Page 63 of Dangerous Temptation
‘No, that’s all right,’ she insisted. She didn’t want to be greedy. She knew he’d insist on paying, but it was so much. Too much.
‘Yes, it’s all right,’ he said firmly. ‘I didn’t just ask these people here so you could play pretend. I asked them here so I could splurge on you.’
She looked at him steadily, the back of her head resting against the wall. ‘You don’t have to, Alex.’
‘No, but I need to.’ His hold on her bit, and his eyes turned stormy. He was opening up to her more and more, but it had been a while since she’d seen the deeper emotions that were on display now. The anger and the determination. ‘I’ve spent the last two years fighting to keep what’s mine. I made my money honestly with my own company. If I want to spend it now, that’s my right. I’ll spend it wherever and however I please. Nobody is going to stop me, not even you.’
‘OK.’ Her hand lighted on his chest. He was breathing too hard, and his heart was racing. ‘OK.’
His chest rose at her touch and his head dropped forward. ‘Right now, it pleases me to spend it on you.’
She petted him, bringing down the beast. ‘I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just a bit much to take in.’
‘It pisses me off that you think that.’ He ground his teeth, but his touch softened as he caught a strand of her hair that dangled close to her waist. ‘You should have had pretty things all along. You shouldn’t have had to do without.’
He was talking about her dad, and Elena frowned. They’d been partners. They’d taken from people without regret. Did it matter more to him now that he knew her? That he saw the actual difference money made in people’s lives? Had he never witnessed the dividing line between the haves and the have-nots?
Maybe not. Yet he was truly bothered by the situation, and that confused her. She’d assumed that only an unfeeling bigot could do the things he did, but he was neither.
How had he gotten caught up in such a mess?
‘I had all the important things. My mom, my friends, love.’
A muscle in his jaw worked. ‘Let me do this for you.’
There was no defensive barrier in his gaze. No truths or feelings he was hiding.
‘OK,’ Elena agreed, wanting to make him happy. ‘Thank you.’
He sighed and leaned his weight into her, trapping her against the wall. His hands stroked up the sides of her legs, edging the cocktail dress higher. ‘Good, because the fun part about buying you new clothes is taking them off you again.’
Chapter Ten
Elena’s body hummed when he finally kissed her. She’d been aroused ever since she’d first stepped out from behind the room divider in that pink lingerie. She couldn’t help it. Her body responded whenever he looked at her.
Knowing that she was turning him on revved the titillation even higher.
He kissed his way along her jawline. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she held on. The low cut of the dress called to him, and he was soon at her cleavage.
She moaned as his dusty whiskers woke up her flesh.
‘The door,’ she whispered. ‘What if somebody walks in?’
‘I’ll fire them.’
He kissed his way determinedly down her breastbone and licked deep. Nuzzling against her, he kissed the sides of her breasts. His hands had already squeezed between her back and the wall to tackle her zipper. The vee neckline widened as the zipper slid down to her waist.
His breaths were heavy as he looked at the curves he’d exposed. He cupped one breast, holding her possessively. His hand looked sexy against all the black lace. His thumb poked at her nipple, waking it up and making it show itself above the silver demi-cup.
She tugged on his red tie. ‘You didn’t touch me last night.’
He pushed the dress over her arms and down to the floor. ‘You were stressed, and I was thinking.’
‘About this?’ She gasped when she suddenly found herself in nothing but the tiny scraps of lingerie and a sky-high pair of stiletto pumps.
‘About how to make up for all the things you missed.’
A pang hit her chest. She wanted to make up for all the things that had happened to him, too.
