Page 33 of How To Tempt The Off-Limits Billionaire

Oh, God, there was abut.

“But she, and everyone else—because there will be no way she’ll be able to keep such juicy gossip to herself—will gossip about us and how serious we are. They’ll talk engagement rings and marriage and speculate about when we plan to have children.”

Ro stared at him, a little shocked and very bemused. “Just because I am, theoretically, sleeping with you? Why would they jump to such ridiculous conclusions?”

“Because I never bring women back to my hometown, and I’ve never, ever shared this house with a woman before. You are a very lovely exception to a long held and strictly enforced rule.”

Ro didn’t know what to say to that or how to react. She stared at him, conscious that her mouth was desert dry, that ripples of anticipation were running over her skin. The atmosphere in the room changed from confiding to combustible and Ro knew that if she leaned forward and placed her mouth on his, clothes would start coming off.

Her body was demanding the sexual relief only he could give her, but her mind was still throwing a hissy fit, telling her that sleeping with him was dangerous.

“I want you, Ro.”

It was such a simple statement, and more powerful for being so unpretentious. He was just a man declaring what he wanted, tossing it out there to see how she’d respond.

“I want you too—” Ro admitted, feeling the heat in her cheeks.

“I can hear thebut.”

When she didn’t answer—Ro was having difficulty forming her words—he sighed. “But it’s too soon, but you’re not ready, but I’m hurt. Which one is right?”

“All three?” Ro asked, wrinkling her nose.

“Fair enough,” Muzi replied. He lifted his lips into that devastating smirk. “But, for your information, I would’ve still managed to rock your world one-handed.”

She saw that he wasn’t expecting her to take his words seriously. “Is this California king big enough for you and your ego?” she asked, her tone pert.

“Just,” Muzi replied with an easy smile. “Well, if you’re not going to rock my world tonight, lie down next to me, and let’s watch a movie.”

“What about food? You’re on medication and you should eat something,” Ro protested.

“Maybe later,” Muzi told her, tugging her toward him. She lay her head on his shoulder and felt his big hand on her hip, holding her close. “Sci-fi, action or a war drama?”

“Historical romance, a chick flick or a tearjerker?” Ro replied, smiling as she stretched out next to him.

Muzi released a snort. “Can we compromise on a comedy?”

“Deal,” Ros said, resting her hand on his flat, ridged stomach. Oh, Lord, being this close to him and not allowing herself to explore his fabulous body was pure, unadulterated torture.

She just needed to say the word and she would know if he could live up to his promise of rocking her world.

But, because she was an adult and tried to listen to her head and not her juvenile libido, she lay there and tried to concentrate on the movie.

She didn’t succeed.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MUZICOULDN’TRECALLthe last time a woman fell asleep in his bed and then realized he couldn’t remember because it had never happened. Not once. Not even when he was younger, at university, or in the years following his studies. He far preferred to share his partner’s bed, that way he could control when the evening ended.

He didn’t do sex-free sleepovers, neither did he indulge in confessions. Last night he did both. He had never spent so much time explaining his past. Digby knew, or suspected, parts of it but he’d never confessed the full extent of Susan’s emotional abuse.

He and Ro knew each other’s secrets, and it was as scary as hell.

Muzi lay on his side and watched her sleep. Something else he wasn’t in the habit of doing. Being so close he could see a tiny bump on the ridge of her straight nose, how extraordinarily long her eyelashes were and that her skin was blemish-free. When he first saw her, she reminded him of Snow White, but after a few days in her company, he knew the comparison wasn’t just. She was so much more than a cardboard cutout character from an old Disney movie. She was determined, sensitive, empathetic and, best of all, nonjudgmental. And, terrifyingly, he felt the urge to spill more of his secrets.

Secrets like...while he was terrified to love, neither did he want to be alone. That, despite having the power in the wine industry he commanded, he was frightened that Susan would achieve her lifetime goal and have him sidelined and made irrelevant. Nobody, not even him, knew how far she would go.

Muzi knew that Susan never expected him to fly as high and fast as he did. And when he joined Clos du Cadieux, she’d encouraged his managers to make his life hell to avoid any accusations of nepotism. She thought he would quit. He’d done just the opposite. When threatened, he buckled down and got more stubborn. He wasn’t going anywhere, and he wouldn’t let an insecure and vicious woman get the better of him. But he had to do it in secret; Susan’s machinations would devastate Mimi and rip the Matthews family apart. He owed it to Mimi not to let that happen.

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