Catching her hand, he forced it down to his thighs. She was shocked to find he was still aroused, and to her shame involuntarily her fingers flexed on his erection.
‘Not too late to change your mind—after all, it is a woman’s prerogative,’ he drawled derisively.
‘No…No!’ she cried, snatching her hand free and stepping back, her face a fiery-red. She wondered how she could have been so stupid. Such a push-over.
‘One no is enough. I get the message.’
‘Fine,’ she said, and her casual response, the use of the damn word fine enraged him further. For a timeless second Zac let the mask slip, and if looks could kill, she would have breathed her last by now.
Sally knew she wasn’t blameless, and he had some justification for being furious, but with exhaustion overtaking her all she wanted to do was get rid of him and forget tonight had ever happened.
Maybe she did owe him an apology. Years ago her mum had told her the best way to defuse an argument was to say sorry. Whether you thought you were right or not did not matter, because it was very hard to continue arguing with someone who was saying sorry.
Well, Zac was bristling with anger. It was worth a try. Bravely she looked up into his hard face. ‘I’m sorry for how I behaved, and I apologise if you feel you have been cheated,’ she offered. ‘But may I point out I did not invite you here? I told you I was tired, and I asked you to go, but you talked your way round me.’ She made a futile gesture with her hands. ‘You are like a tank, rolling over any sign of opposition. You are too mu
ch for me, and I want you to leave now.’
‘My size intimidates you?’ Zac demanded.
‘No,’ Sally snapped. She had told him a bit of the truth, and his continuing presence in her apartment was frustrating, so she told him the rest.
‘You are just too much everything—too wealthy, too arrogant and too stubborn to leave when asked. And I don’t like you. Apart from anything else you bought Westwold, which makes you an arms dealer, which to me is a despicable business.’
‘That is rich, coming from you.’ His tone was bitingly cynical. ‘Daddy’s little golden girl, who has never done a day’s work in her life. The arms business has supported you very nicely—it paid for this apartment your father gave you, for starters. Perhaps I should have arrived with a jewellery box instead of a cool box. No doubt the outcome would have been different.’
The insult enraged Sally. It was bad enough that her father had told Zac he had given her the apartment, and she could not deny it, but he obviously had not told Zac she worked—hence his summing up of her character as an idle little rich girl. Knowing her dad, it had probably stroked his ego to come across as the generous father.
‘Yes, you are right. Silly me,’ she said, with a heavy irony which was wasted on Zac Delucca. She could explain, but she owed this arrogant bastard nothing. Crossing to the coffee table, she picked up the cool box. ‘Now we know what we think of each other, take this and get out.’
Zac studied her for a moment, his lithe muscular body tense. ‘Keep it as a gift from me,’ he drawled tightly, and she noticed the way a little muscle jerked in his cheek. ‘A cool box is quite appropriate for a woman who blows hot and cold like you. When you’re lying in bed, burning up and remembering what you have missed, stick your beautiful head in it.’
Her brows shot up, and, holding her anger in, she said acidly, ‘In your dreams—but certainly not in mine.’
His hand snaked out and tangled in her hair, jerking her towards him. ‘Do you know, Miss Paxton…’ his smile was chilling ‘…I’m minded to prove you wrong.’
She tried to pull her head away from him, but his hand tightened, and she stared up at him, her blue eyes spitting flames. Suddenly she was aware of the sexual violence emanating from every line of his powerful body.
‘Don’t even try,’ she snapped.
He raised one dark brow. ‘Big mistake, Sally,’ he drawled mockingly. ‘Did your mother never tell you you should never challenge an angry man?’ He snaked a long arm around her waist to pull her hard against him.
‘Let me go.’ There was a brief silence as his eyes narrowed on her mouth. She was stiff with anger, and suddenly very afraid. ‘I said let go of me.’
Zac gave her another chilling smile. ‘I will, but first here is something to remember me by.’
Her eyes widened as his head bent and his mouth ravaged hers in a kiss of savage passion.
When he finally let her go she was gasping for breath and her legs were trembling. ‘You…You…’ she spluttered, livid with rage—and something more she refused to acknowledge.
He placed a finger over her lips. ‘Save it. I am leaving and I won’t be back.’ He stared at her for a moment, a look of icy contempt in his hard eyes. ‘Shame…It could have been good—but I am not into playing games, and you are nothing but a spoilt little tease.’ He shrugged his broad shoulders and turned and walked to the door.
Sally shivered and collapsed onto the sofa. Her head fell back against the cushions, a long, sad sigh escaping her. All her emotional energy was spent worrying about her mother, and she had none to waste on Zac. A man born with a silver spoon in his mouth and accustomed to wealth and power, who expected women to simply fall at his feet, was not for her.
She did not see Zac glance back, nor the frown that creased his broad brow. She only heard the closing of the door as he left.
Zac walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. He had caught the same expression of sadness on Sally’s face just now, as he’d left, as he had when they’d first met. For a second he was tempted to go to her. Then common sense prevailed.
Over the weekend he and Raffe had discovered how her father had been robbing the company for years. Today they had added up the cost, and it was well over a million. He had told Raffe he would deal with Paxton in his own time, and had sent Raffe back to the head office in Rome—mainly because of Sally. He had behaved like a stupid lovesick teenager, soft in the head and hard everywhere else.