father’s graveside two months ago. He knew, from the daily security reports he received, that Lia had lived with the other couple before moving into her apartment at the weekend.
Rather than remaining in Lia’s bedroom like a dirty little secret she was keeping hidden away, Gregorio had decided to dress and join them.
He had no experience of being in the company of a woman’s friends or family, but he had thought he was doing quite well. Being charming to Cathy. Talking football with her husband. Pouring them all wine. It had seemed perfectly logical to him, as the other couple were obviously close to Lia, to suggest they all spend the rest of the evening together.
Lia’s vehemently negative response to that suggestion had been immediate. And, to his surprise, her words had hurt.
He was close to his two brothers. Well...as close as he could be when he was based in London, Sebastien was in New York, and Alejandro was taking care of the estate and vineyards in Spain. He also had a large extended family, of which he was the recognised patriarch.
He had sex with the women who flitted in and out of his life, but he did not become involved with their family or their friends. He rarely even met any of their friends, let alone their family. He had been willing to make an exception with Lia, and he’d received a verbal and public slap in the face for his trouble.
He would not make the same mistake again.
‘What happened earlier is that you used me for sex,’ he bit out coldly, his accent more clipped in his anger. ‘No doubt any man would have sufficed. I am pleased I was able to give you one orgasm, at least, before we were interrupted.’
The colour had drained from her cheeks. ‘You bastard!’
Gregorio shrugged his shoulders. ‘You were the one at such pains to explain exactly what we have between us, I am merely agreeing with you. When you feel in the need for sex again perhaps you should give me a call? If I have the time I—No, I do not think so.’ Gregorio grasped hold of Lia’s wrist as her hand arced up towards his cheek. He used that grip to pull her up close against him. ‘I warned you the last time you did that I would not allow you to do it again without retaliating.’
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