“You didn’t. I know I could have said no. But I did want to come. And I did enjoy everything, because I was with you. You’re the best company I’ve ever had.”
His gaze swung to her, caught her expression as she’d said these unbelievable statements.
Had he ever thought her anything less than the most perfect thing he’d ever seen? Was that how she truly felt? Could he be that lucky?
And whatever remained of his premeditation snapped. “I don’t want to drive you home, Liliana. Come with me to mine.”
The moment the words were out, he wanted to kick himself.
This was the last thing he should have said. He’d barely gotten her to trust him enough to enjoy being with him and to admit it. And he had to go and crash through her limits like an overeager teenager.
Now she wouldn’t only refuse, she’d swat him back to persona non grata status. Women usually played demure at this point, so men wouldn’t think them easy. But her refusal would be the most legitimate response ever.
Amidst the fury of self-disgust, he almost missed her answer. Braking too abruptly at the light, jerking her in her seat, he turned to her, disbelieving.
“What did you say?” he rasped.
Looking up at him without the slightest trace of guile, she repeated what he hadn’t believed he’d heard her say.
“I said okay.”
* * *
Entering Antonio’s sprawling mansion a fraught half hour after he’d asked her to go home with him, Lili still wondered if she was hav
ing another wish-fulfillment dream. One far more detailed and realistic...and outrageously ambitious. She kept wondering if she’d wake up any moment now.
But the dream continued, tangible, all-encompassing, like his heat at her back, his aura intoxicating her like the champagne had failed to. Everything was way over the top.
Problem was, it was really happening. He’d asked her to come home with him and she’d accepted. In embarrassing speed and eagerness.
“Would you like a drink?”
She swung around at his quiet question, almost losing her balance, and found him watching her with the most unreadable glance he’d leveled on her so far. Every fiber in her body quivered. He’d been almost silent since she’d said okay. Now the way he regarded her... What was he thinking?
To give herself space, to figure out what to feel or do, she nodded. With an even more disturbing glance, he nodded back as his powerful hand loosened his tie and undid a button as if they were suddenly suffocating him. Her dry throat convulsed as she watched him turn away, cross the lavish, ultramasculine great room to a wet bar at its end, his every movement sheer poetry of grace and control.
Her mind raced as he prepared their drinks, every now and then saying something that only necessitated monosyllabic responses from her.
She was now convinced he was interested in her. As a woman. Also known as sexually. While she could tell him he couldn’t have picked a worse candidate for such interest, she doubted he’d listen. His intense fixation on her had only grown at her attempts to dissuade him from coming closer.
Maybe because he could talk to her, or she jogged his jaded senses, or she was a type he’d never encountered. Whatever the reason, he was interested.
But interest was too mild a word, insultingly so, to describe what he provoked in her.
She craved him.
When she’d never wanted anyone. Or anything, for that matter. Besides scientific discovery. Not that she’d ever felt anything this out of control for science.
Still, mere craving didn’t describe her feelings now. Every last component of her being was aroused. Her mind, her senses, her body. She was in an uproar. For him. Only ever him.
But while his interest had grown directly proportionate to her resistance, since she’d stopped resisting him back there in his car, something had changed. He’d been almost...subdued.
Had he regretted inviting her here the moment she’d agreed? Had he only done so because, based on her behavior so far, he’d fully expected her to decline? Was he already losing interest now that she’d suddenly stopped providing him with the only things that had attracted him to her, resistance and surprises?
This probably explained the way he was behaving now.
Even if it didn’t, she knew if she capitulated and joined his worshipping hordes, he would lose interest in her and move on. Sooner would be better than later. The longer she was exposed to him, the more severe the havoc he’d leave in his wake.