The fact that she wouldn’t be expected to share his bed immediately should’ve pleased her. Instead she was more on edge than ever. Or maybe that was what he wanted? That she should be kept guessing, kept on a knife-edge of uncertainty like some sort of game?
Deus!
She’d barely spent one day under his glass roof and already she was being driven mad. His response to her admiring his sculptures had been too infuriating for her to explain how she’d come to acquire such knowledge of sculptures—her late mother’s talent. If he wanted to believe Inez appreciated beautiful art purely with dollar signs in her eyes, that was his problem.
Her breath caught as she heard distinct footsteps in the hallway. Teresa had shown her how to shroud the bedroom glass for privacy and she’d activated it before she’d gone in to take a shower. It was still shrouded now although she could make out a faint outline of the towering man who knocked a few seconds later.
‘Come in.’ She cringed at the husky breathlessness of her voice.
The heavy glass swung back and Theo stood framed in the doorway.
Light hazel eyes locked on her with the force of a laser beam for several seconds before they travelled slowly down her body.
Before meeting him, Inez would’ve found it hard to believe she could physically react so strongly to a look from a man. Constantine, with all his misleading smiles and false charm, had never affected her like this, not even when she’d believed herself in love with him.
With Theo the evidence was irrefutable—in the accelerated beat of her heart, the tightening and heaviness of her breasts and the stinging heat that spread outward from her belly like a flash fire.
She watched his mouth drop open as his gaze reached her shorts and her own mouth dried at the look that settled on his face.
‘What the hell are you wearing?’
‘What? I’m wearing clothes, Mr Pantelides,’ she snapped, once she was able to get her brain working again.
He stepped into the room and the door slid shut behind him. All at once, she became aware of the sheer size of him, of the restriction in her breathing and the fact that her eyes were devouring his magnificent form.
‘Let’s get one thing straight. From now on you’ll address me as Theo. No more senhor and no more Mr Pantelides, understand?’
‘Is that an order?’ She tilted her chin to see his face as he stopped before her.
‘It’s a friendly warning that there will be consequences if you don’t comply.’
‘What consequences?’ she huffed.
‘How about every time you call me senhor I kiss that sassy mouth of yours?’
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘EXCUSE ME?’ HER VOICE was a little more breathless. With excitement. Deus, what was wrong with her? This man was threatening her family, was effectively turning her life upside down for the sake of some unknown grudge. And all she could think of was him kissing her again.
‘No, you’re not excused. Use my first name or I’ll kiss it into you. Your choice. Now tell me what the hell you’re wearing.’ His gaze dropped back to her shorts, his eyes glazing with hunger so acute, her heart hammered.
‘These are shorts. You said “short and sexy”.’
His mouth worked for a few seconds before he nodded. ‘I said short, but I don’t think I meant that short, anjo.’
Heat raced up her neck and she barely managed to stop her hand from connecting with his face. ‘They are not that bad.’
His rasping laugh made her face flame. ‘Trust me, from where I’m standing, they’re lethal.’
‘I have nothing else to change into. Everything else is too formal for a club.’
Dark eyes rose, almost reluctantly, to clash with hers. ‘I find that very hard to believe.’
‘It’s true. I didn’t have enough time to pack properly. Besides, I didn’t take you for…’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Didn’t take me for what?’
She shrugged. ‘You don’t strike me as the clubbing type.’
One corner of his mouth lifted. ‘Have you been forming impressions about me, anjo?’
She kicked herself for that revelatory remark. ‘Not really.’
He looked down at her shorts one more time and he turned abruptly for the door. ‘I’ll be ready to go in fifteen minutes. You can tell me what other impressions you’ve formed about me at dinner.’