LITMIR.BIZ

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back to London.’ There was a hint of warning in his voice, warning she had no intention of heeding.

      ‘And if I don’t want to?’ Her heart went into free fall at her boldness, the likes of which she’d never known before. How could one man change her so much? ‘Not yet anyway.’

      She couldn’t believe how shameless she sounded and knew it came from something much deeper than just passion. All she wanted now was to stay, to discover more with this man even though she’d constantly fought him and the attraction that had leapt to life between them. But why, when such an action went against everything she believed in? When he’d been the man who’d humiliated her as a sixteen-year-old?

      Because you’ve seen beneath the tough exterior, seen who he really is.

      He stopped abruptly and looked at her, the intensity in his eyes so wild, so very daring she could scarcely breathe as the elevator doors opened onto the opulent space of his apartment. ‘You should only walk through these doors with me if you want me to kiss you.’

      ‘I want that.’ She searched his face, looking for the man she had glimpsed, the man who hid behind the toughened exterior of billionaire businessman Raul Valdez. ‘I want you to kiss me, Raul, like you did the other night—in the rain.’

      He reached out to her, his thumb and finger lifting her chin a fraction, the heat of his touch almost too much as she swallowed back the nerves that threatened once more. Just as she thought she couldn’t look into his eyes any longer he moved closer, his lips so very close she could feel his breath, warm on her face.

      ‘If I kiss you again, Lydia, it will become far more than that. I don’t want a shy innocent in my bed. I want the passionate woman I know you are, the one you have kept hidden from me.’

      Did he really think that of her? She drew in a breath as a rush of panic skittered over her. She might not be a virgin, but she was still innocent to the ways of a man like Raul. She had only known one other man, her ex-fiancé.

      ‘I want to be that woman again, but this time I want more than a kiss. Much more.’ She blushed at the thought, trying to put aside his obvious dislike for a woman who had very little experience of sex. She would have to continue the act of confidence and sophistication if she wanted to experience a night with this man—and she did. ‘Tonight is for us, Raul.’

      In answer he brushed his lips provocatively over hers, sending a rush of heady desire round her until it unlocked the passion she’d been fighting since that first meeting in London.

      Desperate to hide her inexperience, she pressed herself against his body, the answering groan as he deepened the kiss setting light to her desire again. With her hands behind his neck, her fingers in the dark hair at his collar, she pulled him to her, her tongue slipping boldly into his mouth, teasing in a way she’d had no idea she knew how to do. Raul Valdez had turned her into a very different woman.

      With a swiftness that had her gasping in shock, he pulled away from her and, taking her hand in his, strode purposefully to his apartment, unaware she struggled to keep up in the heels she’d teamed with her dress.

      He pushed open the door and, with a wild look in his eyes, pulled her towards him, slamming the door shut as he did so. Before she could blink, his lean hard body pressed her against the door and any doubt she had that he wanted her no longer existed. The fire of need leapt to life as he pressed himself intimately against her.

      What are you doing?

      The sane and sensible Lydia surfaced once more and she looked into his brooding eyes, the feral darkness almost intimidating. She pressed her palm against his chest, exerting pressure, but he didn’t yield. Instead his lips came down on hers with such force her knees buckled and only the solid door and his firm body kept her upright. It was a plundering and ruthless kiss, one that swiped the sensible Lydia out of the room, and as his hands slid up her waist to her breast she knew that version of herself wouldn’t come back tonight—and she didn’t want her to.

      * * *

      Raul’s hand cupped her breast and the fire of need within him raged ever higher. He must be going mad. To want a woman so much, but now it was too late. Part of him had wanted her to stop him, to act the high and mighty woman he’d first met in London and coldly rebuff him. The innocent girl she’d been all those years ago when they’d first met had been replaced by a sassy and very sexy woman. One who made it clear she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

      She’d encouraged him, drawn him deeper into this madness when they had arrived at his apartment, the change in her, the lack of resistance all too clear. Was it because she now knew she was free of him, that the threat of marriage, which had at first seemed the only way to clear her father’s debts, was now over?

      Whatever it was, he was incapable of rational thought at this moment and he intended to take all she offered—and more. He intended to lose himself in passion, to drown in desire, because right now it was the only way to block out the hurt that had been lurking in the shadows of his life for as long as he could remember. Hurt he had no control over, but passion he did.

      ‘This has to go.’ His words were as feral as his desire and he pulled at the strap of her dress, but it didn’t yield.

      ‘So impatient.’ Lydia’s husky voice, full of flirtation, threatened to push him over the edge. She wriggled against him as she tried to reach behind her and unfasten the dress.

      ‘Allow me.’ He fought to calm his wayward body as he stepped back from her, placed his hands on her arms and gently began to turn her.

      Her gaze met his for a split second before she willingly turned her back to him. He looked at the creamy soft skin, the sexy shape of her spine, and cursed the thin strap across her shoulder blades that had held the dress in place. Perhaps it was just as well the dress hadn’t been discarded in an instant because now he had a tighter rein on the desire she ignited within him. He watched as she breathed in, deeply and evenly, then slowly he unclipped the thin silver strap.

      ‘There’s another at my waist.’ Her voice was a husky whisper. She didn’t move but the sexual chemistry between them was building, getting stronger with each breath she took. The air around them so charged with fire and passion that if he struck a match they’d go up in flames.

      He didn’t say a word as he traced his fingers down her spine, smiling with satisfaction when she arched slightly beneath his light touch. She lowered her head forwards, her hair slipping away from her neck, and all he could think about was trailing his lips against the soft skin there and down her back.

      Instead he focused his attention on unfastening the dress, which had clung to her slender hips, sparkling invitingly all evening, daring him to want her. Slowly he slid his hands up her bare back, pushing his fingers beneath the straps at her shoulders, then as if in slow motion he watched the straps slide down her arms where they stopped in the bends of her elbows, preventing him from seeing her gloriously naked.

      With a stab of shock, he realised she stood with her palms flat against the door of his apartment, her head lowered, her breathing deep and rapid with desire. When had he ever wanted a woman so much he hadn’t been able to get further than the front door? Never. He hadn’t ever wanted to claim a woman as his with the urgency that flooded him now. What was so different about this woman?

      He should lead her to the bedroom before they went any further, but even as the thought flitted through his mind he dismissed it. Before he could stop himself he had moved closer to her, his hands going inside the heavy sequined material that hung loosely from her. He slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him and smoothing his palms over her stomach, then her ribs and then up to her breasts. The scent of her perfume, seductive rose and jasmine, only served to notch up the tension even further, heightening his need for her.

      He kissed her neck and she sighed softly, but as his fingers teased her nipples the sound became distinctly more untamed. ‘We should take this to the bedroom, should we not, querida?’

      He could feel every deep and erratic breath she took as his hands caressed her breasts. Still her hands were

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