The Arrangement .(6)

Forcing herself to remain calm, Alexa took a deep breath and held out her hand. “I think you’ve insulted me enough for one day. If you hand me the check, I’ll get out of your hair.”

Leonardo just looked at her hand, the slim wrist, the delicate fingers. She thought he would ignore her. Just as she was about to pull back, he enveloped her small hand in one of his.

The warm clasp was like an electric shock to her system. The immediate effect of his touch left her breathless, dizzy. How could he still have this effect on her?

Leonardo lifted her hand to his lips, heating her flesh with the pressure of his mouth against the sensitive skin of her palm. It was impossible not to react, not to tremble as her breasts tightened and the intimate core of her body throbbed as if he’d pressed the kiss there instead.

He flicked the tip of his tongue against her hand, and she tried to pull back as tiny shivers trickled up her arm. He only tightened his grip.

“Let go,” she whispered. She was fighting him as much as her body’s reaction to his touch.

“Not yet.”

Leonardo tugged, and she fell into him, her breasts crushed against his hard chest. He clamped his arm around her waist so she couldn’t move. His eyes darkened as he felt her soft, supple body. That wasn’t the only physical manifestation of his desire for her.

Alexa felt him harden against her stomach, and she was swamped with feelings that she hadn’t felt in so long, her knees weakened.

He lowered his head to her neck and inhaled in deep appreciation of the flowery scent of her skin. The tip of his tongue traced a sensuous arch along the shell of her ear.

Alexa closed her eyes and felt her body melt into his, his heart thumping beneath her palms.

“I can’t wait to get you back into bed,” he said huskily.

His hand lowered to her bottom and squeezed the flesh with possessive fingers, kneading it in a way that brooked no argument that it was his right to do so.

Alexa resisted the urge to grind against him. Her body was on fire with unrestrained need that she’d locked away and held behind a façade of cool indifference.

“Maybe this time I won’t let you leave.”

Alexa’s startled brown eyes locked with Leonardo’s hard black ones. She tried to wrench herself from his grasp, but he wouldn’t have it. He held her fast in an iron grip.

“You said two months,” she reminded him. “You can’t force me to stay with you indefinitely.” She successfully disengaged herself from his arms. He coolly looked down at her from his superior height, as if the heated response of their bodies pressed against each other had never taken place. “It was a mistake for me to come here.”

She grabbed her purse and rushed toward the door.

“You can have the check, Alexa,” Leonardo called before she could make it to the door.

When she turned to face him, she saw he held the check in his outstretched hand. Her stomach was in knots, thinking about her brother and what she would say to him if she showed up without it.

“Two months, Leo, that’s it.” She spoke in a firm voice, disguising how upset she was.

“Two months, Alexa, and then you’re free of me.”

With as much dignity as she could muster, Alexa bumped up her chin and took the few strides back to Leonardo. She slipped the check from his fingers and moved to escape.

His voice halted her at the door. “No ‘thank you’?” he taunted.

“We both know that’s not how you expect me to show my appreciation,”

Alexa said woodenly. She stared at the dark oak door instead of turning to face him.

“Well, at least thank Xander, for getting my wife back for me, even if it’s only temporary. By the way, he gets the check today, and you move back in tomorrow. I’ll have my assistant call you to make the arrangements to have you move back into the house.”

So soon. Of course he wouldn’t waste any time, but still …

Alexa twisted the knob and hastily exited Leonardo’s office.



Looking out over the Atlanta skyline, Leonardo’s eyes narrowed.

He’d done it. That was how badly he wanted her. It didn’t matter that it was unethical. He’d achieved the desired result—Alexa would be back in his home and back in his bed.

He applied pressure to his nape, to ease the tension from having her in his office. Despite his intention to do otherwise, he’d been incapable of making it through the brief meeting without touching her. She’d been too close. Her creamy skin, the color of café au lait, proved too much of a temptation. Her almond-shaped brown eyes had surveyed him with anger, but her displeasure did little to quench the hunger in his loins.

Leonardo compressed his teeth. Even now the fragrant scent of her skin along the slope of her neck lingered in his nostrils. He liked her new short haircut. He liked the way the full, bouncy curls curved into her neck. He couldn’t wait to take a handful of her hair and feel the silken tresses slip through his fingers as he devoured her luscious, pouty mouth. That mouth.