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“I’ve embarrassed you. I’m sorry.”
“No. I’m fine. But I shouldn’t overstep my bounds. You and your family are very important to the future of Alma. I don’t want you to think I take that lightly.”
“No one thinks that, Maria. Believe it or not, none of us gives a damn about Alma’s class hierarchy.”
“You may not, but others do. I appreciate your taking the time tonight to let me talk to you. Please reiterate my thanks to your brother and sister.”
“So formal. So serious.”
She knew he was teasing her, but she was suddenly desperate to regain some sense of formality between them…as if Alex could see the fact that she and Gabriel were comfortable with each other. “Good night, Gabriel,” she said.
He watched her walk up the steps. “It will all work out, Maria. Things always do.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Alex paced the confines of his hotel room, feeling the walls close in around him. It had been eight hours, give or take, since he last saw Maria. If she had her way, the two of them wouldn’t meet again until Monday morning when they were surrounded by the Alma delegation.
He had handled things with her poorly from the beginning…probably, because for once in his life, he didn’t have a clear idea of how to proceed. Not in regard to the proposal and the Montoros. That path was well defined. It was his personal life that seemed out of control. Hell, up until the past few weeks, he hadn’t even allowed himself to imagine a personal life that included any woman on a permanent basis.
But with Maria at his side and under his nose day in and day out, it was becoming increasingly difficult to convince himself that he was a patriot first and a man second.
He glanced at his watch. It was late, but not too late. He wasn’t going to be able to sleep unless he saw her. That in itself was disturbing. They had known each other for a long time now. Had worked together in a number of settings. When had things started to change? When had he begun to notice the way her smile hit him in the gut? Or been stricken with the need to touch her? To make her laugh?
Grabbing up his key and his phone, he strode across the room. But when he jerked open the door in preparation for leaving, Maria stood in the hallway, her hand raised to knock.
Her arm dropped, and her eyes widened. “Alex.”
He pulled up short, his adrenaline-fueled momentum stymied by the fact that she had come to him. “Maria.”
To an outsider, the tableau would have seemed comical. Maria recovered first, already backing away. “You were going out,” she said. “I can talk to you later.”
He grabbed her arm and dragged her inside, closing the door firmly. “No. We’ll talk now.”
“But—”
He put a hand over her mouth. “I was coming to find you,” he said gruffly.
Maria freed herself from his loose hold and moved to stand beside the window. “If you’re going to yell at me again, I’d just as soon pass.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t yell.”
“What would you call it?”
“Mutual aggravation?”
That coaxed a smile from her. “Fair enough.”
“Why did you come to find me?” he asked.
“I wanted to let you know how the dinner went.”
His chest tightened with disappointment. So much for the personal agenda. “Okay. Let’s hear it.”
“May I have a seat?”
“Of course.”
They moved to the nearby grouping of sofas and chairs. The room was extremely large. Though Alex hadn’t asked for it, he presumed that his position as head of the delegation had warranted the generous quarters.
Maria was dressed casually in a soft multicolored skirt that touched her knees and a thin, sleeveless top of ivory silk. The barely there sandals she wore showcased pink toenails.
Although she sat on the love seat, he was too antsy to join her at the moment. He ran a hand through his hair. “So tell me. How did it go?”
She shrugged, her expression pensive. “It’s hard to say. They asked a million questions. Good questions. Rafe, as always, was reserved.”
“Do they seem at all receptive to the proposal?”
“They’re guarding their options. We have to remember that they haven’t even seen a copy of it yet.”
“True. If the rough draft gets an okay next week, the plan was to go ahead and let the Montoros take a look.”
“Does that mean they get a chance to approve or disapprove?”
“I don’t think the delegation will like that idea. Unless we have a solid commitment first.”
“In other words, two stubborn entities in a standoff.”
“No one wants to lose face or operate from a position of weakness.”
“I think the key to winning them over is going to be the personal touch. If they trust you and the delegation, they’re going to be much more likely to agree to our proposal.”
“Well, they trust you. That’s a start.”
She crossed her arms and thrust out her chin. “There you go again. Flinging insults.”
He held out his hands. “I certainly did not. It was a compliment.”
Her expression was skeptical. “Didn’t sound like one.”
Judging himself sufficiently in control of his emotions to get closer, he sat down beside her and touched her arm. “I’m glad they feel comfortable talking to you. Really I am. You’re an incredible asset to the team.”
She stared at him, vulnerability in the depths of her gaze. At times he forgot about her humble beginnings and that her maturity belied her years. “I’m serious,” he said softly. “I admire you, Maria. You’re smart and quick-thinking and you have a better grasp of human emotions than I do. Thank you for meeting with Rafe and Bella and Gabriel tonight.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, her words barely audible.
She no longer met his gaze, so he had to lift her chin with his finger. “I don’t like it when we fight,” he muttered.
Maria didn’t reply, but her hand came up to cover his. He thought she meant to push him away, but instead, she twined her fingers with his. “I don’t like it, either.”
Ten seconds passed. Or maybe a hundred. Awareness quivered in the air. He could hear the thump of his own heartbeat in his ears. Maria’s cheeks flushed, her eyes starry with something he dared not put a name to. Later, he couldn’t remember which of them moved first.
Their lips met softly…tentatively. He slid a hand beneath her hair to cup the back of her neck. The top of her spine was fragile, the curve of her nape feminine. “I want you,” he said. He had an advanced degree in diplomacy and a reputation as a persuasive leader. But in that moment he felt as awkward as a high school kid on his first date.
Maria leaned into him, her posture both eager and trusting. He should try to be worthy of that trust, but if such a thing meant sending her away, then he was doomed.
She put a hand against his cheek, stroking the stubble that appeared if he didn’t shave twice a day. Her gaze clashed with his, her eyes deep enough to drown in. “I want you, too, Alex. But without regrets. If this time in Miami is all we have, let it be enough.”
Nine
The wording made him frown. What she was offering would be the perfect scenario for most men. A temporary liaison. No strings attached. Yet, oddly, her plea unsettled him.
Because he didn’t want to answer, he let his actions tell her what he couldn’t yet say. The silk shell she wore came off easily over her head. He caught a ragged breath at the sight of her breasts barely covered in smooth, ivory satin. When he tossed the top aside, he realized that his hands were shaking.
Maria had gone still, her wary gaze alert, like a doe in the forest scenting danger. But she didn’t stop him when he drew her to her feet. “I need you naked,” he groaned, unzipping her skirt and drawing it down and off. Her French-cut undies matched the bra. Plain…unadorned…but sexy as hell. “Ah, Maria.”
She hadn’t said a word since he began unwrapping the most wonderful present he’d ever been offered. Was it shyness that kept her silent?
“I don’t know what you’re thinking,” he muttered. The bra fell away. He steadied her as she stepped out of the sandals. Tracing the elastic band of her only remaining item of clothing, he sighed. “Please say something.”
Her smile was tremulous. “I haven’t done this very often.”
“I don’t need an accounting.” In fact, he’d rather not know. The thought of his Maria with other men made him a little crazy.
“That’s not what I mean.” She started in on his shirt buttons. “I want to please you. But my experience is—”
He put a hand over her mouth for the second time that night. “Your experience is irrelevant. That’s what it is…irrelevant. Neither of us has ever been here before. Everything we say and do in this room is brand-new.” He tucked her hair aside and kissed the soft skin beneath her ear. “Brand-new, Maria.”
It took a great deal of fortitude to allow her to unclothe him. But she was so sweetly intent on her task he clenched his fists at his hips and let her take the lead. When her fingers touched his belt buckle, he inhaled sharply, the sound a quick hiss of startled shock.
Since when had a woman ever been able to arouse him with such innocent motions? Stretched on a rack of unfilled desire, he braced himself as she slid his shirt from his shoulders and then tugged his trousers to his knees. When she paused, he kicked off his socks and shoes and pants in one ungainly dance.
His navy boxers did little to hide how much he wanted her.
And still his would-be lover was mute. “I think we could adjourn to the bed,” he said, smiling with a grimace that was supposed to be reassuring.
Maria nodded, allowing him to take her hand and draw her toward the king-size mattress that could sleep half a dozen men. The coverlet was navy damask, the contrasting pillows and trim taupe. Against the heavy, ornate fabric, Maria’s skin would glow.
At the last instant, he picked her up in his arms and used one hand to fling back the covers. Maria looked up at him, her eyelashes at half-mast, her throat and chest flushed with color. “I’m on the pill,” she said.
All members of the delegation had undergone fairly stringent physicals before leaving for the States. Though he had condoms with him, he found himself fiercely glad that they would be unnecessary.
“Are you sure?” he asked hoarsely. “I don’t want you to think I’m coercing you.”
For the first time since she entered his suite, her face lightened, and she laughed out loud. “I’m pretty sure you’re not. It’s a little insulting that I had to work so hard to get your attention.”
He deposited her on the soft sheets and followed her down. “Are you kidding? I noticed you the first day you came to work for our company in London. But you were way too young and I was way too busy.”
“And later?” Her arms remained at her sides, as if she were afraid to move.
He traced a fingertip from the center of her forehead, down her nose, between her breasts, all the way to her navel, where he stopped to let both of them catch their breath. “In Alma I watched you bloom from a pretty young girl to a mature, fascinating woman. But we were both consumed with the work at hand—steering Alma’s fate.”
“Did you have this in mind when you suggested me to be on the delegation?”
Her quiet question caught him off guard. He was the one to flush this time. Had he envisioned this moment? Really? It troubled him that he couldn’t give her an unequivocal answer.
She stroked his collarbone with both hands, moving down his chest as he leaned over her on one elbow. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Because even if you didn’t, I did. I’ve had the worst crush on you. Then somehow, when we got to Florida, everything got worse.”
“Worse? Or better?” He lightly rubbed her nipples one after the other, breathing harder when she arched off the bed and called his name.
This time…this precious first time. He knew he wanted it to be special for her, but lust rode him like a wild animal, consuming everything in its path. Honor…tenderness…gentle care.
Maria trembled against him, as nervous as a wide-eyed cat. “Relax,” he muttered. “I won’t do anything you don’t like.” But when he buried his face between her thighs and feasted on the taste of her, nothing short of cataclysm could have made him stop before he pushed her off the edge of a choked climax.
“More,” he groaned. “We’ll do more later. But I can’t wait.”
He felt the last flutters of her climax against his shaft as he pushed his way inside her. The tight fit…the heat…all of it overwhelmed him. Because in the midst of intense physical euphoria he felt something else. A notion that terrified him and made him weak.
He might be in love with her.
Maria still reeled in the aftermath of what had been an unprecedented orgasm. She’d been sure such things were the stuff of movies and books. Who could believe that the earth actually rocked on its axis when the right man staked a claim?
Alex filled her completely, in a way she barely understood. He was a man with all the usual equipment, but even in her limited experience, she recognized that this was something far beyond a casual hookup. Maybe not for him, but certainly for her.
And because she had courted this moment, watched for it, waited for it to happen, she would be the one with the most to lose. Alex Ramon was not available for everlasting love. He was smart and wonderful and passionate, but he was not hers.
That dreadful reality refused to take root in light of the fact that he was thrusting inside her wildly, rolling to his back and encouraging her own acrobatics. “Take what you want, Maria. Take it all.”
His breathless grin encompassed a masculine satisfaction that should have made her want to smack him for his impudence…if she hadn’t been trembling on the brink of yet another exquisite climax. “Who’s taking whom?” she asked primly, stingingly aware that he felt larger and more determined from this angle.
“Doesn’t matter.” He groaned when she dared to reach behind and touch the base of his erection.
Where his fingers gripped her buttocks, she would likely have bruises tomorrow. She looked down at him, seeing the power in his broad shoulders, the pleasing symmetry of his pectoral muscles, the sleek delineation of his rib cage.
“You are a beautiful man,” she breathed, squeezing inwardly as he dragged her down onto his hard flesh again and again. “I never knew what you were hiding beneath all those hand-tailored suits.”
His head pressed into the pillow as he gasped. “Well, we’re even then, because I may never let you get dressed again.”
With one last twist of his hips, he took them both into the deep end. As the wave crashed over her, violent and deeply satisfying, she slumped onto his chest and counted the beats of his heart.
Alex couldn’t feel his legs. Paralysis was, as a rule, a frightening state. But at this particular juncture in his life, he couldn’t bring himself to care.
Maria slept like the dead, her limp body draped over him as the softest, sweetest of blankets. Her hair was in his mouth and his nose, and one of her knees threatened his male anatomy. But all he could do was smile and thank his guardian angel for arranging this tryst.
Did angels even know about sex? Well, of course they did, because it was pretty clear that he’d just caught a glimpse of heaven.
His feelings were all over the map. Since he was not a man to even recognize the fact that he had emotions, the sharp shift in outlook was both alarming and bemusing.
Maria. It was all about Maria. Offstage, problems loitered, ready to shatter his giddy, postcoital bliss. But he refused to countenance them. One night. One mad, insanely wonderful night. That’s all he wanted, all he asked for. When the sun rose, he would pick up the reins of civic obligation once again.
But tonight was his. His and Maria’s.
He woke her with a kiss. A kiss that started with a quick nibble on a tender earlobe and ended up with her stretched out on her back, his teeth raking the spot where neck and shoulder met.
“What are you doing?” she mumbled, refusing to open her eyes.
“If you have to ask, I must be doing it wrong.”
“Alexxx…” Two syllables stretched to the breaking point.
Her shoulder was particularly sexy. How had he never noticed that? “You’re sweet and soft and I want you more now than I did a half hour ago.”
“Is that even possible?”
He choked out a laugh, trying to decide what he should taste next. “Look at me and tell me you feel it, too.”
Long lashes tipped in gold lifted. Her irises were more blue than green right now. Her pupils were dilated. She was sated and drowsy and completely irresistible.
When she licked her lips, he could swear it was unconscious…that she had no clue what that little movement did to him.
“I should go to my room, Alex.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“We have to be circumspect. You’re a very important man. Gossip could be detrimental to your career.”
“Screw my career.” How could she even think like that? They were naked and wrapped in each other’s arms. It pissed him off that she had the presence of mind to be concerned about propriety.
She feathered the fingers of both hands through his hair, sending a shiver down his spine. “Be sensible, Alex. Please.”
“I’m always sensible,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m sick of being sensible. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not leaving this room until Monday morning.”
“What about the editing and revising?”
Bless her wonderful, conscientious, puritanical heart. She was trying to save him from himself. “We both have laptops. No one expects to hear from us tomorrow or Sunday. It’s the perfect scenario. I’ll make love to you until neither of us can breathe, then we’ll order room service, work on the document a bit and go back to bed.”
“You’re serious…” Her gaze searched his face, looking for God knows what.
Even he could see that his behavior was an anomaly. His father would be horrified. But his father was far, far away, and Alex was in the midst of a sexual awakening of unprecedented proportions.
What if sex with Maria was more than scratching an itch? What if this was what he’d been missing his entire adult life?
She exhaled, perhaps signaling capitulation. “I’d still have to go to my room and get a few things. What if someone sees me?”
“We’re on the same floor. Opposite halls, granted…but it will be a quick trip. Quit worrying.”
At long last she nodded slightly. “Okay.”
When she climbed out of bed and began to search for her clothes, he was stricken with the notion that she might not return. He took her chin in his hand and stared into her eyes. “You won’t change your mind?”
He’d meant the words to sound like a command, but they came out closer to a plea than he would have liked.
Both of them were naked. Upright. He could lift her and take her again right now. The image made him breathless.
“I’ll come back,” she said.
As a bit of insurance, he confiscated her bra and undies and stuffed them in a dresser drawer. “I want you to think of me when you’re walking half-naked down the hall.”
“I can’t do that,” she said, her expression aghast. “What if someone sees?”
“I suppose you’d better hurry.”
Maria scuttled down the carpeted hallway, her arms wrapped around her waist. The building was air-conditioned to arctic levels, and she knew her bare breasts were noticeable beneath her thin top. The knowledge made her face hot, but not as much as reliving what had just transpired in Alex’s suite.
If she had not promised to return, there was a good chance she would have avoided him until Monday. Could he read her that well?
Once safely inside her own room, she rested her back against the door, breathing rapidly. She was not the kind of woman who had affairs right under the noses of people who knew her…who expected her to be hardworking and ethical and dedicated to Alma’s cause.
Were all those expectations in her head? Maybe people were just people…fallible, unable to predict, good and bad.
Wanting Alex as a lover didn’t negate her contributions to the work of the delegation. As a group, the delegation had been sent to Miami with express instructions to take the weekends off. Healthy, productive humans knew how to relax. So why was Maria freaked out about the notion of being spontaneous and irresponsible with Alex Ramon?
Avoiding her own question, she found a straw tote that looked more like a purse than a suitcase and began stuffing it with essentials: toiletries, clean undies, her billfold, a comfy pair of yoga pants and a loose cotton top. The paperback novel she was in the midst of.
On second thought, she took the book out of the bag. Chances were, Alex didn’t plan to give her much opportunity for reading.
When she had rounded up everything she thought she might need for the weekend, she stared at the perfectly made bed. Damn. She wasn’t cut out for a life of deception and hanky-panky. Placing the tote beside the door, she set to work making the room look lived-in.
She tossed the covers until the bed was a tumbled mess. Then she went into the bathroom, dampened a towel and washcloth and crumpled them on the floor. Finally, she opened a packet of soap and wet it before placing it in the shower.
Feeling more than a little ridiculous, she examined her quarters with an eagle eye. The delegation was well-known already, at least within the hotel. Service workers noticed all sorts of intimate details. Maria wanted to make it perfectly clear to anyone who might be paying attention that she had definitely slept in her own room, tonight…not in room 1724.
Grimacing at the realization that she would likely have to repeat this same charade tomorrow afternoon, she shook her head at her own foolishness and decided she had kept Alex waiting long enough.
Opening the door to the hallway a crack, she gazed left and right. No one in sight. Though she managed to hold up her head and walk with confidence down the corridor, around the atrium and back to the far wing, her heart was beating so rapidly she felt dizzy.
When she knocked on Alex’s door, and he opened it immediately, she practically fell into his arms. “No one saw me,” she whispered.
Alex was dressed again…in the same clothes he had worn earlier, minus the shoes and socks. His bare feet were long and sexy.
He took her shoulders in his hands, looking at her with alarm. “You’re shaking, Maria.”
“Adrenaline,” she said on a sigh, thrusting her bag into his arms and dropping into an armchair. “I think I need a drink.”
He poured her a glass of white wine and crouched at her side, his warm, dark eyes dancing with amusement. “If I had known it was such a big deal, I would have gone to your room myself.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And let you riffle through my unmentionables? I don’t think so. We don’t know each other that well.”
He stroked a finger down her arm, making her shiver. “I’ve seen you naked,” he said solemnly. “I think I’m allowed to touch your underwear.”
“It’s a slippery slope. First it’s the underwear and next thing you know you’ll be asking me to spend the night.”
His chiseled, masculine lips quirked. “I think I already did.”
She stared at him moodily. They were so close at this angle all she had to do was lean forward three or four inches and she could touch her mouth to his. “Do you really think we can concentrate on work in between…um…you know?”