Luccy had decided before coming to New York that if she and Sin did meet again she would not allow him to get under her skin. ‘Do you think I succeeded?’ she came back dryly.
Once again Sin couldn’t help but admire her easy confidence. ‘Judging by the way Darren almost fell into your cleavage? I would say that’s a yes,’ he confirmed mockingly. ‘The only problem is, Darren doesn’t have the final word over any future contracts you may or may not have with PAN.’
Luccy met his gaze unblinkingly. ‘But you do?’
‘Of course.’ He gave a derisive inclination of his head.
‘Pity.’ She gave him a sweeping glance before turning her attention to the rest of the room. ‘Did you say that your grandfather’s here?’
Sin’s mouth curved into a humourless smile. ‘He may be eighty but he still makes a point of always appearing at these occasions. Would you like to meet him?’
‘No, I don’t think so, thank you,’ she refused lightly.
‘He doesn’t bite,’ Sin assured her dryly.
Unlike this man, that silver gaze warned Luccy!
‘You don’t want any champagne. You don’t want to meet my grandfather. What do you want, Luccy?’ he asked softly.
The huskiness of his voice caused a tingling at Luccy’s nape and sent a quiver of awareness down the length of her spine, the bodice of her gown suddenly feeling too tight as her breasts swelled in response.
This man was playing with her, Luccy easily guessed, and he was enjoying doing it too!
‘From you?’ she bit out. ‘I thought I had already made it clear at our last… meeting, that you don’t have anything that I want.’
‘I believe what you wanted was another contract with PAN?’
She looked at him coldly. ‘There are plenty of other companies who have just as big an advertising budget, you know.’
‘Wow and Paul Bridger came up trumps, after all, did they—?
‘Where are you going?’ Sin reached out to take a light hold of her arm as she would have walked away.
‘Anywhere that you aren’t,’ she snapped. ‘For your information, I haven’t seen or spoken to Paul Bridger—or anyone that knows him,’ she added pointedly, ‘since talking to you at your hotel that evening. How about you?’
Sin raised a disdainful eyebrow. ‘Why the hell would I want to see him?’
She shrugged those creamy shoulders as she looked at him challengingly. ‘Oh, the two of you seemed to have so much in common.’
Insulting as well as courageous, Sin acknowledged ruefully. Not that she had lacked courage the last time they had spoken, she just seemed different in some way. Or was it himself that was different? He’d had the same eight weeks to think of this woman and wonder if he really had been wrong about her, as Luccy had insisted so vehemently.
In the circumstances it was unfortunate that the first time he’d seen her this evening she had obviously been charming yet another executive, of PAN this time!
Luccy looked pointedly at the fingers that still encircled her arm. ‘Take your hand off me, Sin,’ she instructed softly. ‘I’ll give you three seconds and then I’m going to start screaming,’ she added when he continued to frown down at her.
His mouth twisted. ‘That would definitely make you the centre of attention!’
She raised dark brows. ‘I believe that would bother you more than it would me.’ After all, there were hundreds of members of the press present…
His eyes darkened with amusement as he slowly released her. ‘Aren’t you becoming a little—reckless, Luccy?’
‘Am I?’ She resisted the effort to rub the tingling spot on her arm where Sin’s fingers had just touched her. ‘Or maybe it’s just that I don’t care to be in the company of a man who has the opinion of me that you do,’ she said sarcastically.
‘And what opinion is that, Luccy?’
She gave a dismissive laugh. ‘I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone else who has believed me capable of blackmail—let alone actually accused me of it!’ Her voice had hardened over the last words, her eyes glittering angrily as she looked at him in furious challenge.
Sin’s gaze was narrowed. ‘You have to admit—’
‘I don’t have to admit anything, least of all to being guilty to any of the accusations you made against me,’ Luccy insisted. ‘And, fortunately, I don’t have to stand here and hear them repeated, either. I find it rather warm in here, so if you’ll excuse me—’
‘No, Luccy, I won’t excuse you,’ Sin growled harshly as he stepped in front of her to stop her departure.
Sin wondered what it was about this particular woman that just touching the silky softness of her skin a few minutes ago had made him want to sweep her up in his arms and carry her out of here to the nearest bed.
None of the other women he had known had ever made him feel like shaking her and kissing her at the same time! In light of what had happened between them two months ago the first emotion was easily explained, but surely that second instinct should have been nullified by the first?
She eyed him coldly. ‘What do you mean no?’
His mouth quirked humourlessly. ‘Exactly what I said,’ he grated tersely. ‘I haven’t finished talking to you yet—’
‘But I have finished talking to you,’ she announced calmly.
Sin looked about them impatiently; if anything the room was even more crowded and noisy than it had been a few minutes ago. ‘Let’s get out of here and go somewhere we can talk without interruption,’ he rasped.
Luccy gave a disbelieving shake of her head. ‘I’m not going anywhere with you, Sin.’
One thing she had decided on before she came to New York: if she did see Sin again then she certainly wasn’t going to allow herself to be alone with him.
She only had to look at him now, at the lean ruthlessness of his face, the hard contours of his muscled body, to know that she was still as physically aware of him as she had been the night they’d met.
She only had to look at the hot glitter of Sin’s eyes as he looked at her, the sensual twist to his lips, to know that he felt exactly the same way.
And it wasn’t going to happen.
Not again.
Not ever.
He raised his eyebrows in tacit challenge. Then, ‘Scared, Luccy?’
She flicked her hair back over her shoulder as her chin rose. ‘That ploy may have worked once, Sin, but it isn’t going to work a second time.’
Sin stood so he was barely inches away from her. ‘How many times have you thought of our time together, Luccy? How many times have you lain awake in your bed at night aching with arousal?’ he murmured.
Now that he was with Luccy again, practically touching her, Sin could recall each and every one of the nights he had lain awake in his own bed, hot and hard as he thought of the silky feel of this woman’s skin, as he remembered surging into the heat of her tight sheath as she climaxed wildly and took him with her.
Unfortunately those memories had always quickly been followed by the realisation that she had only been using him that night…
How often had she thought of Sin Sinclair? Luccy asked herself achingly. Too many times, considering their last conversation! On several occasions she had even dreamt of this man, actually felt him