her back, feel his warm breath on her bare shoulder, his heavy scent filling her nostrils. Combined with the intoxicating memory of his lips on hers, the combination was lethal.
‘You look amazing!’
‘Thanks.’ He wasn’t the first to have told her that, Annie reminded herself—after all it was obligatory for people to say that to the bridesmaids. ‘I don’t always look this good.’
‘Modest, too!’ He laughed.
‘I didn’t mean that... ’ She shook her head against his shoulder. How could she explain that this rather passable parcel was down to weeks of preparation, that the very groomed woman he held in his arms was an absolute one-off?
He lowered his head slightly, so close his chin was dusting her cheek as he whispered in the shell of her ear.
‘You smell amazing.’
Now, that wasn’t expected—she could feel her throat clench, a knot of anticipation tightening in her stomach as his breath tickled her ear.
‘You feel amazing.’
There was just a small increase of pressure on her back. Her stomach curled inside. She almost wept in frustration as the slow music stopped and couples stood back a fraction and clapped or frantically ran for freedom. Annie knew she ought to go. This man was so potently sexual it would be so, so easy to say or do something she might regret, so pathetically easy to misread the signs and make an utter fool of herself.
And anyway he had a girlfriend.
Thanking him, she turned to go, desperate almost for the normality of Melanie or the safety of the loos, where she could splash her burning face in cool water, but Iosef caught her hand.
‘Where are you going?’
‘I ought to—’
‘You ought to relax.’ He gave a lazy smile. ‘Jackie’s gone, your duties are all over, you can enjoy the last dance. Anyway...’ he pulled her back to him ‘...it would be very rude to leave me like this!’
She didn’t know what he meant, not sure if she’d misunderstood, but as his hands drew her in, as her body returned from whence it had been, like a dint in the pillow, her head returned to its rightful place, she knew that she hadn’t misinterpreted, knew for sure that she hadn’t when he held her just that little bit closer.
‘Let’s hope this is a very long dance... ’ His voice was low and husky in her ear—shockingly inappropriate but so very, very sexy. He brushed against her as they moved. She could see her colleagues drifting past as they danced or sat on the sidelines and chatted. Perhaps there’d be a few nudges, but he’d danced with enough women to ensure the spotlight wasn’t on them now and not a single person watching would have guessed what was going on before their eyes.
She’d never felt like this.
Just dancing with him mocked a hundred times over the efforts of lovers who had quickly come and gone! Arousal coursed through her, thick arousal that moved slowly through her body, stirring her as it went, each throb of the music resonating through her body, each breath, each movement of her chest somehow unfathomably provocative, his breath shorter now in her ear.
‘I want to kiss you.’
‘You can’t.’
‘But I want to.’
‘Well...’ She could hardly breathe, let alone speak. ‘You can’t.’
‘Not your lips.’ Iosef’s mouth painted a decadent picture as still he whispered in her ear. ‘Your skin.’
‘You can’t.’ She could hardly get the words out, knowing she’d regret it—not the kiss but the audience.
‘Since that night all I want is to kiss you again.’
Which put paid to the theory he’d forgotten. Oh, and she wanted him to kiss her, wanted his mouth on her shoulder, wanted to press herself against him so badly it was indecent. She could hardly swallow, the air so thick with lust, her breasts stinging as they strained at her dress, and as the music stilled, as the lights came on, Annie felt like she was waking up from some erotic dream, the hotel ballroom full of limp balloons and plates of half-eaten food, a thousand dirty glasses littering the tables and in front of her, a rather red-faced Melanie holding George’s hand.
‘I know we were going to share a taxi but George has offered to give me a lift.’ Her eyes were wide with apology and pleading. ‘Though we can drop you off first.’
‘It’s a bit out of your way...’ Annie smiled. ‘I’ll get my own taxi.’
‘I guess I can give you a lift home—do you live near?’
Iosef said it so reluctantly that if they hadn’t just been on the