Oh, God. “Alex, I—
“Ssh—” He lifted his lips from her hand and pressed his thumb against her mouth.
Her stomach did a loop-to-loop. A wry smile curved his lips. “As hard as I try not to, all I keep thinking about is you in my bed, Iz...”
His deep, velvet tone made her heart race. Her lower lip trembled as his thumb dropped away from her mouth and he bent his head to hers. “Have you?”
“Have I what?” she asked helplessly.
“Have you thought about me?”
One last shred of self-preservation kicked in as she remembered how he’d left her in London. “I thought we agreed it was only one night.”
“Does it feel like it’s over?” he growled, dragging her closer so she could feel his heart pounding against hers.
No. No, it didn’t. She braced herself as he brought his mouth firmly down on hers, staking his claim. A wild flurry of excitement at being in his arms again rushed through her. With a helpless sigh, she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Just one kiss...
“I like this dress,” he muttered against her lips, his hands burning into her bare skin as he swept them down her back. “Hell, Izzie, I have no self-control when it comes to you.”
His words thrilled her, sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. She lost herself in the feeling of his hands on her again. The sensuous slant of his mouth as he nudged hers open and took the kiss deeper. She arched her neck, welcoming the sweep of his tongue as it slid against hers. He groaned and dragged her against the hard length of his body. Started an ache deep inside her she wanted desperately to assuage the same way they had the last time.
“Come home with me,” he urged raggedly.
Her body said yes. But her brain... She yanked herself out of his arms and took an unsteady step backward. Sucked in a breath. “I have something I need to tell you...”
He frowned, running a distracted hand through his hair as his gaze tracked her. “Okay...”
She swallowed hard. “When I told you that night in London I was in communications I didn’t tell you the—”
“There you two are.”
She looked up, horrified, as James walked across the terrace toward them, his eyes glittering with the satisfaction of a hunter who’d cornered his prey. “You’re a hard man to find, Constantinou.”
Alex drew his brows together. “Do I know you?”
James stopped in front of him, sticking out his hand. “Izzie’s boss, James Curry, from NYC-TV.”
Alex froze. Kept his hands by his sides. “The James Curry who’s been calling my office every day for a week?”
“The very same,” her boss acknowledged,unperturbed. “Has Izzie gotten around to explaining what we want to do with the exclusive?”
Alex’s voice was icy cold as he turned to her. “You’re a reporter.”
Izzie blanched, every ounce of blood in her body seeming to flee to her feet. “I was just about to explain.”
Her boss’s gaze swung to Izzie, then back to Alex. “Do you two know each other?”
Alex’s mouth tightened. “Nice try, Curry. Wasn’t half a dozen unreturned phone calls enough to convince you I’m not interested?”
Her boss shrugged. “Messer’s going to kill you in the court of public opinion.”
“Messer doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
James lifted his shoulders. “Do you really want to take a chance on that?”
Alex’s gaze flicked to Izzie, moving scathingly over her. “So you sent Isabel to persuade me? Don’t you think that’s going a bit far?”
“I thought some female persuasion might help, yes.”
Izzie felt herself sink into the depths of hell. “James,” she interjected, “why don’t you let Alex and I finish our conversation? We can—”
“Actually,” Alex interrupted, “I’d like to know...do you often ask your reporters to go to the lengths Izzie did for this story? Or was I a special case?”
Her boss frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Alex’s fists clenched by his sides. “You really are scum of the earth, aren’t you?” He took a step closer to James, his six-feet-plus, wide-shouldered frame dwarfing her boss’s slighter one. James stood toe to toe with him, unfazed, his chin jutting out belligerently.
“What are you talk—”
“James.” Izzie stepped between the two men, heart pounding. “Please go inside. I’ll handle this.”
Her boss shook his head. “I don’t think I should—”
“That’s an excellent suggestion, Curry,” Alex broke in, a dangerous glimmer lighting his eyes. “Why don’t you follow it before I do what my fists are itching to do.”
Her boss looked from Alex to Izzie and back. “I think you should ex—”
“James,” Izzie broke in desperately. “Alex and I have something we need to discuss. Please go. I’ll find you afterward.”
Her boss gave her an uncertain look. Izzie pleaded with him with her eyes. “All right,” he said finally. “Think about it, Constantinou. It’s the smart thing to do.”
Izzie watched him go, sucking in a deep breath. Alex looked her over, his voice so cold, it sent a shiver down her spine. “You should have been an actress like your mother,” he drawled. “Your performance was utterly brilliant, Iz. I bought the naive young thing hook, line and sinker.”
She shook her head. “It isn’t anything like that. I was coming to track you down that day, yes, but I had no idea who you were when we got stuck in that elevator. Your receptionist said you’d left hours earlier and I was looking for Leandros, not Alex.”
His lip curled. “You expect me to believe that? You forget I have a hell of a lot of experience dealing with the media. I know exactly what lengths reporters will go to for a story, although I have to admit prostituting yourself is above and beyond.”
“Prostituting myself?” She stared at him, horrified. “I would never do that, Alex, I—”
“How did you manage it?” A disdainful glitter shone in his eyes. “My schedule was all over the place that day.”
She shook her head, knowing this was getting way out of control. “I didn’t manage anything. I went into reception, asked for Leandros, they told me you had gone back to the U.S. and I left. You were very closemouthed about yourself that night.”
“You wonder why,” he came back savagely. “So you just happened to get stuck in that elevator with me. Are you even afraid of them by the way?”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “Alex, be reasonable here.”
“Given what’s going on in my head, I think I’m being exceedingly reasonable.”
He looked like he wanted to put his hands around her neck and strangle her. She took a step backward. “I swear to you I had no idea who you were until I came back to work and James showed me a picture of you. Everything that happened between us was real.”
“You expect me to believe that?” His blue eyes gleamed with leashed fury. “How much of a fool do you think I am?”
“You heard James,” she said desperately. “He had no idea what you were talking about. This wasn’t a setup, it was—”
“Enough.” He ground the word out with such force she stopped in her tracks. She backed up until she met the hard concrete of the wall. He followed her, pinning her against it. “No more lies.”