‘No.’
She outlined his mouth with her fingertip. ‘That’s very responsible of you.’
A shadow passed through his gaze. ‘How long have you been on the Pill?’
She gave him a self-deprecating look. ‘Five years. How’s that for wishful thinking?’
His deep frown gave him an intimidating air. ‘I can’t believe what’s wrong with your countrymen. If it’d been up to me I would’ve sorted you out at the age of consent.’
She sent him a provocative smile. ‘Sort me out? What on earth does that mean?’
He reached for her again and brought his mouth down to hers. ‘I’ll show you.’
CHAPTER NINE
‘SO HOW’S THE hot fling going?’ Belinda asked Daisy when they met up briefly for a quick shop on day three of the holiday.
‘Too fast.’ Daisy allowed herself the smallest of shoulder slumps at the thought of flying home in the morning.
The last three days had gone past in a whirlwind of late breakfasts and long, lazy lunches and dinners and spectacular shows and late suppers. Dancing in nightclubs until the wee hours, a drive out to the desert in an Italian sports car with a gourmet picnic and a rug to indulge in a champagne supper under the stars. Passionate nights in Luiz’s arms, making love in every room, in every position and even inventing some of their own.
How was her quiet ordinary life in London ever going to compare?
‘But you’re seeing him back in London, right?’ Kate said.
‘That’s the plan…’
‘If you ask me, I think you’re crazy to continue with him,’ Belinda said. ‘A holiday fling is meant to be just that. Once the holiday is over, that’s it. Finito. You’re not supposed to see each other again.’
‘But what if they’re in love?’ Kate said.
Belinda gave Daisy a beady look. ‘Are you?’
Daisy laughed it off. ‘Of course not.’
‘Sure?’
No. ‘Yes.’
Falling in love with someone like Luiz Valquez would prove once and for all how ridiculously naïve she was. Thinking for a moment someone like him would be interested in spending the rest of his life with her was about as deluded as anyone could get. He was ready to move on. Sure, he’d been charming and sweet and caring but she’d seen him watching her with a frown one too many times. He was probably planning to ditch her before she left for London. Why wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t want the inconvenience of a long distance relationship, even if it were only for another four weeks. He would want to get back to his fly-in, fly-out lifestyle.
‘What about Luiz?’ Kate asked.
‘What about him?’ Daisy said.
‘What does he feel about you?’
‘Lust,’ Belinda said with an eye roll. ‘Didn’t you see that video clip on Twitter someone posted last night? I didn’t know you could do the tango, Daze. It looked like you were having sex with him on that dance floor.’
Daisy could feel a blush stealing over her entire body at the thought of how she and Luiz had burned up the dance floor late last night. He had turned it into a form of foreplay. Her whole body had been vibrating with lust by the time they got back to his suite. Their need for each other had been so explosive they hadn’t even bothered removing their clothes but shoved them out of the way instead. ‘He’s an excellent teacher.’
‘Not just on the dance floor, one presumes,’ Belinda said. ‘You’ve got that look.’
She was almost afraid to ask. ‘What look is that?’
‘The I’ve-just-had-the-best-sex-of-my-life look.’
‘All I can say is good on you, Daisy.’ Kate leaned forward to refill her wine glass. ‘It’s not like we’ve been so lucky, have we, Belinda?’
‘Just because neither of us has been wined and dined and seduced out of our senses by a hot Argentinian playboy doesn’t mean we haven’t had a good time,’ Belinda said with a little scowl.
‘But what about those guys you were dancing with the other night?’ Daisy asked.
Belinda gave a snort. ‘Turns out they were married.’
‘Oh…’
Kate raised her glass in a toast. ‘To Daisy’s first fling.’
Belinda clinked her glass against Daisy’s. ‘Let’s hope you end it before it’s too late.’
* * *
Luiz took a sip of his drink as he waited for Daisy to join him in the bar. She had spent a couple of hours that afternoon with her girlfriends shopping, claiming she couldn’t possibly go back home without a quick trip to the outlet mall. After appearing in that skimpy fuchsia-pink bikini the other day, he was starting to wonder what she might come back with. As much as it thrilled him to see her in such a racy little number, or indeed nothing at all, he had other concerns right now. After the smoking-hot clip someone had loaded on social media of them doing the tango last night, he was expecting someone to sneak up behind him with a baseball bat. If word got back to Charles Wyndham that Luiz was corrupting his baby girl with raunchy dancing and porn star bikinis and God knew what else, he would be limping around on crutches for sure.
What had happened to his determination to keep his hands off her? What a joke. He hadn’t lasted twenty-four hours. The last three days had been some of the most sensually pleasing of his life. The most sensually pleasing. Who was he kidding? No one came close to rocking his world the way Daisy did.
A vision of them in the shower together flashed through his brain. His body hardened at the memory. His skin shivered beneath his clothes, his desire for her ramping up until it was all he could think about. Her gorgeous and totally natural body, her breasts and womanly hips, the soft feminine swell of her belly that was such a contrast to the toned strength of his. The way she had stroked and worshipped his body with such honesty, responding to him with her whole being, her shyness melting away as she discovered the intimate secrets of her womanhood. He had seen it all played out on her face—the wonder, the joy, the rapture. He felt a part of it in a way he had never felt with another partner. She gave herself to him in a way no one had ever done before. And not just because she was a virgin, although he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that had triggered some Neanderthal-like pleasure deep in his psyche.
Daisy was an old-fashioned girl with a wicked and playful side he found enormously attractive. The only thing he found a little irritating was her candour. She had a tendency to speak her mind, most particularly her observations about him. He’d made the fatal error of revealing too much to her over that first breakfast. Somehow, watching her gobble up that meal like a kid in a candy store had made him lower his guard. She might have the appearance of being a little naïve but underneath that guileless dimpled smile was a smart young woman who knew much more than she let on.
But was she being straight with him about what she wanted out of their relationship? She claimed she only wanted him for sex. It was the same claim he had made to all the women he’d slept with over the years. Why then did it niggle him so much she didn’t want more? This was their last night together. She hadn’t said a word about wanting more from him. Most women would have dropped a hint or two by now. But she had said nothing. Zilch. He wasn’t even sure if she was going to agree to see him in London. What if she changed her mind? What if she decided what happened in Vegas had to stay in Vegas?
Not that he was thinking of settling down any time soon. He supposed there might come a day in the distant future when he would get around to thinking about acquiring a suitable wife, maybe having a couple of kids to keep his branch of the family tree going. But it wasn’t on his radar at the moment. Besides, Alejandro and Teddy would see to all that traditional stuff, which would leave him with a little more breathing room.
In the past, whenever he’d thought of settling down he’d got a claustrophobic feeling. A cold dread would fill him. He would feel s
uffocated by the thought of being tied down to one woman.
But that was before he’d met Daisy with her sparkling smile and winsome ways.
As soon as he’d laid eyes on her he had felt something thump him in the chest. Her clear blue eyes had met his across the crowded room and her uppity little nose had inched ever so higher. The rush of his blood had almost knocked him off his feet. Lust had rocketed through him as soon as he saw the defiant way she looked at him. The denial of her attraction to him had been a potent turn-on. The fact she hadn’t known who he was had been a bonus. He was growing weary of the groupies who trailed after him and his mates for the sake of bedding a professional sportsman. They weren’t interested in him as a person. They didn’t know a brass razoo about him. They knew nothing about who he was beneath the brash, fun-loving mask.
There were times when he didn’t know himself…
Luiz drowned the thought with another sip of his drink but, as he lowered his glass, he saw Daisy enter the bar. It was like a bizarre rerun of the first night they had met. He felt the same knockout punch to his chest as her eyes met his across the floor. But this time she didn’t put her nose in the air. Instead, she gave him a smouldering come-and-get-me look that made the back of his neck fizz and prickle in excitement.
His eyes nearly popped out of his head and landed in his drink when he ran his gaze over her outfit. So too did every other man’s. Gone was the conservative little black dress.
Her dress was a tight-fitting leather sheath that clung to her body like a sleek evening glove. The neckline plunged between her breasts, giving cheeky little glimpses of the gentle curves of her breasts. The hemline was mid-thigh but it looked even shorter because she was wearing hooker-high heels.
Also gone was the prim and conservative schoolteacher make-up. In its place was smoky eye shadow, scarlet lipstick, bronze blush and thick black mascara and eyeliner that gave her a free love, Sixties look to match her teased, high ponytail. She was wearing dangling earrings and carrying a tiny silver evening purse and her arms were bare apart from a metallic bracelet that jangled as she sashayed towards him.
She sent a fingertip over the back of his hand in a teasing brushstroke and batted her eyelashes at him. ‘Want to buy me a drink?’
‘Sure.’ He liked this game. If this was her idea of dress-ups he was in. ‘What will you have?’
‘Champagne.’
‘French?’
She gave him a worldly look. ‘Is there any other?’
Luiz had never felt more turned on by a woman. She was vampish and yet underneath all the war paint and costuming he could see the essence of purity and wholesomeness that made her so unique. He ordered the champagne and when it arrived he ushered her to a more private area where velvet sofas were stationed in a cosy nook.
She sat down opposite him and elegantly crossed one leg over the other, her dazzling smile brighter than the surrounding lighting.
He handed her a bubbling glass of champagne. ‘I see the shopping trip was successful.’
‘Very.’ She took a sip and wrinkled up her nose as the bubbles danced. That was another thing he adored about her. All those little mannerisms she didn’t try to hide in order to appear sophisticated. ‘How did you spend your time?’
‘I had a Skype call with the sponsors.’
‘It went well?’
‘Extremely.’ He raised his glass to hers. ‘I have a meeting with them in London the week after next. The whole board want to meet me, thanks to you whitewashing my reputation.’
She clinked her glass against his. ‘To reforming irascible rakes.’
He held her gaze with smouldering heat. ‘To debauching good girls.’
She laughed a tinkling bell laugh. ‘Belinda can’t believe the change in me. She’s always told me off for being so staid and conservative. Just shows what meeting the right man can do.’
The right man? He was totally wrong for her. Hadn’t her father made that clear? He hooked an eyebrow upwards. ‘I’m not sure your father would think that.’
Her smile slipped away as she looked at the leaping bubbles in her glass. ‘For years I’ve always done what he said. I was happy to do it. It was easier than arguing with him. But over the last few months I started to feel like life was leaving me behind.’ Her gaze came back to his. ‘That’s why this trip here was so important. I had to shake off the old Daisy and embrace the new. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to do it at home.’
‘So what happens when you go back tomorrow? Will you slip back into good habits again?’
Her dimples appeared as she smiled. ‘There’s always that danger, I suppose.’
Luiz ran his eyes over her outfit again. ‘You look hot tonight.’
She pulled at her lip with her teeth. ‘You don’t think it’s too over the top?’
‘For Vegas, no. For teaching five-year-olds in London? You may have a problem.’
A little frown flitted over her forehead as she glanced around. ‘Gosh, I didn’t think of that. What if someone sees me?’
‘Wasn’t that the whole idea?’ he asked. ‘To get noticed?’
‘By you; not by the rest of the world.’
‘It comes with the territory of hanging out with me. I attract the world’s attention.’
She looked at him thoughtfully for a long moment. ‘Why is being the centre of attention so important to you?’
Luiz thought of all the times as a child when his needs went unnoticed. The constant struggle to be heard in a house that had to remain quiet for the sake of his father’s health. His brother had done what he could but he hadn’t been able to meet the emotional needs of a young insecure child. Who would have expected him to? His mother’s desertion had made Luiz act out in a variety of ways that had tested his older brother’s patience. Alejandro had used work and study and doing whatever he could to keep the family together as his way of coping with the pain of their father’s accident and their mother’s leaving. Luiz had used any number of attention-seeking behaviours. His reputation as a tearaway began early and even though there were times when he’d wished he could reinvent himself, he’d never quite managed to do it. Although he was more than competent academically, his love and natural aptitude for sport was the thing that stood him apart from his peers. Over the years the adulation of the crowd had become more and more addictive. It made him all the more competitive and ruthlessly driven to be the best.
But it was lonely at the top and there was only one way down from it—the word he dreaded more than any other—failure.
‘I’m just a ratbag,’ he said lightly. ‘Ask my brother. He’ll tell you.’
A wistful smile curved her mouth. ‘I would’ve loved a sister or a brother. I think my mum would’ve had another child but for the fact that she wasn’t happy with my father.’
‘Why didn’t she divorce him?’
‘She asked him once or twice but he always talked her out of it.’ She traced her fingertip around the rim of her glass before she added, ‘Arguing with my father is not for the faint-hearted. He can be very persuasive.’
Tell me about it, Luiz thought. ‘What sort of husband was he to your mother?’
She looked at him with her clear blue gaze. ‘Do you mean: was he abusive?’
‘Is that why she wanted to leave him?’
‘No, he wasn’t abusive. He loved her too much, if that makes sense.’ Her finger did another circuit before she looked at him again. ‘He expected her to be a certain type of wife. But my mother wasn’t the type of person to be boxed in.’
‘Is that what he does to you? He expects you to act and behave a certain way?’
She sighed. ‘Yes…I hate disappointing him. I really do. I’m all he has, when you think about it. He wants me to be happy. I totally understand that. It’s what all parents want for their kids
. He doesn’t want me to mess up my life with being with the wrong person, I guess because of how things turned out between my mother and him. But how can I find out who’s right for me if I don’t put myself out there? It’s not like you can just know in an instant if someone’s perfect for you.’
Luiz studiously examined the contents of his half-empty glass. ‘My brother said as soon as he met his wife Teddy he knew she was the one.’ He met her gaze again. ‘So I suppose it must happen occasionally.’
‘So you believe in love at first sight?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘But that’s what happened with your brother.’
‘Doesn’t mean it will happen with me.’
She angled her head in that cute way she had. ‘But it could. Statistically speaking.’
‘What have statistics got to do with it?’
She shrugged and picked up her drink again. ‘Your brother sounds like a romantic. You’ve got a fifty per cent chance of being one as well.’
‘I don’t think so.’
She gave him a teasing smile. ‘How do you know? You haven’t met the woman of your dreams yet. But when you do—whammo—you’ll be done like a turkey at Christmas.’
He gave a wry chuckle. ‘The woman of my dreams doesn’t exist.’
She sat back in her chair and recrossed her long legs, gently kicking one dainty ankle up and down as her gaze held his. ‘Describe her to me.’
Luiz gave her a crooked smile. ‘Chestnut hair, blue eyes, creamy skin, hot body and legs up to—’
She leaned forward and tapped his thigh with a playful hand. ‘I’m being serious.’
So am I, he thought with a jolt. Wasn’t Daisy everything he wanted? She was funny and smart. She was fun to be around. She was sweet and yet strong enough to speak her mind. She was sexy and yet she could be a perfect lady when the need arose. She had class. She was the most thrilling lover he’d ever had.
THE VALQUEZ SEDUCTION Page 12
