“Hey, I’m losing it too. I spent the interval while you were gone telling myself it didn’t matter if I was flipping out because the sexual payoff was awesome. And I’m not interested in walking away from awesomeness any time soon. So give me a kiss, let’s get this over with, and then”—she reached up and lightly ran her warm palm down his hard, muscled chest—“you can reward me.”
Dropping his head, he kissed her gently for a slow, lingering moment, sliding his tongue into her mouth just before raising his head—as if marking his territory. As if to say There’s more when this is over. Then he touched her cheek with his fingertip. “I can hardly wait to push you over the edge.” His smile was easy, his golden gaze fixed on her. “It’s going to be fun.”
Aleix was brought in, Rafe made introductions—“Dr. Aleix Rovira may I present Miss Nicole Parrish”—adding a brief description of the doctor’s impressive credentials from Europe’s top medical school before he left the room.
The doctor looked young, dressed in chinos and a white shirt. That he was slight of build with refined features and pale disheveled hair enhanced the image of youth. And as he began to detail the procedures, Nicole was certain that Rafe had intimidated him because his explanation was not only scrupulously respectful, but cautious in the extreme.
“Please, call me Nicole,” she interrupted, wanting to put him at ease. “I think I understand the fundamentals.” She smiled. “And ignore whatever Rafe said to you. This isn’t a problem for me.”
The doctor softly exhaled. “Please then, Aleix,” he said, brushing a wave of ash-blond hair off his forehead. “If you’d like to sit on the bed and roll up your sleeve, I’ll take a blood sample first.”
Moving to the bed, she sat, slid the loose sleeve up to her shoulder, and held it in place. “Have you been with Rafe long?”
“Quite a while.” He began wrapping a tourniquet around her upper arm.
The doctor wasn’t chatty. Not that she was deterred when she wanted to know if this was the ten thousandth time Aleix had run these tests for Rafe. In her experience horny men and the truth weren’t even in the same zip code. “Does Rafe have you do this often?”
“You’d have to ask him.” The doctor tore open a sterile pack that held a syringe.
Okaaay. Maybe signing a nondisclosure statement was required for employees of a major stud like Rafe Contini. But then she wasn’t an employee, so she could keep asking—in this case a more pointed question. “Would Rafe take it out on you if I shut this down?”
A startled, wide-eyed look behind his wire-framed glasses.
“It’s okay. I won’t.” She smiled. “But just in general terms, is Rafe fairly truthful?”
“In most things, yes,” Aleix said in lieu of a legitimate answer, bending over her arm to test the vein.
“You’re not going to tell me anything are you?”
He didn’t look up. “This might hurt a little.”
She pulled her arm from his grasp, tamped down her rising temper, and addressed Rafe’s gatekeeper with the tone she’d use to coax a toddler from its twentieth tea cup ride at Disney World. “Rafe told me he’d never done this before. I just want to know if that’s true. You can just nod or shake your head if you don’t want to perjure yourself.”
A slow smile formed on Aleix’s mouth. “You’re going to give him trouble aren’t you?”
“Not particularly. But all this”—she did a little twirl of her fingers—“the house, the staff, the women, the parties. Let’s just say, I’m not inclined to add to his arrogance.”
“You’re the voice of moderation?” His voice was sardonic.
“God no. But, unlike all the others, I need a reason to say yes.”
Aleix lifted the syringe. “Like this?”
She grinned. “Rafe and I agree on the merits of self-indulgence.”
“So long as you set the rules?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Rafe had spoken with the same uncertainty—and he wasn’t an uncertain man. Nor was Miss Parrish, unless he missed his guess. “Rafe’s never had me do this before.” Aleix glanced at the clock. “He’s also in a hurry. So if I’ve answered you satisfactorily, you might like to look away while I draw some blood.”
Never before? Was that lovely or what? “I’m not afraid of needles,” she said, supercool, like she wasn’t smiling inside.
“Excellent.” Aleix eased the needle into her vein. She didn’t so much as flinch. Miss Parrish was not only breathtakingly beautiful, but undaunted and self-possessed. There was no mystery as to why Rafe was attracted to her.