His Brand of Passion (2 page)

He stared at her, colour washing his high cheekbones, his eyes glittering darkly. He was furious, utterly furious, and Zoe felt a little frisson of—fear? Maybe, but something else too. Something like excitement. Smiling, she patted her bag with the still-buzzing phone. Good Lord, he received a lot of calls. ‘You can have it back after Millie and Chase leave for their honeymoon.’

Aaron’s expression turned thunderous and he leaned forward, every taut line of his body radiating tightly leashed anger. ‘I’ll have it back now.’

‘I don’t think so.’

She saw him reach for the bag and quickly she grabbed it and put it in her lap. Aaron arched an incredulous eyebrow.

‘You think that’s going to stop me?’ he murmured, and it sounded almost seductive. Zoe felt a sudden, prickling awareness raise goosebumps all over her body. Before she could make any answer, Aaron slid his hand under the table. Zoe stiffened as she felt his hand slide along her thigh. The man was audacious, she had to give him that. Audacious and fearless.

She felt his fingers slide along her inner thigh, his palm warm through the thin silk of her dress. To her own annoyance and shame she could not keep a very basic and overwhelming desire from flooding through her, turning her insides warm and liquid. She shifted in her seat, and just as Aaron’s hand reached the bag in her lap she slid the phone out of it.

‘Give me that phone, Zoe.’ His hand was clenched in her lap and, even though seduction had to be the last thing on his mind, Zoe could still feel her body’s pulsing awareness of him. All he’d done was touch her leg. She had to get a grip and remember this was about the phone. Nothing else.

She raised her hand above the table, the phone still clutched in it, and slowly shook her head. ‘No.’

Aaron’s lips thinned. ‘I could take it from you by force.’ She had no doubt he could. ‘That would cause a scene.’

‘You think I care?’

No, Zoe realised, she didn’t think he did. Considering his behaviour so far, she didn’t think he cared at all. She imagined him prying the phone from her hand. It would be like taking candy from a baby. She was no match for his strength, and she couldn’t stand the thought of enduring Aaron’s mocking triumph for the rest of the evening.

Impulsively, her gaze locked on Aaron’s, she slid the phone down the front of her dress. he stared back at her and something flared in his eyes that made the awareness inside her pulse harder.

‘That looks a little…strange,’ he remarked, and Zoe glanced down to see her cleavage obscured by a bulky object in the middle of the dress. It did, indeed, look a bit strange.

‘Easily fixed,’ she replied breezily, and with a bit of pushing and pulling of the strapless dress she managed to get the phone to lie flat under the shelf of her breasts. Still a little strange, but not too bad. And totally impossible for Aaron to access.

He sat back in his chair, shook his head slowly. ‘You really are a piece of work.’

‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

‘It wasn’t meant as one.’

‘Even so.’

He chuckled softly, the sound hard and without humour,
and leaned forward again. ‘You think,’ he murmured, his voice stealing right inside her, ‘I can’t get that phone out of your dress?’

Zoe glanced at him, tried for haughty amusement. ‘Not easily.’

‘You have no idea what I’m capable of.’

‘Actually, based on your behaviour so far, I think I have a fairly good idea of the level of boorishness you’re willing to sink to,’ she replied. ‘But even you, I believe, would draw the line at mauling the maid of honour in the middle of a wedding reception.’

Aaron stared at her for a few seconds, his gaze flicking over her face, seeming to assess her. His face had turned blank, expressionless, which made Zoe uneasy. She couldn’t read him at all. Then he shrugged and turned back to his meal. ‘Fine,’ he said, and he sounded completely bored, utterly dismissive. ‘Give it back to me in a couple of hours.’

Zoe sat there, the phone hot and a little sweaty against her chest, and felt weirdly deflated. She’d enjoyed sparring with him, she realised. It had been invigorating and, yes, a tiny bit flirtatious. But, based on the way Aaron was now focused completely on his salad, she was now the furthest thing from his thoughts. Well, she thought with a sigh, wriggling a little to make herself a bit more comfortable with a phone inside her dress, at least she’d taught him a lesson.

Aaron knew about patience. It was a lesson he’d learned from childhood, when his father would summon him to his study only to make him wait standing by the door for an hour or more, while he concluded some trivial piece of business.

It was a lesson he’d needed, for it had taken patience to rebuild Bryant Enterprises from the ground up when his father had left it to him fifteen years ago, utterly bankrupt.

It was a lesson he would use now, for he knew it was only
a matter of time before he found an opportunity to corner Zoe and get his phone back.

He had to admire her bravado and tenacity, even if the whole exercise annoyed the hell out of him. She was different from most women he knew, utterly uninterested in impressing him. In fact, she seemed to want the opposite: to aggravate him. Well, it was working.

An hour into the festivities Zoe excused herself from the table. Aaron watched her head to the ladies’ room with narrowed eyes. He waited a few seconds before he excused himself and followed her out of the ballroom.

The ladies’ room was one of those ridiculously feminine boudoirs, complete with spindly little chairs and embroidered tissue boxes. Aaron slipped inside and put a finger to his lips when an elderly matron applying some garishly bright coral lipstick stared at him in shock.

‘I want to surprise my girlfriend,’ he whispered, and then mimed getting down on one knee as if in a marriage proposal. The woman’s face suffused with colour to match her mouth and she bobbed her head in understanding before hurrying outside.

He was alone with Zoe.

He heard the toilet flush and stepped back so she couldn’t see him as she came out of the stall. He watched as she moved to the sink and washed her hands, humming under her breath. He took the opportunity to admire her figure, skinny though it was. She had some nice curves, highlighted by how they were encased in tight pink silk. A very nice bottom, as a matter of fact, and long, lean legs. He didn’t usually pay attention to the backside of a woman, but standing behind Zoe he found his gaze riveted—and his body responding in the most elemental way.

Then she looked up, and her eyes widened as she caught
sight of him in the mirror just a few feet behind her, lurking like a dark shadow.

‘Hello, Zoe.’

She turned around slowly, drying her hands. ‘This
is
the ladies’ room, you know,’ she remarked, and to her credit she sounded as light and wry as ever.

‘I know.’

‘What are you doing here?’

He took a step towards her and was gratified to see her eyes widen a little more. She
should
be afraid of him. Or, if not afraid, then at least a little wary. ‘What do you think I’m doing here? I want my phone.’

She crossed her arms over her chest. ‘Sorry, Bryant. You’ll have to wait until the reception is over.’

‘I don’t think so.’

Her lips parted and he saw something flare in her eyes. Fear? No, it was excitement. He felt it himself, a surprising little pulse of anticipation. She was so not his type, and yet in that moment he knew he was quite looking forward to putting his hand down her dress.

‘And how,’ she asked, her voice turning husky, ‘do you think you’re going to get it back?’

‘Quite easily.’ He took another step towards her, so she was pressed against the sink, her head angled up towards him. She didn’t move, didn’t even try to escape him. Was she wondering if he’d dare do it? Or did she want him to? As much as he did, perhaps.

His gaze fastened on hers, and something pulsed and blazed between them. Aaron felt it, felt the very air seem to tauten around them, crackle with the sudden, electric energy they had created. Slowly, deliberately, he reached out and slid a few fingers down the bodice of her dress. Her skin was silky and warm, the sides of her breasts brushing his fingers. Zoe
gasped aloud. Aaron smiled even as desire arrowed through him. ‘Quite a tight fit.’

‘Quite,’ she managed.

With the tip of his fingers he could just touch his phone, but there was no way he could actually get it. Not without unzipping the dress completely…which was a possibility. Anything felt possible right now.

‘You are outrageous,’ Zoe gasped, and Aaron chuckled softly.

‘I’m not the one who started this, sweetheart.’

‘Yes, you did. When you texted—’

He was stroking the sides of her breasts with his fingers in an attempt to reach the phone and Aaron knew that neither of them was immune. He saw Zoe’s pupils dilate with desire and felt himself harden even more.

He slid his hand lower.

‘You’re not going to get it,’ Zoe said breathlessly, and Aaron arched an eyebrow.

‘One way or another, I’ll get it.’

‘I don’t think so,’ she answered, her tone mocking his perfectly. He almost laughed. His fingertip brushed the phone and then, to his annoyance, the damn thing slid lower so it was resting against her stomach. There was no way he could get it now.

Unless…

‘Don’t you dare,’ Zoe whispered and Aaron smiled.

‘I think this whole encounter is about daring, don’t you?’ He removed his hand from her dress, allowing his fingers to stroke her soft, small breasts on the way up. Zoe stared at him, pupils still dilated, lips parted, her breath coming in little pants.

‘You wouldn’t.’

‘Want to bet?’

And, with his gaze still hard on hers, he put his hand up under her skirt.

Zoe stood rigid, unable to believe Aaron Bryant had just put his hand up her dress. And he’d already put it down her dress. Her whole body felt as if it were on fire from those few, calculated little touches. She was hopeless. Hopelessly attracted to this arrogant ass of a man.

So much so that she didn’t even move as his hand slid up her thigh, his fingers warm and seeking on her bare flesh. His gaze was riveted on hers, and she knew, no matter how angry or determined he was, he felt something for her. She could feel the attraction between them, heavy and thick. His hand slid higher, smoothing along her hip before he finally found the phone with his fingers and tugged it down. And she hadn’t resisted at all, not even the tiniest bit.

‘I can’t believe you,’ she whispered and he smiled.

‘Believe it.’ He slid his hand lower to the juncture of her thighs, the phone in his palm. Zoe’s breath came out in a devastated rush as he pressed his hand against her, the phone still in it, cool against her heated and tender flesh. Sensation sizzled straight through her and she sagged against the counter.

‘You are incredible.’

‘Why, thank you.’ He pressed again and she closed her eyes, feeling utterly exposed and shameless, yet helpless to prevent it.

‘It wasn’t a compliment,’ she managed, and he laughed softly.

‘Considering the response I’m coaxing from you, I rather think it was.’

Zoe opened her eyes, forced herself to straighten. ‘What I really meant is that you’re incorrigible.’

‘True.’ His hand was still between her legs, teasing her, tormenting her. It took all her effort to remain still, not to allow her body to invite his deeper caresses. ‘But then so are you.’
He stared at her for a long moment, and then with one last press of his hand he stepped away. ‘Thanks for my phone,’ he said, and then he was gone.

Aaron stalked from the bathroom, his whole body blazing with unfulfilled desire. He had not expected that to happen, for that skinny, seriously annoying woman to awaken in him such a fierce need. Well, she had, and it was going to be incredibly difficult to focus on work as he needed to.

Swearing under his breath, he found a private alcove in the ballroom and checked his messages and texts. Just as he’d thought, the European market was imploding and his investors were panicking. He spent thirty minutes doing damage control and then he slid his phone back into his pocket.

He stared into space for a few minutes, felt the familiar cold wash of fear sweep through him. He hated these close calls. Hated feeling, as he’d felt for fifteen years, like Bryant Enterprises was about to slip out of his grasp even as it remained the chain that bound and choked him.

How much had those few hours without his phone cost him? It was impossible to measure, yet Aaron knew there was a cost. There always had been, always would be. And with a sudden, cold certainty, he also knew who was going to pay this time.

He strode back into the reception and saw that things were starting to wind down. Chase and Millie were coming out in their going-away clothes for a week’s honeymoon on St Julian’s, the Bryants’ private island in the Caribbean. Zoe stood behind her sister, smiling, although Aaron thought she looked rather wistful, maybe even sad. She hardly seemed like the type to want a ring on her finger, but who knew? Most women wanted one. Wanted the ridiculous fairy tale, the impossible dream.

He waited until Chase and Millie had left and the other
guests were starting to trickle away. He said goodbye to Luke and Aurelie, managing a few minutes’ stilted conversation, before he went in search of Zoe.

She was standing by their table, picking some bits of confetti out of her bouquet. Her hair streamed over her shoulders in a dark ribbon, her body lithe and slender, and Aaron remembered just how silky and warm her skin had felt, how her body had helplessly yielded to his.

He strode towards her. She glanced up at him, and he felt her tense, her eyes dark with shadows. ‘What do you want now?’

‘You,’ he said flatly, and her jaw dropped.

‘What—?’

‘I have a limo waiting outside.’

She stared at him in disbelief and Aaron wondered in a detached sort of way if she’d refuse. He’d felt her response earlier, the heat and the strength of it. He was pretty sure she’d felt his own. If she refused, she had more scruples—or at least more self-control—than he’d credited her with.