Anne Winston - The Millionaire's Cinderella

“Wow.” It was all Joanna could manage at the moment. The room was almost twice as big as her old apartment, and no comparison as far as comfort was concerned. Never in her wildest imaginings had she envisioned this lovely place.

Rio laced his hands at his nape, his gorgeous face shining with satisfaction. “Yeah, it’s nice. Not exactly my kind of decor, but I didn’t have the heart to change anything. It has a personality all its own.”

Joanna couldn’t agree more. She walked to the bed and ran one hand down the post. “It’s wonderful.”

He pushed open another door and leaned against the wall next to it. “The bathroom’s right here. It’s not very big, and it only has a tub. An old claw-footed tub, but it’s been restored. If you’d rather take a shower, you can use one of the second-floor bathrooms, or you could use mine. It’s big.”

Joanna locked on to his sensual smile. The image of showering with Rio Madrid arrived in great detail, including fogged-up glass from heavy breathing, not steam. Slick bodies, roving hands…

Good heavens. She didn’t need to think about that now. Or ever. “Is there somewhere I can hang these?”

He pointed behind her. “In the closet.”

She turned. “A closet? That’s great. I haven’t had one of those in a while.” She hadn’t had a lover in a while, either, a fact apparent every time Rio Madrid walked into the room.

After hanging her things in the moderate-size closet, she faced him again. “I guess I’ll go get the rest of the boxes and bring them up.”

“I’ll do it in a minute. Care for some lunch?”

“Sure. I thought I’d go to the store and pick up a few groceries.”

He pushed away from the wall. “I had my housekeeper do that yesterday.”

“You have a housekeeper?”

“Yeah. I can’t keep this place clean by myself, nor do I want to. She comes in twice a week, during the day.”

“I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

His grin resurfaced. “So your idea of heaven is a housekeeper?”

Joanna strolled to the bed and dropped onto the edge. “One of my ideas.” Laughing, she fell back and sank into the soft mattress, arms raised above her head. “And this bed.”

Rio slipped onto the bed beside her, thankfully not in a prone position. “I agree, a good feather bed qualifies as heavenly. So do other things.”

She stared up at him. “What other things?” Had she really asked him such a leading question?

His smile faded into a seriously sensual expression. “Walking barefoot in grass. Swimming naked in a lake. Making love in the moonlight.”

Joanna’s heart lurched hard in her chest. She’d only done one of those things, but she hadn’t walked barefoot in clover since she was a teenager. “Very poetic, Doctor.”

“Not poetry, just perfection.”

He was perfect, Joanna thought, from head to toe, at least superficially. But she knew soul deep that perfection was only an illusion. Everyone had flaws; Rio Madrid was no exception. But he also had an undeniable aura, a sensual magnetic field, drawing her in as if she were made of iron. She feared she might not be that strong if he made one move toward her.

Bolting from the bed, she stood before him, hands clasped tightly to keep from pulling the band out of his hair to let it completely fall just so she could experience its silky texture. “Okay, so what do you have in mind for lunch?”

The look he gave her said anything but food. His sexy smile had her thinking the same thing. “I’m kind of partial to peanut butter and jelly.”

She returned his smile. “My son’s favorite fare.”

His features went solemn. “You know, Joanna, your son’s welcome here. If you want to send for him, we could fix up one of the bedrooms.”

Joanna experienced a twinge of emotion over his generosity. Few men would offer their homes to a single mom and her child. “I really appreciate that, but he’s settled into school right now and I wouldn’t want to uproot him again until I have a decent place of my own. Maybe that will happen by this summer.”

Rio stood and sighed. “You’ve been here less than an hour and you’re already thinking about leaving me.”

Leaving him? “I can’t stay here forever. But I appreciate this arrangement more than you know. It will give me a chance to get back on my feet financially.” If he didn’t pull the rug out from under her emotionally. Again, she didn’t plan to let that happen. She’d done that once, let a man have her heart only to be left holding the remnants.

“We’ll take it one day at a time,” he said with confidence as he strolled toward the door. “But in the meantime, let’s go downstairs and grab some lunch. I’m starving.”

So was Joanna, for things she didn’t dare want.

“You have a fountain in your pool.”

Rio couldn’t stop the urge to tease Joanna a little. He had trouble stopping any urges where she was concerned. “A pool? No kidding? I didn’t realize that. Guess I should go into the backyard more often.”

Joanna glanced at him over one shoulder and smiled. “You are just full of it today, aren’t you?”

Rio couldn’t seem to get his fill of looking at her. He took the last bite of his sandwich and sat back in his chair, enjoying the view of Joanna staring out the breakfast nook’s window. Her dark hair spiraled into curls between her shoulder blades. Natural curls, Rio suspected. She did things to jeans that shouldn’t be allowed. She did things to him that would definitely be considered downright sinful.

Her slender hand rested against the pane, her nails short and neatly trimmed. Good, Rio thought. Long nails meant hard-to-hide scratches from lovemaking. And why the hell he believed that would happen between him and Joanna Blake would be anyone’s guess. But something told him it could happen. Would happen. The carnal tension between them was gathering force, brewing like a spring storm, not that she would acknowledge it. At least not yet.

Pushing back from the table, Rio joined her at the window, standing close, but not too close. Patience would probably be the best way to handle what was happening between them, had been happening since New Year’s Eve. Patience was something unfamiliar to him. He was the kind of guy who jumped in feetfirst and asked questions later when it came to his private life. Not a good idea in this instance.

Focusing on the backyard where Gabby lay gnawing a rawhide bone beneath an ancient cypress, he said, “There’s a small hot tub in the corner of the pool with room for three.”

“You, Gabby and your current girlfriend?” He heard a smile in her voice, and curiosity.

“Are you trying to get me to come clean about my personal life, Joanna?”

She turned, putting them in closer proximity yet maintaining an intangible distance. “It’s really none of my business, but I imagine you’ve had a woman in your hot tub before.”

He had, but not in a while. “I’ve been too busy to utilize my hot tub. Not today, though. Are you game?”

She frowned. “Are you nuts? It’s forty degrees outside.”

“That’s why they call it a hot tub.”

“It’s also still daylight.”

He propped one hand on the window beside her head, leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Are you shy, Joanna Blake?”

“I’m a mother, for Pete’s sake.”

“And mothers are forbidden to use hot tubs?”

“Mothers don’t have the kind of figures most twenty-year-olds have. At least this mother doesn’t.”

He allowed his gaze to slide down her body and linger in certain places. He wanted to do the same with his hands. “I seriously doubt that.”

“You’re seriously wrong.” A blush stained her fair cheeks. “Besides, I don’t own a decent swimsuit.”