The Tycoon's Rebel Bride - Maya Banks Page 0,27

in this manner?”

She held up her shopping bag. “I needed a dress for the party tonight.”

He drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes and then reopened them. He strode over to where she stood and gripped her shoulders. “A dress? You gave me the fright of my life for a dress?”

He shook her as he spoke and she gripped his waist to keep her balance.

“It wasn’t just any dress,” she murmured as she tried to keep the smile from her face. She probably shouldn’t bait him as she was, but making him lose his composure had suddenly become her mission. “I could hardly meet my future husband in anything but a truly spectacular dress.”

“You are the most infuriating, frustrating woman I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet,” he growled.

And then he crushed her to him, slanting his lips over hers in a forceful kiss that took her breath away. She moaned as his hands gripped her arms then slid over her back like bands of steel.

He tasted her hungrily, like a man starving, as though he couldn’t get enough. Tingling awareness snaked up her spine. Her breasts throbbed, and her nipples became taut points, pushing at his chest.

The sounds of their kiss, hot and breathless filled the room. One of his hands slipped to the waist of her jeans, and he yanked at her shirt until it came free. Then he slid his fingers over the bare skin of her lower back, right where her tattoo rested. He traced patterns over the small of her back as though he was aware of what was there.

Eager to taste him, she traced his lip with her tongue until he reached out to duel delicately with his own. Warm. So masculine, he tasted of strength, of heady power.

She lost herself in his arms, melted against his mouth. Her pulse sped up and bounced erratically. How she craved him.

His hand crept higher until it collided with her bra strap. He fumbled over the clasp and then he froze.

With a muffled curse, he broke away, his breaths coming hard and ragged. His eyes blazed like an out-of-control fire, and then he dropped his hands from her body like she’d burned him.

He swore again, a mixture of Greek and English and then ran a hand through his hair.

“Theos mou! We can’t…not again. This mustn’t happen again. I’m sorry, Bella.”

He held up his hands and then backed away. He paused at the door, his motions haphazard, like he was drunk. Then he turned to stare at her, his eyes still burning with unresolved desire.

“Your security team goes everywhere with you. Are we understood? From now on, they even go to the bathroom with you.”

She nodded, unable to do anything more. She was shaking too badly. As he left her hotel room, she gripped her arms and rubbed up and down to make the chill bumps go away.

“You can deny it all you want,” she whispered to the empty room. “You want me every bit as much as I want you.”

Nine

T heron rubbed the back of his neck in an effort to relieve the enormous tension that gripped him. Isabella still hadn’t arrived, and he felt equal parts relief and disappointment.

He glanced around the ballroom of the Imperial Park Hotel, taking in the guests milling around, talking and laughing as a jazz band played softly from an elevated platform.

Alannis stood at his side, her hand resting on his arm. Sophia stood on Alannis’s other side, her pride in her daughter evident.

He ducked his head to hear what Alannis was trying to tell him and nodded appropriately though his concentration was shot. When he stood to his full height again, his gaze went to the doorway, and his breath caught in his throat.

She was here.

Isabella stood as she gazed nervously over the room. Theron swallowed when he took in her attire. The term little black dress could have been coined for this occasion.

The material molded to her every curve and settled a few inches above her knees. She wore her hair up, drawing attention to the shape of her neck. Stray tendrils escaped the elegant knot and whispered against her skin.

His fingers itched to let her hair down and watch it fall to her shoulders. He wanted to run his hands through the silken mass, feel it twine around his knuckles.

“Oh, look, there’s Isabella,” Sophia exclaimed.

As if he wouldn’t be aware the moment she stepped into the room.

“Excuse me,” he murmured to Alannis.

She let him go with a