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Why wasn’t she standing in front of him demanding that he find her a navy linen suit or something else designed to extinguish the last burning embers of a man’s libido?
‘Has your client arrived?’ Still focusing on her reflection, she pushed a few wisps of blonde hair away from her face.
‘Not yet.’
‘Clearly he has money to burn.’ Lindsay turned to face him. ‘I’m sure you’ll charge him for your time, whether he turns up or not.’
‘Of course.’
They were sustaining a conversation and yet an entirely different form of communication was simmering beneath the surface of cool civility. With his skill at reading women, Alessio noted the slight flush in her cheeks that had nothing to do with the application of make-up and the darkening of her eyes.
Dealing with his own burn of lust, he wondered how long they were going to play this game.
‘I still haven’t managed to contact Ruby.’
He had a feeling she’d raised the subject of her sister purely to remind him of the reason she was here.
‘That doesn’t surprise me. If she wanted you to know where she is, she would have told you.’
Alessio felt the vicious tug of lust deep in his loins because she looked truly beautiful and something about the way she was looking at him drove every rational thought from his head.
‘Something wrong, Alessio?’ She raised an eyebrow and he smiled in response, well aware that she’d won that round.
Suffer, her eyes were saying and he almost laughed because he was suffering and he was completely sure that she knew it.
For a brief moment he contemplated backing her against the enormous bed and removing the dress he’d paid for, but he knew that such an unsubtle approach would just give her opportunity to reject him.
So instead he satisfied himself with a long, lazy look at her.
The colour of the dress was perfect for her skin and hair; turquoise shot with strands of blue and green, the dress fell from tiny beaded straps and was cut to display the tempting dip between her breasts. Alessio’s appreciative gaze lingered on the hollow cleft and he heard her sharp intake of breath.
‘Do you think you could remove your eyes from my cleavage?’
He smiled. ‘Why would I want to do that? You look spectacular.’
‘Thank you.’ She accepted the compliment in a businesslike fashion and walked briskly towards the door. Only once she’d created a safe distance between them, did she turn. ‘Are you coming?’
Alessio strolled towards her and tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, feeling a flicker of satisfaction as he felt her initial resistance.
He knew that she was nowhere near as cool and indifferent as she was pretending to be.
But instead of withdrawing or arguing, she simply smiled again. ‘I’m looking forward to dinner. What are the local delicacies?’
You are, my beauty, Alessio thought, steering her through a lush tropical garden and down onto the silky white sand. You’re going to be my starter, main course and dessert.
Lindsay sat down at the table, trying not to show how disconcerted she was that they were dining alone on the private beach in front of the villa.
‘This is nice,’ she lied. Silver cutlery glinted in the late evening sunlight, a bunch of colourful tropical blooms formed the centrepiece of the table and several candles flickered in the gentle breeze. With the soft sound of the sea licking the shore, it was idyllic, romantic and totally inappropriate for their relationship. The clothes had been bad enough, but this—
This was the setting for seduction, not business. For lovers, not colleagues.
Another test?
Was he putting her through this on purpose?
She cast what she hoped was a casual glance in his direction, but he was as cool and controlled as ever, his handsome face revealing absolutely nothing of his thoughts. Instead he watched her with those dark eyes that she suspected saw far too much.
‘I would have thought you would have preferred to dine in the restaurant.’ Pleased with how relaxed she sounded, she reached for the cocktail.
‘We could have dined in the Beach Club, but this is more—intimate …’ he paused and the word hung in the air between them, heating the atmosphere and raising the tension ‘… and I know you’re a real fan of intimacy, Lindsay.’
‘Absolutely.’ But not with him. The last thing she wanted or needed was intimacy with Alessio Capelli.
‘You seem a little tense.’
Tense? Tense?
Her entire body was being overtaken by a ferocious sexual awareness and the feeling totally unsettled her. She really, really didn’t want to feel like this. ‘Why would I be tense? Who could possibly be tense in a place like this?’ Nervously looking for something to do with her hands, she leaned forward to help herself to a canapé and saw his eyes drift down to her cleavage.
Immediately she sat back in her chair, her skin heating as he gave a soft smile.
‘You don’t like the look of the canapés? I can instruct the staff to bring a different selection.’
‘Not at all. I decided to save myself for the main course.’ Hoping desperately that the staff would serve her, Lindsay struggled with the urge to glance down and check she was decent. She badly wanted to haul her dress up to her neck. It was one thing to be full of bravado when she was staring at her reflection in the mirror, and quite another to maintain that feeling when confronted by a man of Alessio’s sophistication and experience.
She suspected that he was playing with her and his next action confirmed it.
A faint smile on his hard mouth, he reached forward and selected a canapé for himself. ‘I find that the right taste on the palate actually increases the appetite.’ With a slow, deliberate flick of his tongue, he devoured the tiny pastry. ‘Sort of culinary foreplay.’
Her heart was thumping hard. ‘So you even think about sex when you eat.’
‘Sex and food are closely related. Each requires the full involvement of the senses and each satisfies a basic human need.’
Lindsay was desperately conscious of the slow build of warmth low in her pelvis and suddenly she was angry with him—angry with him for making her feel this way.
Obviously he thought that the clothes and the setting would guarantee the outcome he wanted.
Well, she was about to show him how wrong he was about her.
‘Those canapés do look delicious,’ she said sweetly. ‘Maybe I will try one after all.’ She leaned forward again and this time she made no attempt to prevent her dress from offering what she was sure was a generous glimpse of cleavage.
Without once glancing in his direction, she nibbled at the corner of a pastry and then gave a soft moan and licked her lips. ‘That,’ she murmured softly, ‘tastes absolutely sublime.’ Closing her eyes, she slowly slid the rest of the morsel between her lips and chewed slowly. Then she opened her eyes and looked straight at him, challenge in her gaze.
His eyes were black and deadly and held hers for a long, disturbing moment. His long, bronzed fingers toyed idly with the stem of his wineglass and she felt a wicked, delicious curl of excitement low in her belly as the tension between them rocketed to the point of explosion.
‘You look warm, Alessio.’ Her voice calm and steady, she reached for the refreshing cocktail that had been placed by her plate. ‘Is something wrong?’
His eyes held hers for a long, pulsing moment and when he finally spoke his voice was husky with the sizzling tension that was bubbling up between them. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing.’
‘What am I doing? Simply enjoying the food and the surroundings.’ And proving to herself that she was in control. That she could resist this man. ‘Presumably that’s what you intended when you set this up. Or did you have something else in mind, Alessio?’
‘You’re playing with fire, tesoro,’ he warned softly, ‘and you’re going to be burned.’
‘Fire is perfectly safe as long as you know how to handle it.’
His gaze didn’t shift from hers. ‘Perhaps that depends on the heat of the flame.’
Sure of herself—proud of herself—Lindsay smiled. ‘You’re hot, Alessio,’ she said calmly, ‘but you’re not that hot.’
‘No? So why can’t you stop thinking about sex? Why are you sitting there trying to wipe out images of the two of us together in that enormous canopied bed?’
She gave a tiny gasp, but there was no emotion in his cool gaze, just a glimmer of masculine satisfaction that showed her that, no matter how hard she tried to shift the balance, he still had the upper hand.
‘Your misplaced degree of confidence in yourself must mean that you’re often disappointed.’
‘I’ll tell you whether I’m disappointed when you’re naked underneath me and I’m deep inside you.’
‘I can’t believe you just said that.’ Lindsay rose to her feet, knocking her drink over in the process.
With supersonic reflexes, a lean, bronzed hand shot out and caught the glass, preventing a spillage.
‘What can’t you believe? The fact that I thought it? Or the fact that I said it?’ Suddenly he had the upper hand again and she lifted a hand to her throat, feeling her pulse racing under the tips of her fingers.
His words had created a vivid image that she couldn’t dismiss from her head. An image she’d been trying hard not to look at.
‘For a supposedly highly intelligent male, you’re extremely narrow-minded.’
‘I’m honest. I’m telling you what I’m thinking. Sit down, Lindsay. You’ve been goading me all evening. You can’t expect me not to respond.’
‘Not every man is as obsessed with sex as you.’
He lifted an eyebrow. ‘Lindsay, I’m a normal, red-blooded male with a healthy sex drive. I’ve never denied that. You’ve been sucking your fingers, moaning with pleasure and flashing your gorgeous breasts at me for the last half hour. What did you expect?’
‘I expected the reaction I got.’ She sat back down, her gaze wary. ‘Which just goes to show that despite your intelligence, you think with your hormones and not your brain. Which in turn explains why you’ve never sustained a relationship outside the bedroom.’
‘I’ve never sustained a relationship outside the bedroom because that’s been my choice.’
‘What are you afraid of, Alessio?’ If she hadn’t been watching carefully she might have missed his reaction because it was swiftly controlled.
Controlled, but definitely there.
‘Do I look afraid?’
‘I think you’ve learned to hide how you feel. You’re afraid you won’t be able to control your emotions, so you make sure that you don’t engage them.’ Why, oh, why, had she ever thought she’d be able to cope with this man? ‘We’re very different, Alessio. Just accept it.’
‘I accept that we’re different. It’s the differences that excite me.’ His voice was silky soft and seductive. ‘I think we’d be hot in bed. And you think it too, don’t you, Lindsay? That’s why you’re fighting it every step of the way. This chemistry between us is so powerful that you’re afraid you’re being sucked in. You want to be in control, but even while you’re reaching for your drink you’re wondering how it’s going to feel when I finally kiss you.’
Her mouth was so dry she could barely form the words. ‘You’re not going to kiss me.’
‘I am.’ He dropped his gaze to her mouth, his tone faintly apologetic. ‘When I want something, I have to have it. It’s part of my personality.’
Lindsay reached for her drink. ‘You could talk to a trained counsellor about that. You might find that a course of cognitive behavioural therapy might help.’
‘I find it’s simpler just to take what I want.’ He gave a careless shrug of his broad shoulders. ‘It’s going to happen, Lindsay. Stop fighting it.’
Lindsay carefully put down her drink. Her hand was shaking so much it was that or spill it.
Before she could respond, the several waiters arrived with a tempting platter heaped with fresh seafood, bowls of salad and hot crusty bread.
As the food was served she was aware of Alessio watching her. Could he see? Could he see that her fingers shook when she picked up her fork? Could he see that she was in turmoil?
When they were alone again, she lifted her head and looked him in the eye, banishing visions of his bronzed, naked body covering hers. ‘I’m prepared to perform whatever tasks you expected of Ruby. I’m quite sure that providing you with bedroom entertainment wasn’t one of them.’
‘There has never been any chemistry between us.’
‘And that’s all it takes to establish a relationship from your point of view? Chemistry?’ Her laugh was tinged with derision. ‘That’s deep, Alessio. I’m sure your past encounters have been extremely—satisfying.’
‘I make sure that they are.’
‘I’m not talking about sexual satisfaction. I’m talking about something far deeper and more long lasting than that.’ There was a cooling breeze from the sea but she still felt desperately hot. ‘You’re an intelligent man. Surely you demand more from a woman than the ability to simply lie down in your bed.’
‘Absolutely.’ Alessio didn’t shift his eyes from her face. ‘I demand a great deal more than that. And I’m sure you’ll deliver.’
Was it her or had the temperature on the beach suddenly gone up? ‘You shouldn’t reduce every relationship to the physical.’
‘You shouldn’t dismiss sexual satisfaction until you’ve tried it.’
‘What makes you think I haven’t?’
‘Because you’re inexperienced.’
‘You know nothing about my private life. Nor do I intend to discuss it with you.’
‘Lindsay—’ his tone was gentle ‘—you’ve been teasing and tempting me since the moment I arrived at your villa this evening. I don’t know whether you’re trying to prove something to yourself, but only someone very inexperienced would play those sorts of games with someone like me.’
‘I’m not playing games.’
‘I haven’t quite worked out if you’re a virgin or not,’ he murmured, his strong fingers closing around the stem of his glass. ‘You’re certainly a bit old to be a virgin, but if you’ve had sex with anyone before, then I’m guessing that it was an instantly forgettable experience. And at this precise moment you’re feeling very, very unsettled because you know that sex with me would be a completely unforgettable experience.’
Finally she lifted her head and looked at him. ‘You’re so arrogant.’
‘You know we’ll be good together, but you’re afraid to admit it.’
‘That isn’t what’s happening here at all! I’m not denying that you’re attractive, of course you are. Nor am I denying that there’s a certain—’ she swallowed ‘—chemistry between us. But the reason I’m not acting on it has nothing to do with fear. It’s a choice, Alessio. You and I have nothing in common, nothing on which to base a good relationship. Anything between us would be over in a flash.’
‘I generally find that I can maintain my performance for little longer than a “flash”,’ he purred and she gave a murmur of exasperation.
‘Alessio, please.’ For some reason it suddenly seemed desperate that she make him understand. ‘I will not allow myself to make huge decisions based on something as fleeting as chemistry.’
