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‘I’m not angry. But I suggest you don’t bend over in that dress.’
‘Is it too short? Hannah assured me that it wouldn’t stand out in the crowd.’
Rafe gave Hannah a look that promised she’d be missing her bonus next Christmas. ‘Hannah was wrong.’
‘Okay, well... I think I see a fire I need to put out,’ Hannah said tactfully. ‘You two have fun.’
Alexa smoothed her hands down the slightly flared hem of her dress. ‘It’s no shorter than some of the other dresses being worn tonight. I have to confess I didn’t think you’d mind, given the photos of some of the women I’ve seen you with.’
Yes, but none of those women had been his wife, and he had never even noticed if anyone had thrown
them admiring glances. Now he couldn’t stop noticing the men who cast covetous glances Alexa’s way.
‘Let’s go to my table.’
That would be a safe place to stash her for a while. She could watch everything that happened from the third-floor balcony that overlooked two split-level dance floors before he sent her home.
She pressed in closely behind him, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt so she didn’t lose him in the crowd. Rafe thought about placing her in front of him but there was only so much his control could handle, and having her pert derrière so close at hand just might tip him over the edge.
‘I know I’m not familiar with nightclubs,’ she said as he led her up the circular glass staircase, nodding to one of the ground staff monitoring the third floor, ‘but I doubt there would ever be one out there to top this. You must be really proud.’
Exceptionally pleased by her praise, he smiled. ‘I’m glad you like it.’
Reaching their destination, he ushered her into the velvet-upholstered circular sofa. Her slender legs were partially concealed by the small central table, but that left her cleavage and her wide, happy smile for him to focus on and that wasn’t much better. Forget working out how much time they had left in days, he needed to work out how much time they had left in hours; it would at least give his mind something to do.
One hundred and ninety two.
Not helpful.
* * *
Trying to ignore how tense Rafe was wasn’t easy, but by her second glass of champagne Alexa was managing it. Berenia didn’t have anything like this and while she was used to being the centre of attention she’d never been completely comfortable with it. But here, in this club, she felt as if she could be anyone. She didn’t feel as if she had to be the proper Crown Princess. She felt as if she could let her hair down. And she had. The feel of it against her bare back heightened her senses and made her feel so different from her usual self. So did the loud music flooding her body with its throbbing beat.
She glanced across at Rafe, who was speaking to someone who had stopped at their table and who was more interested in him than in her. This was his domain and she liked seeing him in it. She liked taking a back seat. Like this, she could just be any one of the women he took out with him. A woman he would later take home. To his bed.
Her gaze roamed his wide shoulders and silky dark hair. She’d always imagined that her dream man would be someone upstanding and good. Someone like his brother, whom she’d built her secret fantasies around, based on his chivalrous actions when she was younger. But really, the King of Santara, as handsome as he was, had never made her feel the way Rafe did. Never made her want to climb into his lap and straddle his hard thighs the way she wanted to do now.
As if she’d actually reached over and touched him, Rafe turned his head away from the man leaning on their booth seat, his smoky gaze connecting with hers as if he knew every one of her sinfully erotic thoughts. Instinctively, her eyes moved to his sensual mouth and the stubble that had grown in over the course of the day. In a black shirt, his hair falling in thick waves, he looked like a modern-day pirate.
Alexa casually picked up her champagne glass and tried to pretend that her heart wasn’t racing. What would he say if she vocalised her desires? What would he say if she slid along the raspberry-coloured bench seat and whispered that she wanted to change their bargain? That she wanted sex with him whether it was meaningless or not.
‘I see everyone agrees that this club is sensational,’ she said as the man Rafe had been conversing with strolled away from their table. ‘You must feel proud.’
‘It takes an army of people to create something like this. It’s not all my doing.’
‘But it takes a visionary to conceive of it, and then someone to take the risk and actually execute it.’
He swallowed a mouthful of champagne and Alexa felt transfixed by the movement of his throat. She felt breathless and the cavernous room seemed to shrink as he sat there watching her with an intensity she wanted to interpret as sexual.
Because this man might be wrong for her on so many levels but that didn’t stop her from wanting him. He was so easy to talk to, so easy to be with. It was sexy to be able to say something to a man and have him actually listen to her. And she did feel safe with him. Safe and sensual. Especially when he kissed her.
‘Alexa, if you don’t stop looking at me like that I’m likely to do something we’ll both regret.’
His deep growly voice flowed through her body like hot caramel. ‘Like what?’
His blue eyes turned as hot as a flame, his body going so still at her words she knew he was holding his breath. ‘Like things you don’t want to know about.’
Alexa’s tongue slipped out to moisten her dry lips. ‘Maybe I do.’
