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“The windows are tinted.”
“He’ll work around that. It’s his job to get the shot after all.”
He hauled her to his body, her breasts, precariously close to making an exit from the bodice of her dress, pressed against his hard chest. And then, for the second time in the space of five minutes, she was being kissed by Ajax Kouros.
After consigning Ajax to the “fantasies that were never going to happen” bin, two kisses in such short succession were shocking.
His tongue delved deep, tasting her, sending a shock wave through her, straight to her core. And again, she found herself responding, helplessly, intensely. She speared her fingers through his hair, held on to him for all she was worth.
She couldn’t pretend she didn’t feel this. Couldn’t pretend that the touch of his lips against hers didn’t light a fire in her body. Couldn’t pretend that no matter what her emotions were doing, no matter how she’d shut them down, she’d never wanted a man the way she wanted Ajax.
He removed his lips from hers and pressed a kiss to her neck, down lower, lower...oh...yes.
Then he lifted his head. “Drive,” he said, the order clearly meant for his driver and not for her. He kissed her neck again, his tongue tracing a circle over her skin before the limo exited the driveway of her family’s estate and went out onto the main winding road that led back down to the highway.
Then, he moved away from her, all of the heat from the earlier moment completely gone. As if cold water had been thrown on a flame.
“What was...all that?”
“I was not in the mood to deal with questioning—were you?”
“I... No, I suppose not.”
“We’ll need to get a story together, one that matches, before we talk to the press.”
“Right, okay, I see the merit in that.” Her lips felt swollen and hot, and she felt dizzy. What had just happened to her? She looked down at her hand, where he’d placed a ring only moments before, and she wondered if she was involved in some kind of weird dream.
“There will have to be an explanation for why it was you and not Rachel who walked down the aisle today.”
“And the truth won’t work? That she realized she loved someone else?”
The expression in his eyes could only be described as fierce. “No, it does not. Would it be so simple for you?”
“I suppose not. But please let’s come up with an answer that doesn’t completely burn my pride. I’ve had enough of that in the media.”
“We both have issues of pride, it seems. I do not intend to hurt you, Leah, but none of this was part of my plan.”
“Clearly.”
“I imagine it wasn’t a part of yours, either.”
“Well, this morning I was getting ready for my sister’s wedding, and it turned out to be my wedding. And now I’m married and sitting in a limo on my way to...I don’t even know where. Maybe you told me, but I forgot because that’s just the kind of day it’s been.”
“My home. We weren’t planning on going on a honeymoon until things had started settling at Holt.”
“Are you going to New York?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. But I will be working from my office here on getting things in order. Your father has left everything in magnificent working order, and the transition has been well under way for a while, but even so...”
“Business first. I don’t have anything to wear,” she said. “I have this dress. I don’t have...panties.” The words sort of slipped out, horrifying her as they did. She didn’t feel savvy, or self-contained, or well-protected. She felt dazed. “I don’t have deodorant. My suitcase is back at the house.”
“I will have all new clothes sent over if you like. And your things from New York.”
“My things from... What?”
“You’ll be living here with me. We will of course travel to New York, but we’ll stay in my penthouse there, not in your apartment or flat or whatever it is you have.”
“It’s a very nice apartment.”
“We will live together. We are husband and wife after all.”
“Oh. Right. Yes. We are.”
“You sound shocked.”
“Are you not?”
He looked her over, dark eyes assessing. “I am a hard man to shock, Leah, but all things considered, I am a bit.”
He was so dry, so condescending. It wasn’t fair that he was so in control. That his mask never slipped. Because she was confused and a little freaked and kind of in internal upheaval and he just...wasn’t.
