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‘I might be able to help.’
How? Did he have access to all those secret files? She couldn’t breathe. Most certainly couldn’t speak. Just stared back out of the window.
‘Look, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,’ he said softly, ‘but I know a really good private investigator.’
‘What do you need a PI for?’ she asked, surprised.
‘Every family has its secrets, Dani.’ His smile twisted.
‘But not every family uses a PI to find them out.’
He went quiet as he turned into the car park in the front of Lorenzo’s warehouse. She knew he was waiting but she’d never told a soul about Eli. He wasn’t her secret, he was her mother’s.
Finally he shrugged and switched off the engine. ‘The offer is there.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ she lied out of politeness. She wasn’t sharing that with him—way too personal. ‘Thanks,’ she added as an afterthought.
He’d got out too, walked round to her side of the car, suddenly looking fiery. ‘Do you have to wear those shirts?’
‘What’s wrong with my shirts?’ They were beautifully fitted, hand-stitched in parts, and conservative. ‘They’re not too tight.’ Not like some of the numbers she’d seen around his office.
‘They hint.’
Hint? She frowned at a small noise. ‘Are you grinding your teeth?’
‘Now I know what’s underneath…’
She looked at him as his voice trailed off, her gaze colliding with his. Longing tumbled over her and her legs went newfoal wobbly—she was feeling desperate for him again already? ‘I’ll dig out my caftan later.’
‘Don’t bother, I’ll still see your curves.’
He claimed her hand with a ‘don’t even try to stop me’ grip. So she didn’t try, because the need in her body for some kind of touch was too strong.
‘What are you doing?’ And why did she have to be so breathless around him?
‘Proving a point.’
But the last word never made it out because he pressed his lips to hers, his body pushing her back against the car, his hands sweeping over her. Dani’s body both melted and went bowstring taut. So much for sex snapping the tension.
Alex lifted his head and smiled. She was flushed, soft in his arms and unbearably tempting. ‘You’d better go in, sweetheart. You don’t want to be late, do you?’
He laughed as she gave him a glare. Then he got back in his car and gunned it.
Sweet, mindless sex. Hours and hours of hard, physical, frisky distraction. That was what he needed and all he wanted. It was the one thing guaranteed to take his mind off his nightmarish family crisis. Images from last night flashed in his head—the shock he’d felt when he’d seen him: Patrick. He’d stared at him, searching for the familiar in his features. Hating himself for not having seen it before. Hating the man more for the years of lies.
Alex had worked and worked and worked for years—and for what? He had no right to the name, his mother had had no right to raise him thinking he did. No right to instil in him the sense of duty that had meant he’d never considered any other option—that his life had become the business.
He couldn’t believe the extent of the deceit. Couldn’t bear to think of the betrayal. It made him glad Samuel was dead—glad he’d never know the truth. Because it really sucked.
So Alex deserved some fun, didn’t he? On tap in his own house. He wasn’t going to let any stupid regrets take hold of Dani. He knew she was full of it—there weren’t any joy boys. But he’d been blowing the hot stuff too—wasn’t the total playboy he’d let her believe. Sure, he’d had a rampant phase for a few years there, but he’d matured. Only the occasional date had made it to first base, let alone third, recently, hardly any home runs. OK, he’d got bored.
But he wasn’t bored now.
He’d help her with her search if she’d let him. He wanted her to get the answers she needed—he knew all too well how horrible it was not to have those answers. And while she might not want a relationship she was a touch romantic—with her pretty candles and lacy underwear—so he’d do some romancing. Because he wasn’t letting her deny them the physical fling that he was sure would make them both feel fantastic, and let him forget everything else. Even if only for a while.
Cara was at her desk, her smile sly. Dani glanced out of her window—yeah, it overlooked the car park. OK, so that was embarrassing. Thank goodness Cara was too well bred to comment on anything so personal. There was a part of Dani that would have loved to share her anxiety and excitement—to have a good girly chat about it as she would have done with her mother or her old schoolmates. But she’d lost touch with those friends when her mother was so sick and her father had made it so much worse. Now her mother had gone and Dani didn’t know Cara anywhere near well enough to confide.
Instead she got on with her work—sneaking time to post a question on one of the adoption boards. She’d left messages on a reunion site for him but had no reply. What could she do next given she was unable to request his full file from the authorities?
And after Cara left in the early afternoon, Dani went back online. She wasn’t into the whole online social networking thing. Even less so since she’d starred in a downloadable clip of her own. But right now she was a glutton for punishment. She typed in his name. And hers. Found the elevator kiss clip. Winced at the number of hits it had received and blushed beet red when she read some of the comments. People needed to get their own lives. She quickly logged back into the message board, hoping someone might have an answer for her. There was only one.
If he hasn’t replied to the ads, there’s not much else you can do without professional help. Hire a PI.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘ABOUT this morning.’ Dani finally broached the subject.
‘Yes?’
Dani glanced sideways at Alex, a touch apprehensive. He looked uncharacteristically stern, had been quiet on the drive home. ‘I’m not sure we should repeat it.’
‘Dani, be honest.’ He served up something from the slow cooker his housekeeper had filled while they were at work. ‘It was mind-blowing and you want to do it again as much as I do.’
‘I don’t want to screw up this situation even more.’ She quoted his words back at him.
‘Sleeping together isn’t going to do that.’ He reached for another plate and ladled food onto that too. ‘You’ve made it clear you don’t want a relationship. Well, neither do I. This is just sex. Just fun. Just for now.’
Bed buddies? That was all he wanted, wasn’t it? The scenario she’d used to tease him with was the exact one he wanted from her—nothing more. While she’d known that, hearing him say it aloud made her heart beat horribly—skipping beats here and there.
He put the plate down, and the spoon, moved around the bench—and all the while didn’t take his eyes off her.
‘You don’t want to eat?’ Her pulse hammered in her ears.
‘Not food.’
He was going to prove a point again, wasn’t he? ‘Alex—’
He leant close, touching her only with his lips. It was all he needed to do. Her lashes lowered as she felt the sensations wash over her. He was right—mind-blowing. She stepped forward, melted into his arms. Without breaking the kiss he lifted her, carried her up the stairs. And she was happy to let him carry her wherever so long as he kept on kissing her like that. The desire to be with him dominated everything.
He set her on her feet in his bedroom. ‘Sweetheart.’ He smiled as he set about stripping her, muttering more beneath his breath as her body was exposed to him. She was as keen to see him—grappled with the buttons on his shirt until he growled and got rid of it himself. When they were finally naked they stared at each other. His smile faded as he raked her body with his hot gaze. She shivered as she took in his beauty—the sculpted shoulders, defined muscles, the fine scattering of hair on his chest that arrowed down below his belly button, drawing her attention to his straining erection—hi
s physique was sheer perfection and deep inside her a primal readying was occurring. She wanted him absolutely.
Their eyes met. His were fiery. Dani instinctively dampened her lips with her tongue and saw him tense even more. It was going to be explosive again. Good.
And with a suddenness that stole her breath he moved, tumbling her back onto the bed, lunging after her. As his body collided with hers there was instant friction, instant heat. He was so strong. She kissed him hungrily, those last little doubts in her head toppling like sandcastles in the tide. Sure it could be simple. It could just be sex.
His kiss was hot, his body strong. His lips and tongue probed, his hands swept over her shoulders, down her arms until his fingers clasped hers. He broke the kiss and smiled at her. He lifted her arms, placing one then the other above her head. He gazed into her eyes, at her lips, at her breasts. He shook his head slightly.
‘So beautiful, Dani.’ He shifted his hold on her, freeing one of his hands but keeping her wrists pinioned above her head by the other. He moved onto his side, one thigh still weighting hers but baring her body to his view.
He smiled as he gazed down her length again. And then his fingers followed his sightline. Coasting lightly down her body, caressing, teasing down her neck, her breasts, circling her belly button and then lower over her stomach, lower still…
Dani shifted restlessly, breathing faster.
‘What?’ he murmured in her ear. ‘What do you want?’
She arched her spine in response, aching to feel all of him against her again. His fingers teased, twirling in her hot, wet space. She was so close to tipping over the edge—but it wasn’t what she wanted. It wasn’t all she wanted. She moaned, unable to stop the sound of pure frustration.
‘Isn’t this enough?’ His words tickled her ear. ‘Don’t I just let my fingers do the walking, hmm? Isn’t that what you do? Isn’t this all you need? Better than a man, more reliable? Satisfying?’
She was so unsatisfied. ‘Alex.’ Even as she complained she tried to snuggle closer, wanting more of his body against her.
‘So tell me, then, what you really want.’ His fingers didn’t stop teasing and she was beside herself. The ache widened inside; her body yearned to cushion his. To have him imprinted on her. Inside her.
But he didn’t alter the slow, teasing touches—just kept them the same—keeping her right on the edge and not letting her go over.
