Rafe lazily leaned back in his seat, relaxing now that he knew what her angle was. ‘Is that your way of telling me that sex is off the table, Alexa?’
As he expected, her eyes flashed and turned frosty. ‘Of course sex is off the table. It was never actually on the table.’
‘Really?’
Hot colour poured into her cheeks and he knew she was recalling every hungry kiss they’d shared, just as he was. ‘That wasn’t the impression I got.’
And no way would he let her paint it any other way.
‘I’m sorry you got a different impression,’ she said stiffly, refusing to meet his eye, ‘but I’m not interested in meaningless sex.’
Meaningless sex?
He regarded her steadily. ‘Who said it would be meaningless?’
She shifted in her seat, unwittingly drawing his gaze to her body. He could see the outline of her rounded breasts beneath the fitted jacket and his body clenched as he recalled how perfectly she’d fitted into the palm of his hand.
‘What else could it be?’ she said, bringing his eyes back to hers. ‘And, regardless, it would only blur the lines between us. So there’s no reason for us to become intimate.’
Her voice was matter of fact, her reasoning completely logical. So logical that he agreed with it. Unfortunately he didn’t care. This thing between them pulled at his self-control and her ready denial of its existence only made him want to prove her wrong.
‘I can think of at least one.’ In fact right now he had about one hundred and one filtering through his brain. ‘Pure, unadulterated pleasure.’
‘Oh.’ The soft catch in her voice fired his blood. It made him want to reach over and haul her out of her seat and into his.
As if reading him correctly her face flamed. ‘I’m not that...physical...but, since you obviously are, I don’t mind if you seek...relief elsewhere. I only ask that you be discreet about it.’
It took Rafe a moment to fully understand what she meant and then he didn’t even try to hide his incredulity.
‘You’re giving me permission to cheat on you? What kind of wife does that?’
‘The non-real variety. Obviously.’
‘Princess, while I’d love to live up to this wild image you have of me as some sort of sexual deviant, not every relationship I have with a woman ends between the sheets. And, to answer your earlier question, I only have one full-time housekeeper, apart from my security personnel, and she won’t ask any questions.’
‘Good to know.’
What was good to know? That he didn’t sleep with every woman he met, or that his housekeeper wouldn’t care about their sleeping arrangements?
His mouth thinned. She was driving him crazy and when she coolly turned her attention to her phone he decided to drive her a little crazy in return. ‘Alexa...’ He waited for her eyes to reconnect with his before leaning toward her to whisper throatily. ‘Sex between us wouldn’t be meaningless at all. It would be mind-blowing.’
* * *
It was nearly midnight when the plane touched down in London and Rafe ushered Alexa into a waiting limousine.
She had spent most of the flight vacillating between being mortified that she’d told Rafe about the rumours pertaining to her lack of femininity and growing hot at the thought of what mind-blowing sex with him would feel like.
She knew better than to air her dirty laundry in public and what had she wanted him to say? That she was womanly enough to hold a man?
Wishing she could just curl up and sleep for the next two weeks, Alexa did her best to ignore the man beside her and take in what she could see of the city.
She’d been in London once before for a state dinner but she’d had no time to explore at all, flying in and out within twenty-four hours, due to work commitments.
It must have rained before they arrived because the streets were shiny and black, the twinkling lights outlining a world that was miles away from what she was used to.
In no time at all, it seemed, the big Mercedes pulled into the underground car park of an impressive plate glass ten-storey building.
Yawning, Alexa barely noticed the high-tech layout of the garage, or the impressive array of luxury cars parked in personalised bays.