‘I wouldn’t,’ she warned him coolly, heart pounding a mile a minute. ‘We have panic buttons carefully placed throughout the centre and if you follow me I’ll set one off.’
He stared at her for a long moment and then smiled.
Lexi’s breath caught at the dazzling effect of that smile. Then it turned lazy as he noted her reaction. ‘You’re bluffing, Miss Somers.’
Yes, she was. They had one panic button in the centre and she had no doubt he’d be on her before she could even instruct someone to activate it.
‘Follow me and find out,’ she dared, wondering at the husky challenge in her voice. Something about this man’s inherent sense of authority, that came with being super rich, or super famous, rubbed her up the wrong way.
He cocked his head, his eyes running over her as if she was a delicacy he wouldn’t mind nibbling. Heat constricted her throat and when his gaze dropped to her chest her breasts seemed to expand and tighten in a completely visceral response that was as shocking as it was unexpected.
His eyes, no longer icy, met hers and lust, the like she had never experienced before, exploded deep in her belly as she registered the inherent interest he didn’t have the good manners to hide. ‘Don’t be long.’
Don’t be … Lexi stalked out of the room.
Had she ever met a ruder, more charismatic man in her life?
LEO watched the petite brunette sweep out of her office as if the hounds of hell were after her, her ponytail bobbing behind her head like an overwound pendulum.
Run, angel, run.
He smiled to himself, unable to take his eyes off her trim figure.
He shouldn’t have goaded her like that but he couldn’t resist the way her exotic golden eyes had sparkled at him crossly and the way her creamy skin had flushed pink.
She’d had the strangest effect on him the minute she’d come striding through the door like some field marshal about to do battle. Her heart-shaped face tipped at an angle that said she could easily take on Alexander the Great and win.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the strangest effect. Maybe it was a purely sexual one, but it had hit him from left field because she wasn’t his usual type. Too uptight—despite the Snow White attire—and too small. Delicate even. Her waist appearing so slender he could wrap his hands around her without any trouble at all. He liked his women a little taller, a little more sophisticated and a lot more accommodating.
He cupped his hands behind his head and spied the contents of her desk. Papers, brightly coloured pens, cotton dolls and a computer keyboard, all neatly arranged. Soft pink curtains hung from the single window and various child related paraphernalia lined the walls.
And some New-Agey smell had got up his nose and he had yet to locate the source. He wondered how Lexi Somers smelled and whether her neat figure would live up to the promise outlined in her prim blouse and red skirt. Then he told himself to quit it—he wasn’t here for that.
Only his mind had already conjured up a pleasurable image of the hint of puckered nipples beneath the lacy bra she wore and his mouth watered as he wondered at their colour. Their taste. He’d noticed her response to his perusal of her body earlier and as much as she might be trying to appear cool and calm—he could tell she was a fireball of nerves inside.
What would she be like in bed? Coolly efficient, or hot and abandoned?
The thought hadn’t fully formed in his mind before the annoying bell over her office door tinkled. His senses stood to attention at the sound of her determined footsteps crossing the linoleum flooring in shoes more befitting a party-girl than a childcare manager. And what was up with that? Clearly she was a woman who played on her sexuality.
Definitely hot and abandoned, he decided, and unconsciously breathed deep as she skirted past him. Just the hint of vanilla and … musk? Seductive, whatever it was, he thought, slightly bemused at his one-track mind.
‘I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time, Mr …’
‘Aleksandrov.’ He said his surname more slowly, amused despite himself that she might really not know who he was. It happened so rarely nowadays.
‘Aleksandrov.’ She smiled, her hands folded primly together on her desk as if the matter was resolved.
Leo twisted his mouth into a smile and slouched back in the wooden chair built for a doll. ‘And why is that, Miss Somers?’ he asked casually, unwilling to refute her mistaken belief that she was in control of this situation just yet.
‘I’ve checked with my colleagues and there has been no message about a change in pick up arrangements so I cannot release Ty Weston into your care.’
Leo felt an itch attack his left eyebrow and ignored it. Just as he ignored her statement. Instead he folded his arms across his chest and stared her down, waiting for her to break. Surprisingly, she held his gaze longer than he had expected. Then she sat straighter. ‘I think it’s time you left.’
If only he could.
‘What are you going to do when nobody comes to collect Ty?’
A flicker of doubt clouded her eyes and she let out a pent-up breath. ‘Look, I’ve had a lousy day so far and you’re not making it any better. I have no idea who you— Oh! You’re—’
‘Ty’s father.’
He spoke at the same time as she had deduced the information and he raised a mocking brow at her cleverness.
‘The eyes. You have his eyes.’
Leo didn’t know that. He’d never once looked at the photos his security team provided in their regular updates on his son.
A sheen of sweat broke out across his brow at the thought of meeting him now. Already emotions and guilt he’d had no trouble keeping at bay for years were swelling inside him like heavy rain filling a river, and he mentally cursed Amanda Weston and her conniving ways.
Leo stood up, ignoring the heat of Lexi Somers’ gaze as it raked over his chest, pulling his stomach muscles tight.
Perhaps he should have told her his relationship to Ty from the outset, but the last thing he wanted was word to get out that he had a son. If it did he’d have to supply Ty with a security detail for the rest of his childhood and he had wanted to avoid that at all costs. ‘Fine. Now you can go get him. I’ll wait here.’
The surprise that had softened her full lips disappeared and she shook her head. ‘I’m sorry; I can’t do that.’
Leo felt the return of his earlier annoyance at her stubbornness. ‘Why not?’
‘You’re not on his list of appointed people permitted to collect him.’
Chort vozmi! ‘What a load of rubbish,’ he rasped.
She stood up to face him and gripped the edges of her desk. ‘It’s not rubbish. We have procedures in the centre to ensure the children’s safety and—’
‘If you knew who I was you wouldn’t be arguing with me.’
He blew out a breath. He sounded like a self-important ass and the look on the brunette’s face said she’d come to the same conclusion.
‘Why? Because you’re above the law?’ The imperious question didn’t require an answer but he wanted to give her one. He wanted to take the line his Cossack ancestors would have done: press her up against the wall and take what her wide-spaced golden eyes had been offering since she’d first marched into the room. Then he’d take his son and get the hell out of there.
Pity