Page 19 of Bride of Betrayal
She slipped the jacket off and held it out to him. ‘Thanks.’
Leo stepped forward and put a hand on it, inadvertently trapping her hand. Electricity sparked between them. Neither moved to take their hands away. The moment became charged.
The control he’d had to wield all evening—to not let the crowd overwhelm him and to not let his wife send him hurtling into a volcano of need—was fraying badly.
Right now, all he could see was her and that body that had haunted his dreams and nightmares for years, covered in not much at all. In fact, she’d be less dangerous if she were naked. The fact that the red lace drew the eye to dips and hollows and plump flesh was far more provocative. The lace was strategically placed on her breasts to draw the eye—he could see the press of her nipples against the thin fabric and that made his mind blank with the need to cup that flesh and explore her with his tongue, feel the sharp tip hardening against his tongue as he drove her wild—
‘Leo.’
Leo looked at her, disorientated.
‘Stop looking at me like that.’ Her eyes were bright. Two spots of colour in her cheeks. Mouth very red. He knew it was lipstick and he wanted to kiss it off her. Reveal their natural pink colour.
It was hard to form a coherent thought but he tried. ‘Looking at you like what?’
Chapter Five
Like the waythe Big Bad Wolf would look at Little Red Riding Hood,thought Angelica. Her heart was beating so fast she could barely breathe. They were caught in a strange tableau, both still holding the jacket between them, Leo’s hand on hers. Something shifted.
A longing, a yearning, rose from deep inside her. Unstoppable. It went deeper than desire, although that was there too, sharp and insistent.
She tried to pull her hand away but he tightened his hold. His gaze was on her mouth. Hungry.
‘Leo…’ Her voice came out low and husky, not how she’d intended at all.
‘Dio, Angel, how you haunted me.’
‘I did?’
He nodded and moved closer, tugging her to him. She went. ‘How?’
‘Dreams…nightmares.’ His mouth tightened. ‘Mainly nightmares.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said helplessly. She’d had dreams and nightmares too.
‘The past is gone. We’re here now.’
Angelica swallowed. ‘What does that mean?’
‘That the present is all that matters. Moving on. And for that to happen… I can see only one way forward.’
Angelica could feel his intention as he moved closer because it echoed within her. A beating drum of desire, flames licking up and out to every extremity, making her tremble. She knew that this was a really, really bad idea but she couldn’t seem to stop herself even when she knew the jacket had fallen to the floor and Leo was wrapping his hands around her waist, pulling her even closer.
‘Did you really think I could see you dressed like that and maintain some kind of illusion that I was in control?’
‘I didn’t dress like this for that…’
His mouth twisted a little, ‘No, you did it to irritate the hell out of me and make me look like a fool.’
Angelica thought of his pale face and the fear in his eyes earlier. It had thrown her, made her heart squeeze with concern, but she couldn’t deny that irritating himhadbeen her intention. But now her reasoning for it all felt a bit hazy. ‘Yes,’ she agreed simply. And then, before he could say anything else, she said, ‘But I’m sorry that it brought more attention… I didn’t know that you…’ She trailed off.
‘Neither did I,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want to talk about that now. I don’t want to talk at all.’
Neither did she. When Leo lowered his head to hers, she tipped her face up, telling him that she wanted him. His mouth hovered over hers for a long moment and Angelica’s hands went to his shirt, fingers clutching at the material. She was about to pull him closer in a bid to close the gap when those firm contours that she remembered so well settled over hers.
Her legs instantly felt weak and she had to lock her knees to stay standing. Apart from the shock of being kissed by Leo again, the yearning emotion caught at her gut. It felt as if she was coming home. And that was so disturbing and disconcerting that she opened her mouth to him, so the kiss could deepen and become much more explicit. Leo wasted no time in matching her, showing her so effortlessly who was the master here.
She was drowning in sensations and needs and when Leo pulled back after long drugging minutes, it was hard for Angelica to open her eyes and when she did he was out of focus.
