I still will...’ he mused.
Lia breathed shallowly. ‘Punishing me?’
Black eyes glittered through narrowed lids. ‘You are not someone who likes to feel out of control, are you?’
That sounded more like a statement than a question, and Lia treated it as such. ‘Neither are you,’ she defended.
‘I do not remember objecting when you made love to me earlier.’
The warmth in her cheeks deepened as she recalled her aggression. And her pleasure...
Which was another reason she wasn’t going to allow herself to be alone with Gregorio again. He affected her, drove her wild with passion in a way no other man ever had. Including the man she had intended to marry.
She and David had spent the night together regularly after their engagement. Nights she had enjoyed even as she had known there had to be more. Although she had enjoyed David’s lovemaking she had never reached the pinnacle of physical pleasure when they were together.
A few minutes of just being kissed by and kissing Gregorio and she’d had her first orgasm. He hadn’t even touched her. The stimulation had come from those kisses alone.
Just being with him physically excited her.
As much as it disturbed her.
Because she wasn’t sure she even liked Gregorio.
Lia moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘I really think you should leave now.’
Gregorio had given her far too much to think about. Not just what had happened between the two of them, but the truth about David’s involvement in the demise of her father’s company.
Because, no matter how confused she was about her feelings for Gregorio, she knew he wasn’t a liar. In fact, he was the opposite: Gregorio tended to be brutally honest.
Lia knew she had to see and talk to David again. To find out for herself if what Gregorio had said about him having a gambling habit was true, at least. To try and get David to tell her the part he had played—or not played—in the downfall of Fairbanks Industries.
‘THIS ISN’T PART of my job description.’
Gregorio quirked one dark eyebrow as he looked at Lia, standing in the doorway to the office in his penthouse suite. ‘My PA has called in sick this morning. I’m not sure it’s altogether wise for you to refuse to assist your employer on only your second day of employment.’
Lia wasn’t sure it was either. But neither did she think it was coincidence that Gregorio had requested she be the one to assist him. Although he certainly looked businesslike, in one of those perfectly tailored suits—dark grey today—with a pale grey shirt and striped blue tie.
After a very disturbed night’s sleep Lia had tried to put yesterday evening from her mind and treat today as a new start. It had proved not altogether possible when—as promised—Cathy had telephoned her first thing this morning, wanting to know all the juicy details of Lia’s relationship with Gregorio.
Lia had told her friend what she felt comfortable with Cathy knowing. Mainly that she really had no idea what last night had been about. Only that she wasn’t going to allow Gregorio that close to her again.
After making another phone call Lia had forced herself to shower and dress before coming in to work today. Knowing that Gregorio might appear at any moment and shake what little self-confidence she had managed to dredge up and wrap around herself like a protective cloak.
Having Michael Harrington send her up to the penthouse floor to assist Mr de la Cruz within minutes of her arrival at the Exemplar Hotel had succeeded in tearing a great hole in that protective cloak!
‘Is this what you meant when you spoke about punishing me?’
Gregorio narrowed his eyes as he sat back in his chair to look across the width of his desk at Lia. She was once again wearing a black business suit and a cream blouse—the uniform of all the hotel receptionists—and her hair was swept up in that confining style he didn’t like. Mainly because it hid all the gold and cinnamon highlights amongst the red. Her face was slightly pale, but there was a defiant glitter in those dark grey eyes.
‘You consider assisting your employer to be a punishment?’ he challenged.
‘That would depend on what he wants my assistance with.’
‘The history and accounts of some of the companies I am interested in buying.’
Her eyes widened. ‘And why would you think I have any knowledge on either of those subjects?’
Gregorio gave a confident smile. ‘Because your father told me you very often assisted him when he worked at home in the evenings.’
Her hand reached out blindly to allow her fingers to grasp hold of the doorframe for support. ‘My father told you...?’
‘Jacob and I met several times.’ He nodded. ‘Once we had finished our business discussions you invariably came into the conversation.’ He stood up to move around to the front of his desk. ‘He was very proud of you.’
Lia could find no answer to that statement. Instead she blinked back the tears stinging her eyes and prompted briskly, ‘Just tell me what I can do to help you.’
Gregorio had to bite back his immediate response. Which was, you can get down on your knees and relieve me of the throbbing ache of arousal that kept me awake all night. He was pretty sure that wasn’t the sort of help Lia was offering.
He had been coldly angry when he’d left Lia’s apartment the evening before. Something that seemed to have become a common occurrence around Lia. A couple of glasses of brandy had eased some of that anger, but nothing had succeeded in taking away the sexual tension that had kept his body hard and throbbing for release.
Not even a freezing cold shower.
The moment he thought of Lia again—and that was becoming an occupational hazard too—his desire sprang back to life as if it had never gone away.
Receiving a phone call earlier this morning from Tim, his PA, explaining that he was sick with the flu, had seemed to set the tone for today too.
Until Gregorio had realised exactly which member of the hotel staff he could ask to assist him in Tim’s place...
Was it a punishment for Lia for the fact that he couldn’t seem to stop wanting her?
Maybe. Whatever his motive, Gregorio already knew that the next few hours were going to be as painful for him as they would for Lia. If for different reasons.
He had been aware of Lia’s perfume the moment she entered the penthouse: that light floral scent with an underlying note of womanly musk. And he couldn’t stop his gaze from returning again and again to the swell of her breasts, visible where the top two buttons of her blouse had been left unfastened.
They had been interrupted yesterday
