He waited until she left the dance floor. He wasn’t going anywhere until he’d spoken to her. He could dance, but he wasn’t about to dance in front of hundreds of his fellow medicos. He’d rather dance à deux and so he waited.
* * *
The band were playing a love song that was impossible to dance to without a partner. She needed pop music. Something she could lose herself in. She gestured to Sarah—she was going to grab a drink—and made her way to the bar at the side of the ballroom.
She had intended to get a water—dancing had taken her mind off the earlier phone call—but once she stopped dancing and reached the bar all her doubts returned. She’d have a water later. She needed another drink to numb the pain.
‘Can I buy you a drink?’
Brighde’s skin tingled as she felt, rather than saw, someone behind her. His voice was deep and quiet and although she couldn’t see him she knew he was addressing her. She closed her eyes, imagining a face to go with the voice, before she turned around, hoping she wasn’t going to be disappointed.
She wasn’t.
She turned to find the most gorgeous man she’d seen in a long time at her side. How had she not noticed him in the room? Okay, there were hundreds of people at the conference but seriously, he was magnificent. She must have been more distracted than she’d realised.
He watched her as he waited for her answer. His dark eyes studied her, captivating her with his gaze.
‘The drinks are free, you know,’ she replied.
‘In that case, I’ll get you two.’ He grinned at her, lightening the seriousness of his dark stare, and Brighde lost the last remnants of her composure.
He looked like European royalty. No, he wasn’t clean-cut enough for royalty. His dark hair was slightly too long, exploding around his oval face into soft curls that just begged her to reach out and touch them. His jaw was covered in designer stubble, his eyes were dark and his forehead was strong. He was dark and swarthy and sexy as hell. Confidence oozed from him. He was impeccably dressed—his dark navy suit hung from his shoulders and fitted his frame, the pants were slim, encasing powerful thighs. He looked like a European polo player. Something out of a Jilly Cooper novel. He looked rich and successful, although of course she had no idea if that was the case, and he wanted to buy her a drink. If there was a downside to his offer she couldn’t think of one.
‘What are you having?’ he asked. He didn’t wait for her to accept his offer. He just assumed she wouldn’t refuse. Was that confidence or was it simply an assumption based on the fact it was an open bar? She didn’t know but she also didn’t care. She wasn’t going anywhere. Not now.
She shouldn’t mix her drinks but the bar wasn’t offering Martinis and she knew she needed more than water if she was going to be brave enough to keep up her side of the conversation with this gorgeous man. ‘I’ll have a white wine,’ she said as she perched on a bar stool. She didn’t need to sit down but she needed to take a step back. He was standing close to her; that wasn’t a problem but she wanted to get a good second look at him and she needed a bit of distance to do that.
He ordered and handed her a glass. His fingers brushed hers and a spark arced between them, setting her already nervous heart racing. It had been several months since she’d shared a drink with a man but she knew it wasn’t the length of time making her react this way.
Was the touch accidental? she wondered as he tapped his beer glass against her wine and made a toast. ‘To new experiences.’
He held her gaze a fraction longer than was polite and her stomach flipped and she knew his touch had been deliberate. Her body was responding to him in a way it never had before. She’d never felt such immediate attraction or, if she was honest, such blatant lust before. He made her think of naked bodies and tangled sheets and raw, amazing sex and she knew exactly how this night would end. ‘Indeed,’ she replied as a sense of delicious anticipation flooded through her. She smiled and added, ‘I’m Brighde.’
‘Xavier.’
She didn’t need to know any more than that.
‘Have you enjoyed the conference?’ he asked her.
So he was part of the conference and hadn’t just snuck in for the free drinks.
‘It’s been really good,’ she said as she put her glass on the bar and crossed her legs, pleased that she’d had a little bit of free time to lie by the hotel pool and work on her tan. ‘But I could do with a few days off to recover before I go back to work. I’m heading home tomorrow, back to work on Monday.’
‘That’s a pity. I’ll be here for a few more days.’
‘Work or pleasure?’ she asked.
‘Purely pleasure.’ He kept his dark eyes fixed on her as he reached past her shoulder, picking up a napkin from the bar. His arm brushed against her skin and she could feel his words on her cheek, soft little puffs of air. She knew he didn’t need the napkin, she knew it had just been an excuse to lean in but she wasn’t complaining. She could feel the electricity surging between them. They could power the room with the heat that was being generated between them. She wasn’t aware of the music, the dancing, of anything that was going on around them. She was lost in the sensation he was evoking in her. She could feel his charisma wrapping itself around her as his pheromones enveloped her. Her nipples hardened and she squirmed in her seat. She pressed her thighs together as heat pooled low in her belly.
‘I’ve been working in Scotland,’ he told her, ‘but the conference seemed like a good way to keep the taxman happy and visit my family.’
‘Family?’
‘My parents live here.’
‘You’re travelling alone? No partner? No wife?’ She played with the ends of her hair, feigning casualness. She had to know the answer. She had rules and standards. She knew she would have sex with this gorgeous stranger—having sex would be a far healthier, and much more entertaining, distraction than drowning her worries with alcohol—but first she needed to establish some ground rules. She didn’t want to make any mistakes.
‘No wife. No girlfriend. No significant other.’
Now it was her turn to smile. ‘Good to know.’ She kept her gaze fixed on him now, wanting him to know where she stood. What she wanted. She didn’t need to know anything else about him. She knew she wouldn’t see him again. He was only visiting; she was leaving tomorrow. She hadn’t had sex for ages and a one-night stand with this gorgeous man was a good option all round. No commitment, just a bit of fun and a good way to keep her mind busy. She didn’t want time to think about her brother’s phone call. She wanted something to take her mind off her situation. This was perfect.
She wanted Xavier.
And she wanted him to know that.
But Xavier was looking to his right.
Sarah had joined them.
Brighde watched her friend looking from her to Xavier and she knew she was taking in the distance, or lack of, between them. She watched as Sarah, quite blatantly, checked him out.
‘I’m off,’ Sarah said when she’d finished her inspection. ‘Are you coming?’
Brighde thought about it for a second—okay, to be honest, a millisecond—she didn’t need any longer than that when Xavier was looking at her with his come-to-bed eyes. ‘No, I think I’m going to stay here for a bit.’
She knew Sarah’s question had been rhetorical. She knew her plans for the rest of the evening were written all over her face but she didn’t care. She wasn’t even looking at Sarah as she answered; she couldn’t make herself tear her eyes away from Xavier. He oozed sex