STEEL: MC ROMANCE (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 3) (35 page)

“Dessert?” the waiter asked, hovering solicitously at her elbow.

“How about ice cream?” Leandro suggested grinning. “It will trigger your happy hormones,” he added winking suggestively.

“You’re kidding right? With me looking like this?” Alexandra asked, with a self-deprecating laugh.

“I don’t understand,” Leandro said as the waiter strode off.

“I’m fat,” she told him, leaning forward.

“Fat? You are a woman, and you are sexy as hell. I never liked how people throw that word around these days anyhow.” he observed.

“You should see me without my gown; I don’t know. I bet you’d change your tune if you put me next to all your size zero model friends.”

“You are nuts! You are a sexy, curvy, voluptuous woman in her prime and for your information I have wanted to tear that dress off you ever since I saw you in it! You are the most attractive woman I have ever met.”

“Yeah right!” she scoffed as she looked down at her glass of champagne. She was afraid to see sincerity in his eyes because if she started to believe him, he could end up treating her even worse than Andrew had. What if he saw her without her clothes and decided she was fat and completely unattractive?

“Listen to me Alexandra, every man in here has been cheerfully contemplating strangling me since I walked in with you on my arm,” he said earnestly, leaning forward to take her arm. “If you will believe nothing else I tell you, believe this; you are an insanely attractive woman and any man would be lucky to have you.”

Alexandra grinned slowly, “Including you?”

“Why the hell else do you think I’ve been panting after you like a dog on steroids?” he asked.

Alexandra dissolved into laughter, all her insecurities ebbing away as she let the stark honesty on his face rebuild her confidence bit by bit.

Leandro watched as she drank the last drop of champagne from her glass and he slowly took her hand in his, acknowledging the instant frisson of awareness with resignation. “What next?”

“You tell me,” she said, smiling at him, her head cocked to one side in a way that made him want to lean across the table and gently nibble on that naked expanse of neck.

Sudden inspiration struck and he grinned at her, his dark eyes gleaming hotly as he suggested, “How about a moonlight stroll down the beach?”

“Sounds like something straight out of the players’ manual,” she laughed, already rising to her feet and reaching for her purse.

“Well you would know, you seem like the kind of girl to lead men on a merry chase right before you break their hearts. Have mercy on a poor sap like me,” he said, half-seriously as he helped her into her coat.

Alexandra rolled her eyes. Why did she feel a niggling sense of unease in the middle of her back at his words? It would be very easy to fall for this man; he was so handsome, kind, charming and debonair and she was as desperate for love as a flower in the desert was for a cool drink of water.

She had to slow down before she lost her heart to Leandro, she decided.

Chapter Four

“What are you thinking?” Leandro asked, slowing his strides to look down at her. She had been quiet ever since they left the restaurant.

“Nothing,” she said with a shrug.

A woman with three children loitered under a tree, watching them with hungry eyes. She didn’t say a word but they were so dirty and unkempt and skinny it was obvious they were begging for alms. Leandro made a mental note to get Thomas to find out who she was, and if it turned out she had any skills at all, to find her a job in one of his hotels.

Alexandra followed his gaze, and then inexplicably, she brightened.

“I’ll be right back,” she told him.

In a flash, she was gone from his side. He saw her reach into her purse and hand the woman a tiny, tattered bit of tissue paper before turning back to him. Leandro was confused at the exchange and as she reached his side, he opened his mouth to ask her what she had done when the thin woman let out a cry and came running up to them, tears in her eyes.

Leandro saw then the diamond earrings in the woman’s palms and he felt something clench and then ease in his chest.

When they were alone again, he said, “That was a wonderfully generous gesture.”

Alexandra shrugged, “It was a gift from an old boyfriend. I don’t want them anymore. They are just a bad reminder of him and his drama. But perhaps she could sell them. It could make a big difference for her and her kids.”

Leandro stopped, staring down at her, his nostrils slightly flared. Then before she could guess his intent, he leaned down and took her soft lips in a hard, urgent kiss. His tongue dipped into her mouth, stroking and seeking and she sweetly received it with her own. Leandro hungrily deepened the kiss, his hands holding her curvy, voluptuous body tighter against his. Alexandra whimpered against his lips, unused to such torrid passion as he swallowed her cries. She clung tighter to him, her lips trembling sweetly beneath his. All his years of experience sent alarm bells clanging through his head. The way she responded told him something immediately; the woman in his arms was unlike any he had ever met. Disbelief froze him in place, and he noticed for the first time how she had melted against him at his first touch; worse, his own reaction was out of the ordinary. He had been hard put to keep his hands from her all through dinner!

He raised his head, holding her gaze as he deliberately said, “Alexandra? I want to make love to you. Now!”

Her blue eyes widened into twin pools of lust and embarrassment. Lust quickly gained the upper hand and she nodded her assent.

With a groan of pure triumph, he lowered his head to hers and took her lips in a deep, drugging kiss. Heat flared, immediate and hot as he held her tight against him, exploring her exquisite mouth with his.

As they parted for a moment, Alexandra innocently stroked her hand down his chest and Leandro lost every last vestige of control. “I need you now!” he groaned urgently.

“O-okay,” she stammered. “We’ll just use the elevato
r
”

“I can’t wait,” he interrupted, as he hustled her in the direction of the parking lot.

“Where are we going?” she asked, almost running in her haste to keep up with him.

“My limo is close,” he ground out in a thickened voice.

He hustled her into a plush, butter-soft leathered limousine and as soon as he shut the door, pounced. He drew her across his lap, kissing her deep and hard as his hand urgently tugged off her coat and unzipped her dress. The gown fell open at the back and he pushed it down to her waist, allowing her full, thrusting breasts to rise creamily in front of his face.

With a deep groan, he buried his face in her soft, full cleavage, worshipping the incredibly soft folds of her breasts.

Alexandra moaned and thrust her breast higher against his face. He pushed her bra out of the way and took one enlarged, pink nipple in his warm, wet mouth. She jerked against him and then automatically clutched his head, holding him closer as she offered him herself. He licked and suckled the tender flesh, alternately biting gently as he molded her nipple with his tongue. He moved to the other breast, licking and sucking around the hardening tips with his delighted tongue. The intensity of his caress drove Alexandra wild and she clung to him as wetness pooled between her legs.

Leandro slowly dipped a hand in between her thighs and groaned as a rush of wetness met his fingers through the thin lace of her panties as she undulated against his fingers.

Sweat beaded his forehead as he struggled to restrain himself from ravaging her like an animal. Alexandra only spread her legs wider to receive him. She leaned down a little and flicked her tongue against his erect nipple, wrenching a groan from his lips.

“I can’t
wait
to have you inside me,” she whispered huskily. “I’m so wet for you.”

Just like that, his control broke! With a muttered oath, he tumbled her onto the long seat of the limo. He had intended to move them upstairs before they actually made love, but he could not contain himself any longer.

Leandro unbuckled his pants in record time, his hard cock springing free as he took Alexandra’s lips in another hot, urgent kiss. He pushed her lace panties to one side and gently inserted one long, slim finger into her. The roof of his head almost came off; God she was tight!

Her muscles clamped down eagerly around the intruding finger and she gasped as he began to thrust the digit slowly in and out of her. Pleasure itself was virtually dripping between her thighs as she got wetter still.

Leandro slowly guided his penis into her, inch after excruciatingly pleasurable inch. He was very large and she was tight as a fist. She wasn’t a virgin, he discovered as he pushed into her the rest of the way but she was certainly tighter than most.

He kissed her cheek, grunting as he drove in to the hilt. She gasped, then spread her legs wide and held him tighter to herself. Leandro began to move, pumping his hips up and down as he drove into her again and again and again.

Alexandra moaned, clutching him to her as he made fierce love to her. All her senses spiraled in a whirlpool of sensation coalescing at last in one huge coil of tension that grew tighter and tighter and tighter in her belly.

She bucked and gasped underneath him, moaning as the pleasure overtook her and she began to clench and unclench around him. She came hot and heavy around him as she cried out in ecstasy. Leandro held her until she rode out the last waves of sensation and he murmured against her cheeks, “My turn, Cara mia.”

He increased the tempo of his thrusts, shoving deeper into her, going faster and faster until he was groaning her name and spurting his hot seed straight into her tight, wet, wiling passage.

They both drifted slowly back to earth and Leandro kissed her cheek as he gathered her against him.

“That was amazing,” she gasped.

Leandro felt a bolt of pure masculine pride shoot through him and he kissed the top of her head.

“Ready for an encore?” he rumbled.

Alexandra chuckled, “You can’t be serious!”

For an answer, he just cleared his throat and when she looked up at him, he nodded south, meaningfully. Her wide blue eyes followed his direction slowly, widening even further as she saw his already turgid and rigidly erect penis standing proudly at ninety degrees.

Thirty minutes later, and after one more torrid session of lovemaking, Alexandra staggered into her room, her body tingling deliciously from head to toe.

Leandro followed her in, shutting the door behind them.

“Want to take a quick shower before bed?”

She looked at him in surprise, “You’re staying?”

“Just to sleep, I think you wore me out,” he said with a chuckle as he dropped a light kiss onto her nose.

He shed his clothes and strode into the bathroom. He emerged a few minutes later, looking refreshed with a tiny towel knotted around his waist.

Alexandra swallowed as her gaze trailed down that hard, beautiful body. Then she resolutely shrugged into her bathrobe and disappeared into the bathroom. When she returned minutes later, Leandro was fast asleep, his face looking sweet and almost boyish in his slumber.

She slipped into her pajamas and crept into bed with him, placing her head onto his chest. Alexandra sighed, feeling as though every last bone in her body had melted away in Leandro’s arms. She sighed contentedly, rubbing her cheek against his hard, hairy chest as she shut her eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

Chapter Five

Leandro came awake slowly, savoring the soft feel of a woman’s body pressed against his own. He could not remember waking up with a woman in his arms - ever. He had bedded several women in the past but he had never slept overnight with any one of them. He was a strange man in that regard, but he had always known it was just a matter of meeting the right woman for him.

He cuddled her closer in his arms. She made him do things he could never have imagined. Incredibly, he realized he was falling in love with her. That was something he had certainly not counted on. Suddenly the tables had turned slightly. How would she react if she found out about the true reason for their meeting? His original suspicions and subsequent manipulations were hardly the stuff of fairy tales. Would she ever forgive him if she learned that they had not just met by chance? His company, Lead Inc had bid for a very huge contract and he had managed to learn that the choice was down to his company and hers. He had come to the Island with the express purpose of convincing her to drop out of the bid. But he had met her, made her laugh, erased the sad, haunted look in her eyes when she spoke of her ex. Apparently he had even helped her to see the reality of her beauty. But now, he wasn’t sure how to come clean without putting that haunted look back in her eyes.

They had been together for eight days now and she was due to return today but he hadn’t figured out a way to let her know he had wanted something else from her. In fact, he wouldn’t even broach the subject; he would just leave it to the fates and let the best man win, he decided.

Alexandra stretched in his arms, a smile spreading across her face which was half hidden-by a mass of blond curls as she grinned up at him, “Hi handsome.”

“Hey sexy,” he responded, dropping a light kiss onto her nose.

“Why are you smiling like that?” she asked, grinning at him.

“Because I’m happy. Why are
you
smiling like that?”

She grinned wickedly at him. “Happy you asked,” she murmured just before she bent her head and disappeared beneath the sheets.

He jumped when her warm tongue suddenly laved the tip of his semi-erect penis. His erection immediately sprang to life as she took him completely in her mouth for a moment. Fully-erect, hard and ready, he began to pulse his cock against her ever so slightly. He groaned as she flicked her tongue over the tip again with a feather-light caress of her tongue.

Suddenly, he flung off the sheets, his eyes widening as he watched her start to take him back in her mouth again. Sensation unlike anything he had ever felt coursed through him and he began to rock his hips with more vigor, thrusting back and forth into her mouth.

Alexandra grinned enjoying his reaction to her touch as a heady sense of feminine power thrilled through her. She unselfconsciously licked him slowly from base to tip, her blue eyes holding his gaze boldly.

“You’re driving me crazy,” he grunted, grabbing her head with both hands as though to still her up and down movement.

Alexandra grinned inwardly. Well
duh
, that was the idea. Slowly, she released his penis. It glistened wetly and even more invitingly.

“You were asking why I was smiling?” she said innocently, her blue eyes wide.

“Yeah I think I now have a general idea. It’s because you’re a little witch,” he chuckled, tumbling her onto her back and following her down.

His dark eyes caught hers and held them in her gaze. Something glinted in his eyes; something warm and rich. Before she could ascertain what it was, he smiled and it was gone.

Leandro rubbed the tip of his penis against her opening, and her stomach immediately clenched in reaction. Slowly, he guided it in, groaning as her tight wetness enveloped him.

She shut her eyes in ecstasy but he kissed her eyelids and said, “Look at me
Cara mia
. I want to watch you watching me make love to you.”

He was velvety hard, pulsing with life and passion. She saw and felt herself the sublime pleasure etched into his features as he thrust into her silken sheath.

Alexandra spread her legs wider and he began to pump his hips in earnest as he made love to her. In seconds, she was hot all over, set on fire by a thousand sensations.

Panting with mounting excitement, Leandro squeezed one generous breast, kneading roughly as he pounded into her again and again.

“You’re so tight! So tight and warm,” he groaned as he fucked her. “You’re so wet!”

“Yes! Yes!” she moaned, mindlessly undulating in his arms even as she strained against him.

He slipped a hand between them and rubbed his finger against her clitoris again and again wringing new sensations from her already over-sensitized body.

Leandro grunted louder with each thrust as he increased the tempo, setting her on fire. Alexandra mindlessly raised her hips, arching upwards to match the uniform rhythm of his finger on her clitoris, and of his rapid thrusts into her body. She was helpless to stop the onslaught of feelings he had unleashed; and before she knew it, the dam burst and she was peaking and trembling with ecstasy as she sighed his name and convulsed in his arms.

Once she had finished cumming, he changed the angle of his thrusts, focusing now on his own primal desires, hammering away at her pussy and groaning as every thrust brought him closer to fulfillment.

Alexandra reached up one finger and slowly began to circle his nipple with light caresses.

Leandro threw back his head, his teeth barred as he began to peak. Her name was wrenched from his chest in a mighty groan as he rammed into her one last time before spewing his hot, wet seed straight into her warm, willing body.

He collapsed beside her, spent and sated as he drew her into the comfort of his arms to still their mutual trembling.

***

“The man is an absolute sex fiend,” Alexandra whispered, laughing into the phone as she spoke to her best friend. Leandro had gone into the bathroom for a quick shower and she had seized the opportunity to call Claire.

“He sounds positively delicious,” her friend Claire observed dryly from her end.

“I’m telling you, he is
beyond
delicious! He... he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.”

“Like?”

Silence.

“Come on Alexis, you can’t leave me high and dry. My ears are almost falling off,” Claire pleaded. She was the only person in the whole world, besides her parents, who could get away with calling her Alexis.

“Um, perhaps we’ll talk about that whenever we see. Why did you call?”

“Nice dodge. Alright, first off, I’m glad you’re having fun and Andrew was over here the other day sniffing around to know where you went; I didn’t tell him zilch!”

Alexandra waited to feel the familiar pain at hearing Andrew’s name but she felt nothing; not even a dull throb.

Grinning, she said into the phone, “I hope you tossed him out on his ear.”

“Sure did, and kicked him in the butt to help him on his way. Also called security and got his ass blacklisted; he can never step foot onto the premises of
Beautiful Designs
again on their watch.”

Alexandra snorted with laughter; she knew Claire well enough to know she was serious and not kidding around. The mental image of her prudish partner shoving her foot at Andrew’s ass made her smile.

Her wandering attention honed in as she caught the last few words of whatever Claire was saying,
“
the bid by
Beautiful Designs
.”

“Huh? Say that again.”

“I said I got a call this morning from our guy at Alistairs Plc; he says he thinks Lead Inc may be positioning themselves to either change their bid to a figure below ours, or to convince us to bow out.”

A cold fist of fear clenched around Alexandra’s heart, “Someone wants us out of the running for Alistairs and you’re just telling me now? You know how much we have riding on that.”

Silence.

Alistairs Plc was a company with at least two branches in each state; not to mention some foreign holdings. They had recently decided to rebrand their offices across the states and had invited bids from interior design companies.
Beautiful Designs
needed the kind of exposure just such a contract would give them if her dream of becoming a household name was to be a reality. Beautiful Designs had sunk months of manpower, research and effort into this bid, not to mention the series of expensive high-powered meetings they had conducted to convince the Board of Alistairs Plc that they were the right people for the job.

If she lost this deal, it would mean
Beautiful Designs
had sunk a lot of money down the drain which it really could not afford to lose right now. They had come too far; made it to a point where it was just down to them and some other company. They needed this deal. Besides
Beautiful Designs
was in debt and if it didn’t get a huge cash infusion soon, they would have to start laying off some people and that was the last thing she wanted.

“Claire?”

“I’m here?”

“Who the hell are the Lead Inc people?”

Silence reigned at the other end and then quietly, Claire asked, “Have you checked your email recently?”

“Okay I haven’t. Who’s trying to shove us out the door and why?”

“They really just want contract as an additional feather in an already heavily-decorated cap. These guys are the big league; I even heard they officially decorate the White House. Last two weeks, someone contacted me and wanted to know if we would drop out of the running but I told them we’re in it to win it. I was going to tell you that day but that was the same day you found out about Andrew and you were so torn up about it. The man was all cocky like his boss is the most persuasive man this side of the planet and when you factor in the fact that he’s
the Alarico
, you can understand why they have such faith in his abilities.”

Alexandra fought off a sudden wave of nausea as she digested this latest bit of information.
The Alarico?
“What is his name?”

“He’s a Spaniard…Leandro Alarico. He’s a big deal apparently.”

“Claire, do they know where this Alarico person is at the moment?”

“Um, I actually demanded to see him and tell the man off myself and the pissy rep assured me that he was out of reach. Something about him needing a working holiday or some such thing.”

Alexandra felt a great chill chase up her arms and straight into her bones. Her eyes swung to the briefcase lying open on the bed across the room. Wordlessly, she replaced the receiver and turned to stare around Leandro’s suite with new eyes. Who was this man?

Muffled singing from the bathroom told her he was still in the shower and she hurriedly rushed to peep into the documents lying in his open briefcase. Her heart stopped; it was a copy of a bid by
Lead Inc
for the same contract. The envelope beside it also revealed some pictures of her as well as some reports detailing her life and her personal habits. Tears blurred her vision. Was this why he had sought her out in Hawaii? Obviously their meeting had not been an accident at all. Everything that had happene
d
the lovemaking, the laughter, the companionshi
p
it had all been nothing but a master-seducer at work!

Her sense of betrayal was absolute and complete as she stared at the document. With a flip of her hand, she flung it back into his briefcase and with quick jerky movements, picked up her clothes and fled to the sanctity of her room.

***

Leandro whistled to himself as he emerged from the bathroom. The world suddenly seemed brighter. He felt more cheerful and happier than he could remember. He was interested in finding out more about Alexandra, he wanted to know everything! That was a first for him, most women he dated, he barely knew more than their first names. There was just something unique about her. As much as he was captivated, it also that scared the hell out of him. At some level though, he thought, maybe that’s what I have needed – someone who can really see me.

He loved her, he realized. He waited to feel choked or trapped but all he felt was exhilarated.

He would tell her the truth today, he decided.

“Alexandra?” he called as he dried his hair with a towel, looking around the room. It was empty. Where had she gone? He strode into the adjourning bedroom, but she was not there either.

A niggle of unease trickled down his spine and he immediately swung about the room, searching wildly for something. He didn’t know what it was but he couldn’t shake the sudden feeling in his guts that there was something he should look out for. His eyes fell on the open briefcase and with a sense of dread, he walked closer. Instantly he knew what had happened.
Dammit
, he thought to himself. She had found the pictures and the bid. What a mess. He had not gone through the papers yet, but he knew, essentially what he had asked his people investigate for him. He picked up the first document and his jaw tightened as he read what was written on it; the idiot had even detailed where she shopped for lingerie!