Lia was giving herself a headache, trying to make sense of it.
‘I’ll walk you to the door,’ she offered distractedly.
Gregorio knew he had no choice but to accept that it was time for him to leave and he slowly followed Lia down the hallway to the apartment door.
Lia had a lot of new information to think about. But he didn’t doubt for a moment that David Richardson was involved in this up to his pretty-boy handsome neck.
‘Thank you.’
Gregorio blinked as he focused on Lia standing hesitantly beside the still closed door to her apartment. ‘Sorry?’
She lifted her chin. ‘I appreciate it must have been difficult for you to tell me those things.’
Gregorio drew in a slow and steadying breath, aware that Lia was placing a tentative trust in him.
‘That doesn’t mean I forgive you.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Only that for the moment I’m cautiously giving you the benefit of the doubt.’
He couldn’t help but smile at her begrudging trust. ‘I can live with that.’
‘And call off whoever you have following me,’ she added with a frown. ‘It makes me uncomfortable to think of someone watching my every move.’
Gregorio would rather Lia felt a little discomfort than any harm came to her. If Richardson thought for one moment she knew of his duplicity there was no knowing what he would do. For the moment the other man felt secure, with his funds in an offshore company, but if Richardson ever began to doubt that security that might quickly change.
‘Gregorio?’
He grimaced. ‘Your father would have wanted someone to take care of you.’
She raised auburn brows. ‘I doubt he ever imagined it would be you.’
‘No,’ he conceded wryly. ‘Am I allowed a goodnight kiss?’
Lia burst out laughing. Which was pretty incredible after the conversation she’d just had with this man. But she couldn’t help her response. It was so ludicrous for a man like Gregorio to ask if he could do something he had decided he wanted to do.
‘When did you last ask a lady’s permission to kiss her?’
‘Never,’ he acknowledged dryly.
She continued to chuckle. ‘That’s honest, anyway.’
‘Your answer...?’
Despite the lightness of Gregorio’s tone, Lia could sense his inner tension. It was there in his expression, in the stiff set of his shoulders and the hands clenched at his sides.
Long and elegant hands she had found herself studying as they ate dinner together. Everything about Gregorio was elegant and controlled. The way he moved. The way he ate. The way he talked. All calmly and elegantly done, and all firmly under his control.
A part of Lia wanted to shake that control—if only for a few minutes.
Besides, it was very narrow in this hallway, and made even more so by Gregorio’s physically overwhelming presence. She could feel the heat of his body so close to her own, and breathe in that seductive aftershave...
‘Yes.’ She looked directly into his fathomless black eyes.
His brows rose. ‘Yes?’
Lia felt a smile parting her lips. It felt good to smile again. In a genuine show of happiness rather than the polite curving of her lips she had been showing everyone for months now. Besides, she had just succeeded in surprising the hell out of Gregorio.
‘Yes,’ she repeated, more firmly.
She didn’t need the warmth of another human being tonight, she wanted it—and not just anyone’s warmth either. Gregorio’s. She very badly wanted to know how it felt to be held and kissed by Gregorio de la Cruz.
Gregorio hesitated no longer and moved in closer to Lia, his hands moving up to cup her cheeks as he lifted her face, his gaze holding hers as he slowly lowered and tilted his head to claim her lips with his own.
Soft lips parted slightly beneath his as he continued to kiss her. Tasting. Sipping. Lia’s hands moved up to grasp hold of his wrists and she moved up on tiptoe to increase the pressure of her lips against his.
Gregorio felt as if he had been in a constant state of arousal for days...weeks—which he had—and now he was actually kissing Lia again he never wanted to stop.
His arms moved about her waist and he pulled her body in tight against the hardness of his as he deepened the kiss. His tongue swept lightly across and then between her lips to enter the welcoming heat beyond.
It felt as if he was inside Lia as she sucked his tongue in deeper still, her cheeks hollowing around his invading tongue in a parody of how it would feel to have him thrusting between her thighs. Hot and wet, and oh-so-good.
Gregorio gave a groan and began to stroke his tongue in and out of her mouth, his arousal throbbing hot and heavy in response as he placed his hands on Lia’s bottom and pulled her body in even tighter against his own.
Lia gave a low moan, her breathing ragged as she felt the length of Gregorio’s arousal pressing against the softness of her abdomen. Heat built between her thighs in response. Her nipples felt hard as unripe berries, and achingly sensitive against the restricting lace of her bra.
She pressed in closer still as she released Gregorio’s wrists to slide her hands up his chest, until her fingers became entangled in the dark and silky hair at his nape. She couldn’t seem to get close enough—she wanted more, ached for so much more.
Gregorio broke the kiss to trail his lips hotly down the arched column of her throat. ‘Can I stay?’ he asked throatily. ‘Please, Lia, let me—’
‘Yes.’
She didn’t even allow him to finish. She didn’t want to talk—she wanted...wanted...him. She wanted Gregorio, and the mindless pleasure she already knew they would have together.
David had been her only lover to date, and Lia had always assumed that her lack of orgasm was a fault on her part, not his. Had thought that they needed time to adjust and become accustomed to each other in that way. That pleasure would come with the physical familiarity of being married to each other.
But just a few minutes of being in Gregorio’s arms, of having his lips and hands on her, and Lia felt as if she was about to spontaneously combust. As if something inside her was about to burst free, taking her to a place she had never been before.
‘I said yes.’ She frowned as Gregorio continued to look at her searchingly.
‘Are you going to hate me again in the morning?’
‘I might hate you again later on tonight, but right now hate is the last thing I’m feeling. Can we not dissect this, Gregorio?’ She frowned as those black eyes continued to question her. ‘Conversation is very overrated, you know.’
His tension broke as he smiled. ‘You are going to be bossy in bed,’ he decided with satisfaction.
‘I’m going to be bossy out of bed if we don’t go to my bedroom very soon!’
Gregorio chuckled softly as he placed his hands beneath her bottom and lifted her up off the floor. ‘Wrap your legs around my waist,’ he encouraged.
‘Now who’s being bossy...?’
Lia trailed off, her breathing becoming erratic as Gregorio turned to walk down the hallway towards her bedroom.
‘Oh, God...’
Her arms clung tightly about his neck and she buried her face against his throat as each step he took ground her body sensually against his, sending