The Billionaire's Second-Chance Bride (The Romero Brothers, #1) (8 page)

He had some sort of magical effect on her emotions. Like some sort of sedative that mellowed her mood and relaxed her at the same time. She glanced at his softly defined lips. What would they feel like on hers? As if he could hear her, Antonio escorted her to the chairlift, but before he got on, he glanced into her eyes.

Her legs weakened.

Please kiss me.

Just then, the image of him touching her, caressing her, making love to her, engulfed her mind. God, she really needed to get a life. She really needed not to be celibate right now. How long had it been since she’d been intimate? Way, way, way too long.

Antonio’s cell phone buzzed and shattered the moment. He paused. She thought she heard him curse under his breath. He turned away to answer. It had a distinctive ring so it must have been somebody important.

“Yes, Grandfather. You have a good night, too.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t listening, but that was so...sweet.” There. She said it.

“You’re really something else, you know that?” he said, guiding her to the chairlift.

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re sentimental, for one thing.”

“Thank—" Lucy stopped herself and watched as Antonio’s lips curled into a smile.

The scenic chairlift ride was extraordinary. She grabbed on to Antonio’s arm as he casually leaned back in the luxury seat of the lift gliding all the way down at a swift pace. Lucy was breathing hard, catching her breath but enjoying the sights. How could Antonio be so calm when dangling in the air from a thin cable?

She gripped his biceps and could feel the steel hardness of his muscles. Good God! This man was built solid like a sculpture. Oh, my. What could he be like in bed?

“Are you going to be okay, Miss Shillerton?” Antonio turned to her, grinning.

She playfully rolled her eyes. “I’m afraid of heights.”

The grin vanished. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“No. It’s okay. I’m...I’m with you so...”

He held on to her. “We’ll be down soon.”

Lucy leaned into Antonio. She really did enjoy the scenery, it was just the thought of the cables holding them up so high off the ground worked on her nerves. They must have been at about two-thousand feet above sea level, she guessed. Of course, who cared about sea level? To Lucy it looked like a million mile plummet to earth!

Antonio turned to Lucy and lifted her chin up so that their gaze met. Lucy looked into Antonio’s dark, sexy eyes and she felt oddly protected. He gave her the look that he would not let anything happen to her. But there was also something else in his eyes. Oh, those beautiful dark eyes framed by long, thick lashes.

Then as if time had stopped, he leaned down and pressed his soft lips to hers. Lucy felt electricity pulse delightfully chaotically through her blood. He slowly slid his tongue inside her parted lips and twirled and sucked on her until she felt heated between her thighs.

Holy crap!

Lucy and Antonio were locked into the hottest, most passionate kiss she’d ever experienced in her life. He held her closely and sucked on her lips and pleasured them in a way she never imagined.

This. Man. Can. Kiss!

She didn’t know where she was she was so lost in the moment. She couldn’t care less if she were dangling from the Empire State Building in New York or the CN Tower in the downtown Toronto core. Her mind buzzed, her body convulsed.

What a kiss!

Antonio’s lips tasted as sweet as they looked. His lips tasted of savory wine and were divinely intoxicating. Heat coursed through Lucy’s blood. Her blood pumped fast and hard, and she didn’t know whether she was coming or going.  She was in a trance. When he licked her lips and pulled away from her, she was still buzzed, dazzled, discombobulated. Her lips tingled from his soft, intimate touch. Her body reacted like crazy. Her nipples were hard as if she was in the Arctic and her inner thighs pulsed and pounded from want.

Oh, God!

Oh, God!

Antonio’s lips. His kiss.

Lucy was breathless, she was dazed and needed oxygen ... like yesterday.

“Are you okay, Miss Shillerton?” Antonio’s low voice slid into her.

She took a minute to catch her breath and realized that they were already at the bottom of the slope. She was still panting, breathing hard and fast.

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t pass out on me up there.” He grinned.

Lucy gazed into his eyes, her mind was still reeling from his soft, sensual kiss. This man oozed power. Sexual power and lots of it. Yet he just claimed that he didn’t fall in love. That was what he said, wasn’t it? She was aware he was never heartbroken but he must have broken a hell of a lot of hearts.

Lucy was shaking. She was shivering and it wasn’t because of a cool night breeze.

“Lucy, come on. I’d better take you home.”

“M-m-my car,” she stuttered.

“Maxine drove it home, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Lucy clutched her forehead. Superman CEO here just stole her breath away and all her senses and her memory, too, with just one hot, memorable kiss.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” he murmured.

“Done what?”

“I sometimes get ahead of myself. I just didn’t want you passing out on me there.”

“Yeah, I...I know. Thank you.” So that was all it was? Antonio was saving her, not seducing her?

Then why was her body still pulsing and reacting to him?

It wasn’t anything, Lucy. Don’t get ahead of yourself. It was only a kiss.

No. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was freaking the best feeling I’d ever experienced sexually and he hadn’t even undressed me...yet.

Later, when Lucy arrived at her apartment, she pressed the remote for her iPod dock and the first song that loaded really spoke to how she felt at that moment. It was a hot, soulful ballad from Deborah Cox titled “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here.” That woman sure could sing. And she was singing just what Lucy was feeling. Lucy crouched down on the floor by her door after closing it. She grabbed her knees to her chest.

Shit!

She was falling for Antonio Romero.

That was so wrong on so many levels.

He wasn’t relationship material. He told her that. Not just told her, screamed it from the mountaintops.

She didn’t want to get her heart slammed into pieces again.

But yet, he made her feel the way no man had ever made her feel before. Not even her first love. The song boomed through her dock speakers. She pondered the lyrics. “How did you get here...nobody’s supposed to be here...I’ve tried that love thing for the last time...”

Lucy had to get Antonio out of her system and fast. This was all wrong. She craved the way he made her feel. She craved him. But she could not, should not give her heart to him.

Once bitten, twice shy.

Once betrayed, twice afraid.

She had to try to un-fall in love with this guy. He was so out of her league. Besides, she swore off men—for now, anyway. Look what Jeff did to her. And she really had trusted Jeff.

So why was her heart telling her that she needed Antonio, that she should be with him?

She squeezed her eyes shut. She was shivering all over. She was still buzzing from Antonio’s sexually charged, passionate kiss. Her lips still tingled from his touch. Those soft, hot lips of his. His amazing tongue twirling. How did he do that? She was stoked by him. Captivated by him. She was...in love with him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

––––––––

A
ntonio kissed me.

Lucy was reeling over that seductive kiss. She was still thrilled about Monday’s sexually-charged kiss with Antonio Romero. It was two days ago and yet the erotic touch of his lips remained as a phantom sensation.
Ah, those lips of his.
Soft, sweet, tender. She’d never met anyone like Antonio. His kiss could bring a woman to dizzying heights of sensual pleasure. What would it feel like to be even more intimate with him? Lucy's body was still pulsing over the naughty thoughts swirling in her mind. So there really was such a thing as sparks flying when you kissed the right person? Lucy had never felt that way before with Jeff. Never.

But the words that followed after her close and personal encounter with Antonio left a bitterness in the pit of her stomach. He said he didn’t want her passing out on him. It meant nothing to him, yet she was having these crazy whirlwind feelings about him. Her body desired his touch, his passion. What was wrong with her?

The Diamond Ball Fundraiser was the following evening and Lucy honestly didn’t know if she could handle seeing Antonio again. The thought was overwhelming in more ways than one. Then there was the decision regarding what to do about his grandfather’s wedding.

Oh, God! His grandfather’s nuptials. She was going to have to hurt one of the Romeros and the mere thought scorched her heart.

This was not going to be easy.

“Penny for your thoughts.” Maxine raised a brow coupled with a wicked grin. She and Lucy headed up the grand escalator of the Metro Convention Center towards the Bridal Show.

Lucy came out of her daydream and drew in a deep breath before answering. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind, Maxine.”

“I’ll bet you do. And I bet his name is Antonio Romero, the third,” she said, rolling the R in Romero.

“Maxine!”

“What? I’m just saying.”

“Antonio is the grandson of one of my clients. Nothing more.”

“Yeah, if you say so. I saw the look on your face when he asked to be alone with you on Monday. Come on. You must have gotten some.”

“Maxine! I would never just...I’m not easy. Besides, that would be just so unethical.”

Maxine grinned and rolled her eyes playfully as they both stepped off the escalator and walked towards the carpeted corridor towards Showroom A.

“Lucy, you’re a woman in love. You may not want to admit it, but I see the way you are around that dude.”

“And just how am I around that
dude?”

“
You’re always blushing and incoherent for one thing.”

Lucy stopped walking for a moment and turned to face Maxine. She could not believe her ears. “Excuse me?”

“You know what I’m talking about, girl. And then, you’re like, not letting anything around the office bother you as much. You’re always daydreaming and thinking about something and there’s that silly grin on your face.”

Lucy felt heat soar through her body, her face must have been cherry red by now. “Okay, Maxine. That’s enough. I don’t know where you got those ideas from-”

“Okay, you can run, girl, but you can’t hide.”

“Hide?”

“Yeah. You can’t hide from love.”

Just as they approached the entrance of Showroom A, music wafted out from the loud speakers. And as if some coincidence, the song was none other than "Love Makes Things Happen" by Pebbles and Baby Face
.

Oh, hell no,
Lucy thought to herself.

The words “love can pull you deep into a spell....” resonated loud and clear as a wedding bell in the hall.

Okay, why on earth do they have to play that song now?

Then Maxine, as if on cue, unsuccessfully stifled her giggle as she held her iPad up to her nose to hide her wide grin.

Lucy and Maxine explored the exhibit with the Fun Bird wedding invitations in the themed wedding section. Next to the Twilight themed wedding, it was the most popular there by far. They carefully selected items that would be more elegant and stunning for the various weddings they would be planning this year.

There was a one-of-a-kind Fun Bird themed boutonnière and bouquet that caught Lucy's attention on a display in addition to slingshot pens and golden eggs and a treasure chest for notes to be penned by guests. Lucy and Maxine were even treated to a video tour of one of the weddings that contained the designer’s supply so they could see firsthand. To say they were impressed was an understatement. Going to bridal shows and conventions was a productive way to actively sample the products they would be buying in addition to networking with contractors and future business associates.

The supplier had a display of Fun Bird sugar cookies and a tutorial as to where the special decorations should be placed in the wedding reception. They contained various decorations including themed flowers, three-tiered cakes, placemats, buttons, flags, balloons, red confetti in the shape of tiny bird feathers and the whole works. The vendor even displayed samples of the Fun Birds deviled eggs decorated with one red bird in the center of the tray on the sample dessert table along with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Lucy tasted the sweet strawberries and scooped up a delicious deviled egg.

Lucy felt the excitement for any bride and groom who would make this a fun wedding. It really took the seriousness out of the occasion. The couple who used these products would have to have an excellent sense of humor and a mentality steeped in fun to pull this off.

The products from this designer would be perfect for Toni’s wedding to Shelly, Lucy thought. But then as if right on cue, that awful feeling in the pit of her stomach about the risks involved to pull off such an elaborate ceremony sunk her like a rock in the lake.

Her excitement waned for some reason, though she had less fear of Antonio than she had before. Was Maxine right? Was she really having those symptoms of a person who had caught the magical love bug? Or was that
lust
?

The noise level in the auditorium was quite high but they could still hear the enthusiastic speaker hawking off all the unique elements in their themed-wedding booth. Lucy used many suppliers in the past but she was always glad to attend these shows to meet upcoming designers and view the latest hot trends in the biz. Keeping up with the best and most current trends was the name of the game in the wedding planning industry. You wanted to let people know you had everything to offer them to make their dream ceremony come true.

“Oh, look, this is interesting,” Maxine said pulling Lucy away from the booth an hour later after they placed their orders.

“What is this?” Lucy said looking around for the display sign for the tent they were approaching.

“It looks like a tent booth for a DIY wedding,” Maxine replied.