Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 149209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Straight ahead, she saw Kristoff dancing with a thin, middle-aged woman with hair a dubious shade of red. He peered at her with a questioning brow raised.
Alejandro led her to swivel her hips against his, in time with the music. Kristoff didn’t miss a second of it. In fact, as Shanna looked around, she realized they’d gathered quite a bit of attention.
A blast of moisture flooded her sex.
“Everyone is watching,” he whispered.
“I see that.” Her voice shook.
He bent and lifted her leg, wrapping her calf around his thigh and urging her head to fall back to his shoulder. Their eyes met, their mouths inches apart.
Shanna felt stripped down, as if she was naked under Alejandro’s knowing gaze. God, if he didn’t stop that, she’d melt against him right here, right now.
“Men are watching you, wanting you.”
He grabbed her thigh, spun her around to face him, then placed that thigh over his hip. They rested nearly hip to hip again. As he leaned back slightly, he forced her chest against his. Still, she couldn’t break his stare.
“And you like it,” he whispered.
She opened her mouth to deny it, but Alejandro’s gaze stopped her, warning her before she could do anything foolish, like lie.
“I can tell you do.”
The intensity of his stare, the way in which he’d dug past her icy defenses, seemed to see the real her, and guessed her dirty secret… He was a walking wet dream. He was her worst nightmare.
How had he known she loved being watched?
Alejandro swayed with the music in the opposite direction, bringing her body with him. With a gentle caress of her cheek, he directed her gaze back to his—all while making it look like a part of the dance.
“You know you do,” he murmured. “You love that most every man in the room would kill to have your body against his and an up-close view of that smoldering sensuality melting the ice you wrap yourself in.”
His words made her shake because they were so true. “Stop.”
He performed an open step, then brought her back for a box. “Their stares cling to you as you lure them in with the sway of your hips to the beat of the music. They are drawn to your femininity. Their gazes caress your breasts as your chest lifts with every move and breath. They watch the movements of your sleek thighs and wish they could lie between them.”
A glance around proved he was totally right. Easily a dozen men were openly watching she and Alejandro dance, their gazes ranging from more than mildly interested to sizzling with heat. Desire vibrated deep inside her, pulsing under her clit. How wet could she get before she stained the front of her thin costume?
And how had Alejandro known exactly what turned her on?
Most people had only seen the driven dancer who yearned to win and find some way to make her family proud. No one else had seen the woman inside who used dance to express the sexuality she otherwise repressed. No one.
This man had known her secret in the blink of an eye. He’d all but mocked her chilly reserve. He looked at her as if he could see beyond her façade, to the fear and emptiness that fed her ambition.
Thankfully, the music ended.
“Thank you for an interesting evening, Mr. Diaz. Perhaps our paths will cross again.” But not if she could help it.
Still, he didn’t let go. Instead, he continued to stare with that sultry hint of a smile. “The evening is not over. I bought all of your dances tonight. Every last one.”
Shanna stared at him, wide eyed and stunned. Panicked. That was bad. Very bad. Just being in his arms and hearing his words made her feel vulnerable in a way she didn’t like and would not tolerate.
And she was stuck with him for the next three hours? Lord, she was in so much trouble.
“Why?”
“I enjoy watching you being watched and the way it arouses you. I love knowing that so many men in the room are fantasizing about slaking their lust with you—”
“You don’t know what other men are thinking,” she protested.
“Yes, I do. It is exactly what I’m thinking. It is even more delicious because I alone am holding you in my arms.”
Oh, god. “This conversation is inappropriate.”
“Honesty disturbs you?”
“I’m not…I—I don’t get aroused by knowing that men are watching me.”
“Really?”
He urged her into a cross again. No sooner than she turned to step into the next box, he pushed against her hand, sending her spinning to face the wall. Then he was behind her, cradling her swaying hips, his mouth hovering just over her sensitive nape in a darkened corner of the ballroom.
Shanna shivered as he exhaled on her sensitive flesh and gripped her hips.
Then he reached around to place his hand flat on her stomach again…but he aimed high, flattening his palm on the upper swells of her chest and smoothing his way down.