I want you, Laura, more than any woman. I’ve always wanted you.
She pushed aside her own longing. She couldn’t let herself want him. She couldn’t. She lifted her chin. “Thanks, but I’m not interested in a one-night stand.”
His black eyes glowed like embers. “I don’t want a one-night stand.”
She licked her suddenly dry lips. “You—you don’t?”
He shook his head. “I want you to stay.”
“You do?”
“I’ve missed having you as my secretary. And,” he added, as she folded her arms furiously, “as my lover.”
“Oh.” Her arms fell back to her sides. She whispered, “And Robby?”
His jaw hardened as he looked away.
“The two of you can live in the apartment below mine,” he said. “Your child need not inconvenience me at all.”
Your child. Hot pride and anger rushed back to her, stiffening her spine. “You mean you will kindly overlook my baby in order to have me in Rio as your 24/7 employee and late-night booty call.”
He stared at her, wide-eyed. Then he gave a sudden laugh. “I’ve missed you, Laura,” he said softly. “No one stands up to me like you do. You’re not afraid of me at all. You see right through me. I like that.”
She jerked away from him, near tears and furious with herself. She couldn’t believe she’d let herself get seduced by his sweet kisses, not even for an instant. Absolutely nothing had changed. Gabriel didn’t want a wife or child. And for her, only a real family would do.
“Sorry,” she said coldly. “But my days of being your work slave and casual late-night lover are over. Don’t you dare kiss me again.”
But his hands only tightened on her. “I can and I will.”
She exhaled in fury. “You have some arrogance to think—”
Seizing her in his arms, he kissed her at once, roughly, hard enough to bruise. Showing mastery. Showing possession. And to her eternal shame, when his hot lips were against hers, she could not resist. She sagged in his arms—and kissed him back.
“I want you, Laura,” he murmured against her skin when he finally pulled away. “And I will have you. If not this instant, then soon. Tonight.”
She shoved her hands against his hard chest, his deliciously muscular, taut body beneath the tight cotton tank top… Maybe it hadn’t been so much a shove as a caress. Angry at herself, she stepped back from him, her cheeks hot. With more confidence than she felt, she said, “Not going to happen.”
“We’ll see.” His voice held a smug masculine tone.
“Our deal had nothing to do with sex.”
“Correct.”
“I don’t have to sleep with you.”
He had the temerity to give her a sensual, heavy-lidded glance. “And yet you will.”
“Ooh!” Clenching her hands into fists, she gave a little stomp of her heel and went back into the penthouse. She found her son still playing on the spotless floor in the kitchen as Maria washed the dishes.
Gathering her baby in her arms, Laura took Robby into the living room and sat down in a new rocking chair by the wide windows overlooking the city. When Gabriel followed her, she glared at him, daring him to interrupt her time with her child. With a sardonic uplift of his brow, he just turned away, disappearing down the hall.
For long moments, Laura held her baby. She fed him, rocking him to sleep, and suddenly felt like crying.
She couldn’t let Gabriel seduce her. She could not. No matter how much her body craved his touch. No matter how her heart yearned.
Because her heart yearned for a lie. Gabriel would never change. Getting close to him would only break her heart—again. Break her heart, and possibly risk custody of her son. If she fell into bed with Gabriel, if she gave him her body, she feared she would also give up the secret that had tormented her for over a year.
She looked down at the sweet six-month-old baby slumbering in her arms. Gently, she rose to her feet and carried him down the hall to her darkened bedroom and set him in his crib. She stared down at Robby for a moment, listening to his steady, even breathing. Then she stiffened when a shadow fell from the open doorway.