‘I’m not really used to drinking.’
‘If not drinking, then surely you must have other vices, Sophie? I wonder what they might be?’
Her attention trapped indisputably by the suggestive honeyed tones of his mesmerising voice, Sophie couldn’t look away. She wanted to make some clever or cutting little quip, to put a dent in his too-confident leer, but her throat and her thoughts seemed to dry up at the same time, and nothing sprang helpfully to mind.
‘Sophie? Are you all right?’
He touched her; laid his hand on her bare arm and gave it a definite squeeze. There was no question in Sophie’s mind that he had somehow branded her. Now her senses were jumping around all over the place in utter and wild confusion, and the place where he had lain his fingers felt as if it were on fire. Why was it that when she looked into that intimidatingly handsome face of his she knew she hated him? Yet when he had touched her just now she had almost swayed with the sheer intoxicating pleasure of it? Today was turning out to be one of the most bizarre days in recent memory that was for sure!
‘I’m fine. I was just—I just felt a little cold…that’s all.’
‘Cold?’ A surprised eyebrow lifted towards Dominic’s crown of blond hair, accompanied by a very wry and disbelieving smile. The room was almost too hot. And he could plainly see that Sophie’s cheeks were burning. In that very moment Dominic knew without a doubt she was having trouble diverting her attraction towards him. Just as he was having trouble doing the same thing with her. In his mind there was only one solution to their mutual problem.
‘How were you planning on getting home this evening?’ he asked, his voice deceptively casual as his eyes met the startled blue of her anxious gaze.
‘Home?’ Good God! Now she had completely lost the ability to converse at all. She’d turned into a monosyllabic idiot! Determinedly Sophie made herself focus. Was he going to offer her a lift? she speculated.
‘Oh, I’ll probably cadge a lift off one of Diana’s friends, or get a taxi.’
‘I was wondering…as an alternative…’ Dominic moved closer, and his fingers found their way beneath Sophie’s chin and lifted it up a little. Her bones were so delicate and fine that she felt the strong imprint of his fingers acutely. Inside, her heart felt as if it was just about to go into cardiac arrest, and she waited for him to finish speaking all thoughts of Diana, Freddie, and their friends vanished as if they no longer existed. The only two people left in the room were herself and Dominic. ‘…whether you might like to stay the night in the hotel, with me?’
‘Sta—stay the night?’ she repeated, once more appalled at how this man could affect her so acutely with just one smooth, confident glance. Was he serious? The thought that he might be stringing her along, to pay her back for insulting him earlier, struck a very loud alarm bell in Sophie’s head. He had turned on the charm, reeled her in, and now he was going to dump her in an even bigger metaphorical puddle than the real one that had drenched her earlier!
She circled her fingers around his wrist and threw his hand away. ‘You must think me completely stupid if you think I’m going to fall for that kind of obvious little ruse! I’m on to you, Mr Van Straten! I know all you’re trying to do is pay me back because I spoke my mind earlier, and didn’t bow and scrape like you usually expect people to do in your exalted company!’
Dominic couldn’t help but laugh. It simply hadn’t occurred to him that she might think his invitation to bed was some kind of game he was playing to repay her for insulting him! She was a defensive little creature, that was for sure. He would have to convince her he meant no offence at all—quite the opposite in fact.
‘You have it all wrong Sophie. There was no affront intended. Nor do I expect you to ‘‘bow and scrape’’ in my company. I do, however, desire very much that you share my bed tonight. I am perfectly serious about this, and there is no trick up my sleeve with which I am trying to hoodwink you. Understand?’ He saw the confusion in her eyes, the slight flush that rushed into her cheeks, and the way her hands nervously went to her hair. Feeling his desire grow, Dominic slid his hand around the curve of her cheek and jaw, and gently stroked the skin that was as beguiling to the touch as the most opulent velvet.
‘Understand?’ he repeated more softly.
Dominic had taken off Sophie’s shoes. Sitting on the bed, with its rich claret-coloured satin counterpane, her hands intertwined in her lap, it was hard for her to stop trembling like a shivering kitten that had been left out in the rain as he knelt before her. She wanted him to kiss her. Wanted it so badly that her very bones ached with longing. Instead, she watched entranced as he divested himself of his jacket and tie, opened some buttons on his shirt and—with his gaze fixed firmly on hers—slid his palms up the outside of her stockinged thighs.
The blue silk of her dress rippled like a gentle flowing stream as he edged it further and further up her legs. She was wearing a cream-coloured suspender belt with little embossed daisies on it to hold up her matching cream hosiery, and Sophie wondered what Dominic would think of her undoubtedly sexy underwear? Would he imagine she’d worn it just in case she got lucky? Because this was so far from the truth, and she was unable to keep her pained thoughts to herself, she inadvertently released a groan. Dominic smiled at her with a slow, engagingly sexy smile of acknowledgement, and a spark of molten heat burned back at her from his darkened green eyes as he flipped open the fastenings that held her stockings up and slowly…very slowly…peeled them down her bare legs.
Excitement and all-consuming need thrummed commandingly through Dominic’s blood. Seducing a beautiful woman was one of life’s most exquisite pleasures, after all, and he knew the seductive arts as well as he knew how to make a million dollars without exerting himself. The skill had become innate. Knowing how to take things slowly—how to drive a woman’s passion to such a crescendo that she would beg him to take her, to ease her agony—he was perfectly acquainted with bestowing sensual delectation.
But, right now Dominic was the one who was in desperate need of this woman’s touch. He needed it—no, craved it, as if he would lose his mind if he didn’t have it soon. With her eyes blinking back at him like a startled owl’s, Dominic registered her tension—her excitement and, linking his fingers expertly around the sides of the scant silk panties she was wearing, he gave them a gentle tug downwards. Quickly removing them, he settled his body nearer hers on the bed, whilst still kneeling on the carpet, and this time slid his palms up the insides of her trembling legs.
Hearing her deeply in-drawn breath, Dominic caressed the fine dark curls at her apex, then worked his fingers inside her. At the sensation of hot moist heat, that drenched him, he could not prevent his own gasp of violent pleasure.
Oh, God, yes! More please more! Don’t stop. Sophie’s thoughts were desperate and wild as Dominic worked his magic, making her climax almost before she even knew that was her destination. Feeling heat saturate her, and her aroused nipples rub acutely sensitively against the flimsy material of her bra inside her dress, she expelled her breath in soft urgent gasps of deliciously lustful pleasure. Tipping back her head, she shut her eyes in ecstasy as erotic waves rippled powerfully through her, one after the other.
She’d never known release like it. Such mind-spinning pleasure had only been pure fantasy for Sophie up until now.
Opening her eyes again, she saw that Dominic had discarded his shirt and was doing the same to his trousers. Her gaze devoured him greedily. His body was amazing. Broad, beautifully muscled shoulders and chest, an iron-hard stomach tapering down to lean, tight hips, a sprinkling of fine blond hairs disappearing tantalisingly down into his black silk boxers. Sophie inadvertently
