Four days with him wasn’t what she wanted but there was no way that she was going to lose control. She wasn’t going to become his puppet.
And she wasn’t going to let herself fall into the trap of thinking that, because maybe she had been harder to get than he was used to, he somehow was no longer the lazy guy who took what was on offer because he couldn’t be bothered with the tedium of pursuit. She wasn’t going to be another idiot who thought that he was capable of change.
‘Normality being...?’
‘Normality being London and the fact that I work for you. I’m being serious, Gabriel. I don’t want to jeopardise my job. I can’t think when you’re doing...that...’ He had slipped his fingers inside her and was absently teasing her tender, sensitive flesh.
‘That suits me,’ he drawled and Alice fought down the sudden flare of irrational disappointment. ‘You’re the best secretary I’ve ever had.’
‘And besides,’ she said drily, ‘you like a quick turnaround when it comes to women, don’t you?’
‘Always.’ Gabriel thought it best to remind her, although she was not like the other women he had been out with. She might be young, but she was cool, controlled, not in search of the inaccessible. Hadn’t she told him that he wasn’t her type? What, he wondered, was her type anyway?
It didn’t matter. He wasn’t risking anything. She wouldn’t get emotionally involved with him any more than he would get emotionally involved with her. They understood one another.
‘But while we’re here playing truant,’ he drawled huskily, ‘I might see fit to limit the amount of client entertaining we do. You’ve never been to Paris and I know this city like the back of my hand. You’re under orders to follow my lead...’
‘Yes, sir!’ Alice grinned. This was her big adventure and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted.
* * *
‘Where did you learn to speak French?’
They sat in the sunshine outside one of the smart cafés close to the Louvre, where they had spent a couple of hours admiring the great works of art. He had been true to his word and work had been minimal for the past two days. They had entertained Francois and Marie after the deal had been officially signed, and had had lunch with another prospective client who had been charming and informative. But mostly they had made love.
She felt vibrantly, wonderfully alive. She had been living life in the slow lane and now she had been pulled into a Ferrari and was speeding up a highway, enjoying every second of the ride. It was thrilling, frightening and she was dreading the end, the brick wall at the end of the highway.
‘Self-taught.’ Gabriel sipped his strong coffee and looked at her, admiring the purity of her skin, the sharp fall of her hair, the fullness of her pink lips.
She was a revelation. They were lovers, but that did not impact on her ability to focus and work. They made love, but she didn’t demand his constant attention. Neither did she give any hint that she intended what they had to last beyond Paris.
Which was good. In fact, it was great. They were having a no-strings-attached affair. She hadn’t mentioned what exactly her type of guy was but he wasn’t it. Admittedly, it irked him...
‘Amazing.’ Alice laughed. ‘You must pick things up fast.’
‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’ Gabriel said drily. If only she knew...
Without the benefit of an expensive education, with his formative years spent either getting into trouble or else avoiding it, he had had to learn fast to compete once he’d got out into the big, bad world. His natural ability, talent and sheer untapped intellect had propelled him forward, but he had known from very early on he would need an edge, and that edge would be a second language. He had befriended a native Frenchman as soon as he’d hit the trading floor and had trained himself to speak only in French when they were in each other’s company. He had learned to understand finance in another language, had learned the dialect of the stock exchange in French. He had earned his edge and it had come in very handy over the years.
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning it’s time for us to get back to the hotel. Looking at you is doing some very active things to my libido.’ He drained his cup and stood up, and Alice followed suit.
This was what they were all about. She knew that just as she knew that she had done exactly what she had set out not to do: she had fallen under his spell. In London, she had seen the brilliant, inspired businessman, the man with formidable levels of energy who poured that energy into work.
But here she had seen the other man. The witty, charming, highly informative, sexy guy and she had fallen under his spell.