He smiled. ‘How’s the wine?’
Lexi recognised that he was changing the topic—again—and noticed his own glass had been taken away.
‘You’re not drinking?’
‘I don’t drink alcohol.’
She gazed at him and wondered if he recognised that his decision to abstain from alcohol was just another way he was different from his father and scolded herself for still trying to find things about him she liked.
The waiter returned with a plate of tempting seafood and, despite her misgivings, Lexi found the whole dinner to be sublime. The chef delivered a six course menu degustation of light seafood and vegetarian dishes that couldn’t help but imbue a sense that all was well with the world.
Lexi flopped back in her chair and eyed the man opposite her in the flickering candlelight, the quiet evening only broken periodically by the slap of a fish as it broke the surface of the sea, and the soft lilt of jazz music that played through the yacht’s complex sound system.
Leo seemed relaxed as well and surprisingly the conversation had flowed easily. He’d told her a little about his travels and his business and had asked her plenty about her own, getting her to explain some of her ideas about where she wanted her business to go. She’d felt a little self-conscious at first but he’d proven an avid listener and was one of the few people whose eyes didn’t glaze over when she went on and on and on about her passion. Whenever she was out with Aimee and this happened her friend would slice her hand dramatically across her throat to let her know when she was boring the pants off her listener.
‘I don’t think I told you that you look extremely beautiful tonight. I like your hair down.’
Lexi’s heart lurched in her chest and she told herself to calm down. He was paying her a compliment, nothing more.
She stared at him and did her best to feel composed but he was like a sublime male animal relaxed back in his chair, his eyes intent on her face, making her think about how he had looked as he’d risen above her last night and entered her body. How he had felt in her hand. Big … almost impossibly big.
‘Nothing to say, angel, moy?’
My angel, he said. But she wasn’t his and never would be and maybe that tiny hint of wishing it otherwise meant that she’d had just a little too much wine.
‘Maybe—’ she cleared her throat ‘—we should just get on and look at my proposal.’ She made to get up and collect her laptop from the sofa she had dropped it onto when she’d first come out on deck but he waylaid her with his hand on her forearm.
Lexi stilled as his thumb brushed across the underside of her wrist, tingling sensations causing goose bumps to rise up on her skin and a shiver to ripple all the way down her spine.
‘What’s the rush?’
The rush was that she was becoming seduced by the balmy night, the candlelit table, the soft music, the wine, the man … Oh, boy, the man!
‘Come. Dance with me.’
‘Leo, I can’t do this.’
‘Sure you can. You stand in the circle of my arms, put your hand in mine, and then you let me lead.’
He smiled wolfishly and she gave a short laugh. ‘Very funny.’
He stood up and came around the table towards her. ‘Let me show you.’
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. ‘Leo, don’t. I can’t think straight when you touch me.’
His smile was one of pure male satisfaction. ‘You know the secret to a man’s heart.’
‘I don’t think it’s your heart that’s affected by that comment.’
His arm came around to the small of her back and he started moving her in time with the music. ‘Maybe not my heart, but another major organ is definitely involved.’
‘Only a man considers his ego a major organ,’ she said loftily.
He laughed and Lexi felt as if some foreign being had invaded her body and switched off her brain. What was she doing flirting with him like this? He didn’t want her. And, even if he did, could she sleep with him again without being swamped by her insecurities? And did she want to? No …
‘Leo, please … don’t play games with me.’
His eyes narrowed and she looked away. ‘Someone hurt you. Someone other than your father.’ His quiet concern made her stumble and he gathered her even closer against him, her heart pounding out a litany that was totally out of time with the music.