Power and Possession(79)
He outwardly winced. “That transparent?”
She chuckled. “Like glass, dude.”
Leaning across the seat, he lifted her into his arms and tucked her close against his body. “Screw it. Go to school here if you want. Seriously. I’m good.” Then he bent his head and just before he kissed her, he whispered, “Happy anniversary.”
When she came up for air, he was smiling.
“You forgot.” His brows descended in feigned chagrin. “I’m crushed. Twenty-four hours, tiger.” He smiled. “It’s a major record for me.”
She wasn’t sure that was good news or bad news, but being with him was right up there with surfing, chocolate, and being first in line for the world’s best sex, so fuck the future. “We’ll celebrate once your problems are over,” she said, grinning like someone who’d been given the keys to the city, the world, the universe. “I just happen to have a new flowery silk bustier I’m thinking you might find attractive.”
“You don’t say,” he said softly. “Looks like I’m going to have to offer Ganz some serious incentive to shut this down in a hurry.”
“Did I mention the spike heels with sparkly straps twining up my ankles?”
He groaned. “Maybe prayer would work against computer attacks.”
“You on your knees or me?”
Taking her chin in his fingers, he met the twinkle in her eyes with a hard stare. “You’re going to get a goddamn spanking if you don’t stop. I can take only so much.”
Tension radiated off him in waves. “Lord, I’m being an idiot when your company is dealing with a cyberwar,” she said with genuine remorse. “Not another word from me. I’ll just sit in a corner and quietly read, okay?”
His fingers slid away and his hand dropped. “All I want to do is fuck you and I can’t right now.” He sighed, sexual repression a novelty in his life. “Later, we’ll make up for lost time, okay?”
His flat turned out to be a four-story seventeenth-century building on the hill near the cathedral—smaller than the Monaco property but still impressive. They entered through security gates built into a high wall that shielded the lower levels of the house from the street. The gates closed automatically behind the car and after driving across a cobblestone courtyard, Simon brought the car to a stop before the main entrance.
“Nice flat slash palace,” Nicole said drily, as they walked up to double doors that were being opened by two men in dark suits who looked as though they knew how to handle a weapon or two. Even a shoulder-fired missile wouldn’t be a stretch; they were big.
“One of the dukes of Savoy built the house for his mistress,” Rafe explained. “It’s not massively grand, that’s why I like it. Hey, guys, everyone fine?”
“Couldn’t be better,” the taller of the two men answered.
“I’d like you to meet Nicole Parrish. Nicole, Meyer, Rick, they help everything run smoothly here. We won’t be long. Simon’s driving us to the tech center as soon as Nicole changes and finds a book. Did the luggage get here yet?”
“An hour ago. It’s in your suite.”
Nicole shot Rafe a look and said under her breath, “My clothes got here before me? What if I’d said no to Geneva?”
“I would have sent them back.”
“Liar.”
He held her gaze. “You’re wrong.” Then he waved toward a monumental black marble staircase. “This way. Ganz is waiting.”
She felt leveled by his calm, cool look. Chiding herself for pettiness in the midst of his challenges, she took his hand and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
He turned to smile at her. “Once you get to know me better, you’ll find that I generally mean what I say.” His grin widened. “Not that omission hasn’t been useful on occasion, but not so much with you, pussycat. I don’t feel the need. So if you want to know something, just ask, I’ll tell you. Same page now?”
She nodded, a dozen questions immediately racing into her brain as they ascended the grand staircase. But this was hardly the time to begin an inquisition, when his company was in peril. She could be a mature adult. She could stifle her curiosity. Well, maybe some of it. “Do you live here alone?”
He gave her a startled glance.
“I meant do your mother and stepdad live here too. It’s a really big place for just one person.”
“Ah. No, just me. My mother has a place on the lake a few miles outside the city. I prefer this old part of town.” He didn’t say that memories of his father haunted the house on the lake, or, more aptly, cursed it. “To the right here. My suite’s at the end of the hall.”