“Not yet.”
“Not ever!” she returned spiritedly.
His answer was to spin her so that her back was toward him before placing one of his arms about her waist while the other remained on her hip. He now held Carla so that her back was pressed tightly against his front from chest to thighs as they continued the erotic snap and sway of the salsa. Her ass pressed provocatively against his totally aroused cock.
Leon bent forward slightly until his mouth was close to her ear. “Come upstairs with me to my hotel suite.”
She gasped. “Absolutely not!”
“Fight me all you want, little cat.” His lips kissed along the hot length of her bare throat. “But I am going to have you, and sooner rather than later.”
“You are not—” She broke off with another gasp, becoming suddenly tense in his arms.
Leon was pretty sure he hadn’t done or said anything to cause that reaction this time.
Chapter Two
“What is it?” Leon demanded as he turned Carla to face him.
She looked as if she had seen a ghost: pupils blown, face paper white, even her sensual lips having lost some of their color.
“Carla?” he prompted harshly as she ripped out of his arms, probably bruising herself in the process, before hurrying off the dance floor.
She looked neither left nor right, nor acknowledged the clapping of the other guests in appreciation of their display, as she hurried toward the glass doors leading out of the spacious room. They were currently closed to prevent admittance by any random hotel guests not invited to the reception.
Leon stepped off the dance floor to follow her.
Natalia stepped in front of him, her hand on his forearm. “What’s going on, Papa?” She frowned her concern.
“I’m not sure,” he muttered, gaze still fixed on where he could see Carla had come to a halt outside in the hallway. “Stay close to Killian, hm, baby?” he added distractedly before he followed Carla outside. His two personal bodyguards stepped back at a dismissive shake of Leon’s head and resumed standing at a respectful distance.
Carla’s face was still deathly white as she glanced first left and then right along the marble hallway. As if she was looking for something. Or someone.
“What is it?” Leon demanded again when she stared at him without seeming to recognize him. “What did you see?”
“I don’t— I’m not sure,” she managed to choke out.
“Want to try that again?” he demanded.
A spark of anger brought the beginning of a rebellious glitter to her expressive eyes. “I said I’m not sure,” she bit out between clenched teeth.
“Okay, what or who did you think you saw?” he repeated patiently.
“Nothing. No one,” she added quickly. Too quickly.
“You don’t sound very certain about that.”
“I am,” she snapped, while inside, a voice was shouting I thought I saw my worst nightmare.
Except it couldn’t have been him.
There was absolutely no reason for Benny to be in this prestigious hotel. They had both grown up in the East End of London, which meant Benny was no more accustomed to being in exclusive five-star hotels like this one than she was.
She had to have been mistaken in thinking she’d just seen him out in the hallway in conversation with another man, both of them dressed in formal black suits. Benny loved working in the sports bar where there was no dress code; Carla wasn’t even sure he owned a suit. Of course, he could have changed his job and now worked in one of the bars at this hotel. There were three, she believed.
Or perhaps the explanation was simpler than that and it was because she was at the wedding she’d thought she’d seen Benny again? After all, the two of them would have been married by now if Carla hadn’t found out about his involvement with all those other women.
In retrospect, wouldn’t that have been the mother of all cock-ups!
Talking of cocks…
Maybe what she needed was another man to take her to bed? Someone capable of making her forget all about the two-timing unfaithful Benito Calabro, but at the same time being no risk to her cynical heart.
Someone like Leon Brunelli?
No, not someone like Leon Brunelli, Carla answered her own question, but the Leon Brunelli.
She gave a decisive nod as she looked at him. “Okay.”
Leon eyed her cautiously. “Okay, what?”
“Okay, I’ll go up to your hotel suite with you.” She turned on her four-inch-heeled sandals and set off in the direction of the elevators.
Leon admired the sway of her hips and that glorious ass for several seconds before beckoning over one of his bodyguards. “Who was in this hallway when Miss Andretti left the reception?” he demanded of Jericho Price. The younger man was one of several Irish cousins who worked for him.
Jericho shrugged. “Just some of the dons’ bodyguards.”
“No one else?”
“Not that I’m aware of, no.”
“Find out for certain, and then report back to me as soon as you have that information.” He didn’t wait for an answer but strode purposefully toward where Carla now waited beside the elevators for him to join her, that reckless glitter in her eyes having intensified.
Leon had no problem with a woman having her own agenda when he took her to bed. It could be tiresome, but it was to be expected. What he did object to was being a substitute for another man. That glint in Carla’s beautiful dark eyes said that was exactly what he was for her.
As a means of getting over this other man, perhaps?
Or maybe as a way of punishing him?
Whatever the reason, Leon knew Carla had only changed her mind about going to his hotel suite after seeing whatever or whoever had been outside the reception room.
“I thought you’d changed your mind,” she taunted when Leon joined her.
“Not at all,” he assured dryly.
“Which floor are we going to?” She pressed the button to call the elevator to the ground floor.
“Wrong elevator,” Leon drawled as he lightly grasped her arm to take her with him. He walked a short way down
