deal arranged by his father?
Anger chased the whisky through his body. Was he to parade himself like a stud horse? That stung his male pride as much as being the standby heir.
‘Champagne.’ The husky voice of the woman joining him at the bar caught his attention, dragging him from his despair, her accent intriguing him as she made her demand to the bartender. Despite the weight of his problems, he was captivated in a way he hadn’t been for a long time.
Rafe studied her in the mirrors behind the bar and, despite the rows of optics, saw the woman was as attractive as her voice. There was an air of sophistication about her. She radiated confidence, drew him ever closer. Making him want more than a curious glance in the mirror. Making him want to get to know her. Effectively sealing his fate.
Attraction surged through him and he reluctantly admitted he’d go as far as to say she was the sexiest woman he’d seen in a long time. She was tall and slender, wearing a tight-fitting pale gold silk blouse, sleeves folded up past her elbows and open low at the front. Her dark shoulder-length hair was pulled back away from her face, accentuating her vivid brown eyes, her brown eye make-up making them appear as black as coal. Her full lips were pressed together into a sulky but sexy pout.
She was utterly gorgeous.
Watching her shouldn’t have turned him on, but it did. A lick of hot lust, reminding him just how long it had been since he’d lost himself in the oblivion of a beautiful woman, fired through him. It would also be something he’d never be able to do again once he married. His marriage might not be for love, or any kind of sentiment, but his morals wouldn’t allow for such betrayal as infidelity.
He knew how that felt. All too well.
Rafe nodded to the bartender, who swiftly brought over two glasses and a bottle of champagne, placing them on the bar between him and the woman. With a quick glance at the label, Rafe satisfied himself his usual standards had been catered for with nothing but the best and moved closer to the sexy woman.
‘I don’t recall inviting you to join me.’ She turned, leaning one slender arm on the bar, cutting off any polite introductions he could have made as she glared up at him. That lick of lust just became a savage kick.
He conjured up an image of the kind of woman his father might suggest as a suitable wife and knew she’d never be a match to this sassy, sophisticated woman before him. He took in the brunette’s long bronzed legs, the tight-fitting skirt skimming above her knees and the sexy gold sandals on delicate feet with red painted nails.
This woman oozed confidence. She was strong. Independent. And, with a body like that, she would fill his nights with hot pleasure. There was no way a woman like her would agree to a marriage purely for convenience.
This was a woman who undoubtedly played as hard as she worked. Exactly the kind of woman he was drawn to. He knew instinctively this woman would match him in every way.
‘I think you will find it is you who is being invited to join me,’ he taunted. Sparks of sexy annoyance shot out at him from her eyes, sending that savage lust roaring straight to his groin. He clenched his jaw against the kind of need he hadn’t felt for a long time. The kind of need that right now would chase away the shock of all he’d discovered. All he must do.
‘And how do you come to that conclusion? You were very clearly drinking whisky when I arrived,’ she goaded him, leaning her head to one side, her diamond earrings sparkling and winking at him.
He smiled. She’d noticed. Noticed him. ‘That is true.’
‘I was the one who ordered champagne.’ Her accent deepened. He’d never met a woman like this. For the last six years he’d consciously avoided complicating his life with female company. He’d used the alternative energy business he’d worked hard to set up, instead of joining his father and Enzo in the family business, to keep him from his homeland. Sicily held too many bad memories. The kind that wrote over any good times. Here in London, or at his other base in New York, he didn’t have to remember.
He didn’t have to face the past. It didn’t have to shape who he was.
Then all that had changed with his father’s illness. He’d been forced to return to Sicily. Forced back into his brother’s life. The twin who’d destroyed Rafe’s planned future as though it was nothing more than paper. The only two women he’d got close to had been lost. His mother and then Emma. Damn it, he’d lost Emma to his own brother. And now the final insult was that Rafe had no choice but to step up to the mark and do his duty, to help his father and his brother keep the Casella fortune.
Rafe pushed his troubles aside. This wasn’t the time for them. Not when this woman was exactly what he needed right now. A distraction he wanted to lose himself in—completely.
‘You didn’t order champagne. You demanded it.’ The stunned look on her face at being reprimanded made him smile. This was going to be a very entertaining evening. Precisely what he needed.
Tonight, he wanted to lose himself. Completely and with this woman. From the way she was looking at him, eyes swirling with desire as much as annoyance, he knew it was only a matter of time until he did just that. A sizzling sexual attraction drew them inexplicably to one another and he had no intention of severing it. Instead, he would meet it head-on.
‘I did no such thing.’
‘I didn’t hear a please,’ he taunted her, watching the gold flecks in her dark brown eyes shine brighter with fury. ‘And I am yet to hear a thank you.’
Beneath her dark complexion he noticed she had the good grace to blush. She sighed, her breasts rising with the deep breath in, snagging his attention, ratcheting up his lust, tightening the binds of attraction.
Silence fell between them as the bartender poured two glasses of champagne, placing the bottle back in the cooler, before attending to other guests. She took hers and, still without a word of thanks, turned her attention away from him.
‘Sorry. It’s been a bad day,’ she said quickly. ‘A bad week. Two weeks, in fact.’
He watched her once more in the mirror as she sipped her drink, before putting the glass on the bar and tracing one long slender finger around the rim absently. Her thoughts far away from him. From this bar.
‘That’s both of us then.’
Her gaze met his in the mirror. They remained like that, gazes locked, drawing them together, keeping them linked. It was powerful. Hard to resist. But he had no intention of doing that. This beauty who’d exploded into his world was exactly the antidote he needed after this morning’s meeting with his father.
‘It might have just got a little better.’ She tilted her head on one side, still watching him in the mirror. Again, the sparkle of diamonds hanging from her ears caught his attention as she openly flirted with him. Teased him.
Champagne. Diamonds. Who was this enigma of a woman who’d gate-crashed his private moment?
‘Shall we agree to dismiss today? To live for now? This moment and nothing else?’ He spoke to her reflection, not sure where his questions had come from.
He was the last person who would condone shirking duty for personal needs. But this woman’s demeanour, her confident sexiness and charm, sparkling brighter than her diamonds, must be affecting him more than he knew.
She
