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In the end he had decided that vetoing Karina on the strength of evidence from the past was mean-minded of him, and that as the sister of a teammate he should at least give her a chance. He had already made plans to keep contact between them to a minimum while she was working on his ranch. She’d avoided him for many years, so he was confident that that was what she would want too. But now, being in the same room as Karina, he was forced to rethink. Her effect on him was profound. He understood now why no other woman had ever matched up to her. But all the old reasons for resisting Karina remained. He was a player in life as well as on the field, and as the sister of his teammate Karina Marcelos was forbidden fruit.
‘Dante...’
Her voice was soft and polite—for her brother’s sake, he suspected, as the expression in her eyes was at odds with that professional exterior as she crossed the room to greet him. There was no intimacy at all in her gaze. Intimacy? She was almost hostile towards him. Had that single night all those years ago taken such a toll? Apparently, it had. There was nothing to be done about it. Karina had wanted more from him than he’d been able to give. He had thrown her out of his bed for the best of reasons. He had nothing to give her in the emotional sense, and still marvelled that he had put his concern for Karina above his own selfish lust. He’d been utterly selfish back then.
He was still where women were concerned, he reflected as her cool gaze levelled on his. He still had nothing to offer. The only difference today was the fact that she wasn’t interested. Worse. The light had gone from her eyes. Where was the Karina he had known? What had happened to the tomboy who would give him as good as she got?
‘You look well,’ he said, still searching for clues.
‘Do I?’
His groin tightened at the challenge. She wasn’t so dead inside after all. She had always been a good actress, and he could understand why she was cool with him. The blow to her pride must have been immense. Saving her from him had come at a heavy price. Their friendship was dead.
‘You look well, Dante.’
‘Thank you.’
The polite exchange over, he returned to assessing Karina. She was all woman now, not a girl to provoke and tease. Her figure had filled out and her thick black hair gleamed with good health, though since that night she had started tying it back severely. Whenever he caught a glimpse of her at a polo match, it was dragged back, and it was dragged back today—so different from the past when it had cascaded in wild tangles down her back. They had both changed. They were both very different people now. He had responsibilities, while Karina’s career had obviously grounded her, and though that reassured him on a professional level, this was not the girl he had vowed to stay away from for her own good but a woman who would keep him at bay.
‘Can I get you something to drink?’ she asked politely.
Hemlock, her eyes suggested, which made him force back a smile. ‘Just water, please.’
Her expression gave nothing away as she turned to do the honours, but when she returned and gave him the glass and their fingers brushed, her cheeks pinked up betrayingly. She could act all she liked, but she still felt the connection between them, just as he did.
His hunting instinct rose and swirled around them. Sensing this, she shot him a warning glance. She hadn’t forgiven him for kicking her out of his bed. He couldn’t blame her when he hadn’t bothered with explanations. A prior, pressing appointment had done the job. If she’d stayed they would have destroyed each other. She’d been too young, too innocent for him. Progressing their friendship into something more than one night had been a car crash waiting to happen, but all Karina had seen was his betrayal.
His eyes devoured her as she crossed the room. It amused him to think that she was putting as much distance between them as she could, when at one time she would have stayed to plague and tease him. No other woman made him feel this way, as if he was risking everything—his place on the team, his friendship with Luc—his very sanity, just by being in the same room as her. And then jealousy swamped him. Who had held her since that night? Who had heard Karina scream with pleasure? Who knew that if they stroked her from the nape of her neck to the small of her back she would whimper with need and raise her hips, inviting even more intimate touches? Who had tasted her innocence since that night?
‘It’s so good to have you here, Dante.’
He shot into fully alert mode as her brother spoke to him. Luc had an easy manner with his teammates and as he crossed the room to put an arm around Dante, it was in complete contrast to the tension between Dante and Luc’s sister. He had to put all thoughts of Karina aside before he could respond to his friend. ‘Thank you, Luc. It’s good to be here.’
