‘All right,’ Daisy said. ‘I’ll go first. I once ate a whole block of milk chocolate and burned the wrapper in the fireplace so my father wouldn’t find out.’
‘How old were you?’
She gave him a sheepish look. ‘Twenty-three.’
‘Are you joking?’
‘Sadly, no.’
Luiz frowned. ‘What is his problem?’
‘Control is his problem. He finds it hard to love someone without controlling them. It drove my mother nuts.’
‘Why do you put up with it?’
She dropped her shoulders on an expelled breath. ‘I think deep down he means well. Besides, he’s the only family I’ve got.’
‘Yes, but this is the only life you’ve got. You can’t live it according to his standards.’
‘I know. That’s why I came to Vegas with the girls. He didn’t want me to go but for once I put my foot down.’
‘Clearly not hard enough if he sent a bodyguard.’
‘Yes, well, that’s my dad for you.’
There was a knock on the door, announcing the arrival of the midnight supper Luiz had ordered. He tipped the young staff member and closed the door.
Daisy was staring at the tray of food as if she hadn’t seen a meal for a year. ‘Is this all for us?’ she asked.
‘It’s just a snack.’
She touched a tentative hand to the tiered plate of ribbon sandwiches and buttery savoury scones. ‘I swear I’m going to chain myself to the treadmill when I get home.’
Luiz watched as she picked up a salmon and asparagus sandwich, biting into it with her small white teeth, her eyes closing in bliss. There was something so sexy about the way she ate. She savoured every mouthful, licking her lips and groaning in pleasure.
She caught him watching her and blushed again. ‘That’s the problem with denying yourself something. Whatever’s taboo is the thing you end up wanting the most.’
Isn’t that the truth? Luiz thought. He hoped his expression was giving nothing away of the struggle he was enduring to keep his hands to himself. He wanted her so badly it was a throbbing ache. Worse than hunger. Worse than thirst. It was like being addicted to a potent drug. The craving ate away at his self-control until he could think of nothing but sinking into her hot, warm tightness. ‘Isn’t that what holidays are for? Relaxing the rules a bit?’
‘Maybe.’ She picked up a wedge of Camembert cheese and looked at it balefully. ‘There’s more fat in this piece of cheese than in that whole plate of sandwiches.’ She gave a deep sign and put the cheese back down. ‘No. I’d better be good.’
Luiz picked up the cheese and held it in front of her mouth. ‘Be bad. Be very bad.’
Her eyes twinkled as she opened her mouth for him to pop the cheese in. ‘Mmm. That is soooo good.’
He wiped a tiny crumb from the corner of her mouth with the pad of his thumb, trying his best not to think of her mouth feasting on him. His attempt to keep a lid on his desire for her was taking a battering. Everything about her turned him on. The way she spoke in that husky tone. The way her eyes kept slipping to his mouth as if she couldn’t help herself. The way she stood so close to him he could feel the warmth of her body and could smell the fragrance of her perfume like a sensual mist teasing his nostrils.
He gave himself a mental shake and reached for the champagne bottle. ‘Top up?’
She put her hand over the top of her glass. ‘And have me spilling all my secrets without you telling me one of yours? Play fair. How about you tell me something you haven’t told anyone else before?’
Luiz pushed his lips from side to side, weighing up whether to take up her challenge. Hadn’t he already told her more than he’d told anyone else? But something about her cute dimples and pretty blue eyes made him give in. ‘OK.’ He took a deep breath and slowly released it. ‘I hate spiders.’
Her eyes rounded. ‘Really? Like totally freaked out, stand screaming on a chair hate them?’
He gave her a look. ‘No. I can actually manage to remove them without any outbursts of hysteria.’
She screwed up her nose. ‘You mean like…pick them up?’
Luiz suppressed the urge to brush the skin of his arms. Talking about spiders always made him feel as if a dozen of them were tiptoeing over his flesh. ‘Not with my bare hands. That’s what a vacuum cleaner is for.’
‘But you’re six foot four tall. What’s a teensy weensy little spider going to do to you?’
‘Some of them are poisonous.’
She perched on the arm of the sofa, her mouth wreathed in a teasing smile. ‘Don’t worry. If a big, bad old spider comes sneaking in I’ll save you from it.’
He drained his glass and set it back down. ‘Thanks. Appreciate it.’
‘I suppose you don’t run across them all that often in penthouse suites.’
‘You’d be surprised.’
She twirled her glass for a moment. ‘I guess you must have felt so frightened and anchorless when your mum left.’
Luiz shrugged. ‘I got over it.’
‘I was devastated when my mum was killed.’ She put her glass down and looked at him again. ‘I didn’t believe it at first. I thought my dad was lying. I thought she’d left him as she’d threatened to do a couple of times.’ Her gaze fell away from his. ‘But then I saw the police arrive…’
Luiz put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. ‘I’m sorry.’
She looked up at him again. ‘Do you know what was really awful?’
‘What?’
‘My father refused to allow me to go to the funeral. I begged and pleaded but he wouldn’t listen.’ Her frown was so heavy it made her look fierce in a cute and endearing way. ‘He said a funeral was no place for a child. So I held my own for her. I got all my dolls and toys and took them down to the rose garden. I even made a special shrine for her out of modelling clay. I had to make the gardener, Robert, promise not to tell my father. We hid it behind her favourite rose bush. It’s still there.’
‘You must have loved her very much.’
She smiled a sad-looking smile. ‘Yes, but don’t all children love their mothers?’
Luiz thought of the shallowness of his mother. Of the way she cut down his brother every chance she got. Of the way she had insulted Teddy at the cocktail party Luiz had held recently, seeming to enjoy the hurt and cruelty she inflicted. How she publicly fawned over him as if he could do no wrong, treating him like a favourite toy instead of a son she would give her life for. ‘Not all.’
Daisy put her hand over his on her shoulder. ‘You hate your mother?’
Luiz gave her a rueful look. ‘So, Miss Daisy, you’ve uncovered another well-kept secret.’
She brought his hand down to her lap, stroking the back of it with her soft fingers. ‘Maybe she can’t help being the way she is. Some people are not good at being parents. I see it all too often. They have this idea of how their child will be but the child is someone else entirely. They’re not blank slates when they’re born. They’re their own little person. You can’t make them into something they’re not.’
Luiz suddenly had a vision of Daisy with a brood of kids around her. Not just the ones she taught, but her own children. He could imagine a little girl with a dimpled smile and bright eyes and chestnut hair and creamy skin. He thought of a little boy with—
He jerked back from where his thoughts were heading. Kids meant commitment. Long-term commitment. A lifetime of commitment and care and concern and responsibility.
But, even so, an image kept popping into his head of a little boy with black hair and brown eyes, with a little starfish hand reaching for his…
‘You shouldn’t hate her, Luiz.’ Daisy’s soft voice jolted him out of his daydream. ‘Hate is such a destructive emotion.’
Luiz took a tendril of her hair and curled it around his finger. ‘I should let you get back to bed.’
‘Aren’t you coming too?’
He tucked the hair behind her ear. ‘You need a rest.’
‘But I’m not tired.’
‘I saw you wince when you got off the bed.’
She suddenly scowled at him and pushed his hand away to fold her arms across her body. ‘I wish you wouldn’t treat me like I’m made of glass. It reminds me too much of my father. Telling me what’s good for me as if I couldn’t possibly know myself.’
Luiz drew in a long breath through his nostrils. ‘I’m sorry for being so considerate. Maybe I should just throw you down on the bed and take my pleasure without any thought of yours, like that creep you picked up the other night would’ve done if I hadn’t stepped in.’
Her scowl fell away and her teeth bit down on her lower lip. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Forget about it.’
She came over to him and put a hand on his arm, looking up at him with those beautiful lake-blue eyes. ‘You let everyone think you’re a caddish man-about-town but you’re the most gentle and considerate man I’ve ever met.’
He put his hands on her upper arms, tensing his fingers just enough to remind her of the strength he had at his disposal. He felt her shiver under his touch and his body responded with a rocket blast of lust. He brought his mouth down to hers, shocked at the heat that exploded as his lips came into contact with hers. Her tongue tangled with his in a sexy duel that made his whole body vibrate with longing. Blood surged hot and strong to his groin, swelling him against the urgent press of her body.
He slipped her robe off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor at her feet. His hands moved over her silky flesh, cupping and shaping her until she whimpered her delight into his mouth. He moved his hands down over her hips, holding her to the throb of his need. She moved against him, wriggling her body to get closer.
He picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom, sliding her down the length of his body as he lowered her feet to the floor. Her mouth stayed locked on his, her tongue playing with his in an erotic dance that fired his blood. Her hands were everywhere—in his hair, moving up and down his back and shoulders, cupping his buttocks, touching him and stroking him until he was so primed he had to fight for control.
He bent her back down on the bed, rolling her over so she straddled him. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, half covering her breasts in a sexy pose that thrilled his senses. He reached for a condom from the bedside drawer and sheathed himself. ‘This way you can control the depth,’ he said.
She placed her hands either side of his head and lowered herself onto him, her mouth opening on a soft little gasp as her body accepted him. He kept his movements to a minimum, letting her do the work so she could control how much of him she took in. She began to move, slowly rocking, then building the pace as she found her sweet spot.
He began to move with her, taking her with him on a wave of pleasure that travelled through his body until he could hold back no longer. He felt her contract around him in tight spasms of release that triggered his own. He lost all thought as he gave himself to the moment of exhilaration, that wonderful moment when his body broke free from all restraints and soared.
He held her to his chest as she collapsed over him, her hair tickling his face and chest. He stroked his hand in lazy circles up and down her spine, over the curve of her bottom and then back up again. Breathing in the scent of her skin, the summer flowers and sensual woman fragrance that thrilled his senses in a way no other woman had before.
‘Your hands are like exfoliation gloves,’ she said against his ear.
Luiz felt a smile tug on his lips. ‘Glad I’m proving to be so useful.’
She raised herself up to look at him with a playful expression. ‘Are we done?’
‘Not yet.’
Her eyes danced in anticipation. ‘You mean you can go another round?’
Luiz rolled her off him and got off the bed and held out his hand to her. ‘Come on.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘I scrubbed your back. Now it’s time for you to scrub mine.’
* * *
Before she knew it, Daisy was in the shower recess with him, naked and slippery with bath gel. Her mouth was locked beneath his in a searing kiss, his hands moving over her body in caressing waves that made her skin tingle all over. The combination of the stinging needles of water as well as his calloused hands was enough to send her senses haywire. He came to her breasts and subjected them to a torturous massage, stopping only to suckle on each of her nipples before resuming his mind-blowing stroking. He moved down her body, dipping his fingers between her thighs, tantalising her with little touches and fleeting strokes that stirred her desire to fever-pitch. She shamelessly rubbed herself against his hand, whimpering as the water coursed over her face and shoulders.
He slipped a finger inside her but it wasn’t enough. She wanted him. All of him.
She reached for him, holding him in her hand, stroking the velvet-covered hardness until he had to brace himself against the shower stall. Emboldened by his response to her touch, she slipped to her knees and traced her tongue over him from base to tip. He shuddered and smothered a groan and she became bolder, using her whole mouth this time to draw on him. She felt his blood thundering as she moved her mouth up and down, varying the speed and suction, testing what he liked, going purely on instinct and being rewarded by his passionate response.
‘Enough,’ he groaned and pulled away, breathing heavily as he hauled her upright.
Daisy looked into his lust-glazed eyes and a frisson of excitement washed over her. ‘I wanted to make you come.’
‘I don’t think there’s any danger of that not happening.’ He took a handful of her wet hair, bringing her head closer to kiss her deeply.
She moved against his hard body, wriggling so his erection was against her folds. She reached for him again and guided him towards her.
He suddenly stalled. ‘Are you on the Pill?’
‘Yes.’
He seemed to be hesitating, his body poised at her entrance. ‘I don’t usually do this.’
‘It’s not as if I’ve been with anyone else, so if that’s what’s—’
‘It’s not that.’ He brushed the wet hair back from her forehead, his gaze trained on hers. ‘It’s a boundary I’ve never crossed before.’
Daisy placed her hand on his chest where his heart was thumping. ‘So it will be your first time too. That kind of makes us even, doesn’t it?’
His mouth kicked up at one corner. ‘There’s something really screwy about your logic but I’m going to go with it for once.’
She smiled back and moved closer, enticing him with her body, rolling her hips and brushing her breasts against his chest, watching in delight as his eyes darkened even further.
He hooked one of her legs over his hip as he drove into her with a strong thrust that made the breath whoosh out of her lungs. Pleasure shot through her as her body surrounded him tightly. He began to move within her, each thrust delivering more friction against her sensitised nerves. The water poured down over their bodies in a warm flow that added to the eroticism of the moment.
His hands cupped the cheeks of her bottom firmly as he increased the pace, holding her in a sensual lock that she caught sight of in the mirror out of the corner of her eye. The image of their bodies locked in passion was so arousing she felt every erogenous zone on her body quake in reaction.
He caught her eye in the mirror and gave her a bad boy smile that made her inner core clench. He turned her so she was facing the mirror full on with him behind her. He entered her again, this most alpha and primitive of positions making her legs tremble as she saw the glinting delight in his gaze. Feeling his powerful thrusts from behin
d heightened her pleasure in a way she hadn’t thought possible. The slight tilt of her hips, the sexy rocking in his body, the sheer wildness and wickedness of doing it in front of a mirror made her senses sing with rapture. The orgasm came upon her like a thrashing wave, rushing through her like a bullet train, spitting her out the other side until she felt limbless.
But Luiz was still holding her upright, his strong thighs braced either side of hers as he prepared to let himself fly free. Daisy watched him as he pumped his way to a cataclysmic release. All of his facial muscles tensed, his breathing deep and heavy as he gave a series of surging thrusts that tipped him over the edge. He gave a wild groan as he emptied himself, his hands still fastened like manacles on her hips. She felt the warm spill of his essence between her thighs, such a raw and intimate coupling with her own moisture.
He turned her to face him and took her mouth in a long deep kiss as the water cascaded over their faces and their bodies.
Daisy stroked her hands over his warm wet chest, angling her head so he could take his kiss down the slope of her neck. The scrape of his stubble on her skin made her shiver in delight. Was there no end to the magic this man could do to her? She had gone from being a sexually shy, body issue plagued virgin to a steamy, flirty wanton in less than forty-eight hours.
But in four weeks’ time her exotic fling would be over and so too would her walk on the wild side. Facing the long, cold bleakness of winter would be even worse now she had experienced such scorching heat. Would her new confidence disappear under layers of winter woollies or would the part of her Luiz had brought out stay out?
Luiz threaded his hands through the wet curtain of her hair, holding her head steady as he meshed his gaze with hers. ‘So, we’re even.’
Daisy pressed her belly against his iron-hard abdomen. Oh, for muscles as toned as that, she thought. ‘You’ve never done it uncovered before?’
THE VALQUEZ SEDUCTION Page 11
