A fierce rebellion was surging against the pigeonhole Nick had put her into. He was still standing flat-footed in the reception area, not coming to her. Fine! She’d go all the way to him, force him to acknowledge he was with her tonight. At his own insistence!
She resumed her descent of the staircase, a burning anger turning her previous graceful carriage into a flaunting strut. Perhaps a sense of courtesy finally kicked through Nick’s shock. He started towards the foot of the staircase, and, as was usual with him, people rolled back from his path like the Red Sea for Moses.
He had the commanding charisma of being spectacularly tall, dark and handsome, especially in formal clothes, and there was something about his Latin-lover looks that stirred a spine-tingling sense of danger, adding immeasurably to the sexual allure of the man.
When Tess had first laid eyes on him, she’d thought there wouldn’t be a woman in the world who’d be immune to at least a fleeting desire to sample him in bed. The trouble was Nick knew it, and something in her had instantly wanted to be the exception, defying his power to get women virtually dropping at his feet.
But she was no exception.
She’d fallen when he’d opened the door to having sex with her. And she’d fall again, given the chance. Without a doubt, it would be much, much easier to tell Nick he was the father of her child if he was sharing a bed with her.
However, if she had lit any fire in him just now, he certainly had it under control by the time he met her at the foot of the stairs, halting her on the step above him by taking her hand and lifting it to his mouth in mocking homage.
‘Pure Hollywood, Tess,’ he purred through a sensuous brushing of his lips over her skin. Then he gave his twisted little smile and cocked a sardonic eyebrow. ‘Getting into the spirit of a premiere?’
Electric tingles ran up her arm and shot adrenaline through her bloodstream, sharpening her mind to defence stations as her all too vulnerable heart pitter-pattered its distress at the dying hope for anything different coming from Nick. If he wanted something personal from her tonight, it was obviously not going to comprise a shift away from platonic friendship.
‘I thought I’d better lift my game for the publicity limelight,’ she explained, colouring all her efforts to affect him as something professional, not personal.
His laugh was tinged with irony. ‘You didn’t just lift it, Tess. You’ve totally outclassed any possible competition.’
‘I’m not competing,’ she swiftly denied, hating the thought that he suspected she might be. ‘Have I overdone it? Is that why you just stood there and stared instead of coming to greet me?’
He shook his head, eyes twinkling amusement at the sudden crack in her confidence. ‘You haven’t overdone it, Tess. In fact, you deserve a standing ovation for a perfect production. I just wasn’t expecting the grand entrance from you.’
She shrugged. ‘Well, I can be my mother’s daughter when I choose to be. And why not when I’m going to a premiere?’
‘Why not, indeed? I simply needed a moment or two to get accustomed to this image of you.’
‘You have seen me dressed up before,’ shot out of her mouth, propelled by a rampaging need for him to acknowledge he had found her desirable the last time she’d fine-feathered herself—the night they had both attended a product launch party. Separately. And ended up intimately together.
The thick black lashes lowered, instantly veiling his response to the memory. His full-lipped provocative mouth moved into a teasing moue. ‘Playing with fire, Tess?’
Heat whooshed up her neck and into her cheeks and she silently and violently cursed the fair translucent skin which was such a telltale barometer of her feelings. Her inner agitation seized on a counter-attack to defend herself.
‘You’re the one crossing the line, Nick. I didn’t ask you to be with me tonight. You asked yourself, remember?’
‘I did,’ he agreed, but his mouth was still taunting, turning her into just another woman who fancied getting into his trousers.
‘As for the grand entrance, you triggered that yourself,’ she ran on, her fight to equalise everything gathering a fierce momentum. ‘Firstly you were so stuck in a world of your own I couldn’t draw your attention from the mezzanine level. Then when I started down to collect you and you did happen to look up, instead of bounding up the stairs to meet me, you stand and stare, making me come all the way down…’
‘Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy creating a sensation, Tess,’ he slid in mockingly.
‘I happen to be dressed for the occasion, Nick Ramirez, and instead of puffing up your macho ego, thinking I’ve done it to impress you, perhaps you’ll now escort me back upstairs so we can have a bite to eat in the coffee shop before we leave for the theatre.’
‘At your service.’ He flashed her an openly charming grin as he took the hand he was still holding, tucked it around his arm and stepped up to do her bidding. ‘And that tart tongue of yours has just reminded me why I’ve missed you so much.’
‘Too much honey for the busy bee?’ she slung at him. Her heartbeat was in major overdrive, causing her mind to zing beyond the bounds of discretion. She was viciously jealous of all his other women, but showing it with her tart tongue was not a good idea.
To her intense relief he laughed, his wicked green eyes dancing pleasure in her, and the steely pride Tess was trying to keep in her spine was in instant danger of melting. It wasn’t fair that one man should be so attractive. If it was only the physical impact, it wouldn’t be so difficult to set it at a distance and ignore it. But when his mind clicked with hers, which it did all too frequently on many levels, everything within her yearned to have Nick Ramirez as her man.
Unfortunately, knowing that was never going to happen did not diminish the desire. Tess mostly managed to counter it by being as sane and down-to-earth as she could be around Nick. She just wasn’t on top of that game tonight. Probably never would be again. The six-month break from frequent practice at it left her feeling inept, and the sense that everything had to change between them anyway eroded the old need to keep it up.
Returning to the sore point of his women, Tess decided she might as well be blunt in sorting out this current situation. Pitching her voice to a light bantering tone, she invited him to be forthcoming. ‘So tell me why you dumped your current bedmate to come out with me tonight.’
He shrugged. ‘Purely an incidental. She was ready to move on.’ A sardonic twist of his mouth as he added, ‘Had another guy already lined up.’