followed him out of the lift, only to come to an abrupt halt as she saw they were on one of the upper floors. A floor containing bedrooms, she realized as a maid came out from cleaning one of them.
‘Could you see that this is taken down to Reception and returned to its owner?’ Nik handed the camera over to the rather surprised maid. ‘You can’t miss him—he’s the one who looks as if he just found a cent but lost a dollar,’ he added with grim satisfaction before turning back to Jinx.
A Jinx who stared back at him accusingly. This was all his fault—
‘This isn’t my fault, Jinx.’ His words harshly echoed what she was thinking.
Her eyes widened. ‘Then whose fault is it? Mine?’ she asked scornfully. ‘Reporters and their photographers don’t usually follow me around, I can assure you—’
‘They would if they knew you were J. I. Watson!’ he assured her scathingly before turning to open the door across the corridor, standing back to allow her to enter first.
Jinx hung back reluctantly. Did she really want to compound this situation by going into a hotel bedroom with Nik Prince—?
‘Jinx, it’s my guess it isn’t going to be safe for you to leave here for some time yet,’ Nik informed her dryly as he saw her obvious reluctance. ‘In fact, I may have to have some help in creating a diversion.’
‘I beg your pardon?’ Jinx queried as she marched past him.
Into what turned out not to be the bedroom she had been expecting, but a sitting-room obviously attached to a bedroom. Of course; she should have known that a man like Nik Prince would have a suite, not just a bedroom!
‘Don’t worry about it, Jinx,’ Nik reassured her as he strode across the room to pick up the telephone receiver. ‘I’ll sort this out in just—’
‘Don’t worry about it?’ she repeated with suppressed violence as she threw her shoulder bag down onto one of the sofas. ‘You’ll sort it out? It’s because of you that I’m in this mess in the first place!’ She glared across the room at him, eyes gleaming deeply blue, her cheeks flushed. ‘Did you organize for that reporter to be there? Is this some trick to force me into giving you the film rights to No Ordinary Boy?’
‘Of course not,’ Nik rasped.
‘I don’t believe you!’ Jinx dissolved into floods of tears, her face buried in her hands.
As if by doing so she could shut out Nik Prince altogether, could fool herself into believing none of this were really happening!
‘Jinx, it was me the reporter spoke to, not you,’ he reminded her. ‘It was me she was after, not you.’
‘Are you sure?’ She so much needed to believe him!
His expression softened, and he murmured her name as he took her into his arms. Arms that felt strong and protective as they completely enveloped her, and Jinx reacted instinctively as she clung to him like a rock in a storm. A storm that seemed to be gaining momentum and force with each passing second.
‘Jinx…!’ This time her name was a husky groan, one of Nik’s arms tightening about the slenderness of her waist, the other hand moving to cup her chin as he raised her face to his, his eyes looking deeply into hers as he slowly lowered his head.
There was only time for the briefest moment of doubt, before she gave herself up to the seductive claim of his mouth on hers.
Emotions swirled and grew as she kissed him back with all the pent-up feelings inside her, her lips parting beneath the pressure of his, senses leaping as he began a slow exploration with the tip of his tongue, first along the edge of her bottom lip, then the moist softness within.
His arms tightened as Jinx tasted him with her own tongue, his thighs hard against hers now. Her blouse came loose from the waistband of her trousers as her arms moved up to curve about his neck, his hair soft and silky to the touch as her fingers caressed his sensitive nape.
His hands slipped under her blouse and felt warm against her bare skin as they moved to touch the arch of her back, moving featherlight across her ribcage before tenderly cupping both her breasts.
Jinx’s back arched when Nik’s mouth left hers to travel the length of her neck, lingering in the hollows at its base, nibbling erotically on her ear lobes, before licking the sensitive skin below.
His chest was covered in fine dark hairs, Jinx’s fingers making their way beneath Nik’s shirt and lacing into their silkiness, easily finding the sensitive nubs nestled there. Nik’s sharply indrawn groan of breath was evidence of his own pleasure at her searching touch.
Nik unbuttoned and then pushed aside her silky blouse, his mouth moist against the upper curve of her breasts, his hands still cupping, caressing, unerringly finding the fiery tips as he bent to suckle through the lacy material of her bra that was all that separated him from her nakedness.
Heat. Consuming her. The warmth between her thighs was the hottest moist heat imaginable, dragging at her lower limbs with sweet demand, her hands moving to cling to the broad width of his shoulders as she felt weak with need. A need she knew Nik could satisfy, assuage, as no other man could.
His eyes were smoky grey as he raised his head to look at her searchingly. ‘Is this what you want, Jinx?’ His voice was husky with his own arousal. ‘I hope it is—because I want you very much!’ His lips once again sought hers, his kiss lingering, seeking, persuading.
There was no doubting what Nik was asking. No doubting that he wanted her. Or that she wanted him.
But…
It would be so easy to dismiss that but, to forget it, if only briefly, and yet…
But. And yet.
Both expressions of doubt. A doubt that was growing stronger the longer Nik looked at her so compellingly as he waited for her answer.
Entering into a relationship, any relationship, with Nik Prince would be a mistake, Jinx finally accepted painfully, every inch of her protesting as she forced herself to move out of his arms, to turn away to rebutton her blouse with shaking hands.
That task finally completed, she was almost afraid to turn back and look at Nik. She knew that he hadn’t moved, could feel the heat of his gaze on her back.
She deliberately walked away from him to stand in front of the window looking down into the busy street below, her back stiffening slightly as she finally heard him move.
But it was only to once again pick up the telephone receiver as he punched out the number with suppressed violence.
Really meant for her? Probably, she accepted huskily. What must a man like Nik think of her, a twenty-eight-year-old woman, too afraid of the physical intimacy they had both craved such a short time ago, because she feared the emotional intimacy that would follow?
‘Zak?’ he barked into the receiver as his call was obviously answered.
Zak…? His brother, Zak Prince? The legendary golden film star everyone—but especially women!—raved about?
What
