LITMIR.BIZ

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and made a rough sound of impatience.

      ‘We’ll continue this inside,’ he snapped.

      The walk to her apartment was rushed and silent. He requested her keys and unlocked her door. ‘Invite me in,’ he muttered, his low voice tight.

      Tension gripped Elise, but, because she didn’t want to conduct the rest of the traumatic tale on her doorstep, she cleared her throat and stepped into her apartment. ‘Come in.’

      He followed, kicking the door shut.

      Her one-bedroom apartment was compact, decorated with whatever money she could spare after rent and loan payments. The living room held a single faux-velvet sofa, matching armchair and floor rugs. The pale walls were brightened with cheap landscapes, and floor and table lamps softened the starkness of the battered cabinet on which perched her TV and MP3 player.

      Alejandro didn’t spare the room a single glance. His gaze remained fixed on her, tweaking her already frazzled nerves.

      ‘Would you...umm...like a drink?’

      ‘No.’ He came forward, took her wrap and purse from her nerveless fingers. ‘Sit down, Elise.’

      He was ordering her around in her own home. Part of her wanted to stomp on his autocracy. A greater part wanted this over with.

      She sat. He shrugged off his coat, draped it over the armchair, leaving on the bespoke dinner suit. She dragged her gaze from his intrinsically masculine form as he sat down next to her. ‘Finish.’

      A knot twisted inside her as unpleasant memories flooded her. ‘He wanted to hold the launch at one of his nightclubs. I went there to take pictures for the press packets. He suggested I’d get a better sense of his style if I tried on some of his lingerie. I refused.’

      She ventured a glance at Alejandro.

      His face was a rigid mask of fury. ‘And?’

      ‘He...insisted.’

      ‘How?’ he rasped.

      Elise shivered. ‘He...restrained me. Said he wouldn’t let me leave until I gave him what he wanted.’

      Alejandro surged to his feet. ‘Madre de Dios!’ He paced her living room in a tight circle, one hand slashing through his hair. Mid-pace, he jolted to a stop. ‘Did he...?’

      Elise shook her head. ‘I... It didn’t get that far.’

      ‘Did you report him to the authorities?’ he jerked out.

      Pain lanced her. ‘Yes. But he wasn’t charged.’

      Darkness clouded his eyes. ‘Why the hell not?’

      ‘He had cameras in his nightclub, but he knew how to position himself so his actions seemed benign. And the parts where I fought back were out of shot. Also...’ She stopped.

      ‘What?’

      ‘He encouraged my parents it would be in Jameson’s interest if they convinced me to drop the allegations.’

      ‘Your parents? And did they?’

      ‘They didn’t have to. The case fell apart on its own.’

      ‘Dios mio,’ he breathed.

      Elise had no idea tears had slipped free until he sat back down and cradled her face in his hands.

      His thumbs dried her tears as he regarded her. ‘You’re strong and intelligent. You will not let this damage you,’ he declared.

      She sniffed. ‘Aren’t we all damaged in some way?’

      A solemn look entered his eyes. ‘Sí, we are. But yours shouldn’t centre on this. The bastard shouldn’t even cross your thoughts, never mind reduce you to tears.’

      She blinked rapidly, unwilling to show how his words affected her. ‘I told you I didn’t want to talk about it,’ she murmured.

      A hint of regret washed over his face. ‘Lo siento, but you intrigue me in many ways, Elise. I couldn’t help myself.’

      She didn’t have a response for that because his expression was changing, morphing from anger into something equally powerful. Something that caused her breath to shorten, then hitch in her throat.

      His hand slid to her nape.

      ‘Elise.’ Her name was a deep intonation that drew a shudder from her.

      She met his fiery green gaze. Her mouth parted on a needy little whimper. His eyes latched on her lips and the air thickened with sensual promise.

      He was going to kiss her. She wasn’t going to stop him.

      Because...because...

      Reason dissolved into mist the moment his mouth seared hers. Firm, chiselled and lush. His kiss went from exploratory to demanding in a flash. He groaned when her head fell back and she let him in.

      One hand captured her waist, pulled her in closer, until she was plastered against him.

      The elevated beat of his heart echoed against her chest.

      Elise squirmed as she drowned in the power and magic of Alejandro’s kiss. She wriggled closer, moaning when his tongue stroked hers with an urgent expertise that arrowed pleasure straight between her thighs. Growing more desperate by the minute for an unattainable pleasure, she slipped her hands beneath his jacket. His warm cotton-covered flesh was hers to explore.

      And explore she did, until the need for air forced them apart.

      Alejandro stared down at her with drugged, fierce eyes. ‘Dios, you taste incredible.’

      Another blush, hotter and faster, surged into her cheeks.

      He laughed low and deep, passing his thumbs over her cheeks. ‘And you blush like an innocent. A seriously lethal innocent.’

      Before she could respond, he was kissing her again, bearing her back on the seat. She gave herself over, happily swapping unwanted memories in favour of this. Kissing Alejandro brought no pain. Touching him filled her with excitement. Joy.

      Her hands slid up to his broad shoulders. His hair. Spiking her fingers through it, she let out a little cry as his hand cupped her breast. Somewhere along the line, her dress had shifted, her strapless bra exposed to his clever fingers. Alejandro’s mouth left hers, and she stared, dazed and engrossed, as he slowly moved back one lace cup to expose a budded pink nipple.

      Her breath strangled as he caught the peak between his fingers. Need arrowed straight to the apex of her thighs. Then he lowered his head and, eyes riveted on hers, took her nipple in his mouth.

      Sensation exploded through her, arching her in a tight bow, and feeding him more of herself.

      Alejandro uttered a pained groan as he suckled her. One hand slid beneath her to hold her to his rapt attention, while the other wandered feverishly down her body. His fingers trailed fire over her bare thighs as his mouth drifted across the slope of one breast to capture the peak of the other.

      Desire throbbed at her core, drowning her in rabid need.

      From one frantic heartbeat to the next, his fingers slipped beneath her panties to graze her damp flesh.

      Elise cried out, a fever like she’d never known flooding her.

      ‘Dios mio, bella dama, you intoxicate me.’

      One finger breached her core. Elise tensed, a different sensation racing down her spine. She wanted to block it out, but the flashing sign in her brain wouldn’t let her.

      ...you blush like an innocent...

      Except she wasn’t like one. Her virginity was something she’d guarded with almost zealous care before the incident with Brian. Not because she was hung up on giving it to the right man, but because it was the one thing, besides her art, that affirmed to her that she was nothing like her parents. After Brian, she was even

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