“Liam—”
“If you won’t dance there, with them, then dance now.” He took her hand and pulled her into his embrace. “Here.” He began to sway in time to the lilting notes of the traditional bamboo flute, its sound as light as the drums were heavy. “With me.”
She began to move in time to the music. They swayed back and forth, letting their bodies go where the music led them.
His hands slid across the smooth, silky skin of Ella’s back. He loved her dress, the way it hugged her body, hinted at its lean form but enhanced her lush curves. He would have a dozen made so she had one to wear for every occasion. Hell, he’d plead with her to never wear anything else.
When he pulled her closer, Ella glanced up through thick lashes, her eyes burning with untempered heat. “Is this how you’d treat a date in Los Angeles?”
“This is how I’d treat you, Ella. Only you.” He spun her around, guiding her to the water’s edge and into the very edge of the surf, the waves rushing in to slip over their bare feet and wick up the fabric of his trousers and her dress. “Just dance.”
She closed her eyes then, and gave herself to the music. Her chin tilted toward the sky. Starlight shone brighter than he ever remembered it, bathing her in a surreal glow. The hand that held his tightened, and the hand on his chest fisted the linen of his shirt. “You’re a dangerous man, Liam Baggett.”
Something in him snapped. No one could have heard, but it was as clear to him as the starting bell at a horse track. He moved with as much grace as he could muster, leading Ella from the water’s edge and back onto the sand.
The surf rushed after them, licking at their heels.
Ella’s lips parted on a sigh. Lifting her face to his, her gaze came to rest on Liam’s mouth.
His cock swelled in response to the undisguised hunger that swam in those green depths.
Ella didn’t look away, didn’t try to hide the emotional riot she experienced. Instead, she whispered his name, just his name, in that sultry voice of hers. In it lay a plea he heard and responded to in kind.
“Ella.”
She rose on her tiptoes, clutching his shoulders for balance in the shifting sand, and closed the distance between them...then stopped less than an inch from his mouth, waiting.
She would pursue so much as she was pursued. She would give what she was given and take what was offered. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Liam could live with that.
He dipped his head low and brushed his lips over hers. She tasted of crisp white wine and the sun’s warmth and just a hint of mint in the dessert she’d sampled. He could get drunk on her. His senses heightened even as his mind grew sluggish, intoxicated by the woman in his arms. Never had it been like this with anyone.
Breaking the kiss, he took her hand and started toward the bungalow.
CHAPTER SIX
TENSIONRACEDTHROUGHElla’s body like her nervous system was a never-ending zip line. Fine tremors in her hands made her clumsy as she gathered the hem of her dress before climbing the stairs that led into the thatch-roofed hut. Liam stood across the room, his shirt unbuttoned and one thumb hooked behind the button of his pants. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I haven’t been able to think clearly since I saw your toes.”
She glanced down. “My...toes?”
“They’re pink, Ella.” He chuffed out a short, harsh laugh. “You’ve reduced me—the head of Europe’s premier financial firm—to obsessing over the color of your nail polish.”
She smiled at him, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “So, you get off on feet, then. Or is it the color pink? Because if it’s pink, you’re in for it. I’m wearing one other item that’s pink.”
“If you’re telling me your lingerie is pink, don’t expect to find them in the morning.”
“You’d steal my underwear?”
He met her curious stare, his eyes filled with a predatory hunger that made her want to runonlyto ensure he chased her. Took her down. Commanded her body as the spoils of some as-yet unfought war. Then he sealed her fate as well as his.
“Of course, I’d steal other things from you first.”
“Such as?”
“I intend to steal your breath followed by your sense of reason followed by your self-control.”
Her heart tumbled through her chest like she had just come off a carnival tilt-a-whirl. “You’re telling me you’re capable of taking all of those things. And with such confidence.”