His cruel lips curved. “That's the story.”
“Isn't it true?”
He grabbed her arms, looking down at her. “What is true is that I want you, Ellie. Raising my child. And in my arms. In my bed.” He stroked down her cheek to her neck and rubbed her plump breast with his thumb, making her nipple ripe and taut. He whispered, “And I always get what I want.”
He lowered his mouth to hers in a searing kiss. She felt the hardness of his body pressed against her. She wanted nothing more than to surrender.
She couldn't resist Diogo's desire. His strength. His power. His heat.
As he kissed her, Ellie's fingers curled around his crisp black shirt. She felt his lips like a current through her body, felt the wind in her hair as they stood in the sunshine on his penthouse balcony over Copacabana Beach, and she could no more push him away than she could stop breathing.
She had to give in. She had no choice…
Blood rushed loudly through her ears. Then she realized the buzzing was the sound of his cell phone vibrating from his pocket.
With a muffled curse, he glanced down at the phone to see the number. His expression changed.
And then he pulled away from Ellie to answer the call!
“Bom dia,” he said warmly. “Catia. Eu vou mais tarde? Por favor!”
Ellie blinked at him in shock, struggling to regain her senses. She listened to the tender, almost pleading sound of his voice, and her cheeks went hot with humiliation.
Two minutes ago, he'd been kissing Ellie, intent on seducing her into his bed.
But he'd already forgotten all about her. He'd ditched her mid-kiss in his eagerness to talk to another woman!
I must be out of my mind, she thought, putting her hands on her head in consternation. Truly insane!
Diogo put his hand over the phone. “Excuse me,” he said as coolly as if Ellie were still just his employee. “I will return in a moment.”
She watched him leave the balcony through the sliding glass doors. Shocked and fighting back tears, Ellie whirled back around to stare blindly toward the vista of Copacabana Beach and the wide blue sea.
She'd been so close to giving in!
How could she have thought she could possibly trust Diogo? He was nothing like the calm, steady, loyal man she needed. Nothing like Timothy…
But wait. Timothy wasn't a good man, either.
He's been buying and selling babies on the open market. Taking children from poor mothers and giving them to rich, childless couples who can afford his illegal fees.
Timothy a cold, calculating baby seller? She still found it hard to believe. Although it was true she had been uncomfortable around him at times. When he'd first proposed, she'd been only fifteen, working long hours at the Dairy Burger and struggling to take care of her sick mother. Timothy had been twenty-five, a fresh graduate of Yale Law. She'd been incredulous at his first proposal, but he'd kept trying. He'd even offered to support Ellie and her dying mother.
But she hadn't wanted Timothy's charity. It wouldn't have been right to take advantage of his feelings, or make him think their relationship could ever be more than friendship.
Until last year. With her mother gone, Ellie'd had no reason to remain in Flint…and Timothy had offered her something she couldn't resist. A job in New York City.
Perhaps she'd been wrong to accept. But she couldn't kid herself that she would have gotten her job without his help. All of Diogo's other secretaries had not only finished high school, they'd graduated from college. And yet, against all odds, she'd done well in her position of junior secretary. She'd learned quickly. She'd been popular with the other employees.
At least until Jessica had spread the rumors far and wide that Ellie was trying to climb the corporate ladder by climbing her boss.
She sucked in her breath. Maybe she really was the slut they all thought she was! She'd nearly agreed to be Diogo's mistress, knowing that he'd never marry her. Knowing that he would never even love her, and when he tired of her in bed he'd move on. Knowing that all the world would believe her to be a gold digger—a greedy secretary who'd retired from her job as soon as she'd gotten pregnant by the boss!
Diogo came back onto the balcony. “Com licença, querida,” he murmured, reaching for her. “Now. Where were we?”
She jerked away with a gasp. “You must be kidding!”
“You are upset?”
“Because you were kissing me, then stopped to take a call from another woman!”
His eyes grew cold. “You do not own me, querida. Do not presume to think you have the right to know my secrets.”
“Why shouldn't I?” she demanded, fighting back furious tears. “From the moment you first seduced me, you've acted like you own me. Like I'm your possession to ignore or enjoy as you please—”