Page 14 of Dating the Billionaire
CHAPTER FIVE
WHATTHEHELLam I doing?
As Matteo Rinaldi swiped his key card across the lock to his hotel suite door, the same urge Blair had had earlier rushed over her again—tempting her to turn and run for the elevator. What the hell was she doing?
Him...
That was what she wanted—whomshe wanted—so damn badly that she couldn’t withstand the temptation. When he opened the door and held it for her, she ignored the urge to run and paid attention only to the urge to enjoy him, as she had the entire evening.
Even that brief moment at the gallery where she’d thought he was only using her.
It had helped her understand why he’d joined the service. Did he have any other reasons? Despite his earlier claims to the contrary, had he expected the night to end like this?
While she walked farther into the suite, he stood yet at the closed door, his back against it. His tuxedo jacket dangled from one finger, the tie stuffed into one of the pockets. An erection—the one he’d pressed against her in the club—strained the fly of the dress pants. He wanted her, too.
So why hadn’t he moved any closer?
His dark eyes were narrowed as he studied her face. “I thought you told me this wasn’t going to happen.”
“I didn’t think it would,” she said, although the minute she’d turned and seen how damn good-looking he was, she’d considered it. For just that minute...
“You said it’s not that kind of dating service,” he reminded her.
She sighed. “I’m not entirely sure what kind of dating service it is,” she admitted. “But I was promised that everyone who signed up for it has been so completely vetted that I would be safe, even to meet you in your hotel room.” That was the vow Miranda had made.
“You are safe,” he assured her. “You can leave any time you want.”
“What do you want?” she asked. Despite his obvious desire for her, he hadn’t made a move toward her. “Do you want me to leave?”
Was that why he stood yet at the door? Why he hesitated to give her the kiss—the real kiss—she’d been wanting all evening?
“Hell, no,” he murmured, his voice gruff with that desire. “But I don’t always make the wisest decisions when it comes to women.”
She could relate; she hadn’t always made the smartest decisions about men, or she would have stayed away from the macho ones who couldn’t handle a woman having the career she had. Just how macho was Matteo Rinaldi?
“Like financing your sister’s gallery?” she asked about his not-so-wise decisions.
He nodded and proved that he wasn’t too macho to admit to having been manipulated when he added, “Like that, like letting women use me for money.”
Was that what he thought she was going to do? Instead of being offended, she chuckled. “I don’t want your money,” she assured him.
If she wanted money from a man, she would have taken her brother’s; he seemed to have a never ending supply of it. Grant had generously offered to finance the whole company, but she’d insisted on being an equal partner even though it had taken them a little longer to start it because she’d had to secure her own funding. She prided herself on being independent, though.
Matteo finally moved away from the door then, walking slowly toward where she stood in the middle of the living room part of the suite. “Then what do you want?” he asked her.
He stopped, a little more than a foot from her, and stared down at her. As tall as she was, Blair wasn’t used to having to look up to anyone, especially when she wore heels like the stilettos she was dying to step out of after dancing in them. But he held all of her attention right now, his dark gaze intent on her face. Desire, like burning embers, glowed in his chocolate-brown eyes, and a muscle twitched along his tightly clenched jaw.
He was controlling himself, but it was clear that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. Maybe more.
No. Nobody could want anyone more than she wanted him right now. It had been too damn long for her. She doubted he could say the same. And she didn’t care. She didn’t care about his past or hers. She didn’t care about the future, either, because she knew they wouldn’t have one. Their lifestyles were much too different.
She cared only about the present and enjoying him as much as she knew she would. “You,” she replied, her voice all breathy with the desire burning her up inside. “I want you.”
He stepped closer then, but so that their bodies just brushed against each other’s, like they had on the crowded dance floor. Then he lowered his head, and finally he kissed her. But only his lips touched her, sliding over her mouth, nibbling at her lips. He kissed her on and on until Blair’s knees began to tremble.
She wanted to blame those damn heels and all the dancing she’d done in them. But she knew it was him. He’d made her weak in the knees in a way she hadn’t been since probably her very first kiss.
And he kept just kissing her, only kissing her...
