Oh, no. She should be concentrating on how to adapt this city-sized carnival to something on a suitable scale for the Acosta event—not thinking about Diego’s minty breath on her ear.
‘What do you think so far, Maxie?’ he shouted above the noise.
‘Like I’ve only ever worked in monochrome before,’ she admitted, making a grateful return to business mode. ‘If I can capture all this—’ She gestured around.
‘You will,’ Diego yelled confidently, locking his strong arm even more tightly around her shoulders as they got jostled. ‘But no more business tonight—tonight is fiesta. Once a year we can forget about everything and just let go.’
That was what she was afraid of. There was danger behind Diego’s laughing eyes, and she had too many secrets to let herself go, as he suggested. In fact it was time to move away from the danger zone. The crowd was so dense now they were locked together like lovers. Diego glanced down. Their stares met and held and it was the most natural thing on earth when he kissed her.
There was nothing natural about it. Diego was her employer and she was here on business. Purely business, she told herself, slowly melting.
‘Have you seen enough?’ he murmured, nuzzling his mouth against her lips. ‘Is there some more research you feel you should do?’
‘No.’
‘Do you think we’ll make it back to the apartment?’ he murmured, smiling against her mouth.
‘We can only try.’
Locking his arm around her shoulders, Diego led her swiftly away.
THEY ran laughing into the apartment. Slamming the door behind them, Diego leaned back against it and dragged her into his arms. ‘I’ve wanted this since the first moment we met…’
‘Liar.’ Locking her hands behind Diego’s neck, she threw up a challenging stare. ‘I haven’t forgotten your face when you stood on the dock watching me berth that boat.’
‘Will I ever forget?’
‘Brute!’
‘Sloppy sailor.’
‘Savage.’
Diego stopped her talking with a kiss. ‘I should have done that a long time ago,’ he said, swinging her into his arms.
Carrying her into the bedroom, he kicked the door shut behind them and lowered her to the ground in front of him. She held her breath as he slowly slid the shoestring straps of her dress from her shoulders, never once taking his eyes from her. The sliver of silk fell to the floor, revealing the racy lingerie Diego had chosen for her in all its insubstantial glory.
‘Very nice,’ he murmured approvingly.
‘I’m glad you like it,’ she said, realising that Diego gave her confidence as he dropped kisses on her shoulders and on her neck, and made her shiver with desire when he whispered outrageous things in her ear. He made her laugh until she cried and begged him for more. ‘You’d better not stop this time,’ she warned, teasing his bottom lip with her teeth.
‘You’re very forward, Señorita Parrish…’
Yes, she was—incredibly. Maybe because something deep deep down told her this was going to be different. Because Diego was different. She had waited a long time for this and she wasn’t about to play the shrinking violet.
‘You’re overdressed,’ she said, shivering with nerves and anticipation.
Diego had no inhibitions, and tugged off his top without a word.
‘Shameless,’ she whispered, filling her eyes with his incredible form as she trembled with sexual excitement. He was so big. And those sexy tattoos… ‘Your belt?’ she prompted.
‘Whatever you say…’ Releasing it, he let it hang. Undoing his jeans, he dropped them and kicked them away. ‘Boots?’ he suggested.
‘Not a bad idea,’ she agreed, loving the fact they shared the same humour.
‘We made it to the apartment,’ he commented. ‘What are our chances of making it to the bed?’
That was clearly not a serious question as Diego didn’t wait for her to answer. Swinging her into his arms, he carried her over to the bed and set her down gently on top of it. Stretching out beside her, he made her pulse rage out of control. His earring flashed in a beam of light stolen from the hallway, and as she stared into his sleepy black tiger eyes he seemed more a creature of the night than ever. The width of his shoulders was deliciously intimidating. The power and promise in his muscular, deeply tanned body stormed her brain with erotic thoughts. By the time he took hold of her in a grip so light she could have broken free at any time she was on fire for him, but Diego made no move to drag her close. He was waiting for her to come to him, she realised when she read his eyes. That was the deal. That was Diego’s deal.
He had never wanted a woman more, and had to smile when Maxie, in her typical up-front way, felt she had to explain to him that her experience in the bedroom was below average, but not non-existent.
‘Thank you for being so frank with me,’ he said, adopting the same serious tone, though he couldn’t quite keep the smile from tugging at his lips.
‘Are you disappointed with me?’ she said, moving restlessly in his arms.
‘Disappointed about what?’ he asked, brushing his lips across her mouth when he wasn’t teasing her lips with his tongue.
‘That I’m not a virgin and I’m not an expert either?’
‘Let me think,’ he replied. ‘Hmm. No. I just want to kiss you again.’
‘This isn’t fair,’ she complained when he released her. ‘I know nothing about your experience. Okay,’ she said quickly, ‘I don’t want to know.’
He kissed her again. Over and over. He was hungry, but he held back, knowing Maxie had been disappointed in the past and probably expected the worst now. Everything was by the book for Maxie, and she had been reading too conservatively. It made him more determined than ever that she was going to remember tonight for all the right reasons.
She had never imagined Diego could be so gentle, so caring, or so controlled, or that his murmured promises could both reassure and excite her. They had run into the apartment like two storm fronts meeting, but this was better, she realised as he slowly undressed her.
‘Patience,’ he murmured, working some magic with his hands when she angled her body to show how much she wanted him.
‘Don’t make me wait too long,’ she warned shakily as Diego kissed a leisurely path across her neck and on over her chest. His hands knew just where to touch, and promised more pleasure than she had ever known. Closing her eyes, she indulged herself by exploring Diego’s extraordinary physique, but when she felt the size of his erection pressing against her she sucked in a nervous breath.
‘Relax’ he murmured, adding some more suggestions to excite her.
‘Is that even possible?’
‘Why don’t we find out?’ he said with a kiss.
She parted her lips under the pressure of his tongue, and as Diego’s kisses grew more heated so her own hungry demands grew. He suckled her nipples through the cobweb-fine lace of her bra then, opening the catch, he pulled it off and tossed it aside. Breath shivered out of her as he made a light pass with his stubble-blackened chin across the sensitive peaks, and he drew another soft moan of need when he moved his attentions to her belly. She was trembling uncontrollably now, but Diego continued teasing and stroking as she writhed helplessly beneath him.
It wasn’t until his fingers found