The Price of Seduction (10 page)

He walked straight in and stopped in front of her.

“This isn’t your room,” she said. “Why didn’t you knock?”

“Why should I?”

She pointed towards the door. “I want you to leave.”

Conrad stood
only inches away from her, his tall masculine form towering over her. She had the urge to step back but the bed was behind her and she had nowhere to go.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was your boyfriend?”
he asked.

“Why should I? He’s not my boyfriend any more and I can assure you we didn’t part on amicable terms.”

“What else are you hiding?”

“Don’t be ridiculous
. That dinner wasn’t my idea. None of this was my idea.
You
were the one who invited me up here.”

“And it’s such a coincidence that Trevor Daniels just happened to turn up at the same time.
” His voice was filled with sarcasm. “There are only five rooms at The Residence and he just
happened
to take one of them. I don’t think so.”

“How should I know why he’s here? I haven’t spoken to him for months but since you’re both involved in bidding for Il Bosco, I don’t think coincidence has anything to do with it. I’m sure he’s here because of his client. Maybe he has some business up here. Maybe they gave him a free trip out of the goodness of their hearts. Whatever the answer, I really wouldn’t know.”

His eyes were daggers. “So you knew he was involved in a rival bid for Il Bosco?”

“I knew that was one of the things he was working on several months ago but I really have no idea about his current clients or projects. And anyway, the way you talked about Il Bosco you led me to believe the deal was in the bag.”

“You still haven’t answered my question. Why didn’t you tell me you were intimately involved with that man?”

“Have you told me about every relationship you’ve ever had? I
doubt it.”

“There’s a difference. My ex-girlfriends haven’t turned up at such an inopportune time.”

She’d done nothing yet was being accused of much. As if she even wanted to see Trevor again and be reminded of her own inadequacies, of the many reasons why she was below him, why she would never be marriage material.

She’d assumed Conrad had known she’d gone out with Trevor but now she wasn’t so sure. Perhaps she’d
jumped to the conclusion that since he also knew Trevor, Conrad was also aware of their past relationship.

She’d been wrong but that didn’t mean there was any ill intent on her part and she wasn’t going to let Conrad get away with it.

Bree relaxed her shoulders and met his steely gaze with her own. “You know, you haven’t mentioned anything at all about any woman you’ve been with. That’s quite an omission for a man with your reputation. You’ve had lots of women.”

“If you’re talking about the reports in the social pages, I really wouldn’t believe everything you read.”

“They may exaggerate but they have some basis in fact. The stories don’t come out of nowhere.”

He tilted his head. “I used to have lots of women, Bree. The papers were probably right when they called me a playboy but I don’t play that game any more. I’m simply not interested.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You could’ve fooled me. You haven’t exactly made it clear to me from the start that you’re not interested in sleeping with me. Quite the opposite.”

“No, I haven’t. I didn’t plan on making a promise I had no intention of keeping.”

Her lips parted in surprise. “So you brought me up here to sleep with me?”

“Is that such a crime?”

Conrad was committing no crime but the decision wasn’t his. It was hers.

She held his gaze.
“And what makes you so sure I wish to sleep with you?”

“That’s the million dollar question.”

Could she trust him? He made her feel she was different from the other women he knew but was that truly the case?

“I didn’t get the chan
ce to tell you Trevor was my ex,” she said. “Not when Shannon spent most of the evening flirting with you. It was slightly distracting to say the least.”

“She’s nothing but a little gold digger. She was interested in me as soon as she got a sniff of what I was worth. She’s so shallow she didn’t even make any effort to hide it.”

How had they come to this misunderstanding? That’s all it was, a misunderstanding. Neither of them had intended anything bad.

“I thought yo
u knew,” she said.

“What?”

“When we first walked into the lounge area and Trevor and Shannon were having cocktails, you clearly knew who Trevor was and I assumed you knew we used to be together.”

“Did you think
I’d care? Did you think it’d make that much difference to me that you used to go out with him?”

Bree lowered her eyelids but her voice was still crisp and clear. “I don’t know what I thought. I’m still in shock from it all. I didn’t find out what kind of
person he was until we broke up and now I can’t believe I went out with a man like him. I had no idea.”

“Is that the truth? You thought I knew about him?”

Bree nodded. Conrad slipped his hands onto her waist and waited until she raised her gaze to meet his eyes. “Is that really how you feel about him now?”

“Believe me, I’d be happy if I never saw him again.”

“I hope your taste in men has improved,” he said dryly.

There was a delicious pause between them, a moment in limbo where anything might happen. It was a little snippet of time during which there was an absence of commitment. He might push her away or he might consume her.

Suddenly that moment was over.

Conrad pulled her closer. She
slid her hands up his arms and twisted them around the back of his neck, their mouths colliding in a hot, heady kiss. He flicked his tongue inside her mouth and she rolled hers against the soft suede of his.

His body pressed against hers,
it was as if they were the only two people in the world. There was nothing else. Only their bodies intertwined, their tongues gliding against each other, their mouths open as they struggled to get enough of the other.

A current of electricity surged through her body, her nipples tingling, a thrill shooting through to the most feminine parts of her body.

She wanted him and she would have him.

Pushing him away,
she undid the buttons of his shirt, one by one. She roughly pulled the shirt tail from out of his trousers, jerked the white fabric off his torso and threw it away.

This was how she wanted him. Undressed, bare chested before her, muscles rippling with each small movement, his arms reaching forward to take her.

Conrad threw them into another intoxicating kiss, ravishing her, making her feel he couldn’t get enough of her. She slid her body against his, her breasts crushed against his chest, the flimsy fabric of her dress the only barrier between them.

He trailed kisses down her neck, devouring her throat, his breath hot and moist on her skin. His hand slid across her breast as he cupped its fullness through the fabric of her dress.
A little cry of pleasure escaped Bree’s lips.

She felt his hands wandering across her breasts, her waist, her hips, settling in the small of her back as he slowly slid down the zipper of her dress.

His mouth returned to the curve of her neck as he nuzzled against it. He slid his hands gently across her neckline, his fingers slipping inside it and over her shoulders so her dress slid down into a pool around her feet.

Conrad stood looking at her nearly naked form,
her sheer black knickers the only thing that covered her. His hands were on her waist but his eyes slipped across her whole body.

“The only thing that could make you look more beautiful,” he whispered into her ear, “is being completely naked.”

He skimmed his fingertips over the fine fabric of her underwear, sending an exquisite shudder up her spine. His touch was so gentle it was torture. His fingers slid under the flimsy material. He kept touching her. A muffled moan stuck in her throat.

There was only one way and that was all the way
.

She hooked her thumbs into the band of her
panties and slid them down over her hips, kicking off both the flimsy underwear and her high heeled shoes.

“Is this naked enough for you?” she
said.

Conrad’s response was to
cover her mouth with his. Wrapping his arms around her naked body, he lifted her up and tossed her onto the bed.

In a wild frenzy, he ripped off the rest of his clothes and stood at the foot of the bed in all his masculine glory while she reclined back, admiring the vision before her. His shoulders were broad and s
trong, his chest well muscled, his abdominals rippling with the slightest movement.

Conrad looked ma
gnificent in his nakedness. To Bree, nothing had ever seemed so natural, so wonderful.

From the foot of the bed, he brushed one hand softly across her leg and up her inner thigh, the bare flesh quivering with anticipation. Conrad was n
ow on his knees on the bed. His tongue joined his fingers as they explored her body.

His hands floated across the sensitive skin of her breasts, his fingers circling her aching nipples. Then he lunged at one nipple with his lips, pulling it into his mouth ferociously while his other hand cupped and massaged her other breast.

If it hadn’t been so damn pleasurable it would have been pain.

Bree’
s body writhed against his. He nudged his legs between hers and hovered over her on all fours. She reached down to run her fingers over his manly length and hold him in her hands. She caressed him, enjoying his moans.

“Do you like that?” she whispered.

He nodded.

“Are there other things you like?” She paused. “Have you ever been tied up?”

Bree had never done anything like this before but tonight she’d do this her way.

She would not be taken, and she certainly would not be bought.

He was hers. She would have him.

Sliding out from under him, she reached across to grab the two silk scarves sitting on the bedside table. Conrad
stared at her as he reclined on his side but she ignored his quizzical expression. Instead she pushed his shoulder so he fell back onto the bed.

She worked quickly, tying one scarf onto his wrist, then stretching the fabric across to the bed post. She tied the other scarf the same way into a firm knot, but just how firm she didn’t know. Would he be able to escape?

“Bree, do you know what you’re doing?” he asked.

Her voice was a whisper. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

He was physically strong, forceful in more ways than one. Wealthy and successful, perhaps he was right and she truly had no idea what could be bought with resources like his.

He was a powerful man and she had him at her mercy.

This was what she wanted, what she’d been waiting for.

She’d switched their positions completely as she now hovered over him on all fours. “You think you’re my client. Now
I’m
the master.”

Nestling up against him, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him with surprising tenderness. She peppered little kisses along his neck and chest. She nuzzled
her lips over his nipples. They puckered up instantly so she sucked on them gently.

S
he continued her exploration of his body, trailing little kisses down to his belly button and lower still.

Her breast accidentally swept against the bulge of his genitals, sending a charge through her and perhaps a greater one through him.

Looking at Conrad through hooded lids, she paused as though waiting for permission.

“Don’t stop,” he mumbled.

As if she was going to.

She went down on him, taking him into her mouth.
She heard him panting, his heart rate increasing, and took pleasure in his sexual excitement.

Bree felt her own sensual pleasure increasing, currents of electricity shooting through to the hot moist flesh between her thighs.

“I want to be inside you,” Conrad said.

She too
k her position and hovered over him on her knees, her legs parted. With his length in her hand, she brushed him up against herself and gasped at the exquisite pleasure. She repeated the movement. Another hot sensual current shot through her.

A few more stokes and she screamed out, deep sexual pleasure radiating through her body in waves.
She’d never had an orgasm so quickly.

Conrad pushed himself up and
slipped inside her with ease. They were rocking in unison. Renewed pleasure surged through her body.

There was a hot sexual ache deep inside her which only
he could relieve. He thrust deeper, more quickly, their need more urgent. She gasped for air, the tension too much for her. She couldn’t believe it as burning sexual pleasure once again pulsed through her body into the waves of a climax even more intense than before.