JACQUELINE BAIRD - The Price Of Desire - The Price of Success / The Cost of Her Innocence / Not For Sale

And her experience with Derek had taught that no man—no matter how intensely charismatic, no matter how great a kisser—was worth the price of her dreams.

‘COFFEE… I smell coffee,’ she mumbled into the pillow, the murky fog of her brain teasing her with the seductive aroma of caffeine. ‘Please, God, let there be coffee when I open my eyes.’

Carefully she cracked one eye open. Marco stood at the foot of her bed, in a dark green T-shirt and jeans, a steaming mug in his hand.

‘If I demand to know what you’re doing in my bedroom so early, will you withhold that coffee from me?’

There was no smile this morning, just an even, cool stare, but awareness drummed beneath the surface of her skin nonetheless.

‘It’s not early. It’s eight o’clock.’

With a groan, she levered herself up, braced her back against the headboard. ‘Eight o’clock is the crack of dawn, Marco.’ She held out her hand for the cup. He didn’t move. ‘Please,’ she croaked.

With an uncharacteristically jerky movement he rounded the bed and handed it to her. Sasha tried not to let her eyes linger on the taut inch of golden-tanned skin that was revealed when he stretched. Her brain couldn’t handle anything so overwhelming. Not just yet.

She took her first sip, groaned with pleasure and sagged against the pillow.

‘You’re not a morning person, are you?’

‘Oops, my secret is out. I think whoever decreed that anything was important enough to start before ten o’clock in the morning should be hung, drawn and quartered.’ She cradled the warm mug in her hand. ‘Okay, I guess now I’m awake enough to ask what you’re doing in my room.’

‘I knocked. Several times.’

She grimaced. ‘I sleep like the dead sometimes.’ She took another grateful sip and just stopped herself from moaning again. Moans were bad. ‘How did you know to bring me coffee?’

‘I know everything about you,’ he answered.

Her heart lurched, but she managed to keep her face straight. Marco didn’t know about her baby. And she meant to keep it that way.

‘I forgot. You have mad voodoo skills.’

His eyes strayed up from where he’d been examining the vampire on her T-shirt. ‘No voodoo. Just mad skills. As to why I’m here—I have a meeting in the city in forty-five minutes—’

‘On a Saturday?’ She caught his wry glance. ‘Oh, never mind.’

‘I wanted to discuss last night before I left.’

Her breath stalled in her chest. ‘Yes. Last night. We kissed.’

A sharp hiss issued from his lips. Then, ‘ Sí , we did.’

She bravely met his gaze, even as her heart hammered. ‘Before you condemn me for it, you need to know I don’t make a habit of that sort of thing.’

His very Latin shrug drew her eyes to the bold, strong outline of his shoulders. ‘And yet it happened.’

‘We could blame the wine? Oh, wait, you barely touched your glass all evening.’

‘How would you know? You were neck-deep in discussing the Premier League.’

She sighed. ‘What can I say? I love my footie. Which club do you support?’

‘Barcelona.’

She grimaced. ‘Of course. You seem the Barcelona type.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t even want to know what that means.’

Silence encased them. She took a few more sips of her coffee, instinctively sensing she’d need the caffeine boost to withstand what was coming.

Marco raised his head and looked at her. The tormented gleam in his eyes stopped her breath. ‘What happened last night will not happen again.’

Despite telling herself the very same thing over and over last night, she felt a sharp dart of disappointment and hurt lance through her. She feigned a casual tone. ‘I agree.’

‘You belong to my brother,’ he carried on, as if she hadn’t spoken.

‘I belong to no one. I’m my own person.’

His gaze speared hers. ‘It can’t happen again.’

Again the uncomfortable dart of pain. ‘And I agreed with you. Are you trying to convince me or yourself?’

He shook his head. ‘You know, I’ve never met anyone so forthright.’

‘I believe in being upfront. I’m nobody’s yes-woman. You need to know that right now. I kiss whomever I want. But kissing you was a mistake. One that I hope will not jeopardise my contract.’

His gaze hardened. ‘You value being a racing driver more than personal relationships?’

‘I haven’t had a successful run with relationships but I’m a brilliant driver. I think it’s wise to stick to doing what I do best. And I’d prefer not to lose my job because you feel guilty over a simple kiss. I also understand if you have some reservations because of your brother. Really, it’s no big deal. There’s no need to beat yourself up over it.’

Running out of oxygen, she clamped her mouth shut.

This was yet another reason why she hated mornings. At this time of day the natural barrier between her brain and her mouth was severely weakened.

Throw in the fruitless soul-searching she’d done into the wee hours, and the resultant sleep-deprivation, and who knew what would come of out her mouth next?

He shoved a forceful hand through his hair. ‘Dios, this has nothing to do with your contract. If you were mine to take I’d have no reservations. None. The things I would do to you. With you.’

He named a few.

Her mouth dropped open.

Lust singed the air, its fumes thick and heavy. Her fingers clenched around her mug. Silently, desperately, she willed it away. But her body wasn’t prepared to heed her. Underneath her T-shirt her nipples reacted to his words, tightening into painful, needy buds.

‘Wow! That’s … um … super, super -naughty.’

Hazel eyes snapped pure fire at her. ‘And that’s just for starters,’ he rasped.

Her breath strangled in her chest.

In another life, at another time …

No! Even in a parallel universe having anything to do with Marco would be bad news.

‘I hear a but somewhere in there. Either you still think I’m poison or it’s something else. Tell me. I can take it.’

He gave a jerky nod of his head in a move she was becoming familiar with. ‘Last night, at the awards, you spoke of Rafael like a friend.’

‘Because that’s what he is. Just a friend.’

His jaw clenched. ‘You’re asking me to take your word over my brother’s?’

‘Not really. I’m saying give us both the benefit of the doubt. See where it takes you.’

He shook his head. ‘As long as Rafael sees you as his there can be nothing between us.’

Despite the steaming coffee in her hand, she felt a chill spread through her. ‘The message has been received, loud and clear. Was there something else?’

For a full minute he didn’t answer. Then, ‘I don’t want you to think that the kiss has bought you any special privileges.’

‘You mean like expecting you to bring me coffee every morning?’ she replied sarcastically, a surprisingly acute pain scouring its acidic path through her belly.

‘My expectations from you as a driver haven’t changed. In fact nothing has changed. Understood?’

Setting down her mug on the bedside table, she hugged her knees. ‘All this angst over a simple kiss, Marco?’ The need to reduce the kiss to an inconsequential blip burned through her, despite her body’s insistence on reliving it.

He prowled to the window and turned to face her. ‘Women have a habit of reading more into a situation than there actually is.’ His raised hand killed her response. ‘While taking pains to state the contrary. But I want to be very clear—I don’t do relationships.’

Her breath fractured in her lungs. ‘I’m not looking for one,’ she forced out.