Lexie was one of the most tireless. Standing for long minutes on a mark while the lighting crew and cameraman worked around her. Her co-star would invariably go back to his trailer. Cesar had found out that she could have insisted they use a stand-in but had wanted to be there herself. He had to admit that he hadn’t really expected her work ethic to be that strong.
She was popular. Especially with the male members of the crew. Cesar was more aware of that than he liked to admit. He’d never been jealous because of a woman before and he didn’t welcome jealousy’s appearance.
He heard a sound then, and with something whispering over his skin like a warning Cesar took a breath and turned around.
Bombshell. That was the only word that seemed to compute in his head when he saw the woman standing in the doorway. Her effect on him was like a bomb too—exploding out to every extremity and making his flesh surge as blood pumped south.
He took in details, as if he couldn’t handle the full reality. Glossy blonde hair, trailing over one shoulder in classic screen siren waves. Pale skin. Slim bare arms. A sleeveless gold lamé dress that fell to the floor in a swirl of glamorous luxury.
She was poured into it, and the material highlighted her curves to almost indecent proportions. The deep, plunging vee of the neckline drew his eye to that abundant cleavage.
She was every inch the glittering movie star. And the most provocatively beautiful woman Cesar had ever seen in his life. He knew that if they hadn’t already kissed, if he hadn’t already seen her up close, he might have seen her like this and dismissed her as too garish. But right now he could no more dismiss her than recall his own name.
His hands clenched so tightly that he heard a crack, and he looked down stupidly to see his heavy Waterford crystal glass about to break in his hand.
He put it down on the sideboard with a clatter that jarred his ragged and sensitised nerve-endings.
She moved into the room, and the sinuous sway of her hips nearly undid him. Normally he had finesse. He could utter platitudes to women like You look beautiful. But right now all he could do was say gruffly, ‘My driver is waiting outside—we should go.’
* * *
Lexie fought down a betraying quiver of insecurity as she preceded Cesar out of the room, and cursed herself for wanting his reassurance that she looked okay and not too over the top. Her dresses were normally fine—fairly standard designer fare, given to her after photo shoots or premieres—but when she’d compared them to the finery he’d ordered there had been no competition. She’d had to choose one of his.
She had not been prepared for his impact on her in a classic black tuxedo. It was obviously a bespoke suit, moulded to his powerful body in a way that most men’s weren’t. It should have made him appear civilised. Just like trousers and a shirt should make him look civilised. But the structured clothes only made him seem more raw. Untamed.
His hair was always on the slightly messy side, and Lexie didn’t like the way that small detail already felt familiar. But his jaw was clean-shaven, and somehow it gave him a more youthful air.
He took her arm with one big hand and Lexie had to curb her response not to jump. She could feel slightly rough calluses. It made her think of how he’d looked swinging lithely from that huge horse the first time she’d seen him...muscles bunching and quivering. He was no mere soft-palmed money man. The very heart of her feminine core grew hot and damp.
She tried to pull her arm free but his hand was firm. She sent him a sharp glance, irritated at his effect on her, which quickly turned to something else when she saw him gazing at her intently. His hand slid down her arm and took her hand. It was a relatively chaste gesture, and yet it had an almost embarrassing effect on Lexie.
She let herself be led to the exclusive black car and Cesar let her go so she could slide into the back, with the driver holding the door open solicitously.
When he got in on the other side he sent her a look that made Lexie feel utterly exposed. As if he’d been toyin
g with her, taking her hand like that.
Feeling unbearably prickly, Lexie stared out of the window. Anything to escape that dark green mocking gaze.
His voice was cool. ‘This was your suggestion, you know. You don’t have to look as if you’re about to go to the gallows.’
Lexie tensed and felt angry. She turned back to Cesar. ‘I don’t regret my suggestion for a second. It’s still the best option.’
The tinted windows gave the back of the car a disturbingly cocoon-like atmosphere. And since when had the privacy window gone up? Lexie’s skin prickled. She could have sworn it had been down when they’d got in. And was it her or had the temperature in the back of the car just shot up by about a thousand degrees?
Cesar was lounging on the other side of the car like a pasha surveying his concubine. She almost wished he was glowering at her, as he had done that first day. She could handle that. She couldn’t handle this far more ambiguous energy swirling between them.
Feeling a kind of desperation rising up, she said, ‘What happened before...the kissing...it won’t happen again.’ So why can’t you stop thinking about what it would be like to be kissed again...and more?
Something in Cesar’s eyes flashed, but he said easily, ‘We can’t stand ten feet apart, Lexie. We’ll have to...touch...display moments of affection. Surely it shouldn’t be so hard for you to feign besotted devotion?’
That prickliness was lodging in Lexie’s gut, and it made her say waspishly, ‘Yes, well, I’m not the only one who has to be convincing.’
Before she could react, Cesar had reached for her hand and taken it in a firm grip. Lexie gasped as he brought it to his mouth and kissed her sensitive inner palm. It felt shockingly intimate, and a shard of pure sensation pulled at her belly and groin.
He took his mouth away, eyes glittering fiercely. ‘Is that convincing enough for you?’
Lexie knew her eyes were wide, her breathing choppy. He’d just kissed her hand and she was a puddle. Her hand! She yanked it away before he could make a complete fool of her.