‘And you’re always on the lookout for anyone who wants to get too close just because you’re rich...?’
‘That’s right.’ His expression cooled.
‘Because you’ve had a bad experience?’ Susie mused.
‘You could say that,’ he drawled, relaxing. ‘And now is the question-and-answer session over?’
Susie didn’t answer. She was staring into space. He’d been hurt—badly hurt—by someone he’d trusted who had turned out to be after his money. She wondered what this mysterious woman looked like, had been like... It didn’t matter in the big picture, because she wasn’t going to get involved with him, but she was curious nevertheless.
Had he been madly in love with her?
Her stomach gave a little flip, because she couldn’t imagine him being madly in love with anyone. Even after only her brief contact with him he struck her as a man in total control of every aspect of his life.
What woman had had the power to bring this big, powerful man to his knees? She must have been quite something. Hence his learning curve...
‘Stop trying to work me out.’
‘Huh?’ Susie blinked and focused on him.
‘You’re trying to piece me together,’ Sergio said wryly. ‘Don’t. We can enjoy one another without too much in-depth analysis. Come and sit closer to me. It’s driving me crazy, seeing you and not being able to touch.’
Susie stood up, flexed her muscles, which had stiffened. and glanced at the roses taking up half her flat.
‘You’re going to have to take most of these back to your apartment,’ she said, buying time—because there was still a stubborn part of her that didn’t want to fall into his arms at the snap of his fingers. She felt like someone with one foot hanging off the edge of a cliff, even though she didn’t know why because, as he’d said, mutual lust didn’t involve the depth charge of a proper relationship...
This was going to be an adventure that would take her right out of her comfort zone.
She had tried the online dating in search of a soul mate and had found three losers and a would-be loser. She had been out with guys who had been the last word in fun, who had been laid-back and full of creative spark, and she had only been tempted to get close to one of them—and that one had ended up being just a little too much fun for her liking.
Sergio Burzi occupied a place of his own. He had laid his cards on the table. He wanted sex and nothing more. She wasn’t even really sure what he thought of her. Did he still think that she was after what he could give her?
It sounded so weirdly clinical—even though sex was the least clinical thing on the face of the earth.
She didn’t do clinical—not when it came to emotions—but...
What he aroused in her was so overwhelming. She just had to look at his cool, handsome face, just had to hear the deep timbre of his voice, and all her reservations flew out of her head.
She felt his eyes follow her as she strolled towards the window and then turned to look at him.
‘When you do, I’ll help you put them in vases. Or something...’
Sergio relaxed. He hadn’t even known how much he wanted this. ‘It’ll have to be the something...my apartment lacks vases. It’s the first time I will have had flowers returned to me...’
But there was a first time for everything.
Admittedly he had never factored that into his life before, but he was willing to go along for the ride...until, of course, the ride became boring and it was time to get off...
BUT RIGHT NOW...
He shut out the nagging little things that didn’t add up. Who cared? She wasn’t being interviewed for the job of being his life partner. This was about lust. This was about sex. He knew from experience that the physical never lasted, however good it was. Sooner rather than later tedium began to set in, and no amount of intellectual sparring could stanch the tide once it had begun.
The advantage of going out with high-powered career women was that they had less potential to become clingy. They had jobs, careers...there wasn’t any danger of them becoming dependent, needy, demanding.
He frowned, distracted by his train of thought.
‘Penny for them?’ Susie said lightly.
‘Come again?’
‘You’re frowning.’ She was drawn to sit right next to him, nestle into him, and she fought off the weakness. He would be very used to getting what he wanted from a woman. So even if this was all about physical attraction surely they could spend a little time talking.
‘It happens occasionally.’ Sergio focused on her with lazy intensity.
‘Why are you frowning? You must have everything you could possibly want in life. Although...’ she chewed her lip thoughtfully ‘...it’s not all about money and possessions, is it? I mean, you have an apartment that most people would kill for, but there’s more to life than a fancy apartment and a fast car...’
‘Are you about to launch into homilies about money not being the be-all and end-all?’
‘You’re so cynical.’
‘I prefer to call it realistic.’ He patted the space next to him and she shuffled along the sofa so that she was sitting a bit closer, with her legs crossed.
Sergio suppressed a sigh of frustration. Why had he thought that this might be a straightforward affair? Two adults attracted to one another who could enjoy one other in a fleeting, no-strings-attached situation? Had he really been stupid enough to imagine that some flowers would seamlessly pave the way?
‘I’ve never been that convinced about the advantages of being realistic,’ Susie said pensively. ‘I mean, I think optimism is much more important.’
Sergio detected the sound of warning bells ringing. ‘Which is precisely why I’m not your type,’ he inserted smoothly.
‘I wish you would stop reminding me of that. It just makes it hard for me to think about doing something that’s not going to last. I’m not an idiot. I know relationships end all the time. But I never thought I’d be the kind of person who gets involved with someone when I know it’s not going anywhere. I never thought I’d waste my time like that.’
‘That’s because this is probably the first time in your life that you’ve fallen prey to that little thing called desire.’ He reached out and lazily stroked her wrist. ‘The red dress was more obvious, but this shapeless outfit of yours is doing all sorts of interesting things to my system... Are you wearing a bra? No, I don’t think you are... Shuffle a bit closer and I can find out one way or the other. Of course if you are wearing a bra then it’s going to have to come off, because I want to feel your breasts in my hands...’
Susie’s breathing quickened. How was she supposed to think when he was saying stuff like that? And was he right? Was she feeling like this, behaving like this, because he turned her on as no one ever had in her life before?
‘I...I...I’ve had a boyfriend,’ she said weakly, clinging to the conversation even though talking was getting difficult when he was looking at her like that, his eyes all brooding and sexy and intense. ‘I know what...physical attraction is all about...’
‘Do