Caught On Camera With The Ceo

All-consuming delight.

She shivered. Was this the feeling that had made her mother act so stupidly time and time again? To get so stuck on someone that she became blind to all those glaringly obvious faults?

Except what were Alex’s faults again?

Oh, that was right. He didn’t want a relationship. He just liked sex. And she was merely his current playmate. But what about last night? It hadn’t been a night of pure physical pleasure and release. It hadn’t been that at all. It had been much more. There’d been no physical intimacy, but total emotional honesty. She’d opened up to him, cared for him—shown him. But hadn’t he opened up to her too? She couldn’t help hoping he had—because although he didn’t know it, last night he’d got that last little pocket of her heart too.

‘Let’s go to the movies.’ Alex hadn’t been to the movies in years. It’d be like a date—following on from the afternoon in the park. He was still smiling about the sight of her running ahead of him and the basic instinct that had risen in him—driving him to overtake her. Really he’d just wanted to catch her close, for he was still feeling vicious about what had happened to her years before. He could hardly bear to think about it.

They went home to shower and change, then went to a pizza restaurant where she had one of her egg-and-spinach numbers. Then the movie.

If he’d hoped that taking her to a spooky thriller would have her pouncing into his lap halfway through, he’d have been disappointed. But as it was he’d have been disappointed if she had. No way was his wannabe street fighter going to be scared by some movie. No, it was the more subtle things that set her on edge. Like him calling her Danielle.

‘It’s such a pretty name.’ He spread his hands peaceably when she glared at him across the table at the café after, her forkful of cake suspended mid-air.

‘I prefer Dani.’

‘Dani like a boy?’

Her chin tilted.

Yeah, that was it. As if an abbreviation of her pretty name could possibly desexualise her. She was the ultimate in feminine—soft and curvy, short and sweet—though she’d probably kill him if he said so. But he understood why she’d wanted to hide from the succession of men in her mother’s life, why she made out as if she were Ms Aggressive Man Eater—she didn’t trust people. And who could blame her? Hell, he knew how hard it was to trust—and Dani had every reason to be as wary as him. Like him she’d been betrayed by someone she should have been able to trust completely—a parent.

But if he’d decided to be some kind of a chivalrous gent, planning to take the time to woo her—to win her trust and then win her completely—he supposed he shouldn’t take her to bed tonight. He should just kiss her softly good-night—hold her close and then gently break away. Bide his time and all that. But Alex hadn’t conquered the finance markets by being slow. Alex won by seeing opportunities and seizing them.

And this was one advantage he knew he had and he was going to play it for all he was worth. Besides, he just couldn’t help himself.

Once inside the door he turned her into his arms. But as he kissed her, a whole new depth of feeling arose. Really, he could kiss her for hours and instantly resolved to. He loved the promise of everything that he felt when he was with her—the feeling of such rightness. He didn’t want to sleep with anyone else. But much more importantly than that, he wanted to see her happy. Hell, how he wanted that for her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DANI pushed back so she could look at Alex. Really look at him. He said nothing, but he met her gaze—unwaveringly, openly, devastatingly. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, could only stare at the warmth, the promise of absolutely everything in his eyes.

He moved to kiss her again, so slowly, with almost unbearable restraint. The gentleness seemed to flay her skin raw. Slow kisses, kisses that grew deeper and deeper still. Kisses that—she suddenly realised—were filled with infinite tenderness.

She started to shake.

His hands smoothed down her arms, settled on her waist and gently pulled her closer.

‘We have all night,’ he murmured, kissing her eyelids closed.

He made her feel as if they had forever.

Dani moved uncontrollably, absolutely undone by his slow sweetness. He kissed her, kept kissing her—raining them all over her face and neck and shoulders and breasts and returning, always returning to her mouth, for such intimate, deep caresses. She met him with the infinite, yearning need of her own. Her hands lifted. She too needed to touch, to caress, to care. She found him so beautiful.

They moved slowly, working their way upstairs. No words interfered with the beautiful bliss of the moment—the magic between them too powerful to allow anything but truth in their actions.

Eventually, as inevitably as the sun set in the evening sky, their passion rose. Touches grew firmer, faster as their breathing roughened. The emotion that made her cling to him wasn’t just born of a need deep in her belly, but from the core of her heart too: to be close—to be one.

And then they were. Their hands laced, bodies intertwined, breath mingling as she met his gaze in wonder. She heard his choked cry and felt the way he muttered her name. She never knew what she said in response—whether it was words or just the pure sound of an all emotional ecstasy that seemed to endlessly pour from her.

Long moments later he rolled, taking her with him so she sprawled over his broad chest, locking her in his arms so she was kept warm and snug and safe. Yet somehow she still felt as if she were flying. As if she’d been freed—able to soar higher and further than she’d ever dreamed was possible.

He drew the sheet up to cover them, his hand drawing gentle circles on her back, soothing her still-too-sensitive skin. Slowly her breathing regulated, matching the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Her muscles softened as she relaxed completely and his arms tightened just that little more. Utterly at peace, she slept.

Alex heard the beep of his phone. It was in his trousers, which had been shed halfway down the stairs. He thought about ignoring it. Except the workaholic in him couldn’t. Carefully, he slipped out from beneath his sleeping sweetheart. The query took only a minute to deal with. From habit he flicked through the rest of the messages that had landed while he’d been so utterly lost in Dani. He paused as he saw the number. Quietly he went down into the study, locked the door and dialled. The investigator answered on the second ring.

‘Tell me everything.’

Almost an hour later he put the phone down. Stared out of the window at the dark garden and tried to take it in. Tried to decide what the hell he was going to do about it. How on earth was he going to tell her?

He didn’t want to. He just didn’t want to.

He’d never thought of himself as a coward before, but right now he knew he was. Dani didn’t want to be lonely anymore, did she? Sure, she said she didn’t want relationships, didn’t want a lover, but she wanted a family. That was why she wanted to find her brother. He shifted in his chair. Yeah. There it was. That flicker of jealousy. Her brother would have had more of a claim on her than Alex did. She wanted that kind of relationship, not any other. So stupid, so wrong of him to feel jealous of that. And why did he?

Because he wanted her himself. He wanted his own relationship with her.

But not like this. It didn’t have to be one or the other. She should have had both. She should have had everything.

It was the one thing he knew would make her crumble. And he couldn’t bear to be the one to destroy her hopes. She’d waited for so long, wanted for so long. But it wasn’t to be. And he was going to have to tell her.

He really didn’t want to.

And, yeah, there was that other selfish reason too, wasn’t there—why he wasn’t waking her, telling her right now as he should be?

He didn’t want her to leave.

Once she knew, she’d walk out of his life. He knew it in his bones. While she might be beginning to open up, it wasn’t enough yet. He hadn’t had enough time to build the kind

of bridge he’d never before built, that he knew she hadn’t built, and he was afraid of losing her.

So he wouldn’t do it. Not yet. He’d wait for the morning. Besides—the lab tests hadn’t come in. He could justify the delay then—sure he could. He’d wait until he had all the proof.

And then he’d tell her.

He walked back up the stairs, stared at the little lump she made in his bed. She stirred slightly as he slipped in beside her. He gently wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair, soothing her back into sleep.

But the future pressed heavy on his heart. He wished like hell it had been different. It was too awful that he had Patrick wanting to mend fences with him, but that Dani was to have nothing—when she wanted and he didn’t. She deserved so much more. He waited, watched as the sky lightened and wished he could make a bargain with either a god or a demon to trade her loss over to him. Hoped against hopelessness—prayed that in the darkness she would turn to him.

When she woke the sun was streaming in, and when she saw he was still there beside her, her colour mounted. She almost looked shy. ‘Shouldn’t you be up already answering a million messages or something?’

Alex managed a small smile. She wasn’t happy with him staying in bed with her? His tough cookie felt uneasy when he spent so much time with her. Too bad, because he was about to spend a whole lot more. No matter what, he was determined to stick with her through this.

She was like a little wild cat. If you stretched out a hand to caress her you might get scratched. Even though inside she was yearning for that little bit of love, her first instinct was to defend. Because she couldn’t be sure you weren’t going to hurt her.

Alex figured he could handle a few surface scratches. It was worth it because when she did relax she was the softest, sweetest playmate—with that hint of snap-your-head-off danger. His whole point of focus had shifted. No longer was this about a spot of play in a time of stress. It was all about her.

Trust took time, though. And he didn’t have a lot of time. He had to make quick progress—and he’d make the most of any advantage he had to do it.

He swallowed the guilt and reached for her—surely it would be worth it. He wanted her to have the day—not to know just yet. A few more hours until there was certainty. Then he’d tell her.

Dani couldn’t put last night out of her head—the way they’d been together, the way he’d held her, so close and right through ‘til the sun shone high and bright through the window. And the way he looked at her…

Oh, she was so under his spell, and dreaming of that ending common to all fairytales—the happy-ever-after one.

When she slid into his car after work he leaned over and kissed her—another of those kisses that combined the sweetest tenderness with the most sultry passion. She smiled at him, her heart in her throat, in her eyes, beating its message loud in her ears. Surely he must see and hear it and feel it too? He took her hand in his as he drove them home. She didn’t think she’d ever felt so happy.

‘It’s a play premiere, right?’ She checked on the plan as she changed.

He nodded.

She smoothed down her black dress. She was going to have to go shopping soon—another outing in this number and she’d be letting Alex down.

His phone rang again.

‘You better be sure to switch that off in the theatre.’

‘Vibrate,’ he muttered, looking at the screen and turning away to take the call.