‘I was not sneaking.’
‘Oh, really?’ she snarled. ‘Is that why your mother thought you flew in that morning? Why your father has no idea you ride a motorbike?’
A solid, choking anger filled his lungs. ‘This is between you and I. It has nothing to do with my parents.’
‘You’re right. It did have nothing to do with your parents. Or my editor. It was just us.’
Just us.
The words spun out of her mouth, whirling between them like sparks—bright, luminous, impossible to ignore.
They were inches apart.
&
nbsp; Luis could feel his body responding to her words, to the darkness of her pupils, to her mouth tipped up towards his—
Somewhere in the house a door slammed, and they both jumped.
Cristina stared past him, concentrating on the horizon. She felt weightless; as if the pulse beating between her thighs was all that remained of her body. It had been so hard not to reach out and touch him. But she hadn’t, and soon he wouldn’t be here to tempt her.
‘And now it’s over,’ she said quickly, turning to face him. ‘Look, I’m just here to work. So why don’t you go back to California and let me get on with my job?’
Luis stared at her in silence. He was still reeling from what had just happened. His pulse shuddered. What had nearly just happened—and would have done if that door hadn’t slammed, and brought him to his senses.
Senses that clearly needed to step up a level.
Stepping past her, he picked up the coffee pot and carefully filled two cups. ‘Interesting hypothesis. But I’m not going back to California. Coffee?’
He held out a cup, and she shook her head. ‘But you said—’
‘Something I didn’t mean, Ms Shephard. How does it feel to be on the receiving end of that for once?’
His eyes locked onto hers.
‘I don’t trust you. I certainly don’t trust you in my home with my parents. So while you’re here I’m going to be here too. And every day I’m going to be watching you, waiting for you to mess up, and when you do I’m going to ruin you. But until that moment you’re stuck with me.’
Staring past her, he gazed coolly at the sunset.
‘You know your way out, don’t you?’
CHAPTER FOUR
LEANING FORWARD, CRISTINA grabbed a handful of grass and hauled herself over a small outcrop of rock. The hill had looked quite gentle from a distance, but up close she had quickly realised that, like a lot things in life, its appearance was deceptive.
Scowling, she breathed out slowly.
It was yet another reason for her to loathe Luis Osorio, for she wouldn’t even be up here if it wasn’t for him. But after a restless night spent dissecting his remarks she had woken feeling just as tense and furious as when she’d gone to bed.
Back in London she would have distracted herself by going out and merging with the noise and the crowds, blending with friends and strangers at pubs and parties across the city, blanking out her brain with noise and laughter.
Only how could she do that stuck on a private island? There were no people or parties.
But there was no way she could just sit alone with her thoughts in that huge, beautiful bedroom, so she’d opted for her other go-to solution: exercise. After grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, she’d headed towards the hill, expecting a walk and a view.
But of course nothing connected with Luis was what it seemed.
Her jaw tightened as his cool, hostile soundbites replayed inside her head.