‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ she said, meeting his eyes briefly. ‘It was one of those days.’
‘How about a drink to settle your nerves?’ he suggested.
She lifted her chin at him. ‘I’m not nervous.’
He smiled and watched as the colour in her cheeks delicately spread. He lifted a finger and stroked it along the rosy curve of her face. ‘Yes, you are.’
Her mouth twisted ruefully as she slipped on to the bar stool beside him. ‘All right, I admit it. I am.’
‘You do not need to be nervous, Charlotte,’ he said. ‘This evening is to re-establish a friendship between us.’
She looked at him with wide uncertain eyes. ‘Do you think ex-lovers can ever truly be friends?’ she asked.
He looked down at her upturned face, his gaze lingering on the soft bow of her mouth. ‘Who knows?’ he said, meeting her gaze once more. ‘I had every intention of giving it a try, but as soon as you walked in I wanted to take you upstairs and—’
She put a finger up to his lips to stall his speech. ‘Don’t, please…this is hard enough without you tempting me like that.’
He captured her finger and, bringing it up to his mouth, pressed his lips against it. ‘So you are tempted?’
She drew in a husky little breath. ‘A bit…’
‘Only a little bit?’
Her lips curved upwards in another twisted smile. ‘OK, a lot.’
He brought her finger back up to his mouth and sucked on it, his eyes still holding hers.
Charlotte felt the tug of desire between her legs, heat exploding like a burst of fuel-driven flame. How could she have ever thought they could simply be friends? It was impossible with this need pulsing between them. She could feel it in the air as it tightened around them. She could see it in his eyes as his pupils flared and she could feel it in his touch. The touch her body remembered so well it positively ached to feel it again.
‘Damon…’
‘No.’ He used the same tactic she had done to stop her from speaking, his finger making her lips buzz with sensation. ‘Listen to me. We have a past that will not go away. I can feel it like a living breathing entity between us.’
‘I can’t give you what you want.’
‘Yes, you can,’ he insisted. ‘You can relieve me from this torment of longing. We were so good together. We can be so again. I know it. I feel it every time I touch you.’
‘Damon…’ She took a breath to prepare herself. ‘There’s something you should know…’
‘I know all I need to know,’ he said. ‘You still want me. We can never be just friends, Charlotte. There is too much passion between us.’
‘We can’t have a future unless we deal with the past.’
‘The past is in the past, Charlotte. I do not want to revisit it again. I believed you to be guilty of a crime you still say you did not commit. I want to believe you are incapable of lying but I think it best that we leave it at that. It bears no relevance to what is between us now.’
Charlotte felt the crushing weight of her guilt press against her chest. She could hardly breathe for the unbearable load of it. She was deceiving him at this very moment.
‘This is a second chance for us,’ he said. ‘I was wrong to cut off all contact with you. I see that now. It was born out of anger and pride and it served no purpose. I should have listened to your explanation. I owed you that at the very least, but I was too damned proud.’
‘Damon…I don’t know how to tell you this, but—’
‘Do not say you hate me, for I do not believe it,’ he said, interrupting her.
‘No, I don’t hate you, but I…’ She swallowed the rest of her words.
‘I know you are uneasy about us resuming our relationship,’ he said. ‘You were hurt before and no doubt still feel vulnerable, but I will try not to rush you, even though it is killing me.’
She gave him a little smile in spite of her anguish. ‘You only have two speeds, Damon: fast and faster.’
He grinned at her. ‘You know me so well, agape mou, even after all this time.’
‘Excuse me, Mr Latousakis.’ A hotel employee approached them. ‘The meal you requested is now ready in your room.’
‘Thank you,’ Damon said.
Charlotte raised her brows. ‘We’re eating here? At the hotel?’
He took her hand and helped her from the stool. ‘I hope you do not mind. I wanted us to be alone.’
She nervously followed him to the bank of lifts. She had been expecting a public restaurant and a dance floor with other couples, not a private intimate meal in his penthouse suite. Resisting him was going to be a whole lot harder without an audience to restrain her desire to be in his arms again.
He opened the door for her and she stepped in to see fragrant flowers in every corner of the room, candles flickering and a bottle of French champagne sitting in an ice bucket beside the table, which was set for two.
‘You’ve gone to so much trouble…’ She looked around her in amazement. ‘I don’t know what to say…’
He pulled out a chair for her. ‘Come and sit down and we will enjoy the meal the chef has prepared specially.’
Heat coiled in her stomach at the look in his eyes as he took the chair opposite. He was so dangerously sexy when he looked at her like that. She had no defences to withstand the temptation of his smile, let alone his touch.
He served their meal from the dishes set on a trolley beside the table, each movement of his hands reminding her of how those long fingers had known every inch of her body.
She had given herself so freely to him. Her lack of experience had not been an issue; she hadn’t even mentioned it until after they had made love. Her body had felt no discomfort in receiving him the first time; she had felt as if she had been made for him and him alone.
‘You are very quiet,’ Damon remarked once their entrée and main meal was over.
‘Sorry…I was miles away.’
‘I am boring you?’
‘No, of course not…it’s just that…’
He reached for her hand and held it in the warmth of his. ‘Shall we dance?’
‘Dance? Here?’
He pulled her to her feet. ‘You loved to dance, Charlotte, remember? You always moved in my arms as if we were one person.’
She sent her gaze downwards. ‘I haven’t danced in years…’
He flicked the switch on a remote control and the soft strains of a romantic ballad filled the air.
She felt his arms come around her and her feet moved in time with his, her body so close to the warmth of his, she felt her heart begin to increase its pace.
‘See?’ he said, his deep voice a sexy rumble against her breasts. ‘You fit so well against me.’
Charlotte gave herself up to the music and the feel of his body moving in time with hers. It was like stepping back in time, her whole body acting as if the past had not happened. Her arms looped around his neck, which brought her even closer to his growing erection. She felt it harden against her and when she looked up into his eyes she knew there was no way she would be able to resist him, audience or not.
His hands