The Taming of Xander Sterne. Carole Mortimer

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      Surely any woman could be forgiven for finding herself momentarily unable to move or speak after being confronted with an almost naked Xander Sterne?

      Almost, because he had a small towel secured about his waist that only just covered his—well, it just about covered his modesty.

      Not that he had any reason to feel in the least modest from where Sam was standing.

      And looking.

      She was captivated by the sight of his completely bare, tanned chest and wide, muscled shoulders. His chest was covered in a fine dusting of golden hair, a six-pack rippling at his abdomen.

      Sam’s fascinated gaze shifted lower as he stood up, drawn to the long lean length of his bare and muscled legs, the temporary cast he wore in the day having been removed in preparation for his shower, and revealing the reddened scars from his operations six weeks ago.

      Even his feet were attractive: long and elegant. Very long and elegant, Sam acknowledged slightly breathlessly, her gaze moving higher as she recalled reading somewhere that the length and size of a man’s foot was in direct proportion to his—

      ‘Samantha!’

      She gave a guilty start as she reluctantly dragged her gaze away from the concealing towel to look up into Xander Sterne’s handsome but obviously impatiently irritated face.

      ‘Sorry.’ She moved briskly into the bedroom and approached where he now stood beside the bed, her cheeks feeling warm with embarrassment as she realised she was behaving like a starstruck teenager.

      Come to think of it, Xander wouldn’t look out of place in any action movie, his perfect form blazoned across the big screen.

      ‘Samantha...!’ Xander now sounded exasperated rather than just annoyed by her obvious distraction.

      ‘I can’t continue standing unaided for too much longer, Samantha,’ he reminded harshly.

      No, of course he couldn’t.

      Just because Xander was the most glorious male specimen she had ever seen, on or off the big screen, that was no reason to keep ogling him as if he had the starring role in her favourite sexual fantasy.

      ‘I’ll go and turn on the shower,’ Sam told him as she put an instant stop to those thoughts, her gaze shifting sharply away from continuing to look at all that breathtaking manhood as she walked towards the bathroom, needing a few minutes alone in order to pull herself together.

      Which didn’t mean her thoughts didn’t continue to churn as she distractedly opened the smoked-glass door to the shower that ran the length of one wall of the bathroom, her gaze becoming unfocused as she drifted off into thought again after she had turned on the water and stood waiting for the temperature to adjust.

      Responding so viscerally to her boss’s nakedness was something Sam hadn’t expected! Especially with a man who was even more wealthy and powerful than her ex-husband. She hadn’t so much as looked at another man since leaving Malcolm, let alone reacted so physically to one! Her breasts felt uncomfortably tingly, her nipples highly sensitive.

      Sexual arousal.

      For Xander Sterne, of all people.

      And because she had never in her life been this close to such a gorgeous—and very naked—man before tonight; Malcolm had never looked so blatantly, predatorily male, not even when the two of them had first met. Malcolm never could have the physique and looks of Xander, not in a million years of working out at the gym three times a week.

      No doubt Xander had been using his gym here in the apartment these past few weeks in order to maintain that upper-body physique.

      As for his lower body...

      No doubt he usually maintained that by carousing all evening and having sex all night! Although he certainly wouldn’t have been able to indulge in the sex part of that since his accident.

      At least, Sam presumed that he hadn’t?

      Which reminded her that she had one rule of her own, regarding his own behaviour, while she and Daisy were staying here, that she still needed to discuss with him.

      ‘Samantha?’

      Sam gave a sharp intake of breath, having been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even noticed that Xander had entered the bathroom behind her.

      She was so startled by his presence she spun quickly round to face him, not having realised he was standing quite so close to her, and succeeded in doing exactly as Daisy had earlier, accidentally knocking his elbow with the hand she had raised defensively.

      Unfortunately, with the same result!

      ‘Not again,’ Xander had time to mutter disbelievingly as he felt himself falling sideways towards the hard marble floor of the bathroom.

      Oh, yes, a concussion was definitely just what he needed to finish off this already disastrous day.

      Except it didn’t happen.

      Somehow—and Xander had no idea how she managed it—Samantha moved quickly enough to lodge her shoulder underneath his armpit. At least arresting his fall, even if they did both still stagger as his weight once again proved too much for her, before they were able to drop down onto the marble ledge running along the length of the bathroom wall opposite the shower.

      ‘You know,’ Xander snapped as he righted himself on the marble seat, ‘I’m not sure if you and Daisy aren’t determined to break my other leg—or worse!’

      It certainly must look as if they were, Sam acknowledged with a guilty wince, shifting uncomfortably as she realised she was still tucked cosily beneath Xander’s arm. Her hand, having fallen onto the firmness of his abdomen, was lying dangerously close to the top of the towel, her cheek resting against the warmth of his bared chest.

      A chest that felt wonderfully solid, his skin smelling of the cologne he must have put on that morning, and a heat that spoke purely of earthy male.

      It was a delicious and arousing combination.

      And Sam didn’t want to be aroused by this man any more than she already was. Wouldn’t allow herself to be attracted to another man who believed his wealth and power gave him the right to ride roughshod over everyone else.

      She jerked into a sitting position before scrambling inelegantly to her feet and moving sharply away from him. ‘You startled me, creeping up on me like that!’

      He eyed her exasperatedly. ‘I should have guessed it was somehow going to be my fault. I’ll try announcing my presence next time, shall I?’

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