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Alicia got no satisfaction from the momentary flash of undisguised envy in Serena’s eyes.
‘Really?’ Serena’s eyes did a once over, taking in Alicia’s understated, yet obviously expensive clothes. ‘You’ve done well for yourself, haven’t you?’
Alicia smiled tightly. ‘I really should be getting back—’
Serena’s husband came over to join them. He smiled at Alicia and she had to smile back. He seemed like a nice man, she thought again, apart from his wife.
‘Darling, I can’t believe I’ve run into Alicia Parker … or should I say D’Aquanni?’
Alicia turned puce. ‘No, it’s Parker.’ As if!
‘I’m sure it is.’ There was a gleam of triumph in Serena’s eyes. She looked at her husband. ‘We used to work together in the Royal a few years ago.’
Jeremy made a polite noise and Alicia fairly sagged back against the desk when they finally walked away. This was not good. Serena was a prize mischief-maker. And she knew far too much.
When Dante returned to the suite that evening, Alicia was ready and waiting for dinner. He barely cast her a quick glance as he shed his clothes on the way to the shower. She looked away hurriedly and went to stand out on the balcony. It was artfully secluded and kept private from prying eyes.
When she heard him emerge behind her she didn’t turn around, not wanting to see him getting dressed, but what was she going to do tonight? She felt panic rise. Because if he so much as looked at her she was going to find it hard to resist. A treacherous sexual tension had been building inside her all day, despite her head willing her body to behave.
Dante buttoned his shirt and looked at Alicia’s slim, taut back. The momentary memory of that scar just above her right buttock made him feel curiously protective. For a second. And then he quashed it. For all he knew, he told himself with something that felt like dogged obstinacy, it could just be a story … He hadn’t forgotten the way she’d so coolly laid herself bare for him just afterwards. It had jarred with him then, and jarred again now.
She wore a cream silk dress, it was tight fitting and ruched, emphasising her curves, and suddenly desire was heavy and potent in him. He wanted to stop dressing and go over there, take her hair down from its neat chignon, pull down that zip. His hands stilled for a second, desire coming close to winning out, but then he had to stop. They couldn’t. There would be plenty of time later.
Alicia felt Dante’s eyes boring into her back. She still fought against turning around, too scared to look, and then the spell was broken by his curt voice.
‘I’m ready, let’s go.’
She turned around and was glad to see him dressed. She walked in and picked up a wrap. His eyes drifted down from her face and over her body, which heated up with awful predictability.
‘Am I OK?’
‘You’ll do.’
Well, there was a backhanded compliment if ever there was one, she thought, bringing her back to earth with a bump.
They walked to the door and Dante was about to allow her to precede him when he stopped her and looked very pointedly at her feet. She looked down, confused, and saw that she’d forgotten to put her shoes on. He had her head in a complete tizzy.
‘Sorry …’ She blushed furiously and found them, wincing a little as she put them on. They were cream silk, a slightly darker shade than the dress, with little jewels on the front. Killer heels. And they hurt like hell. When she stood up Dante had to suck in a breath, they pushed everything out that was meant to tease and entice a man. Her bottom and her breasts. He’d never noticed before how ero
tic it could be to watch a woman put on shoes.
She walked carefully towards him and he shut the door again for a second. She looked at him warily, ‘What …? We’re going to be late.’
He pulled her in to him, the heels gave her added height, bringing her closer to his mouth.
Bending down and capturing her head with a hand in her hair, he kissed her. Alicia put her hand on his wrist and felt his pulse, his skin. His mouth moved over hers and all of last night’s passion and force came back instantly. She moaned, half in despair and half in heat-induced lust as she swayed in towards him and her mouth opened, and he took full advantage. Just as she’d feared, her iron-clad intentions were not so iron-clad in the forcefield of this man.
It was the burning feel of his arousal against her that woke her up and she pulled back with effort. She knew her eyes must be bright, her cheeks flushed. She felt hot and tingly all over.
‘Dante … I’m not going to sleep with you again. This wasn’t part of the arrangement.’ There was some kind of desperation in her voice. ‘Please. I’m just here as your hostess to make things look good.’
Dante shook his head, his eyes flashing. ‘The arrangement has changed. You’re here now as my partner in every sense of the word. Why would you want to deny yourself this?’ He placed a hand on her heart, just below her breasts; it was thumping out of control.
He shook his head again. ‘It’s just sex, cara—amazing sex. We don’t have to like each other … or respect each other in the morning.’
Inside, Alicia shrivelled up and died at his cynical words. At least Raul Carro had couched his desire in a fake haze of love. Dante pulled no punches and, in a way, she should be grateful for that, but still she was determined to hold out in whatever way possible, because she could not endure or cope with the kind of pleasure he could wring from her body again.
Tight-lipped, she reached past him and opened the door, stepping out into the corridor. He followed and looked at her back, walking away from him. It had been on the tip of his tongue a few minutes ago to say something about last night, about not using protection, but now he knew he couldn’t. He wasn’t ready to face up to that fact yet himself—that she’d made him so hot that he’d forgotten—and, if he explained, he didn’t want her to read anything into it. And she would. Because she was a gold-digger and arch manipulator.
