His grip on her arm tightened and he increased his pace as they headed across the polished marbled floor of the lobby to the lifts. She stumbled. He swivelled, grasped her shoulder, and pulled her into him to save her from falling over. He'd forgotten she was tottering on sky-high-heeled shoes. He really shouldn’t be such a bastard no matter how pissed off he was at the situation.
His panting breath mingled with hers, their faces only an inch apart. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," she whispered in a breathy voice, surprisingly subdued.
The urge to kiss her rose, watering his mouth. They stood in the middle of a busy lobby with prying eyes and mobile phone cameras. Tomorrow, their pictures would be splashed all over the Internet. It never bothered him when that happened. However Rita's artless demeanour indicated she wasn't used to the limelight. Something in him wanted to shield her from the exposure.
So he tamped down his desire and tilted her head up so she had to look into his eyes. Her soft, smooth skin felt warm and beautiful brown irises met his hesitantly. "I'm going to call the lift and go up to my room. It's your choice if you want to come up or not."
"What..." She sucked in a breath as if gathering strength to say what she needed. "What do you want from me?"
"I want to fuck you," he said in low voice meant for her ears only.
Her lips parted, her breath hitched. The pulse on her neck thundered and her throat rippled as she swallowed. But she didn't back away and her saucer-wide eyes turned molten brown with lust.
There. He had his answer. She wanted him. Would she let him fuck her? Because that's what it would be. In his world, sex was about fucking. Wild, animalistic, unrestrained rutting. He would see to her pleasure again and again. Still, it wouldn’t be sweet and it wouldn’t be loving.
A lift opened and a man stepped out. Tony released her and walked into the lift.
Turning, he faced her. Enough game playing. She had to come to him of her own volition.
She stood there looking sexy as sin as she bit her bottom lip and her forehead puckered in a frown as if she wondered why he'd left her in the lobby.
"I'm not going to drag you into the lift, if that’s what you were expecting." His fingers itched to do it, though. He didn't want to contemplate that she would turn around and walk away. Yet he had to give her the opportunity. "You have to walk into this lift yourself if you want me."
She glanced behind her and took a hesitant step backward.
His heart thundered. She was going to run. He held his breath and counted to ten to stop from stepping out and grabbing her arm. Instead, he jammed his finger into the door hold button and waited. Seconds ticked by that felt like hours. Sweat beaded his forehead.
She looked up and met his gaze. "Can you make the pain go away?"