pulsed through him. He didn’t want her to leave. He hadn’t had the time to enjoy a woman’s company in so long, not since he started organising this charity ball, not to mention negotiating new contracts for the resort his adopted parents were having built at the other side of the city. Lately, all he did was work and sleep. It was the only way he was going to convince Antonio and Maria that he had changed, that they could trust him to run more than just the hotel, that he was ready to own a stake in their empire. A famous heiress showing up in his suite was most certainly a welcome distraction.
‘Are you going to tell me why you’re here or would you prefer to explain yourself to the police?’
She gasped and her mouth dropped open. ‘You can’t do that!’
Ric forced back a smile. ‘And why is that? Breaking and entering is against the law.’
‘Don’t you know who I am?’ she demanded. ‘The press would love to snap me being carted out of a fancy hotel in my knickers.’
Her eyes pleaded with him to understand, and he did. She was in the international news on a regular basis for her wild stunts and excessive partying. A road he’d almost gone down himself, even after the Castillos had saved him.
He eyed her again, wiping all signs of recognition from his expression. Her arms folded across her chest causing the swell of her breasts to almost spill out over the white lace. Heat arrowed down to his groin and he had the urge to take a step closer. To inhale the flowery scent he’d caught a whiff of when she’d been so close before. Her eyes couldn’t mask her irritation as she glared at him.
‘I don’t believe I do,’ he lied to see how she’d react.
Her feistiness intrigued him. Given the Castillos’ wealth and status, women never dared stand up to him.
‘I’m Alexa Green.’ She glared at him, one delicate eyebrow raised, waiting for his reaction.
Ric fought back a grin and kept his expression blank. ‘That doesn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?’
She dropped her arms to her sides, her fists clenched. He pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.
‘A dare.’
Ric frowned. ‘What?’
Alexa shook her head and huffed out a breath. ‘A dare, like a bet or a—’
‘I know what a dare is, Alexa. You were dared to break into my suite?’
Teasing forgotten, he eyed her again. He could have sworn she was in her twenties, younger than he, but not a minor. The last picture of her splashed over the Spanish news was of her falling out of an exclusive London nightclub.
‘It was a bit of fun.’ She waved a hand and went on, like an impatient teacher talking to an incredibly stupid pupil. ‘My friends and I wanted to make this holiday memorable, but it wasn’t to come in your suite—I had to run around the top floor in my knickers. I got caught and ended up in your lift.’ Ric did grin this time. ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’ There was no way he’d admit that her impatience was adorable. He closed the distance between them so they were toe to toe and looked down into eyes that had turned the colour of a stormy sky. ‘What age are you, Alexa?’
She straightened and seemed to gain an inch, still a head shorter than him. ‘Twenty-three.’ He could see irritation warring with lust in her expression; perhaps she was still annoyed at his lack of recognition.
But he couldn’t concentrate on that now. She wasn’t off limits. Ideal for what he had in mind.
Ric edged closer when he noted her eyes clouding over. The tips of her breasts grazed his chest with every shallow breath. Her lips parted on an almost silent gasp.
‘Aren’t you a little old for childish stunts like that?’
Stepping back, she glared at him, all trace of desire gone. ‘You can never be too old to have fun. Do you even know how any more?’
His tongue froze for a second. How much did she know about his past? There was a time in his late teenage years where he did everything he could to feel alive, almost giving Maria and Antonio a heart attack in the process. But he was sure the worst of his past was buried, they’d made sure their money kept his secrets. She couldn’t know.
He dragged his mind back to the present. ‘Oh, I know how to have fun.’
Ric’s gaze swept down over the swell of her breasts, narrow waist to curvy hips he imagined were silky and firm. Heat punched him square in the groin and he shifted, trying to ease the tightening of his trousers.
‘Mind out of the gutter, Castillo, and eyes where I can see them.’
His gaze rose at a leisurely pace back to her frowning face.
‘That is not the kind of fun I was referring to.’
He cocked a brow. ‘Don’t tell me you hadn’t thought about it. I saw you eyeing me up.’ He grinned and her mouth popped open.
‘I’ve just met you!’ She looked annoyed, but from the lust darkening her eyes he knew he was right.
Ric chanced a step closer. ‘And yet you want me.’
Alexa retreated a few steps and banged into the wall. ‘Hold it right there, Castillo.’ She held her hand out again, palm forward, an inch away from his shirt.
‘Call me Ric.’ He reached out and curled his fingers around her arm, her racing pulse made his smile grow wider. ‘Your body’s reaction can’t lie.’ His thumb traced light circles on the inside of her wrist.
Alexa’s eyes darkened further to a stormy grey. ‘It’s adrenaline, not lust.’ She snatched her hand back.
The breathless reply made his already heated blood sizzle. He lowered his head, hovered his lips above her ear. ‘Keep telling yourself that, you might start to believe it.’
Alexa wasn’t the kind of woman he’d want a short liaison with—her personal life was too messy and far too public for his liking—but he couldn’t deny his attraction to her. Any more than she could deny hers.
She planted a hand on his chest and pushed him back. Ric could see her cheeks tint with arousal and her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.
‘My friends will be wondering where I am. They’ll end up phoning security to hunt me down.’
Ric guessed it was time for a cold shower. Alexa headed for the lift. He reached out and clasped her by the arm; his palm tingled at the contact. ‘Wait.’
She turned to face him, her eyebrows raised. ‘I’m not going to sleep with you, Ric. Forget it.’
If her gaze hadn’t dipped to his chest at the same time as she licked her lips, he might have believed her. But that’s not what he wanted. This time. ‘You owe me a date.’
‘Excuse me?’ Pulling out of his grasp, she glared at him.
His gaze
