‘Does that surprise you?’
‘You barely noticed me when Rosa and I ran out of the rain.’ Stupid,stupid.Why on earth had she said that? Why had she let him glimpse that weakness in her?
Because he had said what he had... Because he had opened that door and invited her to walk through...
‘Is that why you ran away? Did you want me to sweep you off your feet and carry you to my bedroom so that I could ravish you?’
‘Of course not.’ She felt her face flaming and her body was tingling, buzzing, as if she’d been plugged into a socket. He’d stooped back down so that he was at her eye level.
She wanted this man so much she was giddy with it. And the way he was looking at her... She half-closed her eyes and reached out and stroked the side of his face, and adrenaline rushed through her body in a tidal wave.
‘No glass anywhere.’ He lifted her up and she gave a startled yelp, but then her fingers were linking behind his neck, and shewantedthis. ‘But I should keep checking...just to make sure. And you’re a little damp from that spilt milk. You should get out of those clothes, don’t you think?’
‘I should,’ Izzy muttered against his chest.
He would be her first and, when she thought of giving her virginity to this man, every nerve in her body tingled with barely suppressed excitement.
She’d launched herself into a relationship with Jefferson and had thought,expected, that he would bethe one.He’d been so attentive, so much fun, had taught her how to surf and teased her when she’d kept falling into the sea. And yet, much as she’d been attracted to him—because hewasattractive, with that blond, blond hair—she hadn’t felt like this, hadn’t felt this helplessyearningthat seemed so out of her control. She’d wanted to wait, had wanted to take a little time, get to know him properly.
Had part of her secretly suspected what had become obvious over time? That he wasn’t the good-natured, thoughtful, carefree man she’d thought he was? Gabriel had teased so many confidences out of her without really trying, and yet to Jefferson she had been a closed book, skirting over the details of her life, maybe knowing that if she turned those pages too slowly he would soon become bored.
His tolerance had declined rapidly when she’d refused to sleep with him. At first, he’d been brilliant about it, but within a month she’d seen the sulky tightening of his mouth, and then the requests for cash had begun to creep in.
He was waiting for a cheque from his last job...could she lend him a couple of hundred for his rent? Of course he’d pay her back... And could he maybe have a few hundred more...? There was a surfboard he was desperate to get hold of...
And some underlying guilt that she hadn’t jumped into bed with him had made her meet those demands, modest enough at first, until finally he’d produced a sketchy outline of a company he wanted to set up. A few boats...advertising costs...half a million would get things going and there’d be no looking back...
Izzy had fled, her pride in tatters, her ego far more bruised than her heart, although she was only now beginning to recognise that.
Thank God she hadn’t jumped into bed with him. The thought of it made her feel sick. Yet, here she was, ready to jump into bed with a man who had made no attempts to butter her up with promises of a relationship. He was offering her sex, without even the benefit of some fancy wrapping, and the offer was irresistible and she just didn’t get it.
She looked at him from under her lashes as he gently settled her on his bed and then drew back and looked at her.
‘You sure about this?’ he asked huskily.
Gabriel hadn’t lied when he’d told her that she’d been on his mind. When he’d flown to Chicago, for the first time in his life the adrenaline rush of completing a deal that would add to his already staggering portfolio had failed to deliver its usual kick.
He hadn’t been able to focus and it had driven him nuts. Since when had a woman come between him and his work? The answer to that wasnever.
Was it because this was not the normal progression when it came to his love life? Or was it because there was an ulterior motive underlying the situation? Had that given the routine boy-meets-girl, boy-beds-girl situation an added edge? Surely it couldn’t be a simple case of wanting someone so badly you couldn’t get them out of your head?
He had rejected that possibility and instead focused on the fact that from Izzy lay a direct path to his being able to exert some leverage over his rapacious and vindictive ex-wife.
He’d been keen to return to the vineyards, not just for Rosa, but because he was intensely practical, and if a plan had to put into action then the sooner things kicked off, the better.That, he concluded, had been the impetus behind his hurried return.
He had returned to a storm and as he had stood there at the door, ready to race outside, Izzy had come blindly running towards him, every scrap of her given over to protecting his daughter, making sure she was kept as safe as possible.
Something inside him had twisted. He didn’t know what but it was a fleeting sensation of strange discomfort mixed with a melting warmth.
They’d been swimming and she’d been in an extremely modest black bikini that had still managed to do the utmost for her slender, gazelle-like body.
He’d taken Rosa, stepped back, temporarily blindsided by a rush of primal desire, and then...
Here she was. He couldn’t think straight when his mind zoomed back to finding her in the kitchen...her peachy bottom sticking out as she’d peered into the fridge. Small pyjamas, without a hint of seductiveanything, yet the most erotic get-up he had ever seen. Somehow he’d always gone for the woman in obvious designer gear but his tastes in women’s fashion seemed to be drastically changing.
He wasn’t sure what he would do if she had a change of mind but she smiled now, looked away then just as quickly looked back at him, her huge eyes oddly hesitant.
He smiled back, stepped out of his jogging bottoms and watched her mouth open with such blatant fascination that he was tickled pink.
