by Marinelli, Carol; Hayward, Jennifer; Stephens, Susan; Anderson, Natalie
‘I’m sure it’s lovely.’ She led them to the front door and opened it. ‘Thanks so much.’
She shut the door on them before her blush became visible to the astronauts on the International Space Station and, with a combination of avid curiosity and outrage, ran back up to her bedroom, freezing on the threshold when she saw it.
He’d replaced her ancient little bed with a monstrosity best suited to a whorehouse, with its four posts perfect for tying dominatrix straps to. Except that was her being overdramatic. It wasn’t tacky. It was beautiful. Freshly laundered white linen covered the whole thing so it looked like a soft cloud. The thing that annoyed her the most was that it was gorgeous and fitted her room perfectly. And she was turned on just at the sight of it.
She turned on her heel and marched out of the room, determined to get the sorting done even more quickly than she’d planned. The sooner she got away from Alejandro Martinez, the better for her emotional health.
* * *
‘Darling, I’m back.’
Anticipation rippled through her body. Despite his sarcastic call, she heard the rough edge of desire underneath it.
‘What took you so long?’ she taunted, knowing full well he was home earlier than usual. Again.
He walked towards her, his gaze penetrating, that cocky smile curving his arrogant mouth. ‘I take it the bed arrived? Let’s go use it.’ He grabbed her hand and led her to the stairs, carrying a plastic bag in the other. ‘I walked into the store and chose what I wanted.’
Was this the new routine? Now this liaison was exposed as the blistering lust-fest that it was. No dinners out any more—or even in. It was just straight to bed to have sex the second he walked in the door. She ignored her own desire for exactly that—she couldn’t let him have it this easily.
‘It’s too big,’ she grumbled as they got to the top floor.
He sent her a sideways look that told her he wasn’t fooled. ‘I figured we needed a little more space to be creative.’
She was not hot at the thought of that. She wasn’t.
In her bedroom he set another box of condoms on the table. She stared at it, feeling the shifts deep within her treacherous body.
‘I suppose the best thing is I’ll have the space to be able to sleep without having to actually touch you,’ she muttered.
‘Yes, because you hated using me as your pillow last night.’ He stood his ground as he began to unbutton his shirt. ‘Why don’t you come closer and try to tell me again how much you don’t want me?’
She flung her head back, watching as with each flick of his wrist more of his beautiful skin was exposed. ‘What’s in the bag—sex toys?’
‘Dinner.’ He laughed and his muscles flexed in the most distracting fashion. ‘I’ll get the toys tomorrow now I know you want them.’
‘Oh, so I actually get dinner?’ she asked tartly. ‘But it’s takeaway. Disposable. Not the five-star restaurants any more.’
His smile was evil. ‘I know what you want more.’
Her skin burned as she watched him strip. His muscles rippled; his body was hard and magnetic.
Two could play at that game.
‘And I know what you want.’ She lifted her top and whisked it off her head. She wore no bra—her nipples were too sensitive for lace today.
He retaliated by toeing off his shoes, then socks and finally kicking off his trousers and boxers in the one movement. Kitty’s mouth dried as she drank in the response of his body; her hands shook as she peeled her jeans and panties off. Naked, trembling, she stared at him from across the room in a wordless but passionate duel.
‘Come here,’ he breathed his command.
Internally she battled—her pride, her need to deny him when he always got it all, versus her own desire for him.
No false declarations or meaningless promises.
This was what it was. The dam had burst and there was no containing it now until the lust had been drained. She needed it to be drained.
She stepped towards him until she was close enough for him to grasp her waist and slam her against him in that last step. She arched her neck, granting him full access even as she stared hard into his eyes and challenged him. ‘Do you insist on such total surrender from all your women, the way you demand it from me?’
‘No.’ Despite gritting his teeth, Alejandro couldn’t hold back his honest reply. ‘There’s just something about you that really ticks me off.’
Something that lit him up. Something he couldn’t get enough of. Her, like this, naked and hot and welcoming him. Stripped back to the essentials, this was sexual hunger, unstoppable and fantastic. The sooner it was sated the better and it was killing him trying to hold back from thrusting hard and claiming her with no foreplay whatsoever.
He didn’t understand why she needed to fight him, but he knew she couldn’t help it. Something about him got to her. It was the same for him. He relished sparring with her, anticipated her arguments and ached for the moment she surrendered and welcomed him into her hot, wet body.
‘So you want me to submit?’ she asked.
And she did that now. Stepping back, she fell backwards onto the big bed, her arms and legs spread-eagled, positioning herself like an offering for him, except her eyes were alight with that challenge. She wasn’t giving in to him without extracting something in return.
‘Is this what you wanted?’ she taunted.
He couldn’t get the condom on fast enough. ‘This is your fantasy and you know it.’ He breathed hard, daring her to deny it but needing to hear something else. Something true. ‘You like it when I pin you down and kiss every inch of you.’
He’d known from the second he’d seen her that it would be like this—their physical attraction was combustible. He caressed her until he heard her gasp. Slow. So Slow. Until, hot and wet, she sobbed for her release. Never had pleasuring a woman been so pleasurable for him.
‘Yes,’ she screamed. ‘Oh, yes!’
He rose in a fury, fired by her raw admission.
‘You’re obsessed,’ she murmured as she spread her legs wider so he could take his place where she wanted him.
‘Possibly.’
The words were a warning in his ear. Was this unnatural? Was this constant ache going too far? But he couldn’t stop now. With a harsh groan, he buried himself deep inside her, growling at the exquisite torment of her tight silken body. He held fast for a moment, just to prove to himself that he could.
‘Please,’ she whispered beneath him, her arms holding him tight and close. ‘Please.’
And there it was. He couldn’t resist that request, couldn’t deny her or himself. So, in turn, he too surrendered, driving hard, driving home.
Strong yet soft, she met him thrust for thrust. ‘Alejandro.’
* * *
He lay as limp and useless as a rag but despite his exhaustion he couldn’t join her in sleep. She was the most sexually compatible lover he’d had. Not that he’d had as many as she seemed to think. It wasn’t as if he spent every night with a new woman. Sex was merely a relaxation strategy to combat work hours and stress.
But this was different. This driving resurgence of desire only moments after completion? He felt inhumanly strong and the voracious hunger drove him on. It couldn’t last, right? Usually a few days was enough with one woman before he eased off…but he wanted Kitty more than ever. He wanted so much more.
Any kind of obsession was unhealthy, but at least his obsession with work resulted in a productive, safe, outcome. To be obsessed by a woman? That wasn’t safe.
And he was obsessed. He was addicted. Not just to sex with her, but to the way she stood up to him, the way she made him laugh, the way she made him feel alive. And he wondered about the wistful expression on her face as she packed up her family’s history from this house, bu
t at the same time he knew the connection she felt to this place was something he could never understand, no matter how hard he tried.
And he did demand her surrender. He was obsessed with that.
God, his brain was addled. Never before had he sat at his desk and discovered he’d lost five minutes in a dream-like state, just thinking about a woman. He didn’t want to think about anyone like that. He didn’t want to lose control of himself in that way. He’d seen what happened when someone became obsessive. Became possessive.
Someone very much like him.
He couldn’t let it happen now. Not with sweet, vulnerable Kitty. Not with anyone.
He had to protect her. He had to remember he had too much to do. Work had to take precedence. He breathed out, finally able to relax and sink towards slumber as he realised: work was the answer.
CHAPTER TEN
‘I’M GOING TO New York for a week. You’ll be all right here on your own?’
Kitty looked up from her checklist and hoped she’d hidden the way her heart had just thudded to the floor. ‘Of course. It’ll be a nice holiday from you,’ she lied. He was home early again, but he wasn’t staying. He was going away for a week.
‘Me and my lecherous demands?’ He caught her close and kissed her until she was soft and leaning against him. ‘You’re not going to miss me at all?’ he teased.
‘I’m going to catch up on my sleep.’ She pushed out of his arms and brushed her hair back from her face.
It was mean of him to invite an admission like that when he’d never admit such a thing himself. She’d be out of sight and out of mind… She frowned.
‘I’ll call you and—’
‘Don’t,’ she interrupted breathlessly.
A quizzical expression crossed his face. ‘Don’t call you?’
‘Not if you’re going to call me like you did Saskia that night. I’d rather you didn’t call me at all. I’d rather not know.’
His eyes widened. ‘What are you implying?’
‘I just mean that when this is over I want you to tell me face-to-face, not a phone call. You think you can hold back from temptation for a week?’ She held her head high, even though she hated how shrill she sounded. ‘Because I don’t think that’s too much to ask of my fake fiancé.’ She didn’t want humiliation in that way.
‘Catriona, I’ll be working non-stop—’
‘You’ll have to eat sometime—’
‘So I’ll eat at my desk.’
She laughed a little bitterly. ‘You won’t go out to all those fancy restaurants?’
The ones with all those women who’d love nothing more than his attention and for him to take them home for a couple of hours’ post-work ‘relaxation’.
‘I have a lot of work to do; that’s all this trip is. For me to work hard. I’ll play with you when I get back.’
And that was what this was. Play. A game that would be over soon enough. It was good to get the reminder.
She nodded and forced a smile, but it was small. ‘Okay.’
She wanted to believe him, but past experience told her she was a fool to. Her father. Her real fiancé. And Alejandro himself wasn’t one to maintain a relationship. He’d admitted that he didn’t ever want to.
‘I’ll see you soon,’ he said.
‘You’re leaving now?’ She bit her lip as she realised how that sounded.
‘Yes. I just called by on my way to the airport.’
For a moment she thought he was going to say something more, but he shook his head.
‘Okay, then…’ She struggled to think. ‘Have a good trip.’
He sent her a sombre look, turned and left.
She stared at the empty space in the room that he’d left. That was it? Had he really gone so quickly—with just a few words?
Better get used to it. This was what would happen when they parted for good.
Swallowing back a horribly desolate feeling, she turned back to her checklist. She wasn’t going to torture herself imagining him with a million women while he was away. She was going to get the work done so she could get away quickly and cleanly once he did return and keep herself from hurting more. And until then, when he was out of sight, she’d keep him out of her mind.
But she was lonelier than she’d ever been in her life. The house was too empty, that new bed too huge, the ache in her heart too unrelenting. She needed distraction—and plenty of it.
* * *
‘What the hell is going on with you two?’ Teddy’s eyebrows were at his hairline as he poured her a coffee in the theatre’s green room. ‘You’ve really fallen for him?’
‘It’s impossible not to fall for him.’ Kitty shrugged and forced a smile as she confessed the truth in the safety of a joke. ‘Unfortunately. But he’s away and I need something to do.’
Her brother eyed her for a moment, then pushed a mug of coffee towards her. ‘We need help,’ he said. ‘We always need help. No one can source cheap props the way you do. Can’t pay, though.’
Kitty laughed, grateful for the support. ‘Well, duh.’
She enjoyed the theatre scene. Hunting for props was fun, creating them even more so. While Teddy’s play was almost due to open, the play next in the schedule needed some items that she was happy to help conjure up. She hadn’t done that in an age—not since before she’d had to get a ‘real job’ as gallery assistant.
True to her request, Alejandro didn’t phone her. But that night he did send her a picture. It was of the empty soup container on his desk. His dinner. She sent him a selfie poking her tongue out at him.
The next night it was a pizza box. The night after that, a noodle box.
* * *
Less than halfway through his self-imposed respite week Alejandro wondered, for the millionth time, what Kitty was doing. Where she was. Who she was with.
Unease chilled his gut. Would she be out seeing friends? Would she have finished up at the house and left?
She hadn’t wanted him to phone. She hadn’t been able to meet his eyes when she’d asked him not to and he’d made her explain why. Now he felt embarrassed about that call he’d placed to Saskia in front of her. What an arrogant thing to do. He arranged for a bunch of flowers and a brief, apologetic notecard to be sent to Saskia. He hadn’t meant to be cruel, but maybe he had been. Contrary to what he’d told Kitty at the time, he didn’t know for sure if all Saskia had wanted was a quick fling. As usual he’d set out his expectations and just assumed she’d accepted them. But too often people hid their true feelings.
He counted down the days but time crawled. The nights were worse. His sleep was disturbed, but not by desire. Twice he woke with sweat filming his brow. That old helpless despair clogged his throat. He stared into the darkness and thought of her to make himself feel better. And worse. Because he couldn’t stop thinking of her.
The fourth night away, he couldn’t take it any more. He succumbed to the temptation and called Kitty’s mobile. But she didn’t pick up. The brief message on her answer service wasn’t enough to satisfy his need to hear her voice. He tried the landline at Parkes House. She didn’t answer that either.
He paced through his Manhattan apartment, his concentration in smithereens. He needed to know where she was. He needed to know now. Was she okay? Had she been in an accident? Was she with someone else?
A billion questions swarmed in his mind, stopping him from thinking properly. Slowly, a cold unease seeped into his belly and began to burn. This obsessing over her was becoming a festering wound. Who was he to demand to know the minutiae of her day? Since when was his head so filled with wonderings about a woman? He did not want to be this man. He’d never wanted to be this man—not obsessive, not possessive.
His phone rang and he pounced on it. But it wasn’t Kitty; it was one of his junior con
sultants in the London office.
‘I’ve had a question come up—’
‘I’ll come back early.’ Alejandro fell on the excuse gladly.
‘You don’t need to—’
‘I’ll be on the first flight.’
It was night-time when he landed.
‘Is Kitty at home?’ Alejandro asked Paolo the second he saw him waiting for him at the airport.
Paolo looked evasive as he led the way to the car. ‘She said she was happy using public transport.’
Grimly, Alejandro said nothing. Paolo was not a gaoler but he was a protector, and Alejandro should have made it clear that he needed to know she was physically safe and secure at all times.
After Paolo dropped him off, he unlocked the door, his anticipation building. But he knew as soon as he crossed the threshold that she wasn’t home. He paced though the house, wondering where she was, who she was with, why she still wasn’t answering her damn phone.
Finally, almost two stomach-churning hours later, he heard the key in the door.
She was in her usual black trousers, black top ensemble, not one of the designer dresses. Her hair was tied back and hidden under a black wool beanie of all things. She’d not been out to dinner? She was smiling—looking so happy—and she’d not seen him yet.
‘Hey.’ He couldn’t choke out more of a greeting than that. The wave of emotion at seeing her again was too intense.
‘Alejandro.’ For a moment she looked shocked. But then her brilliant smile broadened. ‘You’re back early.’
That reaction soothed him, but not completely.
She put her large bag down and unwound the scarf from her neck. ‘Did you miss me too much?’ She looked sassy.
‘I got the work done sooner than I’d expected.’ He couldn’t relax enough to walk towards her. ‘Where’ve you been?’
She didn’t take her gaze from him. ‘At Teddy’s play,’ she said softly. ‘It was opening night tonight.’
‘You didn’t answer your mobile when I called.’
‘Because I turned it off. It’s polite to do that when you’re at a live theatre performance.’ Her gaze intensified. ‘Before you ask, I’ve spent the last few days helping out at the theatre with the props.’
