‘I don’t want your politeness,’ Cesar growled softly. ‘I want you.’
He cupped the back of her head and kissed her. Lexie clung to his arms to stop her legs from buckling.
When he drew back she opened her eyes. Lord, she could barely breathe.
‘Maybe I can convince them they don’t need me,’ Cesar said roughly.
It took a second for his meaning to sink in and then, despite the lurch in her chest, Lexie said hurriedly, ‘No, you should go back. And I do need to prepare for next week.’
‘You’re staying with me in my apartment, though.’
She opened her mouth to object and saw the glint of determination in Cesar’s eyes. She sighed, feeling weak. ‘Okay.’
* * *
Much later that night Cesar finally returned to his apartment in the castillo. He was irritated and frustrated. The problem in the vineyards had been more complicated than he’d thought, and then he’d been waylaid by his house manager and that had evolved into a long impromptu meeting about the renovations Cesar was embarking on. Renovations that were now taking on a new resonance—as if something had shifted inside him with regards to his long-term plans for the castillo.
But he didn’t want to think of that. All he wanted was to see Lexie. His apartment was quiet. Empty. When he considered for a second that she might well have gone back to her own rooms the rise of an even deeper frustration made him clench his jaw.
But, no... He saw her sneakers, thrown off near the couch where a low light was burning. Cesar walked over and his chest grew tight when he saw Lexie fast asleep. Her top had risen up, revealing a sliver of pale soft belly. One arm was flung over her head, the other was just below her breasts.
He came closer and wasn’t even really aware of the way the irritation and frustration he’d been feeling moments before had just dissolved away. To be replaced by a different kind of frustration. A hunger.
He spotted the earphones of her mp3 player in her ears, the wires leading to the device. And that tightness was more acute as he thought of her dyslexia and how hard it must have been for her to overcome its challenges along the way.
As if aware of his intense scrutiny, she opened those huge blue eyes. It took a second for them to focus and then Lexie scrambled up, her cheeks pink.
‘Oh, my God, what time is it?’
Cesar came down on the edge of the couch and pinned her with his arms. She lay back. She looked tousled and delicious and sexy as hell.
‘It’s way past your bedtime.’
She smiled and an incredible lightness infused Cesar. Addictive, seductive...
‘Is it now? What are you going to do about it?’
Cesar said sternly, ‘I’m going to make sure you go to bed right now and tuck you in myself.’
He stood up and reached for Lexie, swinging her into his arms, relishing the way she snuggled into his chest. Relishing even more the way her mouth unerringly found his neck and started pressing kisses there. Open-mouthed kisses, so that he could feel the tip of that wicked tongue.
Lexie sank back onto the bed and Cesar loomed over her, pulling off his top with one graceful move. She was still in a delicious half-dream haze. She didn’t even have to be awake for him to have an effect on her.
But then, like a dream that became clearer on waking, the darkness of the material she’d been studying in the script came back to her. It made her mood change in an instant, dousing desire. She recalled too that just before she’d woken she’d been having disturbing dreams. Almost nightmares. And it was no wonder.
Cesar came down over her on his arms and just like that Lexie froze under him. In that instant she felt tainted, damaged. She could see now that the exhilaration of becoming more intimate with Cesar had helped her to forget for a moment who she really was. What had happened to her. The sheer extent of the dark secrets she harboured.
Right then it felt as if a chasm yawned between them. He wouldn’t ever want to know who she really was. Why would he? This was just an affair. Fun. Lighthearted. Lexie felt anything but lighthearted. She felt acutely alone. As if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Cesar lifted a hand as if to touch her and Lexie flinched violently. Everything in her was screaming to get away now—before he could seduce her so much that she found herself spilling out all the awful ugliness that had no place here.
He stopped. ‘Lexie...?’
Lexie scrambled out from under Cesar’s arms and stood up by the bed, her whole body cold. Numb. Cesar was looking at her as if she’d grown two heads. Galvanised by panic, Lexie found her bag and started throwing things in.
‘What are you doing?’
She shoved the blouse she’d worn the previous day into the bag, her belly swooping at the thought of that day. How perfect it had been. It felt as if it had happened to another person now. A person who didn’t have the awful memories that were bombarding her right now.