THE VALQUEZ SEDUCTION(59)

                What had happened to his determination to keep his hands off her? What a joke. He hadn’t lasted twenty-four hours. The last three days had been some of the most sensually pleasing of his life. The most sensually pleasing. Who was he kidding? No one came close to rocking his world the way Daisy did.

                A vision of them in the shower together flashed through his brain. His body hardened at the memory. His skin shivered beneath his clothes, his desire for her ramping up until it was all he could think about. Her gorgeous and totally natural body, her breasts and womanly hips, the soft feminine swell of her belly that was such a contrast to the toned strength of his. The way she had stroked and worshipped his body with such honesty, responding to him with her whole being, her shyness melting away as she discovered the intimate secrets of her womanhood. He had seen it all played out on her face—the wonder, the joy, the rapture. He felt a part of it in a way he had never felt with another partner. She gave herself to him in a way no one had ever done before. And not just because she was a virgin, although he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that had triggered some Neanderthal-like pleasure deep in his psyche.

                Daisy was an old-fashioned girl with a wicked and playful side he found enormously attractive. The only thing he found a little irritating was her candour. She had a tendency to speak her mind, most particularly her observations about him. He’d made the fatal error of revealing too much to her over that first breakfast. Somehow, watching her gobble up that meal like a kid in a candy store had made him lower his guard. She might have the appearance of being a little naïve but underneath that guileless dimpled smile was a smart young woman who knew much more than she let on.

                But was she being straight with him about what she wanted out of their relationship? She claimed she only wanted him for sex. It was the same claim he had made to all the women he’d slept with over the years. Why then did it niggle him so much she didn’t want more? This was their last night together. She hadn’t said a word about wanting more from him. Most women would have dropped a hint or two by now. But she had said nothing. Zilch. He wasn’t even sure if she was going to agree to see him in London. What if she changed her mind? What if she decided what happened in Vegas had to stay in Vegas?

                Not that he was thinking of settling down any time soon. He supposed there might come a day in the distant future when he would get around to thinking about acquiring a suitable wife, maybe having a couple of kids to keep his branch of the family tree going. But it wasn’t on his radar at the moment. Besides, Alejandro and Teddy would see to all that traditional stuff, which would leave him with a little more breathing room.

                In the past, whenever he’d thought of settling down he’d got a claustrophobic feeling. A cold dread would fill him. He would feel suffocated by the thought of being tied down to one woman.

                But that was before he’d met Daisy with her sparkling smile and winsome ways.

                As soon as he’d laid eyes on her he had felt something thump him in the chest. Her clear blue eyes had met his across the crowded room and her uppity little nose had inched ever so higher. The rush of his blood had almost knocked him off his feet. Lust had rocketed through him as soon as he saw the defiant way she looked at him. The denial of her attraction to him had been a potent turn-on. The fact she hadn’t known who he was had been a bonus. He was growing weary of the groupies who trailed after him and his mates for the sake of bedding a professional sportsman. They weren’t interested in him as a person. They didn’t know a brass razoo about him. They knew nothing about who he was beneath the brash, fun-loving mask.

                There were times when he didn’t know himself…

                Luiz drowned the thought with another sip of his drink but, as he lowered his glass, he saw Daisy enter the bar. It was like a bizarre rerun of the first night they had met. He felt the same knockout punch to his chest as her eyes met his across the floor. But this time she didn’t put her nose in the air. Instead, she gave him a smouldering come-and-get-me look that made the back of his neck fizz and prickle in excitement.