Yet as he waited for the stab of lust to run its course, waiting for the moment he could control his body again, it never came.
The heaviness in his lower body increased tenfold as her hands smoothed over her tiny waist and her hips. Her shoulders pulled back, there was an inherent challenge in every line of her sensuous body.
She was bracing herself for an attack, not surprising after what he had said earlier. But then, she was always like that. Olivia always seemed prepared for battle, swords drawn as if she anticipated the world to throw the worst at her. And he had done exactly that.
He moved toward her, unable to turn his gaze away from the stubborn tilt to her chin, the gentle rise and dip of her breasts in silhouette as she turned, daring him to criticize.
He pulled her hand into his and crushed the sparks of awareness that shot through him at the contact. He slipped the diamond ring and the plain band he had found earlier on the kitchen counter onto her finger. Her hand shook in his grasp. He held it fast between them when she tried to pull it back, a surge of anger rising through him. Irrational, he knew, for whatever her faults, she wasn’t responsible for the escalating intensity of his desire for her.
“Until Kim comes back, you’re going to keep the ring on.”
He met her challenging gaze and smiled, finding pleasure in the torture that was self-denial. Was that what she was?
A temptation, a challenge to test what part of him was his out-of-control parents and what part his own man.
CHAPTER FIVE
OLIVIA LEANED BACK into her seat and closed her eyes to shut out the seductive intimacy the luxurious interior of the limousine pressed upon them. Alexander didn’t help matters, watching her with hooded eyes seated across from her. Really, the man had the longest lashes she’d ever seen. Which meant she could never really make out what he was thinking. The black suit fitted perfectly against the breadth of his shoulders, and with his hair slicked back, he looked like he belonged on Mad Men.
Their attraction shimmered around them spinning that web again. Even as they tried, they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other, a dark heat surrounding them.
She turned with a sigh and caught her reflection in the tinted glass. She had spent all afternoon in the very capable hands of the personal shopper and a stylist, being plucked, groomed and polished to an inch of her skin. If they had wondered how Alexander King’s very accomplished wife had nails bitten to the skin, they didn’t let on. And she had thoroughly enjoyed being pampered. Being broke meant she hardly had money to buy nail polish much less a manicure.
Only now, looking at how polished and sophisticated she looked, how much like Kim, she felt the afternoon’s bliss sliding off her as easily as the expensive silk of her designer dress. She was the exact image of her sister, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Of course, Alexander was attracted to her. The thought spread through her like a vein of ice, stealing every drop of warmth from her skin. She shivered and pulled the cashmere wrap tighter around her shoulders.
God, how could she have overlooked the little fact? She had been brazen, finding perverse satisfaction in the fact that she threatened his control. But he had reminded her, once again, she was supposed to be Kim.
She ran a hand over her forehead, too restless to sit still, a perverse anger rising through her. Just looking at him got her heart racing, her concentration fragmented to bits. Of all the men on the planet, why did it have to be him who could threaten her good intentions? How was she going to be able to even face them when they were back together?
Her troubled thoughts stumbled as the limo came to a smooth stop. She tried to get a glimpse of their destination but a man in a black suit opened the door and tucked his head in. A swift exchange followed between Alexander and him and then the man closed the door behind him. A dark velvet box in his hand, Alexander settled next to her and the limo gained speed again.
She leaned back into her seat and crossed her legs as the solid length of his thigh lodged against hers, sending her pulse skyrocketing again. Distaste coated her tongue with a bitter taste as she realized what the box in his hand was. “I’m wearing my sister’s ring. I’m with her man, pretending to be her. Isn’t it enough?” Her throat caught on the words, her heart a squeeze of pain. She pushed the words out, more for her sake than his. It was a bitter reality but it was the only thing that could root her sanity. “Because no amount of window dressing is going to make me like her, transform what’s inside. Believe me, I’ve tried.” Tucking her hands in her lap, she threw him an irritated look hating the tremor in her voice. “And I hate diamonds.”