‘Okay.’ She smiled, unable to keep it in.
Cesar was about to kiss her when a knock came on the door and a PA called out, ‘Lexie, they’re ready for you.’
Cesar stopped and Lexie almost groaned. ‘Okay, thanks,’ she called back.
Then he smiled, and it was wicked. ‘I’ll cook dinner. Come by when you’ve wrapped. Bring a weekend bag.’
Lexie almost rolled her eyes, ‘My room is in the castillo. If I need anything surely I can just—?’
Cesar cut her off. ‘Just...do it.’
‘Okay,’ Lexie said again, her smile turning wry at his autocratic tone.
She let Cesar lead her out to where her driver was waiting in the car to take her back to the set.
* * *
The following day Lexie grumbled good-naturedly, ‘Why can’t you tell me where we’re going?’
Cesar stopped abruptly and Lexie almost careened into him. He caught her hands and held them. The breeze had mussed up his hair. He looked vital, and so gorgeous that she sighed with pure appreciation. He looked darker too, all dressed in black.
He was mock stern. ‘Just do as you’re told.’
Lexie saw a staff member carrying their bags to a waiting helicopter. It was sitting on a landing pad at the back of the castillo.
Cesar had woken her early that morning and she’d stretched like a satisfied cat amongst his very tousled sheets before she’d even really realised the enormity of where she was.
In Cesar’s bed, in his private apartment. After a night of lovemaking that had almost brought her to tears again. She’d only held them back with gritted teeth, determined not to let him see her get so emotional again.
But she couldn’t help it. With every touch, every kiss, this man was rebuilding the very fabric of her soul. A fabric that had been torn apart brutally years before.
As instructed, she’d packed some things the previous evening and had gone to his apartment after work to find him waiting for her, busy in his kitchen making dinner. The sight had been so incongruous and so...sexy that Lexie had struggled to affect a nonchalance she hadn’t felt.
Before she could say anything else Cesar took her by the hand and led her to the helicopter, bundling her inside. Lexie gave up trying to figure out where they were going and did as she was told, putting on earphones and buckling up.
Cesar leant over from his seat to help her just as the rotor blades started up outside, and adrenalin and excitement kicked in her belly.
He grinned at her. ‘Don’t worry—you’ll like it, I promise.’ And then he pressed a swift kiss to her mouth and sat back.
Lexie scowled at him, hating that his grin made her heart clench and that he could so easily affect her. But then her mind emptied as the chopper rose smoothly into the air and she saw the castillo drop away underneath them.
Cesar had obviously asked the pilot to take a tour of the estate, and he pointed out vineyards and more land than she had ever realised belonged to him. It was truly mind-boggling. And sobering to realise the extent of his responsibilities.
Then they were banking and heading away from where the sun had risen only a short while before. Lexie was transfixed by the changing landscape underneath them as they passed over low mountains and rivers.
Eventually she could see that the sparse countryside was making way for more built-up areas. Cesar took her hand and pointed out of the main window of the helicopter. She could make out a smudge of blue...the sea?
She glanced at him and he smiled. One of those rare smiles that made her want to smile back like a loon. She could see that they were flying over what had to be a city. The rooftops were terra-cotta, glinting in the sun. She saw a very majestic-looking castle on a hill.
They seemed, impossibly, to be heading right for the city centre. Lexie could see a bridge spanning a huge river, and the way the city was spread out on hills. It didn’t look especially modern. There were trams and beautiful old crumbling buildings covered in coloured tiles.
She gasped and turned to Cesar and shouted over the noise, ‘Lisbon?’
He nodded. So that’s why he’d told her to pack her passport. A rush of incredible emotion and gratitude filled Lexie. She remembered standing in his study that day and exclaiming with a feeling of panic that she wanted to visit Madrid, Salamanca and Lisbon.
So far he’d taken her to all of them.
The helicopter set down on the rooftop of a building and Cesar helped her out. Lexie realised it was a hotel when the staff greeted them and led them inside where solicitous customs officials were waiting for them to check their passports. Cesar took her hand once they were done and she sent him a quick, dry look. ‘No queues for you?’