Inez exhaled and realised she hadn’t taken a full breath since he’d walked into her presence. Her whole body quivered as she shoved her feet into three-inch platforms and made sure her cell phone and lipstick were in the black and gold clutch.
She caught sight of herself in the hallway mirror as she made her way down and cringed at the feverish look in her eyes.
Reassuring herself firmly that it was anger at Theo for his overbearing treatment of her, she made her way to the living room.
Floodlights illuminated the pool and gardens in a stunning display of shimmering light and shrubbery. Like every single aspect of the building, the sight was so breathtaking her fingers itched with the need to draw.
Setting her clutch down, she went to the large duffel bag she’d brought down this afternoon and took out her sketchpad and pencil.
She was so lost in capturing the vista before her, she didn’t sense Theo enter the room until his unique scent wrapped itself around her.
She jerked around to see him standing close behind her, his eyes on her picture.
‘You draw?’ he asked in surprise.
Unable to answer for the loud hammering of her heart, she nodded.
He reached forward and plucked the pad from her nerveless fingers. Slowly, he thumbed through the pages. ‘You’re very talented,’ he finally said.
Expecting a derogatory remark to follow, like his comment on his art this morning, her eyes widened when she realised he meant it. ‘You really think so?’ she asked.
He closed the pad and handed it back to her, his eyes speculative as they rested on her face. ‘I wouldn’t say it otherwise, anjo.’
Pleasure fizzed through her. ‘Thank you.’ She smiled as she stood. Crossing over to her duffel bag, she bent to place the pad back into it.
‘Thee mou!’
She dropped the pad and hastily straightened. ‘What?’
‘You bend over like that while we’re out and I will not be responsible for my actions, understood?’ he growled.
Her mouth dropped open at the dark promise in his voice. A shudder ran through her body as hunger further darkened his eyes. She licked her lip nervously as the atmosphere thickened with sensual charges that crackled and snapped along her nerves.
‘We…we don’t have to go out if what I’m wearing offends you…Theo,’ she ventured hesitantly, sensing that he held himself on the very edge of control.
He inhaled deeply, his chest expanding underneath the dark green shirt and black leather jacket he wore with black trousers. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. What you’re offering doesn’t offend me in the least. But I’m a red-blooded, possessive male who is finding it difficult not to roar out his primitive reaction to the idea of other men looking at you.’ He said it so matter-of-factly she couldn’t form a decent response. ‘But I’ll try to be a gentleman. Come.’ He held out his arm.
With seriously indecent thoughts of Theo fighting to the death for her flitting through her mind, she crossed the room to his side.
He led them out and held the passenger door of his car open. The first few minutes of the ride to Ipanema was conducted in silence. Every now and then, he raked a hand through his hair and slid a glance at her naked thighs. Each time, he exhaled noisily.
A wild part of her wanted to flaunt herself for him, revel in his very physical reaction to her attire. Another part of her wanted to run and hide from the volatile emotions swirling through the enclosed space of the luxurious sports car.
By the time they drew up in the car park of the exclusive restaurant her pulse was jumping with anxiety. She forced the feeling down and followed him into the restaurant. Finding out they were dining in the even more exclusive upper floor led to all sorts of renewed anxiety as she preceded him up the steps.
The moment they were seated, he leaned forward. ‘The moment we return home, I’m burning those shorts.’
She glared at him. ‘No, you are not, senhor! They’re my favourite pair.’
‘Then frame them and mount them on a wall. But you most definitely will not be wearing them out again.’
That wild streak widened. ‘I thought you would be man enough to handle a little…challenge. Are you saying you’re not?’