Page 33 of Emergency Engagement

He kissed her. The world disappeared. She felt her whole body slacken as she melted into the kiss, into his arms, her hands weaving into his hair, completely lost in the moment. She was dazed when he pulled back and, when their eyes met, she knew that he wasn’t in control either.

But people were watching, and she adjusted her skirt sheepishly as they both turned to face all the eyes that were glued to their moment of passion.

‘Now, that’s a couple who mean business,’ Robert Kendrick said with a smile as he raised his glass.

Rafael had his arm around her shoulders but this time it was different. She could feel the tension of his hold and she knew he didn’t want to let her go.

‘Not like me,’ Rafael said gruffly.

‘That’s what love can do to a guy,’ Kendrick said, still grinning broadly.

‘Almost makes a guy forget,’ Rafael returned, ‘that there’s a certain booking at a club for us! We’d better get going.’

The kiss stayed with Sammy. It was like a bee sting on her lips as the evening progressed. All the common sense she had invoked to prevent this rush of desire had been thrown through the window.

This evening, she was all about Rafael. The music was sensual and loud, and she let herself go to it, swaying and seducing on the dance floor and loving the way he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

She forgot all about Victoria, barely glancing in her direction, but, with female instinct, she still knew that the other woman would not like what she saw. For the first time, someone else was competing for attention. She wasn’t the only young, strutting beauty in between the staid, impeccably dressed older women. Sammy discovered that she relished the sensation.

‘Let’s get you home,’ Rafael whispered into her ear as the evening drew to a close. The music had slowed and he was pressed against her, his hard body moving rhythmically to the music, his thigh pushing between hers and his hand on her waist, guiding her to his beat.

‘I can’t wait.’

‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’

‘Depends what you think I’m saying.’

‘Sammy...’

‘I know. You don’t have to spell it out, Rafael. This isn’t about two people who plan on having a relationship. This is about the here and now, and I don’t understand it any better than you probably do.’

She moaned softly as his hand dipped lower, nestling just above her buttocks. Through the flimsy fabric of her shirt, she could feel its heat burning into her.

‘You’re not wearing a bra,’ he murmured. ‘I like that.’

‘Do you, now?’

‘My imagination has been freewheeling ever since we got here.’

‘So has mine.’ Sammy couldn’t believe she’d actually said that. She felt a rush of daring recklessness.

‘I want to get you into bed.’

The music stopped, and they reluctantly pulled apart, but remained close enough for him to say shakily to her, ‘But I’ll ask that question again when the bed is within sight, because when the music is blaring and drinks have been had words can sometimes be rashly spoken.’

‘Maybe I’ll be saying the same thing to you,’ Sammy murmured, casting a lingering look at his darkly handsome face.

Piled into a car with another of the couples on the way back, Sammy sat in a state of simmering excitement. In her head, she replayed the evening, from standing in front of that mirror and looking at herself in clothes she usually would never have dreamt of wearing in a million years. Tonight had been the culmination of what she had felt the second she had walked into Rafael’s office, all guns blazing, to confront him about the hotel.

She had felt the breath catch in her throat then when she’d seen him and, even though she’d tried her best to stifle that wild, crazy physical response to him, she hadn’t been able to. It had grown under tropical skies and this game they were playing had nurtured it into a full-blown, irresistible craving.

He was forbidden, for all sorts of reasons, and she knew that. He was a guy whose goals in life were so different from hers, a complex guy who didn’t want to settle down and who scorned the straightforward path she had always envisaged for herself.Yet this was the first time she had discovered how alluring the forbidden fruit could be.

She rested her head against his shoulder in the back of the car and gazed out at the scenery flashing past. The windows were rolled down and the breeze blowing through the car was warm. The foliage at the side of the road was dense with huge, flowering bushes and tall, thin coconut trees. Rising up the side of the hills were bright squares of light where wooden houses nestled into the forest.

Looking up, Sammy could make out the pinpricks of stars against the velvety black sky. There was no light pollution at all here.

She sighed and vaguely thought about what waited for her back in England. Her career would begin to take off. Looking for somewhere to buy would be hectic yet enjoyable, because there would be no concerns about money. She should have been thinking about that, and making plans, but it all felt very far away. The only thing in her head right now was the man against whom she was resting.

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