Page 37 of Worth the Risk

‘Go on, then,’ I urged, noting that she wasn’t actively trying to displace my touch. Taking the chance, I slid my hand higher, encountering warm, supple flesh that I wanted to glide my tongue over again. I drew slow circles on her skin, then went another inch higher.

She drew in a sharp breath, clamped her thighs together and cleared her throat. ‘Did you need anything else, Vadim?’

His eyes swung from Leonora to me. Then he sighed and rose from the table. ‘Gideon is right. The time is not right. Maybe in future we can do business.’ With that he snapped his fingers at his entourage and one by one they staggered off the deck.

‘What the hell was that about?’ Leonora hissed at me.

‘A reminder of what I told you in Monaco,’ I rasped.

I was pleased that her breath shook when she exhaled. ‘You assume that I’ll forgive your caveman tendencies.’

I shrugged. ‘I live in hope?’

One sexy eyebrow lifted. ‘Is that a question?’

‘Will it get me out of the doghouse?’

‘Please remove your hand and I’ll think about it.’

‘I have an idea. How about my hand stays exactly where it is and I can reward you for what you did with Vadim earlier?’

Her breathing altered again. I shifted in my seat as my cock reacted to her.

‘I prefer to choose my own reward, thanks.’

She didn’t ask me to remove my hand. I took that as progress. ‘Very well. Drink your wine while you think about it, though. It’s a good vintage. It’d be a shame to waste it.’

She toyed with the stem of the glass for several seconds, her eyes slowly lifting to meet mine. I felt my hackles rise. I probably wouldn’t like whatever she was scheming but I didn’t want to stop touching her so I stayed put. ‘Tell me more about your family,’ she said after taking a sip of her wine.

‘Bloody hell,’ I snarled.

‘Gideon...’

‘Do you have any idea what it does to me to hear you say my name like that?’

She blinked. ‘Like what?’

‘It starts off prissy but ends in a sigh. It’s really quite extraordinary.’

‘I’m not... I don’t... You’re changing the subject.’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘Would it help if I said I’d looked you up on the internet, in the name of research?’

My thumb glided over her silky smooth flesh. ‘No. Because whatever you read is probably not true or just the tip of a colossal iceberg.’

‘Give me just the tip, then,’ she said, then blushed.

I laughed at the unfortunate double entendre. ‘In this instance, okay. What do you want to know?’

She drank another sip, her tongue gliding over her bottom lip when she set the glass down. ‘You started a separate business with your brother after university. Why isn’t he working with you on this deal? Did you two fall out?’

I felt my spine stiffen. ‘Not exactly. Bryce enjoys building hotels. The market for that is bigger than ever in the Far East. When we merged our company with the family business, he chose to stay in Singapore, build a few more hotels for The Mortimer Group there.’

She regarded me steadily. ‘And...?’

Dammit, she was a little too perceptive. ‘Things have got a little...strained between us since I returned to London.’

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