by Ash, Leela
“Where are your parents?” she asked in a saccharine sweet voice that sounded every bit as condescending as it was meant to.
The boys dissolved into raucous laughter and she felt a fresh crop of real goosebumps appear on her arms.
“Hear that Jamie? She wants to know where our folks are,” one of the boys laughed, elbowing the thin, hungry-looking one in the middle who she suspected was also the leader of the pack.
“You come with us and we’ll be more than happy to show you where our parents are,” the leader said.
As he spoke, they converged on her, moving closer and closer. She rose shakily to her feet and in her most adult voice said, “Don’t come any closer. My husband is going to be here in a few minutes.”
That gave them pause. Their eyes wandered stupidly down to her naked stomach. In that moment, she wished passionately that she was wearing a tee-shirt and jeans and not the skimpy bikini bra and panties she had on. She was filling them out nicely.
“You can’t be married. You’re not pregnant!” Jaime observed, clearly trying to land another clumsy insult.
What? Stupid or not, these kids were trouble, and she felt panic beginning to rise like a heat up her spine.
“Yeah, and I’m not seeing any rings,” his friend chipped in, stretching a hand towards her that had her jumping back automatically.
“You’ll be seeing stars next if you lay one finger on my wife,” a familiar, deep baritone said with quiet authority from behind the boys.
They jumped comically and hastily scattered, murmuring quick apologies as they scampered for safety after taking one quick collective look at the large man who looked like he ate boys like them for breakfast.
Alexandra hesitantly lifted her eyes to Leandro’s, her pulse already pounding in her veins as she locked eyes with his dark, dark ones. Why had he rushed to her rescue, she wondered even as her ‘admirers’ beat a hasty retreat?
“Why would you help me?” she asked voicing the question foremost in her mind.
He shrugged, “I’m not a complete monster, despite what you choose to believe.”
He seemed different somehow, she noted, her blue eyes scanning him from head to toe to decipher what it was. He was every bit as dashing and sexy as ever but he did seem less... aloof somehow. She remembered how he had insulted her the last time and her spine stiffened, going straight as a poker.
“I see. Well you’ve filled your damsel in distress quota for the day, why don’t you toddle off to find your merry band of hookers. I hear you could get them a dollar per trick in these parts,” she said bitterly as she gathered up her novel and shoulder bag before flouncing off in the direction of the hotel. She was eager to put as much distance as possible between them and she assured herself that it wasn’t just because he made her pulse leap all over the place.
Leandro stood back, enjoying the furious sway of her curvy hips. God, she was a beauty!
His arm shot out like a vice and gripped her arm with surprising gentleness as he drew even with her. She drew to a halt, looking up at him, into dark, stormy eyes. His hair ruffled in the wind, standing around his head in artful disarray that irrationally made her want to run her fingers through it.
“I deserved that. I’m sorry,” he said, his black eyes boring into hers with blazing sincerity stamped into his features. “I behaved like a pompous ass and I had no right to. Plus I insulted you and if you never speak to me again, you’d be justified.”
What he didn’t tell her was that he had wanted to buy time to verify if she knew who he truly was. His investigations had revealed that she did not after all and he had relaxed accordingly.
Alexandra sighed. He sure did know how to take the wind right out of her sails.
“Why?” she asked.
He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I wanted you too much and my passions can run a little too strong at times. I just needed to take a step back and think things through. I handled it wrong, and as I said, I’m sorry.”
The apology sounded sincere and maybe even a bit awkward on his lips. She had an inkling he wasn’t a man who apologized very much. Well why would he? He was some sort of rich mogul obviously. Even now, clad in nothing but a bright tourist shirt, shorts and flip-flops, he managed to look as though he had just stepped off the pages of GQ.
“You threatened to hit me!” she reminded him waspishly.
“Are you forgetting that you had just struck me and were preparing to do it again? Interesting double standard you have. Besides, I did not hit you. I only wanted to get you to back off and perhaps open your eyes a little. Come on, we both know you have nothing to fear from me. You think I’m the sort of man to hit someone so much weaker than himself? At worst I would have had to restrain you had you continued on like that, and in hindsight, that would have been fun for both of us. Think of all the fun I would have had rubbing up against you as I strained to get the binds in place; and think of how much you would have enjoyed the contact as you pretended to resist,” he said, waggling his brows at her.
“You are a pervert,” she told him, without heat.
“Guilty,” he agreed, grinning happily.
She stared at him a beat, the ice around her heart inexorably melting as she looked up into those intense, hooded dark eyes.
“It was merely a wrong choice of words. Let me make it up to you,” he pressed. “Have dinner with me?”
She stared at him. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s a meal where two people sit down to eat, usually in the evenings,” he told her, amusement glinting in his dark gaze.
Alexandra blushed gloriously, cursing her fair complexion even as he chuckled.
“Alright.”
“I’ll come pick you up,” he promised, pressing a light kiss onto her cheeks and Alexandra sternly cautioned her nerves to stop jumping all over the place in reaction.
***
Alexandra took another look at her reflection in the mirror; she looked hot, even if she did say so herself. Her blond curls had been caught up in an intricate knot atop her head with wispy tendrils escaping to fall against her neck and bare shoulders; she was wearing a black, sheath dress that hugged her curves, making her look svelte and shapely. High heels accentuated her long shapely legs making them appear even longer and the slight tan she had acquired in three days on the Island gave her skin a golden undertone that positively made her glow. She had contoured her face expertly, giving her an instantly slimmer look; and the dark color of her gown helped too.
She knew she looked nice, and she couldn’t wait to see Leandro. There was just something about him that made her want to throw caution to the wind.
She laughed happily, twirling about with such unchecked excitement that she managed to nudge off one of her earrings.
“Oops,” she muttered, bending over to pick it up.
The earring was easy to spot, the tiny diamond twinkling on the dark rug. As her eyes fell on it, she thought of Andrew Carson, her ex-fiancé. He had bought her those earrings. They were actually the only pair she owned because she had only gotten her ears pierced after he bought them for her. She had not thought about him in days, she realized with a jolt. Ever since she had met Leandro, he had been all she could think about; aggravating man that he was.
Slowly, she sank onto her bed, examining the earring in her hands as she recalled the betrayal she had suffered. She waited for the excruciating pain to come again but all she felt was a dull throb of sadness. Suddenly, Alexandra realized that she was healing; she was getting over Andrew, and with amazing speed! She knew this new uber-wealthy guy in her life had something to do with it alright.
What did it say about their relationship though, that she was already getting over him in less than a week? And why did she care…he had been an ass! She realized happily that her heart was finally catching up with what her brain had known for some time. She deserved better.
A slight knock sounded at the door and hastily, she sprang to her feet. She took off the
second earring and wrapped both of them in a bit of tissue. She would sell them or something, she decided as she picked up her little purse. She could never bear to wear them again. That chapter of her life was over. Finished. Kaput. Amen.
Besides it represented a love that had been a lie from the beginning, she recalled, with a little renewed pain.
Forcing a smile onto her lips, she opened the door and promptly forgot all about Andrew Carson. The vision standing in front of her door was enough to make any woman forget her own name.
He was wearing a black sports coat over a pale pink shirt and dark blue trousers. The ensemble was equal parts casual and elegant; there was just something about that man and the way he managed to pull off any style.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured reverently, his dark eyes scanning her face, trailing down her dress - was it her imagination or did his gaze linger on her cleavage, - before flipping back up to hold her gaze.
He made her feel beautiful, ravishing, and insanely sexy.
His right hand rose slowly to caress her cheek, his gaze boring into hers as he said, “Let’s eat.”
Alexandra stared at him in confusion. His words were innocent enough, but for some reason they sounded very dirty, as if he wasn’t talking about food at all.
“Lead the way,” she said breathlessly, taking the arm he offered her. A frisson of electricity leaped from his skin to hers at the slight contact and she clamped her jaw. It was going to be a long night.
***
Leandro was suave, witty, charming and cultured, as well as an excellent conversationalist, Alexandra decided a few hours later as she dissolved into helpless laughter at yet another one of his jokes. The man could charm a magpie off a tree if he put his mind to it.
“So, you kissed her best friend just to get back at her, and she didn’t even flinch?” she asked, laughing helplessly as he ended yet another anecdote.
“I used my teeth and all! Nothing! Not even a blip!” he affirmed in a comically outraged tone.
“Well consider the fact that your kiss was in actual fact a bite on her best friend’s nose, you earned yourself a slap, and your love interest was five at the time,” she laughed, delighted.
He chuckled, a rich warm sound that flowed over her like warm chocolate. “I still think my brother was to blame. He told me the proper way to kiss was to bite a lady’s nose and Mia Caruso wouldn’t eat my cake at lunch, which meant she didn’t like me. So I bit her best friend’s nose to make her jealous,” he concluded plaintively, sending Alexandra into delighted whoops of laugher.
They had been sharing memories of childhood stories and so far, the man had kept her in stitches.
Other diners turned around frequently to smile at the handsome couple who were obviously enjoying each other’s company; a fact which was lost on Alexandra, but not on Leandro. He loved seeing her eyes fill with humor and he enjoyed watching the comical surprise that kept flitting over her features with every outrageous story he told.
She was incredibly beautiful and sexy; he had been in a serious sweat ever since he saw her in that dress. It hugged her body in all the right places and made him want to run his hands down her soft curves. Her ass was firm, round and full. Walking in behind her at the restaurant, he had been able to think of little else. The high slit at the back of her dress hadn’t helped much either; it kept shifting and showing him flashes of her thigh before settling back into place. By the time they were seated, his blood was on a slow simmer.
“Dessert?” the waiter asked, hovering solicitously at her elbow.
“How about ice cream?” Leandro suggested grinning. “It will trigger your happy hormones,” he added winking suggestively.
“You’re kidding right? With me looking like this?” Alexandra asked, with a self-deprecating laugh.
“I don’t understand,” Leandro said as the waiter strode off.
“I’m fat,” she told him, leaning forward.
“Fat? You are a woman, and you are sexy as hell. I never liked how people throw that word around these days anyhow.” he observed.
“You should see me without my gown; I don’t know. I bet you’d change your tune if you put me next to all your size zero model friends.”
“You are nuts! You are a sexy, curvy, voluptuous woman in her prime and for your information I have wanted to tear that dress off you ever since I saw you in it! You are the most attractive woman I have ever met.”
“Yeah right!” she scoffed as she looked down at her glass of champagne. She was afraid to see sincerity in his eyes because if she started to believe him, he could end up treating her even worse than Andrew had. What if he saw her without her clothes and decided she was fat and completely unattractive?
“Listen to me Alexandra, every man in here has been cheerfully contemplating strangling me since I walked in with you on my arm,” he said earnestly, leaning forward to take her arm. “If you will believe nothing else I tell you, believe this; you are an insanely attractive woman and any man would be lucky to have you.”
Alexandra grinned slowly, “Including you?”
“Why the hell else do you think I’ve been panting after you like a dog on steroids?” he asked.
Alexandra dissolved into laughter, all her insecurities ebbing away as she let the stark honesty on his face rebuild her confidence bit by bit.
Leandro watched as she drank the last drop of champagne from her glass and he slowly took her hand in his, acknowledging the instant frisson of awareness with resignation. “What next?”
“You tell me,” she said, smiling at him, her head cocked to one side in a way that made him want to lean across the table and gently nibble on that naked expanse of neck.
Sudden inspiration struck and he grinned at her, his dark eyes gleaming hotly as he suggested, “How about a moonlight stroll down the beach?”
“Sounds like something straight out of the players’ manual,” she laughed, already rising to her feet and reaching for her purse.
“Well you would know, you seem like the kind of girl to lead men on a merry chase right before you break their hearts. Have mercy on a poor sap like me,” he said, half-seriously as he helped her into her coat.
Alexandra rolled her eyes. Why did she feel a niggling sense of unease in the middle of her back at his words? It would be very easy to fall for this man; he was so handsome, kind, charming and debonair and she was as desperate for love as a flower in the desert was for a cool drink of water.
She had to slow down before she lost her heart to Leandro, she decided.
Chapter Four
“What are you thinking?” Leandro asked, slowing his strides to look down at her. She had been quiet ever since they left the restaurant.
“Nothing,” she said with a shrug.
A woman with three children loitered under a tree, watching them with hungry eyes. She didn’t say a word but they were so dirty and unkempt and skinny it was obvious they were begging for alms. Leandro made a mental note to get Thomas to find out who she was, and if it turned out she had any skills at all, to find her a job in one of his hotels.
Alexandra followed his gaze, and then inexplicably, she brightened.
“I’ll be right back,” she told him.
In a flash, she was gone from his side. He saw her reach into her purse and hand the woman a tiny, tattered bit of tissue paper before turning back to him. Leandro was confused at the exchange and as she reached his side, he opened his mouth to ask her what she had done when the thin woman let out a cry and came running up to them, tears in her eyes.
Leandro saw then the diamond earrings in the woman’s palms and he felt something clench and then ease in his chest.
When they were alone again, he said, “That was a wonderfully generous gesture.”
Alexandra shrugged, “It was a gift from an old boyfriend. I don’t want them anymore. They are just a bad reminder of him and his drama. But perhaps she could sell them. It could make a big difference for her and her kids.”
<
br /> Leandro stopped, staring down at her, his nostrils slightly flared. Then before she could guess his intent, he leaned down and took her soft lips in a hard, urgent kiss. His tongue dipped into her mouth, stroking and seeking and she sweetly received it with her own. Leandro hungrily deepened the kiss, his hands holding her curvy, voluptuous body tighter against his. Alexandra whimpered against his lips, unused to such torrid passion as he swallowed her cries. She clung tighter to him, her lips trembling sweetly beneath his. All his years of experience sent alarm bells clanging through his head. The way she responded told him something immediately; the woman in his arms was unlike any he had ever met. Disbelief froze him in place, and he noticed for the first time how she had melted against him at his first touch; worse, his own reaction was out of the ordinary. He had been hard put to keep his hands from her all through dinner!
He raised his head, holding her gaze as he deliberately said, “Alexandra? I want to make love to you. Now!”
Her blue eyes widened into twin pools of lust and embarrassment. Lust quickly gained the upper hand and she nodded her assent.
With a groan of pure triumph, he lowered his head to hers and took her lips in a deep, drugging kiss. Heat flared, immediate and hot as he held her tight against him, exploring her exquisite mouth with his.
As they parted for a moment, Alexandra innocently stroked her hand down his chest and Leandro lost every last vestige of control. “I need you now!” he groaned urgently.
“O-okay,” she stammered. “We’ll just use the elevator”
“I can’t wait,” he interrupted, as he hustled her in the direction of the parking lot.
“Where are we going?” she asked, almost running in her haste to keep up with him.
“My limo is close,” he ground out in a thickened voice.
He hustled her into a plush, butter-soft leathered limousine and as soon as he shut the door, pounced. He drew her across his lap, kissing her deep and hard as his hand urgently tugged off her coat and unzipped her dress. The gown fell open at the back and he pushed it down to her waist, allowing her full, thrusting breasts to rise creamily in front of his face.
