‘Millie, are you going to come for me?’ he growled, not recognising the need and desperation in his voice. A part of him wanted to pull back to regain some much-needed control, but the finish line was just a few seconds away.
As his words hit her lips, she started to shake. Her eyes closed, her mouth fell open, and she screamed her satisfaction. Ridiculously, stunningly turned-on, unable to help himself, he let himself go.
He felt like she’d gripped his soul and squeezed. Taz closed his eyes, trying to get his breathing back under control. Millie moved off him, and he watched through half-closed lids, his heart a loud bass drum in his ears, as she picked up her pyjamas. Then she crossed the lounge and slipped, still naked, into the second and smaller of the two bedrooms.
The snick of her lock was as loud as a pistol shot.
The next morning, after a couple of hours of restless sleep, Millie paced in front of the bedroom window, her bare feet sinking into the plush carpet as she tried to make sense of her too-fast thoughts, her heart thumping at the raunchy memories from last night. She rested her forearm over her eyes, as heat rolled through her and her heart bounced off her ribs.
She couldn’t even argue that she’d been seduced or that she’d…slippedinto the situation. No, she’d tumbled into it, head first, heart racing, with no thought for the consequences. Taz’s heated gaze and growled compliments hadn’t helped her keep her wits about her. She’d been lost the second she saw the raw appreciation in his eyes—how he watched her, and how he reacted to her touch and her kiss.
Can’t think about that now.Sheworkedfor the man and waspretendingto be his girlfriend. Millie banged her fist against the window. Her life was veering wildly off-track. She hadn’t come here to entangle herself with Formula One’s most notorious playboy. She’d joined the De Rossi team to remember Ben and to reconcile who she was with who she wanted to be. But instead of doing some intense self-reflection, instead of figuring out if she could be brave or feel more secure and self-assured, she’d fallen under Taz’s seductive spell.
If he was still alive, Ben would argue that kissing Taz—and what followed—had been an act of bravery, a leap far beyond her carefully guarded comfort zone. But that wasn’t the kind of courage Millie was searching for. She wanted to change her life, to become someone she respected, not someone who let her control unravel the moment a hot man turned his devastating eyes on her and told her he wanted to take her to bed.
And yet…last night. God, she’d wanted to burn. She’d loved his intensity, that laser-focused passion, directed solely at her. And yes, it had been everything she’d imagined and more. A firestorm. A revelation. Hot and sexy and indescribably intense. And it had only been a taster. Taz making love to her might kill her.
She shook her head, before resting her forehead on the window. It couldn’t happen again. Itwouldn’thappen again.
Yes, they’d agreed to this ridiculous fake-dating arrangement, but that was as far as it went. They weren’t lovers, and they certainly weren’t friends with benefits. From this moment forward, they would be professional. Polite. They had to ignore their crackling chemistry.
Because no matter how much her body begged for more, Millie refused to let herself become another Taz De Rossi pit stop. How could she go from dating boring men to being celibate for years to sleeping with the world’s sexiest driver? That didn’t make any sense, it wasn’t a straight line, and she needed to backtrack. Immediately.
She couldn’t think of Taz as anything more than her boss, her fake boyfriend. She couldn’t forget the hard lessons she’d learned as a child and young adult: the closer people got to her, the more pain they could inflict. Her parents were supposed to love her, but they didn’t. She and Ben were supposed to grow old together, but he’d died. It was far easier to distance herself from men, from people, thus avoiding the possibility of being emotionally eviscerated.
But she’d never reacted to a man so quickly or so strongly as she had to Taz, so that meant she had to pull on her emotional running shoes and put a lot of distance between them. Fast.
Decision made, Millie whipped around to find her laptop, to check the schedule. They needed to be at the charity function this afternoon around three and she remembered that Taz wanted to spend some time in the pit with his technical staff. Her next task was scanning the papers and online publications for reactions to his press conference. She was expecting them to be good, but with the press you never knew.
She started a list on her phone and headed for the suite’s lounge. She typed as she walked and hit a hard, bare chest. She gasped and slapped her free hand on Taz’s muscled pec. It was so hard, so hot, and it was only then that she took in that he was only wearing long loose silk pyjama bottoms.
Taz curled his hand around her neck and covered her lips with his, his tongue sliding past her teeth to tangle with hers. She sighed and sank into the kiss, and it took her a few seconds, maybe a minute, for her brain to remind her that kissing him wasn’t something she was supposed to do.
She was being paid to act as his girlfriend, even if it was for Ben’s charity, and if she started sleeping with him…what did that make her? No! No!No!He’d explained, very directly, that what they did together clothed, naked or at any stage in between—was between them, and wasn’t part of their deal. She couldn’t start entertaining those denigrating thoughts. It wasn’t fair on her. Or on him.
But damn, kissing him, being with him, was such fun. And being on the receiving end of his sexual skill was as addictive as a Class A drug.
It took all Millie’s willpower to push away from him. She gripped the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes and tried to get her breathing back under control.
‘Morning, Mils.’
His just-woke-up voice was deeper and rougher, sexier. And, no, he shouldn’t shorten her name, making it sound sexy and sweet.Be strong, Millie. He’s your boss.
‘MrDe Rossi.’
Taz squinted at her and pushed his hand through his messy hair. His jaw was rough with stubble, and the pillow crease on his left cheek made him seem a little less of a bossy billionaire. More approachable and, damn it, lovable.
Get it together, Millie!‘I was just checking your schedule. You’ve got quite a bit to do before we leave for the polo tournament,’ she stated, her tone a little sharp.
His dark-lashed eyelids dropped, and his lips tightened. Right, he wasn’t happy with her cool greeting. Well, tough. They’d been out of line last night, and they needed normal this morning. ‘NoGood morning, darling, how did you sleep?’
Oh, the man had a PhD in sarcasm. ‘Good morning, Mr De Rossi,’ she politely parroted, tipping her head to the side. ‘How did you sleep?’
He scowled at her, slapped his hands on his hips and straightened his back. Ah, the warrior pose, designed to intimidate. ‘What happened from the time you left until this morning?’ he demanded, his normal brusqueness back in his voice. ‘Did you not get any sleep?’
She might as well bite the bullet and get them back on a professional footing. ‘What happened was that I came to my senses and remembered that we work together and that I am not prepared to be another of your conquests.’
Taz cocked his head to one side, and his gaze bore into her. ‘I need a gallon of coffee before we have this conversation,’ he stated, gesturing to the coffee machine sitting on the kitchen’s Italian marble counter. ‘Make me one, will you?’
