‘Even though my best friend is Ralph Carter’s daughter?’
Alexei shook his head. ‘Stop trying to distract me. It won’t work.’
‘Distract you?’
Alexei’s face lowered till his lips almost touched hers. ‘I’m going to kiss you, Mina, till you stop throwing up objections. I’m going to kiss you till you agree to let me into your life so I can prove how good we’ll be together.’ All tension was gone from his face, replaced with a smug determination that made Mina want to laugh. For the first time today he looked like the man she’d fallen in love with.
For the first time since she left the Caribbean she felt happy.
‘And if I don’t agree?’
‘Then, my sweet, sexy, Princess, I’ll have to keep kissing you till you do.’ There he was again, the confident tycoon with lurking humour in those slumberous eyes. But the tension humming through him, and the racing flick of the pulse at his temple, revealed Alexei took nothing for granted. He was still tense, waiting.
That, most of all, showed the change in him.
His lips brushed hers and Mina’s knees went weak. Her arms tightened around his neck.
‘If I agree, we need to take things slowly, get to know each other properly. We barely know each other.’
‘I believe we know each other in the ways that count.’ Alexei nuzzled the base of her throat and delight shuddered through her. ‘But I won’t rush you.’
‘I should warn you, I’m no pushover.’ Yet she arched against him.
Alexei lifted his head, his smile wickedly knowing. ‘I’m counting on it. I’m here for the long haul.’ Then he took her mouth with his and Mina entered a world of bliss.
Ages later she heard a man clear his throat. Huseyn. It had to be. But Alexei didn’t react and Mina was too lost in a haze of delight to pull back.
Her brother-in-law wasn’t used to being ignored. Would he march over and pull them apart? Then she heard Ghizlan murmur something and the door clicked shut.
Alexei pulled back enough to look down at her. The gleam in his eyes made her heart tumble. ‘So, your family is tactful as well as protective? I like them better all the time.’
Mina dragged air into starved lungs. ‘Don’t think they’ll make it easy for you. They’ll give you the third degree about your life, goals and intentions.’
His smiling eyes held hers. ‘I can’t think of anything else I’d rather discuss.’ He stepped back the tiniest fraction, unhooking one of her hands from his neck and bringing it to his lips. ‘My intention is to be the man who’ll make you happy. Always.’