‘Pretty sure.’ Sin nodded. As it happened, he wasn’t just a hotel guest at all—he owned the hotel. Or, at least, his family did. As well as owning several more such exclusive hotels around the world, and businesses too numerous to mention.
Not that he had any intention of mentioning his family or their businesses to Luccy. In fact, he had been quite happy to fall in with the anonymity of their single name introduction; it was pleasant knowing that this chance meeting with Luccy held no hidden agenda after years of being surrounded by women who might or might not be attracted to him, but who definitely had their covetous eye on his name and wealth.
There had been many women in Sin’s life the last eighteen years or so. Beautiful, enticing, intelligent women. But this woman, beautiful, warm, and incredibly sexy, was all the more enticing to him because she obviously had no idea of his real identity…
Luccy’s eyes were wide as she looked around the opulent luxury of the room. She was sure that the paintings on the walls were originals, and that the gold decoration on the coving above was genuine, as were the tasteful ornaments placed so casually on the antique furniture. The two huge sofas were plushly upholstered, and she thought the blue patterned carpet was probably Persian.
Staying a single night in a suite like this one probably cost as much as she earned in a week—no, a month!
This man—Sin—seemed different in these opulent surroundings too, exuding a powerful sexual magnetism that made Luccy’s insides quiver, the quiet strength of his movements as he crossed the room to a tray of drinks giving him the appearance of an elegant predator.
Uh oh!
Maybe this really hadn’t been such a good idea after all. For it had never occurred to Luccy that she might not want to say no to a night of unbridled sex!
‘So what are you doing in London, Sin?’ she asked lightly to cover up her nervousness as he swiftly crossed the room carrying the two glasses of brandy.
‘Business,’ he dismissed as he held out one of the glasses to her, that pale silver-grey gaze fixed steadily on her face as he did so.
‘Just business?’
‘Mostly, yes.’
Luccy drew in a ragged breath, very much aware that she was probably well out of her league with this man. ‘And is your wife in England with you?’
He smiled, his teeth very white and even against the natural tan of his skin. ‘That was pretty slick, Luccy.’ He gave an appreciative nod. ‘But I would hardly have invited you up to my hotel suite if my wife was waiting for me in the bedroom.’
Luccy’s sense of unease deepened. ‘So is she at home in the States?’
That silver gaze was very direct. ‘I’m not married, Luccy.’
‘Oh.’ She took a reviving sip of the brandy, self-consciously aware that he was watching every movement she made. Luccy felt an answering quiver of awareness down the length of her own spine at being the complete focus of those intense silver-grey eyes.
Which was not supposed to happen, Luccy told herself firmly as she moved away to stand in front of the window and look out at the London skyline.
‘Would you like to go outside onto the terrace?’ he invited huskily, taking her glass from her hand and placing it on a table with his own before opening the door to outside and then waiting to one side for her to precede him.
Why not? The cool summer air might succeed in cooling Luccy’s own sudden heated awareness of him!
Although perhaps not, she realised as Sin, having observed her slight shiver at the sudden breeze, slipped off his dinner jacket and placed it about the bareness of her shoulders. The material was still warm from his own body, and smelled both of an elusively expensive aftershave and something else that was purely, powerfully male. This male.
It also allowed Luccy to appreciate that the wideness of his shoulders owed nothing to tailoring, or the muscled flatness of his chest and stomach to the cut of the white silk shirt, the increase of her pulse rate as she looked at him telling her just how dangerously aware she was of all those things.
‘This really is the most incredible view!’ she murmured appreciatively as she looked out over the illuminated skyline of London.
‘Incredible,’ Sin echoed, but he was looking at Luccy and not the view over the terrace.
He stood slightly to the left and behind Luccy as she stood near the four foot high railing, enjoying watching the way the breeze teased the long, dark tendrils of her hair, the moonlight giving a ethereal beauty to the pale oval of her face.
Admittedly, the two of them had met in strange circumstances, and Sin knew nothing about this woman but her name, and yet he knew that he wanted her, that he had from the moment he had looked at her in the restaurant earlier. He wanted to be against her, on her, inside her, with a fierceness he could never remember feeling for any woman before this one.
‘Amazingly beautiful,’ he said throatily, knowing that he still wasn’t talking about the London skyline she looked at so admiringly, that at this moment he could see nothing, was aware of nothing else but the delicately beautiful woman standing in front of him.
Luccy turned slightly, dark brows raised teasingly. ‘I didn’t even know London hotels had suites like this one!’
‘Perhaps they don’t.’ Sin’s teeth gleamed wolfishly in the darkness as he smiled. ‘This suite happens to belong to the owner of the hotel,’ he explained.
Those incredible blue eyes widened. ‘So you know him?’
‘Slightly.’
‘Well enough to use his suite, at least!’
‘At least,’ he confirmed non-committally.
Luccy felt even more out of her depth. This man, Sin, was obviously rich as well as arrogantly handsome if he was acquainted with the owners of The Harmony hotel. Which put him well out of range of her normal acquaintances.
‘It must be nice to have such influential friends,’ she commented lightly.
He shrugged those broad shoulders. ‘It has its moments.’
Luccy would just bet that it did!
This really had been the strangest of evenings, she decided ruefully. First she was propositioned by a man she had hoped to work for, and now she had ended up in the hotel suite of a man who was probably rich enough to buy out Wow magazine ten times over.
‘Perhaps we should go back inside?’ she suggested a little breathily as she realised just how close Sin was now standing to her.
Pulse-racingly so.