Beside him, Zac felt Dani’s breathing increase and her body tense. His senses firing on full alert whenever he was near her was becoming a habit. The blood rushed from his brain back to his groin. Which seemed, so far, to activate his flirt mechanism and left little room for making good decisions.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw her telltale finger-wrapped-round-with-hair habit. Any second now it would reach her mouth. He waited.
Bingo. Her teeth nibbled around her finger...her eyes hooded and cautious. And it hit him then that standing in front of Davide wasn’t just a minor irritation for Dani, it was full-blown stress. Gone was the competent physiotherapist who’d looked Manu in the eye and told him she was boss. And back now was the cautious girl he’d glimpsed last night on the red carpet. The one who tried to show the world she could handle anything. But this? This softening made his heart ache.
If this was the kind of anxious reaction she had in Davide’s presence, then Zac vowed to put her under no further pressure with flirty games. This wasn’t an easy score, or a quick wrestle between the sheets. This was a woman who clearly craved her father’s approval. And he wouldn’t be the one to snatch that away from her.
As the last person left the room he took control. ‘Mr Danatello, the story in the papers is pure fabrication. Just a whole load of sensational nonsense.’
‘So there’s nothing I should know?’ Davide pierced Zac with an unwavering stare as he threw a newspaper onto the table. His finger jabbed at the grainy photograph. ‘I hate surprises. I hate being lied to. I hate being kept in the dark about anything. And I mean...anything.’
Although he’d seen scant evidence of it in his own life Zac understood a father’s need to protect. But something about Danatello made him think the entrepreneur had a different agenda—not so much protecting his daughter, more power and control.
‘My private life’s not open to scrutiny, Davide. But, for the record, Dani and I met for the first time on the red carpet and we walked into the dinner together. That’s it. The photograph was taken from an odd angle. No further discussion needed. There’s nothing more between us.’ Yeah, right. Like the more he said it, the more it’d be true?
‘No, Daddy. There is absolutely nothing going on.’ Again he felt Dani stiffen beside him, her voice wavering. ‘I’m sorry about all this fuss.’
Zac turned and saw her crestfallen face, her slumped shoulders. Shoot, this was the twenty-first century—no woman should feel under that kind of pressure to make a man happy. Especially when it was Zac’s fault, not hers. His hands fisted at his sides. All his life he’d wished he’d stood up to his own father, now he could at least do it for Dani.
‘I took Dani’s arm to steer her through the barrage of intrusive journalists. I’m not sorry at all and I’d do it again in a flash. But I am disappointed a man and woman can’t be seen together in public without gossip and innuendo. And that people actually care about the rubbish they read.’ He glared at Danatello, hoping his message would get across. Back off. With his job on the line he had to pick his words carefully. Ignoring Danatello’s open mouth he fixed his gaze on Dani. ‘We work well together and we’ll make a good team. I only care about helping the Jets win. That’s all. I’ll see you in the morning.’
* * *
Dani caught up with Zac in the foyer waiting for the lift. Would every evening end with them zooming skywards with no words and a raging tension between them? Bring on the final and then home, sweet home.
But instead of dampening her irrational attraction to him the whole scenario had heightened it. The guy had powerful honed to perfection. He turned and fixed her with an intense gaze filled with passion and strength, and the force of it hit her hard in the solar plexus. Gone was the playboy flirt, here was a man of substance. In fact, everything she’d seen of him today—in the treatment room, pitch-side, with her father, had fitted pieces to a jigsaw that made him gloriously whole. Professional, charismatic. Desirable. Sex on legs. Very nice legs, very muscly legs, if the outline of his trousers was anything to go by.
He managed a smile, his shoulders relaxing in his smart designer suit as the light filtered back into his eyes. Warm honey flecked those pools of deep brown and heat fizzed in her abdomen.
What was happening to her? This wasn’t sensible Dani who worked hard to keep everything under control.
Something inside was struggling to break free—her long-repressed sense of fun, perhaps? Devil-may-care? But look where that had got her before... And she wasn’t headed that way again any time soon.
Being caught out having a sexy conversation, like a naughty schoolgirl, had ignited a playful part of her that had been dormant for too long. It had been years since she’d felt so frivolous and alive.
But the only things that mattered were winning the tournament, getting back on track with Daddy and making amends for the past. Zac was in the way. A roadblock that she needed to steer round. One that, right now, shook with anger. So she needed to try to smooth over their working relationship. ‘Thanks for what you said in there, Zac. At least we’re all clear.’
‘Absolutely crystal.’ He shook his head. ‘Your father’s really something.’
‘He is. Don’t worry, you won’t lose your job. He’s hot-headed and volatile but not stupid. Where would he get a replacement doctor in the middle of a tournament?’
‘He doesn’t have a spare doctor daughter lurking in the shadows?’
‘Not that I know of.’ She laughed.
For all his faults Davide was still her father and that fierce love she had for him failed to diminish no matter how much he pushed her away. At least he hadn’t suggested the tabloid photos had been a good thing, and set them up with some sort of media-frenzied magazine shoot like Deanna. And at least Zac hadn’t sold her out, like Paul had. Yet. It was early days and there was still time for him to show his true colours. Where men like her father were concerned it seemed there were no depths to which they’d stoop. Unfortunately, it was always to her cost.
‘I get the feeling he wouldn’t care about sacking anyone if they got on his wrong side.’ Zac pounded the lift button with his fist. ‘Does he even have a right side?’
‘Oh, yes.’ I just haven’t found it yet. But she would, before it was too late. She forced a smile. ‘Ever since my mother died he’s struggled to keep a lid on his temper. She was his mellow voice of reason.’
Zac swivelled to face her, his manner softening, anger turned to sadness in those dark brown eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be. It was a long, long time ago. I barely remember her.’ And don’t pity me.
‘So you put up with him acting like that even now?’
She lifted her chin and plastered on her plastic smile. Because it was too complicated to share things about her relationship with her family. ‘Yes. Yes, we do. You wouldn’t understand.’
His arm leaned lazily against the elevator frame. ‘Try me.’
‘No. I don’t want to try anything with you, Zac.
He leaned closer. ‘Liar.’
God, yes. But she wasn’t going to act on it. ‘Not even tempted.’
He stepped closer. ‘No? You sure?’
‘Positively.’
‘That’s not what your eyes are telling me. Your eyes tell me lots of things, Dani. What you’re thinking...what you want. How you feel.’
No way. She hadn’t spent years building barriers just for him to blast them away. ‘Well, let these words tell you exactly how I feel, Zachary. Butt out.’ She snapped her eyes closed and breathed out. Hard.
After a few moments she took a chance, opened one eye to find him staring at the elevator door. She watched his face, the upturned corners of his delicious mouth, travelled lower to the hard wall of chest, the way his trousers curved around a perfectly formed butt.
And then reactivated her avoidance plan.
Dodging past him into the lift she pressed the eleventh-floor button, but he jumped in next to her. A thousand questions ran acros
s his gaze and she turned away unable to give him any answers. The oppressive heat of the late-summer evening pressed against her, that and the unbearable harsh thump of her heart made her struggle to catch her breath.
For long seconds she was aware of nothing but the beat of her heart, the slam of desire in her chest. The agony of wanting him and knowing it could never happen, and the ecstasy of being held in the heat of those eyes. However many times she told herself to keep away from him, he drew her closer, like a magnetic force tugging her north.
A quick jerk and the lift started its ascent. Her stomach flipped and her heart danced. Despite all her resolve she couldn’t pretend she didn’t want to touch him. He may have been way off limits but, damn, he was beautiful.
His white dress shirt looked so starched and new she wondered how much his heat had softened it. Just one fingertip running along that line of tiny pearl buttons would tell her. His hands, gripping the rail, looked capable and strong. She imagined what pleasure they could give her. A low hum started in her abdomen, stroked her deep inside.
Memories of last night, his touch on her arm, jumbled into her head. His scent washed over her, that same exotic spice, making her feel dizzy. How would his lips taste? How would he take her? Sweet and slow or hard and fast? She knew he wanted her. Had known since the second he’d looked at her on that red carpet, the sharp flash of awareness fired in his eyes. And it hadn’t dimmed. If anything it blazed more brightly.
Oblivious to the carnal thoughts zipping round her head he lounged casually against the handrail, his image multiplied a thousand times in the large mirrors. Everywhere she looked he filled her vision. Even when she closed her eyes.
Was it a weakness to wish the lift would break down? Right now. Right when they were alone. To turn to him in the dark and press her lips against his. To taste him, to feel his body against hers. In here, where no one would ever know. Where there were no cameras. Where her father’s stupid celibacy rules couldn’t matter. Where she could take a risk and do something rash and fun without worrying about the consequences or broken trust.
To halt time...just for a few seconds.
She opened her eyes and focused on the big red emergency stop button. Please stop. Stop.
Suddenly, as if answering her prayers, the lights flickered and the lift jolted.
There was a God!
Grabbing on to his arm to steady herself—and just for the sheer delight of touching him—she laughed. Then the lift pinged at level eleven and the doors whooshed open.
Maybe there wasn’t a God after all. Or maybe some annoyingly chaste goody-two-shoes was just looking out for her. Gee, thanks, buster.
She blew out a deep sigh. Just for a moment she’d dared to dream, but the idea of kissing him lodged centre stage in her brain. Letting go of his arm was impossible, her legs wouldn’t take her weight and if she did let go she’d crumple in a heap at his feet. So not the sophisticated image she wanted to portray. So she hung on to the dark navy sleeve.
‘Come on, princess, time for bed. It’s been a long day.’ He pressed his palm over her hand so tenderly she wanted to cry. How could he do nice when she wanted him to do down and dirty? But the tenderness struck a chord—the man was definitely the whole package. Or he certainly played the whole package...and she was falling for it, hook, line and sinker.
Well, she wouldn’t. The last thing she needed was to lose her heart to another charmer who’d use her as a stepping stone to his own success.
Trying hard not to inhale his smell or relish the heat emanating from his body that in turn stoked a fire in her belly, she brushed past him into the empty landing.
Somehow his arms folded round her. ‘Dani?’
‘Yes?’ She found her voice, but it was cracked and hoarse, thick with desire. His face was a heartbeat from hers; the soft breeze of his breath caressed her skin.
She wouldn’t lose her heart to him. Would not. She could protect herself well; she had enough willpower and self-control to keep from ever being vulnerable again.
But, hell, she wanted him. An innate physical ache. Her heart did the macarena as she palmed his chest, stepped her fingers down his shirt. Hot body. Soft shirt. Hard... ‘Is there something you want, Zac?’
‘I keep telling myself no. But...damn it. Yes.’ His eyes held just one question now and she still didn’t know the answer, didn’t know what was right or wrong, up or down, didn’t know anything except that the ache to seal her lips against his wouldn’t leave her.
Nice morphed into naughty. With one swift move he flicked her baseball cap off her head, then shook her curls loose and tangled his fingers in her hair. At the gentle touch of his hands she closed her eyes, her body pulsing with a raging need that both startled and threatened to overwhelm her. Her self-control pooled into nothing...Zac was too much to refuse. This was too much to refuse.
He paused, his mouth inches away from hers. The tiny pulse at the base of his neck beat wildly, his breathing ragged. Tension and anger and desire rebounded off him and fuelled her need for him. ‘About that list.’
‘The sex-free sex list?’
‘Yes. I’m adding to it all the time.’ His tongue traced a tender path along her bottom lip. ‘Kissing?’
‘Aha.’
‘Sucking.’ He sucked her lip into his mouth, then nipped it gently between his teeth. Let it go and smiled. ‘Biting.’
‘God. Yes.’
Then his lips were on hers. Gentle at first, a tender pressure that deepened as she opened her mouth to him. The first touch of his tongue sent electricity zinging through her veins. His hands circled her waist and pulled her closer, his arousal evident in the hardness pressing against her belly. She opened her eyes, reached up on her tiptoes and watched the look of exquisite joy on his face as she deepened the kiss. He tasted just like she knew he would, of man and sex and something exquisite. A deep groan erupted from his throat, sending shock waves of want spiralling through her body.
Eventually she ripped her mouth away, inhaled deeply to steady herself. Looked up into those dark eyes that stole her breath. ‘Well, wow, Dr Price. Not half bad. Is this the way you say goodnight to all your colleagues?’
‘Nah, I heard Matt’s a rubbish kisser. You, however...’ He leaned back in for round two. ‘And I thought you weren’t even tempted? Tut tut,’ he murmured into her mouth, then his lips traced a trail of kisses down her neck. ‘So much for me being on my best behaviour. You’re leading me astray.’
She curled into his heat. ‘It’s a temporary lapse. I’ll be right back to normal.... Oooh, this is heaven.’ This was intoxicating. Addictive.
This was... A red light up in the corner of the ceiling distracted her. A smoke alarm? A CCTV camera? Anger mixed with the fire surging through her. Would she ever be allowed some privacy?
This was way past stupid.
She pushed her palms against his chest and stepped back, swiped her hand against swollen lips. ‘I’ve got to go.’
‘Hey. What does that mean?’
She waited for him to call her a tease, but he just stared at her, confusion and the dying traces of desire in his eyes.
It means I’m losing my marbles. ‘It means I’m going to bed. It means this shouldn’t have happened and it won’t ever happen again. Think of your job. Of Davide.’
She stumbled to her hotel room door, all the while feeling the glare of his disappointed gaze on her back. The fading heat of the kiss, the fun of doing something dangerous and unpredictable, fizzled into the dry stale air. This time the swipe card worked like a dream. But once again she leaned back against the door and pressed her fingertips around her temples trying to calm down, to rid herself of the intense hum zipping through her body.
‘Three hundred. Two hundred and ninety-nine. Two hundred and ninety-bloody-eight...’
After two rounds she was back in control.
She stalked to the bathroom and shoved a glass under the cold water tap, ran the rim over her forehead. ‘Go to hell with yo
ur stupid list, and leave me alone.’
She stared at her reflection in the mirror, at her dishevelled hair and bruised lips, so unused to kissing. The telltale misty eyes that told her she’d been on a hiding to nothing. No way would she allow a man to disrupt the life she’d made for herself. No way would she fall under the spell of yet another gold-digger, or plain outright liar.
The kiss had been a minor slip. Straightening her shoulders as she scrubbed make-up remover over her cheeks she talked sense to herself. ‘Daniella Danatello, you are a good person. You have not failed. One smoking-hot kiss does not mean you have no self-control.’
One smoking-hot kiss would not change the fact that men were off limits.
One smoking-hot kiss did not break her father’s celibacy rule.
One smoking-hot kiss... But damn, it had been good.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘SO, SPILL THE goss. What’s Dr Delicious like to work with? Soooo cute.’ Desere sighed, and checked herself in the gaudy gilt-edged hotel bathroom mirror as she applied the glossiest red lipstick Dani had ever seen.
Dani deflected the conversation away from Zac. With a bit of luck Desere wouldn’t notice. ‘Nice lippy. Suits you.’
‘Gorgeous, isn’t it? Freebie from Fashion Week.’ Her sister waved the lipstick in front of Dani’s face. All thoughts of previous conversations clearly evaporated at the mention of make-up. ‘Only twenty in the whole country and the waiting list is huge. You should put your name down.’
‘Hmm. I can wait.’
Desere smoothed down her two-sizes-too-small tee and checked her sprayed-on snakeskin jeans-clad backside from all angles. ‘Ohmygod, this lighting is a disaster. I look terrible.’
The Last Doctor She Should Ever Date Page 5