Gentleman Sinner

‘I need to touch you,’ he whispers, slowly reaching for me and seizing my wrist, wrapping his big fingers completely around it.

I concentrate on taking deep breaths. His touch. Oh, God, his touch. It’s like an intense, deep warmth that starts in one spot before spreading in every direction across my skin like cracking glass. Need? He needs to touch me?

Theo watches his hand on my arm, his face thoughtful, with a definite hint of intrigue. ‘Tonight at eight,’ he says, his polite order leaving me no choice but to look at him. He’s gazing up at me, waiting, his blue eyes shining with . . . hope?

‘Here?’ I ask. ‘You want me to have dinner with you here in Vegas?’

‘I’m staying at the Bellagio. Call me when you arrive, and I’ll have Callum meet you at Reception.’ He stands and moves in closer, dipping and kissing my cheek tenderly as his palm strokes over the curve of my arse. Tingles flutter across my skin, tickling me deliciously. It makes me panic, and I engage the muscles in my arms to lift and push him away. My hands come up, but they don’t connect with his torso. Theo catches my wrists, stopping me from touching him once again, predicting my move. ‘Don’t let me down, Izzy.’

He turns and is strolling away from me before I can even think to object. I immediately have to sit down again to collect myself. The lingering feel of his soft bristle on my face and his breath spreading across my cheek resonates as I watch his long, thick legs take steady strides. He moves with effortless grace for such a huge man, weaving through the crowds without even a brush of contact to a single person.

My heart is going loopy, my fingers clawed into the arms of the chair. It takes a good ten minutes of pulling myself together in my seat before I chance standing, lifting myself slowly to ensure my stability. He does this to me. He tosses me into ineptness, and no matter how hard I try to cling to my clear and stable frame of mind, I’m destined to fail each time. Theo has a hold of me and he hasn’t even really had a hold of me. Not a proper hold. Where will I be then, if my mind is already consumed by the thought of him all over me, making love to me, his mouth touching every inch of my body? It’s the most vivid fantasy I’ve ever had. And the most dangerous. What’s worse, I know it will be as mind-blowing as I’m imagining it to be – so intense and overwhelming. I don’t even know him . . . yet I feel like I do.

I look down at my wrist, lost in my thoughts. He told me he needed to touch me. I like it when Theo touches me. I hate it, but I like it. I sigh, so confused by it all, and especially confused by the man who is the source of my muddle. Everyone around me seems intimidated by Theo Kane, and I can’t figure out why I’m not. Not in that way. For the first time in my life, I am desperate to be intimate with a man for no other reason than . . . to just be intimate. My need to prove myself that I’m not broken isn’t featuring in my thoughts at all.

‘Shit, Izzy,’ I breathe as I collect my drink and head back over to our sun lounger, spotting Jess at the bar with Denny and Kyle, laughing and slurping. I catch her eye, and as she makes a move to break away from the boys, I hold up my hand in indication that I’ll come to her. One sec, I mouth, and she nods, returning to her drink.

I sit on the edge of the bed and pull out my phone, loading up Google and quickly typing in his name. It takes a few seconds to give me the results, and when it does, there’s nothing connected to the strapping, handsome man who’s infiltrated my girlie holiday. Not. One. Thing.

I frown and spin the phone in my hand, thinking. Everyone appears on Google somewhere these days. Okay, so I don’t, but that’s because I’ve made a point not to put myself on any social media platform that could lead to Google results. Only someone hiding something wouldn’t appear online. So what’s he hiding?

‘Izzy!’ Jess calls, snapping me from my silent pondering and waving me over. I smile and throw my phone back in my bag, standing and pulling off my caftan and slinging it on the lounger. He told me to cover up and I did, but not because he told me to. It’s been a long time since I feared repercussions from a man. Theo Kane won’t change that.