by Ellen Lane
Reaching across the table Russell took her hand quite suddenly and firmly in his, drawing it to his lips to brush them lingeringly over the back of it. “Alice, I’d like to see you as much as physically able. I’ve found that I quite enjoy your company.”
Alice watched him, her gaze dropping from his vivid blue eyes to where he held her fingers almost possessively. Where their skin touched, a warmth radiated outward that had her fighting a tremor of arousal.
She’d never wanted a man as much as she wanted Russell Darwin. And after weeks of dancing around one another and jumping across the globe, very suddenly, she wanted to know without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted her too.
“When you say physically able, Russell,” Alice brought her other hand to join the first, encasing Russell’s hand with her own as she raised her gaze to his once more. “You mean outings, don’t you? Dates, dinners and the like?”
“Of course.” He replied almost immediately, his voice a low tone that had her thighs clenching in anticipation.
“And what about actual physicality?” She was being exceedingly blunt here, but Alice liked to think they were past the point of being coy. She’d be staying in an apartment that he owned for God’s sake. He’d have carte blanche to come by whenever he wanted.
And she certainly didn’t plan on turning him away.
For a moment, Russell’s gaze flashed with something dark and hungry – something that took her breath away and made her wonder if she’d completely underestimated him.
Russell Darwell was a distinguished, upstanding gentleman. He didn’t seem the type who would be growling and possessive in bed. He couldn’t be someone who would pin her beneath him and take advantage of her helplessness to do God knew what to her aching, trembling form.
…Could he?
“If that’s what you desire, Miss Tate,” He uttered her title in an ungodly growl that made her toes curl, “I would be more than happy to accommodate you.”
For a moment, Alice couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak.
She could barely breathe.
Since she’d come into her own, the young woman prided herself on her ability to render men speechless. To bat her eyes and make subtle demands to get what she wanted. That Russell Darwell had somehow managed to do the same to her with a single sentence, well…it was impressive indeed.
Impressive and arousing.
For a long moment, Alice merely stared at his face, illuminated by candlelight. The first time she saw Russell, he took her breath away, and things were no different now. He looked absolutely gorgeous in the low illumination of the restaurant, and if she had her choice, she would gladly bask in that luminescent, desirous gaze of his for the next several decades.
Russell was telling her that if she wanted, he would take her back to her hotel right here, right now, and sate the flagrant ache between her legs. Fulfill the fantasies she had of him for the past several weeks and then some.
It was a golden opportunity.
So why, then, when she was suddenly faced with it, did she immediately want to backtrack?
If she slept with Russell now, Alice had no doubt it would be everything she’d imagined. She could finally get the man out of her system and go back to the way things were.
But, all at once, that wasn’t what she wanted anymore. She enjoyed having his company all day –enjoyed having him show her around the city and enjoyed his conversation. It wasn’t like her to want to spend her down time with a man who wasn’t her brother or one of her designer friends, but there you had it.
Alice found that her prior overwhelming desire to simply cut to the chase had suddenly evaporated.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to sleep with Russell. That wasn’t the case at all. She wanted the man’s hands all over her in every permutation she could possibly attain. But she didn’t want it right in that moment. For once, she wanted the man to wine and dine her – to woo her. She wanted to get to know him so that when they finally did end up in bed together, the experience would be otherworldly.
Which meant that tonight wasn’t an option.
Slipping her hands gently but firmly from Russell’s was one of the hardest things Alice ever had to do, and she could only hope the man didn’t think she was a complete and total twit for backing out of something she’d obviously wanted a moment earlier.
But the young woman had made up her mind.
Her smile still warm, she picked up the menu she’d been looking over and made a show of selecting her entrée as she changed the subject. “What’s the best here? Do they have any specials?”
She expected Russell to look disappointed or angry – anything except what actually happened: the man merely chuckled in amusement before picking up his own menu and mirroring her actions.
“The fettuccine and chorizo are quite good. I’ll order for you, if I may.”
The ball of tension that had accumulated in her gut slowly eased, and before long, they were chatting with the ease that was present before sexual tension had enveloped them.
Russell was right – the fettuccine was absolutely delicious. When her plate arrived, she enjoyed the dish and how wonderfully it paired with the wine. As she watched Russell eat, listening to the story of how he’d first found the restaurant, she found herself absolutely confounded by the man for what had to be the tenth time in the short period that she’d known him.
What Alice was beginning to discover, however, was that her consternation when it came to Russell didn’t come entirely from frustration. There was more than enough intrigue there to keep her coming back for more.
By the time dinner was over, she was beginning to nod.
“Not quite over the jetlag, are we?” Russell paid for dinner before she could even begin to protest, ever the gentleman. That done, he helped her gallantly up from the booth before extending his arm to lead her into the cool fall evening. “We’ll get you home post haste.”
If he sensed that anything had changed between them, he said nothing, merely opening the car door to admit her and leaving her to drowse in silence on the way back to the hotel.
All too soon, Russell was shaking her awake just outside the lobby. Alice yawned, trying to shake off the fatigue that seemed to weigh her body down. “Just give me a minute…” She sighed, swinging her legs out of the car.
But Russell didn’t give her a minute. Instead, he merely scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the hotel. Alice was far too tired to protest, and instead let the man merely carry her right into the elevator, telling him her room number. If he were any other man, Alice might worry that he would take advantage of her.
But this was Russell.
Taking her key, the man let himself into her suite and made a beeline for the bedroom when she pointed it out to him. For once, Alice was grateful that Tom had already gone to bed. This was one man she didn’t know if she was ready for him to see her with.
Russell proved himself just as gentlemanly as he had all night, setting her gently on the mattress before removing her pumps and placing them carefully on the floor next to the bed. That done, he reached for the hem of her shirt, untucking it before undoing the buttons one by one. His movements, far from being erotic, were methodical and almost soothing in nature. Alice allowed herself to lay back against the mattress as the man undressed her.
She was too tired to notice the way Russell’s breath caught at the sight of her lacy black French lingerie, or catch the way his eyes lingered on the plump mounds of her breasts. He had barely slipped her jeans off shapely legs before he was tossing the coverlet over her, his chest heaving with something that had absolutely nothing to do with exertion.
“Are you comfortable, Alice?” He inquired, his tone tight.
Alice laughed softly, drowsily, as she tucked the coverlet beneath her chin. “Yes, thank you, Russell. You’re such a gentleman.” She reached for him. “Will you give me a goodnight kiss?” Alcohol and drowsiness made her bold, but Alice was very cognizant of her ac
tions.
Russell hesitated only a moment before giving in to her wishes. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he lowered his head until his mouth as a hairsbreadth from hers.
And then he kissed her.
As lovely as Alice remembered the first time being, the second didn’t even compare. The first time she and Russell kissed, it had been she who initiated the kiss and the gesture had been decidedly chaste. Now, when Russell’s mouth closed over her own, there was no doubt in Alice’s mind that the man wanted her. His tongue slid along the seam of her lips before sliding inside to stimulate her. He bit gently at her lower lip, drawing a soft moan of delectation from her. The man’s fingers sifted through her hair gently, almost leisurely, and a shiver traversed the length of her fatigued form.
By the time he drew away, she was all but panting in desire for him, her fatigue be damned.
But Russell didn’t assuage her. Instead, he drew away, blue eyes blazing dangerously. “Sleep well, Alice. I’ll see you soon.”
And with that, he took his leave.
Alice lay awake in bed long after the door closed behind him, the taste of him still lingering on his lips. If she hadn’t been so tired, she might have tried to touch herself to assuage the burning ache between her legs. Instead, all she could do was drowsily marvel in the fact that a man who clearly wanted her so desperately hadn’t expressed the slightest need for her.
A quandary to be sure, and Alice fell asleep looking forward to solving the mystery that was the enigmatic agent. But even when she closed her eyes, Russell Darwell’s face was the first that she saw.
Chapter 4: Denial
She had changed his mind so easily.
Russell was standing outside Regina’s trailer, waiting to speak to her about a few demands she’d made concerning the script. Lemmy wasn’t taking them to kindly so, of course, he had to serve as the intermediary.
But his concentration wasn’t particularly on point at the moment. Instead, he kept remembering putting Alice Tate to bed three days ago, and how one day with her had completely scrambled any resolve he thought he had.
He wasn’t going to sleep with her. At least, that’s what he told himself the morning before he picked her up from her hotel. Now, he couldn’t stop thinking about the lingerie she wore to bed.
Which was making it woefully hard for him to focus on anything else.
“Oh, Russell, thank God you’re here.” Though the film hadn’t started shooting yet, Regina had already taken up residence in her luxury trailer and was raising hell. She tended to be very demanding with directors she was working for the first time – and, of course, Lemmy was finding that out the hard way. “He wants me to do a shower scene. I can’t do a shower scene.”
Russell exhaled hotly. This was an argument that he knew he’d ultimately win, as the actresses contract had no clause against her doing a shower scene unless it involved full frontal nudity, which Lemmy insisted that it didn’t. But the problem wasn’t the director’s request. This wasn’t the first time that Regina would be bearing skin before the camera. She always liked to make a fuss in hopes that it might earn her a bonus for being so ‘charitable.’
And it usually worked.
“How much do you want for it, Regina?” Russell had stopped beating around the bush with her long ago. It was much easier just to try to get her what she wanted and make sure everyone came away satisfied.
“This is my bare ass we’re talking about. I’m going to need at least an extra fifty thousand.”
Lemmy wasn’t going to like that. This movie was already a mammoth Leviathan that devoured funds left and right.
But ultimately, he’d pay. He wasn’t Regina’s biggest fan, but he knew how much people paid to see movies with her in them; and despite how demure she might pretend, the young woman was immensely proud of her behind and the work she’d done on.
“I’ll go back and talk to him. See what kind of deal I can get.”
“Thank you, Russell. You’re the best. You know how much I love you.” Regina kissed his cheek warmly, her eyes bright before she seemed to remember something. “And I wanted to tell you congratulations too!”
Russell arched a brow in confusion. “Congratulations?”
“I saw the editorial article about you and Alice Tate. I remember seeing you with her at the party, but I never imagined that things would move so quickly. You devil!”
Russell went rigid. “What editorial article?”
Regina, ever oblivious, only grinned, all but dancing across her trailer to grab a paper from her vanity. “Here it is!”
When she held it up, for a moment, Russell couldn’t process what he was seeing. Though he was no stranger to being tabloid fodder, he didn’t think he’d ever made the front page in an actual newspaper.
But there he was.
There was a picture of him and Alice from the previous day. Someone must have snapped it as they were coming out of the Italian restaurant when he had his arm around her. He had to admit, the two of them looked very intimate, and whoever had taken the picture had gotten close.
Disturbingly close.
“May I borrow this?” He inquired quickly, and Regina beamed, more than happy to hand it over.
Once he had it in his possession, however, Russell didn’t relax. He couldn’t. He left Regina’s trailer and made his way back to his car, forgetting all about Lemmy. Once he was sitting in the driver’s seat, he allowed himself to stare at the image for a good, long while.
Russell tried to be exceedingly careful about who he was photographed with. He knew that the media were like hounds and, occasionally, they would catch him with one woman or the other.
But for some reason, this photo of him with Alice bothered him.
In fact, it downright angered him.
But Russell didn’t know whether he was angrier at the media or himself.
After a single day with Alice he had abandoned the plans that he had to be relatively chaste with her. All it took was one inquiry, one bat of those luscious lashes of hers and he wanted to be inside her as quickly as humanly possible.
When was the last time a woman had broken down his resistance so easily? Probably not since…well, not since he’d been back in England.
And that put him in a dark mood.
For at least the next half hour, he sat in the driver’s seat of his car, warring with the guilt that threatened to consume him. He’d left England in a bid to escape his past, but somehow, it always seemed to catch up with him.
Russell never let himself forget it. Doing so, he insisted, would mean forgetting part of what made him who he was.
And why he never really allowed anyone to get overly close.
His mouth pressed into a tight line, he stared at the picture, hard. He expected a portion of him to be upset with Alice. Though she hadn’t specifically invited him into her bed, by simple virtue of existing, she all but tortured him.
But this wasn’t her fault.
It was his. And if Russell knew what was best for him, he would stay far, far away from her – as had been his original plan.
The only problem with that was the simple fact that he had already come so far. For the past few months, for every moment he’d spent trying to forget Alice, he only wanted to see her more. Though he’d promised himself to stay away from her, something had drawn him back in. To the point where he’d offered her a job. To the point where he’d invited her to stay in the property that he owned just so he would have easy access to her. That, and he knew she’d like the property.
And now, here he was, torn between regret and sheer strength of attraction. Alice was moving into the flat in three short days. What was he going to do, tell her she wasn’t allowed? Rescind his job offer? It wasn’t really his job to offer, and from what Lemmy and she had discussed, it was all but hers. If Russell turned her away now, Lemmy would be royally pissed.
And Russell didn’t really want her to leave.
For the first time in years, Russell
’s common sense fought against his baser desires. The rationality that he prided himself on was being eroded bit by bit.
But despite all his best intentions, one thing was painfully clear: Russell wanted Alice Tate in his life, at whatever it might cost him.
And that made her even more dangerous than he thought.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down. It wouldn’t do for him to panic now. Not when he’d told himself he would never be assaulted so flagrantly by his feelings again. No, he would remain impassive, as he always did. There was no other option.
And he would indulge himself when it came to Alice Tate. After all, even if she was a lovely, unique, fascinating woman, she was still a woman. And women who found that he didn’t want to commit were usually gone in short order.
As would she be.
**
Though Alice’s move went off without a hitch, unfortunately, she didn’t have as much time to enjoy her new space as she might have liked. In fact, Russell was busy with work the day she came, so he sent the keys to her rather than meeting her at the apartment. The only company she had were four burly movers – and though Alice would usually enjoy using her feminine wiles, she merely found herself anxious.
There were so many changes to undergo. She had to get settled, had to send Lemmy the contract he’d issued her with her signature, and then she’d be in overtime work mode for the next week drawing mock-ups of all the costumes that he wanted.
But, of course, that was before she got Michael’s frantic call. It was four in the morning, and she’d only gotten to bed around two after an exhausting day.
She’d been contemplating not answering, but when she saw it was him, she reluctantly received the call.
And was met with sheer panic. “Alice! Rose has gone into labor! We’re on our way to the hospital!”
She immediately bolted upright, despite the ache that sprang to life at the back of her head. “Bloody hell,” she rubbed fatigue from her eyes, forcing herself into alertness. She’d meant to take a week once Lemmy’s project was staffed to go home and meet her new niece, but Rose had gone into labor early.