This was a living, breathing, one hundred per cent sexy woman.
‘You always get your own way?’
‘Would it be a bad thing if I told you that I did? Ninety-nine per cent of the time?’
‘No wonder you’re so...so...arrogant!’ She could barely think straight and yet there he was, as cool as a cucumber, making her feel as though she was the one making a mountain out of a molehill! Her fingers itched to smack that self-assured gleam right off his face and her anger felt a lot safer than that disturbing pull towards him.
‘What’s arrogant about telling it like it is?’ he asked softly, unruffled. ‘And, by the way, you’re extremely cute when you’re angry. I have a feeling you don’t get angry very often.’
Laura gritted her teeth together, not wanting to stay where she was but somehow unable to unglue her feet from the floor and walk away.
‘I don’t fancy you,’ she said in a strangled voice, ‘and I’m certainly not interested in having a fling!’
‘You do fancy me, you know.’
‘You’re the most egotistic man I have ever met!’
‘If you didn’t,’ he pointed out in an ultra-reasonable voice, ‘you wouldn’t be glaring at me and spitting fire. If you didn’t fancy me, what I just said to you wouldn’t have got under your skin the way it has. You would have been mildly amused, mildly insulted, largely indifferent. You might even have accepted my company back to your house because you wouldn’t have felt threatened.’ He grinned, eyebrows raised. ‘We could always solve this vexing situation by putting it to the test...’ he murmured, as though suddenly hitting upon the perfect solution.
He didn’t give her time to think. He couldn’t. He was so close to her that he could smell the clean, flowery smell of whatever scent she was wearing, and that fragrant scent matched the scent of her hair. With just the slightest hint of provocation, he thought that he might take her right here, in the kitchen, on the kitchen table. His erection was bulging, painful, and it was even more painful when he imagined her cool hands on it, followed by her cool, cool mouth. Since when had he ever had such an X-rated imagination?
He had to kiss her.
Laura sensed his intent before his mouth descended. She raised her hands to ward him off, mentally prepared to shove him firmly away, but...
Something happened. He kissed her gently. When his tongue flicked to probe the moistness of her mouth, she stifled a whimper. Her whole body trembled against him. Somehow, she had closed the gap between them and she could feel his hardness throbbing against her, a flagrant indication of how turned on he was.
She curled her fingers into his shirt and tugged him towards her. Every nerve in her shameless body was shrieking in hot response. Her breasts felt heavy, her nipples tingled, wanting more than just this kiss.
‘So...’ Alessandro reluctantly set her back gently. For a few seconds she could barely focus through the daze but when she did, mortification washed over her in a tidal wave of pure, undiluted horror.
‘I don’t know what just happened there,’ she whispered.
‘Lust.’
‘I...I want to go now...’ She looked away but was still hyper-aware of him standing close to her, his warmth mingling with hers in an agonising reminder of the kiss they had just shared. She was mortally horrified to admit to herself that she wanted to be back in his arms, kissing him and being kissed by him.
‘Why?’
‘What does that mean?’ Her eyes flashed as they tangled with his and the breath caught in her throat.
Lust.
Hadn’t she learned her lesson? She’d fallen victim to lust before and look at where it had got her! Except when she thought about Colin she couldn’t remember feeling anything like what she had felt just then. That kiss, which had been meant to prove something, to prove that she was attracted to him, had sent her soaring into some crazy place where she hadn’t even been able to think!
Colin’s approach had been stealthy, like a serpent in the grass. He had charmed her, dismantled her doubts and inhibitions. Alessandro had just...swept in like a conquering marauder, intent on plunder.
She didn’t even approve of him! She didn’t even like him. So how on earth had he managed to...steamroller through all the defences she had so carefully put in place after her catastrophe with Colin?