Louise Fuller - Craving His Forbidden Innocent

But now that he’d had time to think the idea of her filming the wedding was actually appealing on other levels too—for wouldn’t it be safer to have her fully occupied rather than just floating around unsupervised, as she had been at his sister’s twenty-first birthday party?

And who better to do the supervising than him? That way he could ensure her behaviour wouldn’t bring his family’s name into disrepute, and make her life as difficult and uncomfortable as she had made his.

‘It was my idea,’ he said softly.

She looked up at him, her blue eyes widening with scorn at what she obviously took to be a bare-faced lie.

‘Of course it was. I mean you love having me around. That was obvious after—’

She broke off, frowning.

‘After what?’ he asked slowly.

Inhaling a shaky breath, she shook her head. ‘So tell me, then, Basa, why exactly do you want me to film your sister’s wedding?’

He shrugged. ‘Why not?’

‘What do you mean, “why not”?’

‘I mean why wouldn’t you do it?’ he said patiently.

She stared at him suspiciously. ‘You do realise you said that out loud?’

He smiled. ‘I am aware of that, yes.’

She bit her lip and, watching her bite into the soft pink flesh, he felt his heart-rate double as his brain unhelpfully offered up an image of those same soft pink lips parting beneath his mouth.

Suddenly the need to have her commit to the project became as intense as the ache in his groin.

‘She’s your friend—your best friend—and I know she doesn’t ask much from you because she doesn’t ask much from anyone,’ he said bluntly, watching a flush of colour seep over her cheekbones. ‘But she has asked you to do this one thing.’

He could see by her expression that she was confused by his words, and then abruptly her face cleared.

‘Oh, I get it. This is you trying to persuade me so that you can tell your sister what a good brother you are.’ Her chin jutted. ‘Well, if that’s all you’re worried about you don’t need to pretend. I’ll tell her you tried and I wouldn’t listen.’

‘I’m not pretending. I think you’d do an excellent job. You’re a good filmmaker.’

‘Right…’

She shook her head, and the defensive expression on her face chafed at something inside him.

‘And you know that how , exactly?’

‘Alicia showed me some of the films you used to make at school.’ His eyes met hers. ‘They’re clearly amateur, but you really capture that teenage sense of waiting and wanting. There’s not a wasted breath,’ he said softly.

There was a beat of silence, and then his breathing stalled as she looked up at him with such sweet, desperate hope in her blue gaze that for a few half-seconds he forgot the past, and everything that had happened, and he was simply fighting against the insane urge to reach over and pull her closer, until her body fused with his just as it had two years ago.

Across the room, a champagne cork popped, and they both blinked at the same time.

Tuning out the heat pulsing over his skin, he regulated his breathing. ‘Like I said, you’re a good filmmaker, and this is your chance to be a good friend as well. So please say yes and make some happy memories for my sister.’

There was a beat of silence and then her shoulders slumped. He knew he’d won even before she began to nod her head.

‘Okay, I’ll do it.’

‘Good.’ Brushing aside the relief warming his skin, he glanced at his watch. ‘I’ll get your number from Alicia and then my PA can call you and talk flights—’

‘Flights?’ She cut across him, her eyes narrowing. ‘What flights? To where?’

‘Buenos Aires,’ he said calmly. ‘Don’t worry, I’m paying. First class ticket, and obviously you’ll stay at the house before we go to Patagonia.’

She began to shake her head. ‘No, no, no. I’m not doing that. I’m not going to Argentina.’

‘Really?’ He frowned. ‘So, have you got some kind of satellite camera on loan from NASA? Because London to Buenos Aires is one hell of a long shot.’

Ignoring her outraged expression, he pulled out his phone and swiped casually through his diary.

‘I can’t do anything for the next couple of days, but I can fly down from the States on Friday.’

Her eyes flashed. ‘I don’t care if you can fly to the moon and back. I’m not going to Buenos Aires on Friday. Or on any day you care to mention, in fact.’

‘Oh, but you are—and I’ll explain why. The wedding is in less than three months, and Alicia is flying out with my father in a few weeks to settle in. She’s going to have enough on her to-do list without you wandering in at the last minute with a hundred and one questions that could have already been answered in advance. By me.’

He was impressed by the plausibility of his words, and he could see they had taken the wind out of her sails.

‘It’s got nothing to do with you,’ she managed finally. ‘It’s not your wedding and you don’t know anything about film making.’

‘Oh, I think it’s got everything to do with me,’ he said mockingly. ‘Given that the whole event is going to be happening in my homes, and I have very specific and inflexible house rules.’

He saw her teeth clench.

‘You can’t expect me to make up my mind now. I’ll need time to think about it.’

‘I’m not selling you a car, Mimi.’ He let his gaze drift over her face, enjoying the mix of frustration and fear in her blue eyes. ‘Look, I’m a busy man, so I’m afraid you’re going to have to work around my schedule—and that means you coming to Buenos Aires this Friday.’

‘What about my schedule?’ she snapped.

‘I think Crema will probably be able to fill your shifts quite quickly, don’t you?’

He’d deliberately made his voice condescending, and it was a measure of her fury that she didn’t even register the fact that he knew where she worked.

She glared across the table. ‘You are so unspeakably arrogant.’

‘No, I’m just honest—but I guess that’s a bit of an alien concept to you.’ Their eyes locked, hers furious, his taunting. ‘How are Charlie and Raymond, by the way? Still enjoying their stay at Her Majesty’s pleasure?’

She stared at him, a flush of pink spreading like a sunset over her incredible cheekbones. ‘You are a horrible man.’

‘And you are bad news.’ He held her gaze, ignoring the pull of her scornful pout, wishing she didn’t look quite so sexy when she was angry. ‘So, if we’re done trading insults, let me tell you how this is going to work. The last thing my family needs on my sister’s wedding day is a scandal.’

And it wasn’t going to happen on his watch. He’d learned his lesson two years ago, when his hasty, mismanaged, ego-led decision to employ Charlie and Raymond had so spectacularly backfired. He’d been responsible for that disaster, and the collateral damage it had caused, and it was his job—his duty—to prevent anything like that happening again.

He looked up, his eyes holding hers. ‘Particularly one involving you . So I need you to conduct yourself in a proper manner. That means following my rules, and it’ll be easier to explain those rules on-site. But if you don’t think you’re mature enough to handle one little fully paid trip to Buenos Aires, then call Alicia.’ He held out his phone. ‘And break her heart.’

She stared at him mutely. ‘You really are quite something. All that guff about moving forward was just for Alicia’s benefit.’

‘Don’t push it, Mimi. I’m not going to fall out with my sister over this, but if you think that means you get a free rein in my home then you really don’t know me at all.’