Cinderella's Christmas Secret - Sharon Kendrick Page 0,18

powerful engine and quickly ducked away from the window, not wanting to be seen watching and waiting, like some kind of crazed stalker from a horror film. She drew in a deep breath as she heard the approaching crunch of footsteps and slowly expelled it as the doorbell jangled.

Silently counting to three, Hollie walked calmly towards the door, trying to mentally prepare herself for the sight of Maximo Diaz as it swung open. And even though she had thought about him every single day since their night of passion, Hollie was still unprepared for the visceral impact of seeing him again.

He looked...

Her heart rate, which had already been elevated, now began to pick up into a deafening crescendo as she stared at him.

He looked...incredible.

Dressed entirely in black, he wore jeans and a buttery leather jacket, beneath which was a sweater so soft it could only have been made from cashmere. But that was the only soft thing about him. His body was hard and his face was even harder. Black eyes studied her as coldly as chips of jet and those wickedly sensual lips were set and unsmiling. How weird it was to think of all the pleasures those lips had showered on her while they’d been in bed together, when now they seemed to flatten at the edges with a look of faint disdain. Or was that her imagination?

Hollie knew she had to pull herself together. She couldn’t keep catastrophising or trying to get inside his head. She had to act as normally as possible, although that was never going to be easy given what she was about to tell him. How would she have spoken to him if she hadn’t had sex with him? How did she used to speak to him when he came into the office, during those easy, uncomplicated days before she’d been stupid enough to allow him to seduce her? With an enormous effort, she fixed a bright smile to her lips, aware of the stupidity of her greeting even as it tumbled from her.

‘Good afternoon, Señor Diaz!’

Maximo tried very hard not to react to the instinctive punch to his gut as he studied the woman standing before him. He should be on his guard after her rather embarrassing determination to see him, yet all he could think about was her pale, soft flesh and the thickness of her shiny golden-brown hair as it had tumbled down over her bare breasts. Was that unwanted reaction responsible for his drawled words, which weren’t the words he intended? ‘Don’t you think such formality is a little inappropriate, in view of what happened?’

‘Even though you didn’t even know my name at the time?’ she answered quickly.

Maximo winced. She was right. How had that even happened? He still wasn’t sure, and looking at her now provided no easy answers. The provocative minx in the towering red heels and thigh-skimming green dress was nothing but a distant memory, for she’d reverted back to her usual sensible look. Her magnificent hair was tied back into a tight bun and her lips were bare. She wore a neat skirt and forgettable sweater, which had obviously not been bought with the intention of emphasising her curves, and her brown leather boots had seen better days. They were obviously old boots which had been carefully polished—and something about that recognition of someone who was ‘making do’ struck a raw and distant chord deep inside him. She looked unremarkable, yet... He frowned. Wasn’t there a glowing inner quality about her, which seemed to transcend her rather drab appearance?

‘But I do know your name now,’ he said, attempting a placatory smile. ‘Hollie.’

‘Hollie Walker,’ she supplied crisply and then blushed, and that only seemed to emphasise her innocence.

Had he really had sex with her? Taken her virginity in one smooth and delicious thrust? Yes, he had. And it had been amazing. No. That wasn’t quite accurate. It had been nothing short of sensational. Turned on and beguiled by those long legs and cascading hair and the startlingly dramatic change in her appearance, Maximo had succumbed to a one-night stand in a way he hadn’t done since his teenage years. Her innocence had come as a shock and he still wasn’t quite sure why he hadn’t extricated himself from the situation as quickly as possible after that first time, doing them both a favour and recognising that someone like him was bad news for a small-town woman like her.

But he hadn’t. He had carried on losing himself