Lexie glanced at Cesar to find him staring at her with an intensity that made her insides liquefy. Only with extreme effort could she look away.
A spotlight lit up the small stage and a beautiful dark-haired woman with the lithe body of a dancer walked into the middle. She wore a long red dress, very plain and simple, red shoes, and a red flower in her hair.
She made the most exquisite shapes with her hands and body—typical flamenco postures. Then the hard soles and heels of her shoes started hitting the boards of the stage as the rhythm of the guitar picked up pace. Tiny hairs stood up on the back of Lexie’s neck.
It was mesmerising. There was something so elemental and beautiful about this woman and the power in her body. It made a ball of emotion lodge in Lexie’s chest and throat. She was acutely aware of the man beside her, of his sheer overwhelming masculinity. Something seemed to be flowing between them through the beat of the music, even though their thighs and arms were barely touching. It was carnal and earthy. Sexual.
The beat and power of the dancer’s feet seemed to resonate with Lexie’s heartbeat. Cesar had unlocked something powerful within her—something that she was finally connecting with herself after such a long time.
The beat of her own sexuality.
It was something she’d feared lost for ever, stolen from her too long ago ever to claim it back. Lexie wanted to look at Cesar again, but she was afraid that if she did, and he was looking at her, he’d see how raw her desire for him was.
She could see the sheen of exertion on the dancer’s skin. The music and the dance were building and building. Lexie fancied she must have a similar sheen to her skin...she felt so hot. The expression on the woman’s beautiful face was intense as her feet beat out the relentless passionate rhythm. Lexie felt it rise up through her body too.
As the music and the dance reached a crescendo, and as if he could sense how affected she was, Cesar’s hand closed around Lexie’s, his fingers twining through hers with an unmistakably possessive touch.
Her nipples pricked painfully. She was breathing harshly, every part of her body tingling with desire for the man beside her, as the music exploded and the woman came to a dead stop with her arms high in a proud and beautiful pose, her chest heaving with exertion. People started to clap rapturously. But still Lexie was almost afraid to look at Cesar.
‘Lexie?’
She finally turned her head towards him and her world coalesced down to this moment and this man. She wanted him with a fierce drumbeat of need.
Another performer was coming on and she said impulsively, ‘Would you mind if we left now?’
Cesar shook his head, a frankly explicit look coming into his eyes as if he could read what was on her mind, feel her desire. ‘No—let’s go before the next act starts.’
By the time they were walking out Lexie had taken deep breaths and regained some control. But she still trembled all over. Never had anything impacted her in such a deeply physical and visceral way as it had sitting beside this man and wanting him so badly that their very surroundings seemed to echo with it.
They were at the front of the residence now and Cesar’s car was pulling up. The driver opened the door for her and Cesar got in on the other side. He reached for her almost immediately and Lexie went willingly.
Their mouths met and their kiss was hungry and desperate. Lexie’s blood thundered and roared. She was still borne aloft on the sheer exhilaration of the dance. She drowned in the kiss, in the rough stroke of Cesar’s tongue against hers and the feel of his arms around her.
By the time they reached the apartment she was half sitting on his lap, arms around his neck, mouth swollen, breathing fast.
Gently he took her arms down and opened his door before stepping out. He reached in and Lexie had one crazy moment of thinking she could just shut the door, instruct the driver to drive all the way back to the castillo and shut out the clamours of her body.
But she didn’t. She’d already proved to herself that she was strong enough to withstand the worst things that could happen to a woman. She was certainly strong enough to withstand reclaiming her body and her right to sensual pleasure.
Lexie put her hand in Cesar’s and let him pull her out. Keeping a tight grip on her hand, as if he was aware that a rogue part of her still wanted to escape, he greeted the concierge and led her to the lift. Once inside they didn’t speak. But the air hummed with awareness and expectation. It was heavy.
When they entered his apartment and the door closed behind them the silence swirled around them. Lexie’s heart was beating so hard she thought it had to be audible.
Cesar shrugged off his jacket and threw it over a chair haphazardly. Looking at Lexie, he pulled at his bow tie, undoing it. She was clutching her bag tightly, her eyes glued to his mouth, wanting it on hers again.
He reached down and took her bag, threw it aside to join his jacket. Then he put his hands on her arms.
‘You’re sure?’
After a moment Lexie nodded and said, ‘I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. Make love to me, Cesar.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
FOR A MOMENT Cesar did nothing, and a wave of cold cl
ammy horror gripped Lexie as she imagined being rejected. But then he dipped, and she let out a little squeal when he lifted her into his arms against his chest.
He strode down the corridor, past her bedroom to another door on the opposite side. Lexie took in no details of the room he walked into beyond the fact that it was dark, palatial and had a massive bed.