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‘Going on holiday, were you?’
If his guts weren’t writhing in a chaotic mess he would smile. That sassy mouth drove him crazy. Always had. And clearly she’d re-erected those barriers of hers. Well, he’d just have to pull them down all over again. He was fighting to win, and Finn St George always won.
‘Dance with me?’ He held out his hand. ‘Give me your first dance—the one we didn’t share back at Silverstone. Please?’
The truth was he just wanted to hold her. If he could make her remember what they were like together maybe she’d give him a chance.
She took so long to make her decision—her flawless brow nipped as she scrutinised his face—that Finn was headed for an aneurysm by the time her dubious voice, said, ‘Okay. One dance.’
Before she changed her mind he grabbed her hand and practically dragged her across the courtyard—weaving around tables to a space right at the back of the dance floor, dimly lit, semi-private and leading to the gardens beyond.
Then he wrapped his hands around her dainty waist and hauled her into the tight circle of his arms to sway to an Italian love ballad. Perfect. She felt amazing, and when her deliciously evocative scent wrapped around his senses the ice in his veins started to melt.
‘Finn,’ she squeaked. ‘I can hardly breathe.’
‘Breathing is highly overrated. Do you really need to?’ This was bliss for him and, selfish as it was, he was taking what he could while he could. To hell with that. You’re gonna win her back—she isn’t leaving you again.
‘Yes, I do. I...’
She softened against him, twined her arms around his neck, and that glorious frisson of pleasure and pain jolted his heart.
When he pulled her closer still, crushing her soft breasts to his chest, a moan slipped past her lips—the kind she made when she was naked and sprawled all over him. Blood rushed to his head, making him simultaneously dizzy and hard. Not to mention astoundingly possessive—which he figured must be the reason he put his big fat foot in it.
‘Have you been...seeing anyone?’
The spark of her ire crackled in the air and she stiffened in his arms.
Seriously? Could he be making a worse job of this? Where was his famed charm and charisma? Gone. Obliterated. By a five-foot-four spectacular bundle of fire.
‘You’ve got some nerve,’ she whispered furiously. ‘Spouting rubbish about missing me, accusing me of seeing someone else, holding me as if you’re petrified I’m going to vanish into thin air when you couldn’t even last three weeks!’
Reluctantly he pulled back a touch. ‘Three weeks before what?’
‘Quenching your carnal appetites,’ she hissed.
Finn just shook his head. ‘You’ve lost me, beautiful.’
‘Does Hungary ring any bells? Your much publicised photographs with some flashy starlet were all over the front page, so don’t give me any bull crap.’
He couldn’t help it. He grinned for the first time in aeons. ‘You’re jealous, baby.’ Aw, man, he was definitely in with a chance. She had to feel something for him. Had to.
Her gorgeous face got madder still. ‘I am not jealous at all. I don’t give a flying fig who you dance the horizontal tango with—and don’t you dare call me baby.’
Damn. What had possessed him to suggest she was one of many? A woman who’d witnessed her own father go through women like rice puffs.
‘I never touched that actress, beautiful. It just so happens that was the only gig I went to and the woman couldn’t take the hint so I left. There’s been no one since you. In fact, you’re the only woman I’ve slept with in well over a year.’
Those impossibly long sooty lashes fluttered over and over.
‘Oh...’
And when she softened once more victory was a balmy rush, blooming out all over his skin.
Needing her taste in his mouth, he stole a lush, moist kiss from her lips. ‘What’s more I’ve never called anyone baby but you, Serena. And I never will. Because you’re mine.’ Another kiss. Then another. ‘All mine. Unique in every single way—’
Suddenly she wrenched from his hold, took a step back.
‘You’ve never called anyone baby but me, Finn? So you either lied to me then or you’re lying now. Either way, I’m not interested. I...I can’t do this again with you.’
The pain darkening her grey gaze punched him in the heart.
‘I don’t know if I can trust anything you say. I don’t even know if your touch is real.’
The blood drained to his toes and a cold sweat chased it. ‘You can. I’ll prove it to you—
‘Look, I just flew in a few hours ago and I could do with some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?’
