Hugo was in agony. Just looking at Leah's ripe round body had wound his dick tighter than a steel cable and just as hard. He had not envisioned her deciding to do laps when he had invited her swimming. Didn't she know she was supposed to be reclining elegantly on one of the loungers, sipping a cocktail and keeping her makeup dry?
Instead she was ignoring him in favor of getting some exercise. He wanted to leap on her body and strip that prissy swimsuit from her and get his hands on her lush breasts and the gentle swell of her belly. And answer the question that had tormented him for three weeks: was she merely an aviation blonde?
CHAPTER EIGHT
Hugo swam behind his prey, keeping up with Leah’s vigorous crawl with easy strokes of his arms and legs. He could smell her even in the water. Her scent was intoxicating now that her usual low level arousal had ramped up, as he had planned. But the foolish girl was still resolutely ignoring him. That had to change.
It was nice to discover that all that velvety flesh concealed supple muscle. An athletic partner would be a pleasant diversion. He began to imagine those long, strong pink, legs wrapped around his hips, drawing him deep inside, and his spike grew even harder.
Despite her attempt at businesslike conduct, it was difficult to imagine that she didn't know what he had brought her here for. Surely she didn't think he needed to pay a secretary a massive bonus to work for him? No one could really be that innocent and guileless. Why was she still playing games?
He had no intention of waiting any longer. It had been more than a week since he had had a woman and he had needs. Dragon-sized needs. He wasn't going to be put on a leash by any piece of tail, no matter how delectable he found her. It was time Leah earned her pay.
Once he had had his voluptuous PA, his obsession with her would die a natural death. He would spend his days attending to his business interests, and his afternoons playing with Leah. And keep his nights for flying. And when he tired of her he would send her home.
If she had given satisfaction, he would bestow her bonus on her. The pearls he would give her whatever. He yearned to see her wearing nothing at all but those lustrous beads. And once given, they would be hers. He contented himself with imagining the efforts her gratitude would inspire her to.
His mind made up, Hugo dove down beneath Leah and revolved so they were swimming belly to belly. He let his naked body rise up under hers so that they touched. He could feel the softness of her flesh cradling his stiff, aching cock in an embrace that rocked his whole body. He put his arms around her and stood up so that they faced each other in the shallow water.
He let Leah's body slide slowly down his until she stood, breast heaving, looking wonderingly at him in the waist high water. Enjoying her dumbfounded expression, he bent his head and took her mouth with his. It was as if lightning had struck them both. Sparks shot through his body and his entire body felt the jolt. His potent staff bucked as if he really had had an electric shock.
Leah had not been kissed in years. Not since reedy Danny Sherman had brought her home from Prom and planted one on her before Grammy opened the front door. Hugo's plunging tongue was nothing like Danny's tentative soul kiss. One moment she was swimming, determined to keep her head, the next she was locked lip to lip with her boss, falling into an all-consuming kiss.
She didn't even notice when his clever fingers pulled the straps of her swimsuit off her shoulders. He had peeled it down her arms and was twirling one rosy, puckered nipple in his long fingers before she could react. And then instead of boxing his wicked ears, she gasped with pleasure and returned his kiss with a vigorous sweep of her own eager tongue.
Hugo laughed into Leah's open mouth. He had known she was ready. He would slake his first urgency here in the sea, and then they could spend the rest of the afternoon making leisurely love in his suite out of the sun. He pushed at her swimsuit to get it over her hips.
When Leah felt Hugo's strong hands sliding over her buttocks, lifting and kneading the taut globes and bringing her mound into contact with his rigid cock, she pressed closer seeking satisfaction. Her heart was beating so fast all she could hear was the rush of blood in her ears and their panting breath.
It felt so right to be here in his arms. A sort of homecoming. A union of yearning souls. She didn't protest when his questing fingers found and parted her folds and tugged on her taut pearl. Sensation shot through her and compressed her passage and made her bottom spasm.
She might have been left on the shelf, she might be Atlanta's oldest virgin, but she had not spent her womanhood waiting for some man's permission to have an orgasm. Only the climaxes she had with Mr. V and a tube of KY, were nothing like the paroxysm that catapulted her into bliss in Hugo's astonished arms.
Hugo held Leah's limp body in his wondering arms. He sniffed delicately. She truly was asleep. Not faking it. She had come explosively from the barest of fondling. And had then fallen immediately into la petite mort. The little death. No past experience had prepared him for such a profound response from any female. Chuckling softly he picked her up in his muscular arms and carried her triumphantly into his bedroom.
He had been right: Leah St. George was the most delightful lover he had ever had.
* * *
Leah came back to herself under a spray of warm water. Hugo was supporting her with one strong arm around her waist while his other hand was busy rubbing the salt off her breasts and belly and bush. She pulled away blushing. She was naked. What had just happened?
Hugo sensed the moment when Leah's mood changed. She had gone from vibrating with arousal to satiated calm. Now she was vibrating with unease. Not faking it either.
“It's okay,” he said soothingly. At least he meant to be soothing, but even he could hear the heat and lust in his growl.
“I didn't mean for that to happen,” Leah stammered. She covered her breasts with one hand and her tidy blonde delta with the other. Her blush began at her navel and continued up to her hairline. She looked around desperately, spotted the towel rack and had an enormous towel wound around her body in moments.
Not that he could forget the beauties of her body. Her lovely, opalescent freshness was seared into his jaded eyes. He could still see the alabaster swell of her bounteous breasts and the tender pink and mauve aureoles in his mind's eye. The lush curve of her belly. The soft dimple of her navel. He wanted a chance to explore them until they bored him, and he always had what he wanted.
He held out an imperious hand to her. “Nothing to be shy about,” he coaxed.
Leah backed away shaking her head. “I don't do this sort of thing,” she got out stiffly.
Hugo tipped his head at her inquiringly. He wasn't self-conscious about his golden nakedness. He stood proudly before her with water glossing his hard sculpted muscles and his manhood straining, the purple tip aimed at his six pack.
“Have sex,” Leah blurted.
He raised perfectly arched black brows. “A virgin,” he taunted.
Leah's blush deepened. But she didn't owe this dog any explanations about herself. She glared at him. “I don't do casual sex,” she said with innocent dignity. “I'm going to my room and get dressed. You can decide if I am to stay or leave while I'm cleaning up.”
Hugo watched in consternation as his enticing bedmate vanished in his bath towel. Was she really going to throw that kind of money away? Was this some tedious ploy to increase her profits? He was a rich man. He could afford whatever she demanded. But it went against the grain to be cheated. No one reneged on a bargain with Count Sarkany!
* * *
Standing under a cold spray washing her hair restored some of Leah's good sense. What combination of sun and lust had vanquished her self-respect? She wasn't exactly saving herself for marriage, like some repressed fool. She just had never had time for a boyfriend and no place to meet one.
But she absolutely wasn't looking for a purely sexual relationship. Besides, given her reaction to Sarkany, she would wind up in love with the player to end all players a
nd doom herself. She wasn't the kind of girl who would marry some unsuspecting schmuck while she was fast in love with someone else.
Better to remember how she had been raised. What had Grammy always said? No, not the bit about men not buying the bottle of whiskey if you poured them shots for free. The one about making sure her beaus were men she would be proud to bring home to meet her Poppy. She could just see Poppy's broad face turning puce if he heard tell about Hugo Sarkany's lecherous ways.
Sarkany was not at all the sort of guy she would dream of bringing home to Grammy's dinner table. Though she had a pleasant minute imagining Hugo's face when Dorothy St. George asked him his intentions, and favored him with her opinion of men who took advantage of decent girls.
Leah wasn't a prude. Oh, all right, she was a prude. But she didn't object to pre-marital sex on principle. Although who but her called it that anymore? But Sarkany wasn't looking for pre-marital sex, he just wanted to get his rocks off with the help. Tina Townshend was unavailable, so he had settled for the temp.
It was mortifying. He didn't give a flying frog for her. He hadn't taken her to some fancy restaurant and spent a nanosecond wooing her. Nope, just let's go swimming and bam, time to screw. What an absolute jerk. And she was as bad, letting him fondle her right out where anyone could see her being diddled by a prick who spent his life bedding a wide assortment of women.
It wasn't as though she hadn't googled him. There were pages and pages of photos of him with Countess This and Principessa That, and Supermodel of the week, and Oscar Best Actresses. She knew what a hound dog he was. The minute he touched her, she should have given him a piece of her mind, not what felt like a piece of her heart.
All the while she was blow drying her hair and smoothing lotion into her sun kissed skin she was thinking about what she would say. But she knew that the fuss she wanted to make was never going to happen. Because she hadn't been an unwilling victim of seduction. Seduced, yes, unwilling no. Only wasn't that sort of the definition of seduction?
Anyway, if he had brought her out to Isle Balaur to fill the stilettos of one of his usual women, he was going to send her home pronto. No bonus. No big salary. And no job to go back to. But even if he offered her money, how could she accept it? She was no whore, and she wasn't going to let any billionaire playboy make her feel like one. If she wound up back home and unemployed, she'd manage. She always had.
CHAPTER NINE
As soon as he saw Leah's face, Hugo knew exactly how to handle her. Her feathers were ruffled but she was uncertain. He could smell her indecision. It didn't matter that she had made her hair smooth and sleek and put on more makeup than he had ever seen her use before to give the illusion of confidence. She couldn't deceive his dragon senses.
In some weird way, ever since he had kissed her, he had felt even more attuned to her. Her scent told him even more than it had done before. It called to him and urged him to soften his stance so he wouldn't lose her. It was irritating as hell to realize that his erection was back, even though he had dealt with it in the shower. The woman was a siren. She smelled of innocence but she was nothing but walking temptation.
He felt her hesitancy as she strode out onto the patio and pulled a huge pair of sunglasses over her blue eyes. She was wearing a crisp blue shirt dress and neat white flats. A white belt circled her waist like a warning. And those expensive pearl studs were back in her ears. And didn't those earrings give Miss Virtuous Indignation away? Because if they hadn't been the gift of some rich man, he wasn't any judge of jewels.
She walked right up to him and he knew the second her skin began to prickle and her vagina started to throb and moisten for him. She raised her dimpled chin and aimed those glasses at his eyes as if she were bold instead of scared and worried.
Hugo's belly cramped. He swallowed hard. He wasn't enjoying having the upper hand. He felt like a bully. He felt a flare of rage at this acid splash of guilt. He glared at Leah and she lifted her chin even higher.
“Have you decided, whether you want a hooker or a PA?” she snapped.
“No one would ever mistake you for a professional,” he shot back and was rewarded with a crimson tide that started at the modest vee of her collar and suffused her entire face.
Leah drew in a deep breath. “Bless your heart,” she drawled softly. “But kind as it is of you to say so, I'm afraid you have treated me like one. I came out here to take dictation and keep your calendar in order, and perform office duties, not to be sexually assaulted.”
He nearly lost it right there. “How dare you?” he breathed, heat pouring from his mouth.
Leah took a step backward, but apparently he had suppressed the flames because she merely looked puzzled. She folded her arms across her gorgeous rack and glared back. “I'm your employee. That ought to mean no touching, no remarks, and nothing like what happened out there.” She waved a hand towards the sea.
She meant it too. She was daring him to keep her on and keep his hands to himself. He was a Sarkany. He was a model of self-discipline and self-control. He must be, or he would have incinerated this insolent female. And no dragon would blame him. Who was this penniless nonentity to rebuke him?
She should be on her knees thanking him for noticing her and giving her a taste of a far finer life than anything she was likely ever to encounter in her circle. He liked the thought of her on her knees before him. But one look at those pink lips firmed into a hard line told him that right now she wasn't to be trusted anywhere near his family jewels.
“I think,” she said loftily. “That I should go home. If you cannot guarantee me freedom from your advances, it would be best if I left.”
Advances! As if he was a villain from some silent film twirling his mustaches at the pretty virgin he planned to compromise. And yet he smelled no deceit. Just the acrid odor of unhappiness and fear. His erection subsided instantly. Hugo felt a desperation to keep Leah, out of proportion to the trouble she was giving him. He really was obsessed.
“If that is what you want,” he heard himself say. He inclined his head. “I will speak to you in the morning.” He turned on his heel and left her standing with her mouth half-open, gaping at his back.
Leah swallowed hard and blinked. She looked around. Now that Sarkany had departed, the patio seemed cool and breezy as if he had taken a blast furnace with him. She made herself return to her room where she called the housekeeper and pleaded a headache.
“I think I had too much sun,” she said apologetically. “May I have a tray in my room?”
“Of course, miss. Do you want anything to drink?” Mrs. Curtis was kind and blessedly impersonal.
“A pitcher of sweet tea would be most welcome, ma'am,” said Leah. “Thank you.”
* * *
At midnight when Hugo entered Leah's room she was sprawled on the bed, with the sheet thrown aside. Her nightgown was twisted around her body exposing her from the waist down. It was dark in her room. She had left her door shut and the shutters closed. But he had a dragon's night vision and he could see her long legs and the golden triangle that guarded her secrets.
He bent low over her, intending to kiss her there, when he recalled that she had dared him to resist her meager charms. He was Count Sarkany, beloved of many women, he was not so desperate he needed to lower himself to stealing caresses from an unwilling female. No matter how much he desired her.
He contented himself with charming her to sleep. She breathed in as he exhaled and her whole body relaxed. She drew in a deep shaking breath, so like a sob that every nerve in his great body tensed in anguish. What nonsense was this? Why should her misery make him feel grief stricken?
If she was unhappy, she had no one but herself to blame. If she had behaved reasonably, she would even now have a king's ransom in pearls draped around her pretty neck. Instead, she was sleeping alone and unfulfilled. Because she was as needy as himself. That was why she had been tossing and turning in her sleep. Let her enjoy her lonely bed. He was going to soar.
* * *
The alley of trees that guarded the path to the sea rustled gently in the breeze off the water. Brightly colored birds flickered around the wildflowers that grew in glorious profusion on the hillside. It was not really hot yet and the view from her patio was lovely in the early morning light. Leah let herself relax as she enjoyed this taste of paradise.
Dulcie had just poured Leah's coffee, when Steve Holden appeared from the gardens. The older woman greeted him with a friendly smile.
“Good mawnin', sir. I'll bring you a cup,” Dulcie announced and disappeared into the suite.
Holden pulled out a chair. “May I join you?” he asked.
“Of course,” Leah said. “Where have you been?”
“In my quarters. Mostly I work nights. But I thought I'd check on you before I get my beauty sleep.”
“Well, I'm glad to see you.”
The patio doors opened again, and Dulcie brought out a tray with a cup and saucer and two plates of eggs and bacon.
“I've eaten already,” Steve assured Dulcie.
“G'wan,” she said. “Big man like you is always hungry.” She set down the plates with a flourish and produced cutlery and napkins from beneath the tray.
“Thank you,” Steve said meekly. He tucked into his second breakfast with enthusiasm. “Have you worked for Mr. Sarkany long?” he asked Leah after a couple of mouthfuls.
Leah shook her head. “Not at all. Less than a month.”
“Huh.” Steve looked surprised. “I wondered because he doesn't usually bring guests here.”
“I'm not a guest. I'm strictly office staff,” Leah said.
“The boss doesn't usually bring his office staff either. This place is reserved for R and R.” Steve drained his coffee cup and didn't notice Leah's stunned expression.
“Doesn't he have an office here?” Leah's voice was quiet.
“Sure. It occupies the entire center of this whole array of buildings.”
Dragon's Treasure (BBW/Dragon Shifter Romance) (Lords of the Dragon Islands Book 1) Page 6
