Page 56 of Bedding his Innocent Mistress

Something like success and triumph flared in his eyes. “Eleven?”

She nodded. “Eleven.”

Sadness sat in her gut as they walked out of the home together, but not together. She locked the door and turned to face him, and his smile made her heart drop, because it was a smile of such determined optimism, his belief that they would somehow get back together, filling her with a sense of guilt and shame and desperation.

She had no smile to offer Rafe’s driver. She followed him to the limo and slid into the backseat. As the car pulled out of the kerb, she turned back to look at her house; Steve was still there, watching her drive away. Tears filled her eyes and, once the car turned the corner, fell unchecked.

She swore angrily, and reached for her phone, staring at it hopelessly. She wanted to talk to someone, to shout at someone, but to what end?

Lisette had meant no harm – she and her mother were close and Ivy supposed she’d never forbidden Lisette to divulge the relationship.

Her parents, had they been less in Steve’s camp, ought to have called her, to find out for themselves what was happening in Ivy’s life.

They hadn’t.

Steve wanted her back.

Six weeks ago, that prospect wouldn’t have even required a moment’s thought. She would have been laughing and squealing with delight. Because she hadn’t been able to imagine her life without him.

And now?

She closed her eyes and saw Rafe, and doubts gnawed at her gut.

Things with Rafe were supposed to be short-term. Fun. Sexy. Not serious. Not … this. She couldn’t pretend that they hadn’t progressed way beyond that.

But Rafe’s life was in Spain, and hers was here, and besides that, he was a confirmed bachelor. Was she really hoping that there was some big, red-bow wrapped Happily Ever After waiting for her at the end of all this?

She swore again, lifting her phone and using the camera function to observe the ravages of her made-up face. It wasn’t as bad as she’d thought. Dashing at her tears and blinking furiously to clear the last of them away, she reapplied her lipstick then dusted a little extra blush on her cheeks. She breathed deeply, trying to still her frantic emotions.

By the time the car pulled up at the exclusive hotel, she was still in turmoil, but she looked calm. Placid. Ready for anything.

Rafe had explained that he was bankrolling the event, and that he needed to be there to meet with key donors from earlier in the evening. Still, when Ivy walked in, she was bowled over by his presence. He stood in the centre of a group of executives, a dark tuxedo accentuating his sun-kissed skin, his swarthy looks, his strength, his beauty.

Her skin goosed and a kaleidoscope of butterflies rammed against her insides. He was beyond handsome, and she was lost.

As if feeling her presence, his eyes lifted and the look he sent her was so full of desire and need, so intimate, as he allowed himself a look at the dress, her body, before lifting back to her eyes and scorching her with his approval.

Doubts were still throbbing inside of her but there was certainty too. If only she could grab it with both hands and hold onto it.

She didn’t move. She stood and stared at him, lost to the moment, and when he excused himself a moment later, cutting through the room until he was in front of her, she ached to be alone with him.

To have him make love to her.

She needed him.

He put a hand around her waist, leaning down for a brief kiss on her cheek in greeting. A perfectly socially acceptable way to meet one another at an event such as this, but totally insufficient for Ivy.

“You look good enough to eat,” she drawled, lifting up on tiptoes and whispering the words into his ear, her body melded to his.

His eyes flared with recognition when they met hers.

“And you look good enough to do very bad things to,” he said, the hunger in his words unmistakable.

“So?” She simpered. “What are you waiting for?”

He laughed softly, padding his fingers across the small of her back. “Privacy?” He said with a wink.

“There must be somewhere private here.”

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