‘You want me too,’ Sergio husked against her reddened, love-bruised mouth. ‘Admit it.’
‘No!’ Her green eyes flashing like polished emeralds, she pulled free. Picking up the yellow dress, she shook it out and laid it carefully across a chair.
‘Even though it might pay to please me?’ Sergio traded, smooth as silk.
‘You get one night and that’s it—you don’t ever come near me again!’ Kathy hissed back at him like a bristling cat. ‘You got that?’
‘I got it, delizia mia,’ Sergio intoned, sweeping her up into his arms to carry her over to the bed. ‘Whether or not I’ll accept it is another question. I dislike doing what other people tell me.’
‘Tell me something I don’t know.’ Finding herself sprawled on the bed clad only in her briefs, Kathy became suddenly less strident. Uncomfortable with her semi-unclothed state, she flung a look of dismay at the sunlit windows. ‘For goodness’ sake, close the curtains!’
Amused by that sudden lurch from feisty cool to panic, Sergio hit a button and flicked another to put on the lights. He shed his jacket and his tie while he watched her with the single-minded golden gaze of a predator. Her beautiful eyes were wary, her colourful hair tousled. He recognised her extraordinary magnetism. On his bed she was as unusual and exotic as a tiger strolling through a drawing room.
Beneath that forceful scrutiny, Kathy was uneasy and she twisted away to conceal her bare breasts. Her shyness infuriated her, for she saw it as yet another weakness and her conscience was already shouting at her. She had kissed him back with more than toleration. How could she have responded with that much enthusiasm to a guy she loathed? On the other hand, wasn’t it as well that she could? But why could she still respond to him?
‘Madonna mia,’ Sergio was staring in shock at the jagged scar that marred the white skin of her back. ‘What the hell happened to you?’
When Kathy realised what had grabbed his attention she thrust herself back against the pillows so that that part of her body was hidden again. She was mortified that he should have seen the ugly evidence of the attack she had suffered three years earlier. ‘Nothing—’
‘That was not nothing—’
Her vivid green eyes were screened, her lithe, slender length taut. ‘But I don’t have to talk about it if I don’t want to.’
Clad in designer boxers, Sergio came down on the bed. He was tall, bronzed and boldly masculine, his powerful muscles laid over the lean, strong frame of an athlete. ‘Are you always this ready for a fight?’
Kathy was feeling incredibly tense. ‘If you don’t like it, send me home.’
Dark golden eyes intent, Sergio stared down at her with the aggressive potency of a hunter. She couldn’t take her attention from him. In response, he curved lean fingers to the nape of her neck. ‘Maybe I could get to like fighting, delizia mia,’ he husked, tipping up her mouth to the wide, sensual promise of his.
Her nerves were as lively as jumping beans; she was rigid. But the kiss was a teasing provocation that enticed and promised. Her breath feathered in her throat. The taste of him intoxicated her but she fought that truth, determined to endure his attentions rather than respond to him. He found the delicate swell of her breasts and massaged the velvet peaks to sensitive rosebud crests. Arrows of exquisite sensation were slivering through her. But still she struggled to withstand his sexual mastery.
Sergio tugged her down into his arms to combat her resistance. There was more urgency than patience in the possessive stroke of his hands over her slender curves. There was greater demand in the heated force of his mouth. She twisted and turned beneath the onslaught of his increasing ardour. No matter how hard she tried to stay separate he was sweeping her up into the same storm of passion where pride had no place and only fervent need ruled.
‘You want me too,’ he told her thickly. ‘It’s reciprocal. I saw it in you the first time you looked at me.’
Her lashes swept down to conceal her apple-green eyes. She wouldn’t answer but she was powerless to control the desire he had aroused. Her fingers were digging into his wide brown shoulders. The aromatic scent of his skin entranced her. At first meeting he had imprinted on her senses and she had recognised him on every level since then. The bewildering strength of that initial bonding scared her and infuriated her but it also exhilarated her.
‘You are so stubborn,’ Sergio growled in the simmering silence.
‘I’m not here to stroke your ego!’ Kathy declared.
He ground her lips apart with devouring heat and punished her with pleasure. Every nerve-ending in her body leapt in response. He worked his erotic path down over her squirming length, lingering on the rosy crowns of her breasts with his tongue and his teeth and exploring the hidden places to discover the exquisite sensitivity of her most tender flesh. The excitement became overwhelming. Her heart pounded in her eardrums, for in no time at all the yearning became a ravenous need. His caresses pushed her to an edge of frustrated torment that she found unbearable.