What was happening here? he wondered. The woman was not the type he was drawn to. When the work was over and the office door was shut, he liked his women to be fun. He enjoyed the chase, knowing where it would lead, enjoyed the beautiful packaging even though he always knew that he would inevitably get bored with the toy inside. He suspected that if this particular woman was ever chased by him, she wouldn’t hesitate to whack him over the head with a hard object, just as he suspected that what was inside the packaging was way too complex for him. Was that why he couldn’t take his eyes off her? Because she took challenge to new heights and what red blooded male could ever resist a good challenge?
That, he thought, washing the dishes and keeping an eye on his watch, must be it.
He was whistling as he headed back up to the bathroom, knocking before entering.
The steam from the bath had softened her cheeks and made them pink and the ends of her hair that had dipped into the water were damp strands. She looked all of eighteen.
‘You get the bath sheet,’ were her first words, issued as a firm command. ‘Hold it up and look away. I’ll stand up, I can manage that, and I’ll wrap the towel around myself and then you can lift me out.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ He had enacted many a bath scene in his life and none of them, he thought wryly, had taken on this format. But he obediently did as he was told, fighting off the urge to look, to savour, to rein in his frantic imagination by actually giving it something real to feed on. It physically hurt, it was so difficult.
‘Okay,’ Tessa said crisply, when the towel was safely around her. ‘You can carry me to my bedroom now.’ There was just no point pursuing the protesting damsel business. He would just ride roughshod over her if he figured he had to, and she was too vulnerable to allow him to do that, to really invade her privacy by seeing her naked, touching her bare skin. Bad enough having him lift her now with nothing but a towel between them.
The only way she knew how to counterbalance her screaming nerves was to pretend to be someone else, someone in control, briskly matter-of-fact about what he was doing. And it had been blissful to get clean, to wash off the scraping of dirt on her legs that had penetrated through her sheer tights when she had fallen.
‘Feel better?’ Curtis asked, sitting her on the edge of the bed and taking a few healthy steps backwards. ‘Refreshed? I’ve brought you up a couple more tablets in case the pain’s beginning to kick back in.’ He nodded to the table by the head of her bed. Now seemed a very good time to retreat downstairs. He had helped her home, done the whole rescuing-of-the-damsel-in-distress lot. He could watch a little telly while he waited for his taxi to return, leave her up here to get changed, maybe lie down and rest her foot.
He remained where he was, hands thrust into his pockets. The towel had ridden up her thighs and there was no denying that she had very nice thighs. Great legs, in fact, pale and smooth like satin, and very slender.
He cleared his throat. ‘I’ll be heading downstairs now,’ he said. ‘Catch up on some award-winning Christmas reruns while I wait for the taxi.’
‘Thanks for everything, Curtis,’ Tessa said. ‘I’d see you to the door but…’ She shrugged and gave him a little smile, which he returned.
‘Take the tablets.’ Nothing left to be said now. He turned, left the room and was about to head downstairs when one more thing occurred to him. In fact, he had meant to ask her while they were in the office, before a series of unexpected events had landed them up here in her house.
He spun round, pushed open the bedroom door and stopped dead in his tracks.
Tessa, on the bed, on all fours, was reaching out for the glass of water and the tablets. The towel, which she had protectively wrapped around her, had slithered to the ground. The moment between them was electric and it seemed to stretch on and on and on.
There was a savage intensity in his blue eyes that made her feel weak because she could read messages there that were firing into her brain and connecting with it in ways she wouldn’t have dreamed possible.
When he took a step towards her, she almost moaned. She knew, in every fibre of her being, that she should cover herself up immediately, that she should want to.
So why wasn’t she yelling at him to leave the room?
Curtis quietly closed the door behind him and that click was like a decision made.
Tessa fell back against the bed, watching, her eyes dark with hunger as he moved towards her.
All these weeks of looking at him from under her lashes, absorbing every little thing about him, and fighting it off because she recognised the dangers, were like nothing now.
She just wanted him to touch her…
CHAPTER SEVEN
TESSA lay down on the bed, drinking Curtis in with her eyes as he walked slowly towards her, finally to sit on the edge of the bed. ‘I know,’ she said, sitting up so that their faces were only inches apart. ‘This is a bad idea. It’s madness.’
By way of response, he smoothed his hand along her thigh, curving his fingers over the dewy silk of her buttocks.
‘Your foot…’ He had wondered whether he would actually be able to speak, whether his vocal cords might not have dried up altogether, but his voice was low and only shook a little.
‘Is still sprained.’ Tessa tried twisting it and winced. ‘It only hurts when I try to move it.’ It seemed a little silly to be discussing her foot when she was naked next to him.
Even though the room was dark, with only the side light switched on, she could still make out the fine lines around his eyes, laughter lines, giving his face character.
The realisation that she loved this man, had fallen head over heels with his impossible, unpredictable, utterly mesmerising personality was just something that she accepted. It didn’t leap out at her like a bolt from the blue, more revealed itself finally and inexorably. And yes, she should protect herself from him, from getting hurt by him, but hadn’t the damage already been done? He had wormed himself deep into the very core of her and pretending that he hadn’t wasn’t going to make her feel any better. It was a ploy that certainly hadn’t worked over the past few weeks.
‘You have a beautiful body,’ Curtis said thickly, looking down at her and reaching out to cup a breast in his hand. He felt her shudder as he rubbed the pad of his finger over her nipple. It stiffened and the reaction made him draw his breath in sharply.
This was no game. It was nothing like the romps he had had with the women he had dated over the years. He felt suddenly disoriented and when he raised his hand to caress the nape of her neck, it was shaking.
‘Your foot…’ he murmured roughly. ‘I don’t think the doctor would advise…’
Tessa lay back, spreading her arms wide, revealing herself to him in a gesture of pure, abandoned trust.
No, she thought, she didn’t trust that he wouldn’t hurt her. In fact, it was a dead cert that he would. Curtis Diaz wasn’t into all those things that came with relationships, proper relationships. But she could only say how she would feel if she carried on denying the truth to herself.
A slow, thick wave was washing over Curtis, making his thinking sluggish. Lying there, she was bewitching. It went way beyond the contours of her body. It was something glimpsed in her eyes, in the soft, suggestive smile curving her lips. She was the perfect combination of woman and child, tempting and cautious at the same time.
His hands were shaking as he began to undo the buttons of his shirt, watching her watching him. He tugged the shirt out of the waistband of his trousers and pulled it off, feeling like a man performing a striptease.
‘All I need is some music,’ he joked huskily. He hoped to God he wasn’t blushing. That was something he had never done in his life before, but right now, the way those eyes were making him feel, he might just be breaking the habit of a lifetime.
The gossip columnists might have overrated his sexual prowess, but Curtis Diaz was no shrinking violet when it came to the fairer sex. He enjoyed the company of women and he enjoyed
making love with them. He certainly never felt nervous in their presence but right now, he was as nervous as hell.
She was leaning up on one elbow, half smiling as his hand rested on the top button of his trousers. Instead of wresting them off, however, Curtis squatted down next to the bed so that his eyes were level with hers.
‘Do this often, do you?’ The clichéd line sounded a little strangled and he was disturbed to find how much he was hanging on for her answer, even though he knew what it would be.
She was an innocent. He had sensed that from the very first. But what if he was wrong? What if she had a secret side? It was known to happen, wasn’t it? Secretary by day, stripper by night…?
When he thought about that possibility, his blood seemed to freeze over in his veins.
‘You know I don’t,’ Tessa confessed truthfully. She sighed and stroked the side of his face. ‘And I make a particular habit of staying away from my bosses.’
Curtis captured her hand and turned it palm upwards, so that he could press his lips against the soft flesh. With his trousers still on, he joined her in her bed so that he was lying next to her.
‘Funnily enough, I make it a policy of separating work from pleasure myself,’ he murmured. The temptation was too much. No matter how hard he concentrated on her face, willing himself to rise above this strange, sinking feeling that was enveloping him, he couldn’t resist the lure of her breasts. And touching them wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. Not when he could lower his head so that he could take one demanding nipple into his mouth and tease it with the wet caress of his tongue. And that breathless groan was enough to draw his hand along her leg, along that smooth thigh, until it made contact with the soft dampness that she offered to him by parting her legs. His finger found the crease that brought forth a gasp of pure pleasure and he rubbed it gently and rhythmically, struggling to control his own pounding arousal.
Take it easy, he told himself, but, when her sweet moistness was enveloping his exploring fingers, that was nigh on impossible.
He reluctantly drew his hand up to her stomach, kissing her when she protested.
‘What about conversation?’ he murmured, sprinkling little kisses on her mouth and stroking the swell of her breasts.
‘Were we talking? I can’t remember…’ She hooked her hands behind his neck. If she had thought that she could get away with being more agile, she would have, but the dull ache in her foot was just waiting for an opportunity to become a jabbing pain. Right now, being as still as she could manage was pretty much the best idea, but, Lord, what she wouldn’t have done to have been able to curl up into him.
‘I was telling you that I don’t mix business with pleasure either.’
‘Despite the exotic flora you’ve had decorating your office before I came along?’
‘What makes you think that you’re not as exotic as the rest of them?’ Curtis asked, while through his head the disturbing thought took root that she went beyond exotic. She was positively dangerous.
‘The mirror?’ Tessa touched his lips with the tip of her tongue and he moaned and closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds.
‘Then you need to buy yourself a new one,’ he muttered inaudibly. Something, somewhere, was telling him that this was getting way out of control, and that that was definitely not good for a man who had always had everything very much under control. He laughed off the uneasy sensation and tilted her head so that he could kiss her neck.
‘Are you going to get undressed?’ Tessa asked huskily. Their eyes met for a second.
‘Making love can be vigorous,’ Curtis said, and simply hearing himself say that threw so many graphic pictures into his head that his now painful erection ached even more. ‘Vigorous isn’t what the doctor ordered for you.’
‘Stop worrying about my foot,’ Tessa pleaded. ‘The tablets have taken care of most of the pain…’
‘Which means that you probably wouldn’t feel it too much if I hurt you, at least right now, but as soon as those painkillers wear off, you’ll be in agony.’
He flipped onto his back, breathing thickly and not knowing quite what was going on with him. He had to remind himself that reining himself in was not a choice, it was a necessity.
Tessa carefully rolled towards him, slowly drawing one leg to cover his, and he looked at her with dark, frustrated hunger.
He had to go. Something deep inside him, some place that had never existed before, was telling him that he had to leave before…before what? Before he could no longer put the brakes on his rampaging desires.
He blindly kissed her upturned face, his tongue probing her mouth while one hand sought what it needed to find, the soft, wet bud pulsing for his touch. He felt her shiver. It sent the last of his coherent thoughts scattering to the four winds. With a stifled groan, he urgently began to explore her body, pinning her arms back and straddling her so that he could devote equal attention to her breasts. He flicked each one with his tongue and, when she twisted beneath him, took first one then the other into his mouth, sucking hard and watching her arched, flushed face with a deep, thrusting satisfaction.
He began to move lower, trailing his tongue along her flat belly, enjoying her rapid breathing. When he looked up, their eyes tangled, hers dark with hunger, his slumberous with the need to satisfy that hunger.
Before he could lower his head to continue his ministrations of her body, she coiled her fingers into his dark hair, tugging him so that he was looking at her once more.
‘Curtis…you can’t…’
‘Can’t what, my darling?’
‘I’ve never…’
‘Never…what?’ Comprehension dawned and with it came another of those destabilising thrusts of pure satisfaction. ‘Never been touched down there before…? In the way I mean to touch you…?’
Tessa nodded. He saw the apprehension in her eyes and his heart did something funny inside him, then he broke eye contact so that he could kiss his way down past her belly button, pausing only for a fraction of a second to breathe in the sweet femininity of her. He blew gently on the soft pubic hair, but the need to taste her was just too overpowering. The musky scent had filled his nostrils and he wanted more, much more.
And tasting her was every bit as good as he had imagined it would be. He could feel her bucking against him, writhing, and he stilled her growing need by flattening his hands on either side of her thighs.
Her groans had increased by several octaves, sweet music to his ears, and as his tongue slid remorselessly over that tightened bud, the essence of her naked hunger, he felt her reach her inexorable climax, arching back, shuddering and finally coming down in restless waves from the peak.
Her eyes were slumberous when he edged himself up so that he was lying next to her.
‘That wasn’t quite what I had in mind,’ she whispered, drawing him to her with drowsy contentment, ‘but it felt… well…’ Modesty deprived her of voicing a suitable description and Curtis smiled.
With reality weaving its tentacles around him, that uneasy, dangerous feeling was back, although he couldn’t put his finger on where it came from.
‘I should go…’ he murmured.
‘But…’
‘But you need to get some rest, and, Lord knows, the taxi’s probably come and gone.’
Shouldn’t he want to stay with her? Tessa suddenly felt very vulnerable. She consoled herself with the thought that she was a modern woman and there was absolutely nothing wrong in fulfilling her needs, especially with the man she loved. Even though he didn’t love her back. Still…she pulled the duvet cover from one side to partially cover her exposed body.
When he heaved himself off the bed, the vulnerability feeling grew stronger. This time she swamped herself under the duvet and pushed herself into a sitting position, leaning back against the headboard so that she could watch him as he slipped back on his shirt and slowly began doing up the buttons.
‘I never got to mention why I came back into your room,’ Curtis said roug
hly. ‘I meant to ask whether you and your sister would like to come over on Boxing Day. Anna wants to see you and it makes even more sense now that you probably won’t be able to do very much with your foot.’ He grinned crookedly at her. She looked so damned edible lying there, all bundled up under that duvet. His hands itched to rip it away but he knew that if he did, he would be lost, would end up never wanting to leave. No, he corrected uncomfortably, not wanting to leave in a hurry…
He took one step back, as though he had been standing too close to an open fire, and then turned at the sound of the doorbell.
‘Your taxi awaits you,’ Tessa said.
‘Hang on. I’ll just tell him that I’ll be down in a minute.’
‘It’s Christmas. He may not be prepared to wait that long.’
It was suddenly chilly in the room the minute he vacated it. In fact, it had become pretty chilly in the bed the second he had got out, but there was no point moaning about what had happened or about the fact that she felt a great deal more vulnerable now than she had before.
She had wanted him. She had wanted to feel his big body next to hers. Just thinking about it now made her shiver.
And she was a realist, wasn’t she? Had she really expected declarations of love in the heat of passion? The cold clutch of uncertainty gripped her and she fought it off, listening for the sound of his footsteps approaching.
When she finally did hear him, she felt her body tense.
‘No taxi,’ Curtis said, standing by the door for a few moments before coming into the room and gently pushing the door shut behind him. ‘I phoned for another, but there’s a waiting list, apparently, as long as the Great Wall of China.’
‘Then who was it at the door?’ Tessa asked, forgetting what he had said about the non-appearing taxi.
‘Your sister.’
‘Oh!’ She froze while a thousand possible scenarios raced through her head like a swarm of bees. ‘Oh. I thought…I wasn’t expecting her to come home until tomorrow,’ Tessa said breathlessly.
The Billionaire Boss's Bride Page 11
