up. I’ve had quite enough words from you for now.’
His mouth slanted over hers, mastered her, showed her the depth of feeling moving through him. She didn’t need words to know her drawing had affected him. The way he kissed, with hunger and a little anger, need and a touch of gentleness, told its own story.
Drugging enough to make her momentarily excuse herself from what shouldn’t be happening; she explored him with the same hunger. Beneath her fingers, his warm muscles shifted, the hair at his nape curled into her touch, his whole body shuddering when her nails dug in.
‘Elise.’
He lifted his head for a moment and she glimpsed the powerful hunger stamped on his face. It was enough to remind her that she was playing with fire. That she was stoking an inferno she might not be able to survive if it flamed much higher.
Before she could attempt to push him away, he was kissing her again, bearing her back so she was flat on the bed.
One hand traced her jaw, then stroked down to linger at the pulse beating at her throat. When he was satisfied she was sufficiently fired up, he trailed lower, and cupped one breast.
Elise moaned at the expert kneading, the clever teasing of her nipple. Liquid sensation sparked through her, singeing her between the legs until she was twisting beneath him. He uttered something guttural in Spanish, intensely erotic.
The plane lurched, separating them for a second.
They stared at each other. Awareness slowly crawled back. They’d been here before.
And yet here she was, thousands of feet in the air, on the edge of being initiated into an exclusive club with a man who would sign her paycheque when her business with him was over and walk away without a backward glance.
He started to lower his head.
She pulled away. ‘No.’
He exhaled harshly. ‘We’ve been here before. I misjudged you then. I’m not doing it now.’
She forced her hands to drop from his shoulders. ‘Thank you, but nothing has changed. I can’t do this.’ Her lips were stiff, as if they didn’t want to speak the words.
A frown formed. ‘I’ve spent more than two seconds with you. I’ve engaged your intelligence.’
‘So now you’re ready to fall at my feet?’ she parried.
His features slid into neutral. ‘I don’t fall, Elise. Ever.’
Something jarred hard and cold inside her. ‘And I don’t sleep with people I work with.’
‘Who do you sleep with?’ he queried tersely.
‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I haven’t. Ever.’
One mocking eyebrow lifted. ‘You expect me to believe you’re a virgin?’
Heat stormed up her face in evidence before she could utter a word. Something akin to shock paled his face.
‘Elise—’
‘I’m not having this conversation with you. Believe what you will, but do it while you’re not lying on top of me.’
He released her immediately, his movements jerky as he retreated.
She averted her gaze from him, slid off the bed, stood, and attempted to straighten her embarrassingly wrinkled clothes.
They both startled when the intercom buzzed and the pilot announced they would be free of the turbulence in a few minutes.
Elise almost snorted. The turbulence in her life had taken the form of a powerful and enigmatic man whose compulsive power drew her inexorably in as every instinct screamed for her to run in the other direction. She might have succeeded in stopping her emotions from unravelling completely a few moments ago, but Elise feared she wouldn’t be as strong should any further turmoil be hurled her way.
Until she could finish her job and walk away, her only option was to distance herself as much as possible from Alejandro.
OF COURSE THAT was easier said than done.
From the moment they landed, she found herself in the very close and personal position of being Alejandro’s interpreter.
In between a whirlwind tour of Kyoto with her, he shamelessly courted Ishikawa Corporation’s rivals.
He accepted a meeting with the Ishikawa brothers two days after landing, which he then cancelled at the last minute with profuse apologies.
‘You’re taunting them,’ Elise observed as they stood beneath one of hundreds of red arches that lined the pathway to Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine. They’d paused halfway on the two-hour trek to the top, and, beneath them, Kyoto glistened resplendently in the evening light.
Elise breathed in deep, her heart lifting with a serenity she hadn’t felt for a long time.
Each morning since their arrival three days ago, Alejandro had instructed her to pick a place to visit. Their first visit had been to the Kiyomizu-dera temple close to where her grandmother lived. Her grandmother might have been absent but she’d arranged a private visit of the holy temple renowned for bestowing good fortune and love. As they’d strolled through the hallowed room, Elise had told herself the latter hadn’t been why she’d chosen the temple as her first port of call. Her heart had twanged with disbelief, but she’d shoved the feeling aside. Alejandro had strolled beside her with ease, pointing out scrolls he needed translating, then looking at her with blatant heat as she read them out to him in Japanese, then translated.
In those moments, she’d asked herself whether she was taking her reticence a little too far. Whether she wasn’t risking throwing away a spell of ecstasy for a lifetime of the unknown.
She glanced at him now as he traced his fingers down the scrolls on the arch. He turned, and one of the incisive gazes he’d taken to levelling on her since their turbulent and very eye-opening conversation on the plane bore into her.
She’d told herself she preferred things this way—looks without touching or any hint of the emotional and physical intimacy they’d shared on the plane. But slowly those feelings were changing.
‘Giving them a taste of their own medicine,’ Alejandro responded to her question.
She walked from one scroll to the next, her breath catching when he followed. ‘You know your brother’s here in Kyoto. What if they decide to go with him?’
He shrugged. ‘Then I would’ve lost.’
Elise frowned. ‘After all the effort you put in?’
A distant look entered his eyes. ‘This is a battle I never wished to be drawn into in the first place. Winning at all costs may appear romantic on the big screen, but I’ve never been a fan of pyrrhic victories.’
She gazed up at
