Millionaire's Secret Seduction(12)

"I don't believe you. I bet you were engaged, weren't you?"

He frowned. "Why do you care?"

"Just curious. I have a feeling about you."

"I hope it's a sensual feeling." He tilted his head.

Her eyes narrowed. "It's a feeling that you're the kind of man who'd cherish his first love and place her on a pedestal."

"I'm Italian."

She smiled. "Only half, apparently. You're going to have to come up with another excuse."

"Okay, so I loved her. I was crazy about her. I wanted to marry her and have babies with her. That what you wanted to hear?"

Her impudent expression slipped a little. "How long were you together?" she asked quietly.

"Five years."

Her eyes widened. "Wow. That's a long time. What happened?"

He tilted his head and stared at her. "That's my business." He got up  from the chair and strode across the platform to adjust the AC. He was  starting to sweat.

He'd loved Patricia's sharp mind as much as her lush body. Her dream of  being a doctor had excited him and he'd done everything he could to help  her-paying for their apartment while she was in school, bringing home  the groceries-all while struggling to get his business off the ground.

She wouldn't marry him until she'd graduated, and he'd had that date engraved on his heart.

Then, two weeks before she was due to pick up her diploma, she announced  she was taking a residency in California and would be going alone. She  wanted a high-octane career, not the demands and responsibilities of a  family.

He was glad the gloom of the storm hid his expression. Since then he'd  concentrated his energies on his own business. He didn't need anyone  else to complete his life.

He heard Bella get up from her chair. "I'm sorry. It was rude of me to pry. I'd better get back to the lab."

"Of course. You have an agenda." He couldn't keep the edge out of his voice.

"Yes." Her lashes lowered to hide her eyes as she smoothed a wrinkle in her dress.

Desire flared in him at the way the fabric clung to her rich curves. She'd worn that dress to attract attention. To arouse.

"Do you get pleasure from tormenting men?" He stepped closer to her. He could smell her skin, warm and sweet.

"I … no." Alarm shone in her eyes. She blinked.

The lightning and thunder had stopped, but the dim half-light of the  overcast sky enveloped them in shadow. A ray of sun pierced a cloud and  shot down to divide the air between them.

She looked away, as if searching for something. The light caught her  cheekbone, high and sharp, highlighting the satin sheen of her skin.

She said something, but he couldn't make out the words because his  attention was too intently riveted on her mouth. The sharp angles of her  upper lip and the soft pink fullness of the lower absorbed him  completely.

The shaft of sunlight glanced across her face and she blinked,  squinting. She raised her hand to shield her eyes and the action pulled  her dress tight over her breasts and across her slim waist. "I said,  should we bring back the plates?"

"No."

She didn't struggle. Not even a little, the way he realized later that she should have.

That would have stopped him.

Instead she surrendered completely, with a shuddering sigh that sealed the inevitability of what was about to happen.                       
       
           



       

They didn't even kiss right away. He buried his face in her neck,  inhaled the mesmerizing scent of her skin. She pressed her cheek to his,  her hands fisting into his hair, clutching at his shirt.

His breath came harder and faster, but he couldn't do anything about it.  His fingers pushed into the skin of her back through the delicate  fabric of her dress, seeking her warmth and the soft femininity of her  lush body.

He chafed his palms over her curves, up and down her spine and past her  waist. Her ragged breath heated his skin and stirred the rage of desire  roaring through him.

He unzipped her dress with a sure, fast swipe and pushed it back over her shoulders.

Why her? Why now?

Her deception and her unrepentant attitude irked him for reasons he  couldn't articulate. She wouldn't listen to reason. Was it irritation  that heated his blood?

The thoughts pushed through his brain even as he sank his hot, hungry mouth over her breast, suckling it through her bra.

But none of those things explained his reaction to this woman.

Was she going along just to keep him quiet? Sex as blackmail?

He didn't care. Couldn't help himself.

Her fingernails scratched him as she struggled with the buttons of his  shirt, then gave up, tugging at it and trying to pull it over his head.

A low moan squeezed from her throat. He trailed his mouth over her belly  button and shoved her dress down with one hand. He licked, hungry for  the taste of her, for the warmth of her skin against his.

He cupped her buttocks with both hands, their full shape driving him  crazy. He could feel her fingers in his hair, holding tight, tugging his  head back until she bent to kiss him and their mouths tangled together  in a hot and breath-stealing kiss.

He never did know what happened to his clothes. Maybe he'd forgotten to  wear a belt and his pants just fell off. All he could remember was the  sensation of her slim, cool fingers reaching under the cotton of his  boxer shorts, taking hold and driving him into a state of madness he  never really came back from.

He struggled with the condom he'd scrambled to find in the bathroom. Her  fingers worked over his skin, teasing and taunting him, driving him  further and further into a fog of lust.

He let his mouth roam over her naked body, inhaling the rich female  scent of her skin until he wondered if he'd lose his mind altogether.

Then she climbed over him with trembling thighs and welcomed him inside her.

Bella slid her hips down and took him deep. She couldn't stop the moan  of pleasure that issued from her lips. Lips that had trailed over the  hard lines of his face, down his neck and along his broad, muscled  shoulders.

He sucked hard on her neck, until she could feel his teeth against her  skin. Heat surged through her, stung her fingers and toes and made her  buck against him.

The boss's son.

This was the kind of mistake that ended careers. That ruined lives.

He laved her nipple with his tongue, which made her cry out and arch her back, shivering from head to toe.

His big hands held her waist, gripping her, his palms on her backside  and his thumbs against her belly, and she couldn't help but wriggle  against him.

Then he buried his face between her breasts, a gesture so intimate and tender it almost broke her heart.

She didn't realize how much she'd missed simply being close to someone.

Dominic's broad palms slid over her back, sparking fire under her skin.  His arms closed around her and made her rock her hips and pull him even  deeper into her until the sensation became almost too intense to bear.

She was a scientist. She studied things, tried to understand them, but  she didn't understand these feelings surging through her. She couldn't  control them any more than she could stop breathing.

Dominic's strong hand cupped her face and tipped it to meet his. Her  eyes opened for a split second and she took in the expression that  tightened his handsome features. Then his mouth covered hers, greedy  with passion.

She couldn't prevent her hips from kicking into a steady rhythm that sent ripples of pleasure shocking through her.

Their tongues fought and their arms wound around each other. The rhythm  heightened, gathering intensity. Emotion built inside her until she  thought she might burst, or cry, or cry out with the painful fullness of  it.                       
       
           



       

It's just sensation. It doesn't mean anything.

She was just using him. Trying to distract him.

Wasn't she?

Dominic's strong arms held her so tight they almost squeezed the breath  from her lungs. They felt so good wrapped around her, so safe. She'd  been tired and lonely and scared for so long, and sometimes she couldn't  remember what it felt like to feel any other way. She didn't want him  to ever let go.

Even though she wasn't safe at all.

Strange guttural sounds rose from her throat and mingled with his low,  throaty groan as the rhythm rose to a crescendo. Her hands clutched at  him, trying to get a grip, to hold on tight.

She was losing it, losing the ability to think or even feel. Then he  gathered her in his arms and gave a last hard thrust that pushed her  over the ragged edge of reality.

It was a high edge, and she fell and fell and fell, reaching and  grasping but finding nothing to grab on to on the way down. She knew the  landing would hurt. That she'd fall hard and fast and possibly be  bruised, or maybe even crushed beyond repair.

And she was right.





Five




T wo hours later Dominic shoved through the revolving doors of  Hardcastle Enterprises, irritation and lust still burning on his skin  and in his blood.