Authors: Sophia Knightly
“Are
you
going to put your family first?” Michaela challenged. As a macho Latin, he was probably intent on ruling the roost his way.
“Of course,” he said, surprising Michaela with his emphatic tone. “My wife and children will always come first and I’ll expect the same from the girl I marry.”
She blinked. His declaration hit her between the eyes and somewhere deep in her heart. That wasn’t exactly what she’d expected from Paolo, and he’d said it with such conviction. “Oh,” she said, suddenly robbed of speech and hard pressed for a response.
“My father died young—too young. I come from a very close-knit family. That’s what I miss most about living in the States.”
Michaela suddenly felt dispirited and a little sad. “Well, my family is different. My parents are divorced now, but when Tiffany and I were growing up, they were both workaholics. We spent most of our childhood being schlepped around by a different nanny every year. My mom was so demanding of them, they kept quitting.”
She refrained from adding that her parents had
always
put their careers before family. Paolo’s strong, traditional beliefs were admirable and daunting, to say the least. She had never seen firsthand how a real marriage worked, kids and all. In a perfectly harmonious family it made sense, but not in Michaela’s disjointed family unit. It seemed unattainable and unrealistic. All she’d heard growing up were heated arguments followed by extended periods of icy silence.
“Must have been tough. Don’t you want to have children?” he asked.
“Someday, but what’s the point of thinking about it now? I’m not even engaged.” Somehow admitting it made her feel even worse. Why was it that everything he said tonight was making her rethink her personal choices? He was digging deeply for answers to questions she’d rather not explore with him.
“But if you were engaged?” he persisted, studying her intently. The soulful look in his eyes slayed her as she strove to regain her composure. She was unraveling before him.
“I would love to have children someday,” she said after an awkward pause. Talking about wanting kids somehow seemed better suited to intimate moments between a man and woman in love, making plans for their future together. This wasn’t the time for that topic, nor for baring her heart’s desire. “How did we even get into this conversation?”
He gave a casual shrug. “It’s normal to discuss these things.”
“It is?” Michaela couldn’t believe her ears. Most guys she’d dated after Jeff seemed to break out in hives at the mere mention of marriage or children, so she normally avoided the topic.
Paolo patted the space next to him. “Come sit beside me.” His dark eyes glowed with invitation. “I’ll prepare a fig for you to enjoy.”
“No, thanks. I can’t eat another bite. I’m full.” She patted her stomach as she joined him on the couch. He moved in so close she could feel the steely strength of his thigh muscles pressed against hers.
“Do you know that the inside is an inverted flower? In Italy, they refer to the fig as a feminine flower.” He paused. “I grew up eating figs.”
Michaela stared at Paolo’s sensual lips, perfectly sculpted and adept at eating anything. “I’m sure you did,” she said in a strangled voice as her defenses surrendered to the attraction sizzling between them.
Paolo’s eyes crinkled at the corners as his mouth eased into a deep-dimpled grin that could melt an iceberg. His hand curled around her nape and pulled her forward, settling her into his arms. A restless wantonness engulfed Michaela as hot desire coursed through her body. She peered at him from beneath the veil of lowered lashes, wondering if he could hear her heart slamming against her chest or feel the simmering heat trapped inside her. His knuckles grazed the side of her jaw as his dark eyes gazed at her mouth. She held her breath, waiting, aching for his kiss.
He cradled her face in his hands and held her still as his mouth covered hers, slowly and deliberately deepening the kiss, nibbling and suckling with a thoroughness that left her gasping. Her body inundated with voluptuous pleasure as Paolo’s tongue entered her mouth and she got her first delicious taste of him. Demanding, yet tender, he kissed her until she was breathless.
With a blissful sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck and threw her head back as he kissed her cheeks and jawline and nibbled her earlobe. Her breath caught in her throat when his tongue lightly traced the outer shell of her ear, causing tiny pinpricks to tease her skin.
Paolo nuzzled the crook of her neck and whispered Spanish endearments in a rough-edged voice. Every fine hair on Michaela’s skin stood on end. Her body quivered, hot and jittery and hungry for more. He tasted and then gently nipped the side of her bare neck with his teeth. A shuddering moan escaped her lips. She wanted to scream,
yes, more—please!
Michaela’s back arched when he kissed her cleavage just above the neckline of her blouse. He cupped the soft underside of her breasts and lifted upward, plumping them before his mouth as he sampled their tender peaks. Paolo’s warm lips closed over the silky fabric and lightly tugged at one nipple and then the other. Her fingers tangled in his thick, satiny hair as she held his face close to her bosom.
She held her breath as Paolo’s hands slid under her blouse and up her bare back to unclasp her bra. She shivered when he freed her breasts and lifted her blouse. Laying his warm palms over her cool breasts, he savored their shape before his callused fingertips gently tweaked her nipples. Michaela bit down on her lower lip as Paolo’s tongue swirled over her nipples and suckled, drawing out a strangled moan from her parched throat.
“
Delicioso
.” His voice came out a throaty, ragged growl.
Michaela tried to think straight, but her self-control was slipping away. She couldn’t pull away, couldn’t bring herself to stop him. She melted against him. Paolo’s lovemaking was everything she had dreamed of and everything she had never felt with Jeff, the only other man she’d ever made love with. She put her hands on Paolo’s darkly aroused face and urged it upward to meet her kiss, to slow down his ardor, but his reaction was almost savage, crushing the last vestiges of her self-control.
Hot and insatiable, Paolo’s hands slid beneath her skirt and into her silk panties, cupping her bottom. His bold fingertips inched perilously close to the slippery, aching warmth between her thighs. Michaela’s body cried out for fulfillment, but when he shifted his position pulling her beneath him, his hard erection jutted against her, jolting her back to reality.
It was madness.
There would be no turning back.
She would surely regret it.
She was on fire and so was he.
She had to stop now!
Forcing herself back to reality, she cursed softly and reached back, dislodging his hold on her bottom.
“Please let me up,” she choked, pushing against his chest. The solid imprint of Paolo’s desire pressing against her pelvis made her feel guilty for stopping. Filled with regret and feeling unhinged, she took a deep breath and tried to calm her galloping heart. He pulled away with a groan as she struggled to sit up and adjust her clothing.
“I’m sorry, but I had to stop,” she rasped, her voice cracking from the effort of keeping her wits when all she wanted to do was sink back into his embrace and let him finish what he had started.
“Why stop?” Paolo exhaled a harsh, jagged, breath. His black eyes flashed with frustration. “I thought you liked it.”
“I did, I do…too much.” Michaela’s face flamed as she met his scorching gaze with a pathetic attempt at self-composure. If he only knew she was
this
close to succumbing to his lovemaking! “I mean…oh, God, I don’t want you to think I’m a tease…I just—”
“Why did you stop me?” Paolo’s taut mouth and the rigid set of his jaw evidenced his struggle to tamp down his lust. The tightly coiled tension in his large frame unnerved her as he leaned into her space. He took hold of her chin and turned her face to meet his intense gaze. “Talk to me.”
“This was supposed to be a business meeting,” she said for lack of a better explanation. She felt awkward and at a total loss as she got up from the sofa and sat in an armchair across from him. “I’m sorry I let things get out of control.”
“Yeah, me too.” His voice sounded hoarse with dissatisfaction and hot passion still flared in his midnight eyes.
“It’s just that I don’t take lovemaking lightly and that’s where we were headed.” She paused.
Oh, God, don’t look at me that way,
she silently implored. “Paolo, you’re a complication I can’t afford. My goal this Monday is to win the competition. I know that’s your goal too.”
He frowned. “I wasn’t thinking about the competition just now.”
Michaela sucked in a deep breath and looked him square in the eyes. “This will probably sound ruthless and unfeminine to you, but winning this contest is the
only
thing I’m focused on right now. I can’t allow you to distract me.”
He looked annoyed and unconvinced. They were getting nowhere. She suspected this was the first time Paolo had been rebuffed by a woman. She had been close to giving in to reckless abandon when she finally stopped and listened to her conscience.
“In order for this show to work, we must get along. Don’t you agree?” he asked.
Michaela noticed that Paolo’s words were beginning to sound a bit slurred.
“We can’t afford to get involved now,” she said.
He came forward and hunkered down in front of her, cupping the side of her jaw in his hand as he peered into her eyes. “And later?”
She tried not to let his midnight eyes enthrall her, but one glance and she relived everything he had just done to her. Hot desire swamped over her again as she hankered for more of his slow, deep kisses and the feel of his warm, strong hands on her body. She
wanted
Paolo, there was no denying it.
He straightened and reached for her hand. When he tried to pull her from the chair, she noticed his grip wasn’t as firm as usual and he didn’t seem steady on his feet.
She gave him a curious look. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” He frowned and settled back on the couch, across from her. “Can’t you let loose at all? Do you always have to be in control? Why are you so bothered by a little harmless flirting?”
A little harmless flirting?
Paolo’s flippant remark sliced through Michaela’s vulnerable heart like a sharp dagger. Had that been all it meant to him? What a fool she’d been to succumb to his seduction and believe she was different from all the other women he had dalliances with! Good thing she had stopped or she would have ended up as just another notch on his belt. Paolo’s way of expressing himself was naturally sensuous. He was the master of the chase, and tonight the irresistible serpent had lured his prey.
Michaela suddenly felt no different from his other conquests and that cut deeply. She had allowed Paolo’s lusty charisma and hot appeal to make her lose her head.
“Why so quiet? It’s not like you. You usually have plenty to say.” His brows crinkled over eyes that suddenly looked like he was having a hard time focusing.
Michaela wondered just how much he’d had to drink while she’d been dealing with Aunt Magda’s visit and then Mom’s phone call. When she didn’t answer right away, Paolo gave a profound sigh and closed his eyes. For a minute, Michaela thought he might have fallen asleep. She looked at the half-empty wine bottle on the coffee table. Surely, he couldn’t be drunk!
Paolo’s cell suddenly rang, jarring both of them. “
¿Allo?
What is it, Claudia? No, please, not againnn.” His words sounded oddly slurred.
Claudia said something to which he mumbled, “Not tonight. It’s false labor again. Go to sleep.” Michaela noticed his eyes looked glazed. “I’ll take you to the doctor in the morning. Then you…can have…your…baby.”
Why was Paolo reacting so bizarrely? What if Claudia really was in labor? Michaela fretted, starting to panic. She felt like wringing her hands…or better yet, wringing his thick neck! She heard every word Claudia yelled back at him as Paolo held the phone away from his ear.
“Get me to the hospital! NOW!” Claudia shrieked. “The baby is coming. My water just broke!”
The phone slipped from Paolo’s hand as he grappled with it. Closing his eyes, he laid it on his chest and nestled his head against the back of the sofa without responding to Claudia.
“Give me that!” Michaela cried, grabbing the phone as Paolo’s mouth grew slack and he slumped over. “Claudia, this is Michaela, your brother’s friend. I’ll take you to the hospital. Paolo is a little, uh, indisposed right now.”
“Hurry, please! I already called the doctor.”
“Okay. Hang in there. I’ll be right over,” Michaela promised, shocked that Paolo had passed out on the sofa. She noticed the prescription bottles nestled beside him and picked one up with shaking hands. Dear God, how much had Paolo taken? Had he taken a muscle relaxant instead of a painkiller? Or had he taken both?
Chapter Ten
Paolo’s heart pumped hard with adrenaline as he rode to the hospital in a speeding taxi, clutching Maki’s scribbled note in his hand. At seven in the morning, he had woken up in her apartment, alone on her couch with a throbbing headache. It had taken awhile to get his bearings. What the devil kind of medicine had Maki given him? That had been no ordinary painkiller! Man, he had never been so knocked out. His sore neck felt better now, but his unsteady legs were still feeling the after effects of the pills.
At four in the morning, he had tried to get up from the couch but had toppled backward, feeling woozy—too woozy to get up. He had zonked out again and had woken up hours later. Then he’d found the note pinned to his shirt front.
Claudia in labor. Took her to Mercy Hospital.
Maki must have gotten back from the hospital, showered and left for work, but why hadn’t she woken him?
Poor Claudia. He wondered if she’d had the baby yet. If not, then hopefully she was having an easy labor. Traffic was hell this time of the morning, but the young Cuban cab driver looked like he knew how to tackle any problem.