The Dare Collection November 2018. Christy McKellen

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СКАЧАТЬ never bothered to introduce her. Nor had he got around to answering my question about whatever special guest he intended to bring aboard the yacht.

      So yes, I’d wanted to know for reasons other than my list. Were they even now rolling around on his king-sized bed? Or was he delivering the filthy promises his stormy eyes had promised me in the shower?

      The memory of my last moments in his bathroom rose like a 3D image—big, thrillingly sinful before my eyes. Gideon might be a cocky bastard, but he had the equipment to back it up, and then some. I hadn’t lost my virginity to Adam, but he was my only long-term, meaningful relationship before it all went to hell. Since his betrayal, I’d indulged in two meaningless one-night stands, enjoyable at the time but regretted soon afterwards.

      None of the men in my past came close to the heat Gideon was packing. Since leaving his hotel, I’d been struck at the oddest, most inconvenient times during the day with an insane craving to uncover what the steam had hidden from me, watch his beautiful face go slack with lust and arousal as I pumped him. In those dreadful and wicked moments, he’d reduced me to needy ravenous hormones that yearned for one more orgasm with a man who knew how to wring the last ounce of pleasure from a woman.

      From the moment I met him, every look, word and deed pointed to the fact that Gideon Mortimer knew the road map to a woman’s every pleasure point or would make it his mission to discover even more.

      I stared down at my favourite little black dress, picked out with a curiously compulsive need to look my best. My ears and wrists were adorned with my favourite tasteful diamonds and I’d washed and curled my hair.

      I grimaced.

      My actions whiffed of desperation, which sparked irritation and another round of pacing that took me to the window.

      Meeting Gideon had escalated the turbulent emotions he’d evoked over the phone yesterday.

      Since my father’s atrocious treatment of my mother and Adam’s cutting betrayal, I’d sworn never to tolerate bad boys in any shape or form. I didn’t need a crystal ball to know I’d be letting myself in for that special brand of male arrogance the moment I stepped aboard the yacht.

      Stubbornness attempted to kick in but I resisted. I was used to being shoved out of my comfort zone. Hell, I’d started my business with little more than my meagre savings, a polished business plan and a driving will to succeed, and I’d triumphed.

      My hormonal teenager days were behind me, and yet within hours of meeting him all my senses seemed to be poised on some insane precipice that beckoned a recklessness I hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever.

      The excuse that getting ready early was simple efficiency was bullshit. Truth was, I wanted to see him again. And the anticipation bubbling in my veins had very little to do with business.

      A deeper agitation drove me from the window. This was dangerous. Probably because I recognised this burgeoning madness for what it was.

      I’d seen a variation of it on my mother’s face time and again, even after she’d claimed to have got over my father. The mere mention of his name would bring a rabid anticipation to her eyes that used to embarrass me. Over time, I’d grown to pity that look. That in turn had morphed into helpless bewilderment and anger, which still lingered.

      I was nowhere near experiencing that same emotion, but I was cognisant of the fact that it had a starting point. If what I was feeling now was even a fraction of what my mother had lived with for years, then I was better off staying away from Gideon Mortimer.

      And yet...

      A part of me wanted to wipe that arrogant smugness from his face. I was in complete control. Besides, he had his brunette to occupy him. He could play his wicked little tricks on her.

      The annoying twinge in my breastbone mocked my throwaway thoughts. I wanted to laugh at myself for the jealousy spiking through my blood. Instead, I retrieved my phone and placed the call I needed to Monaco. Five minutes later I’d officially taken myself off the roster for La Sirène’s crew.

      Because I’d be foolish to stare at the ashen evidence of my childhood and what Adam had done to me and not learn from my mistakes.

      I ended the call, contemplated placing another one to Gideon to tell him of the replacement but stopped myself. It would be better to tell him in person, draw a line underneath that dangerous attraction.

      I walked out onto my balcony.

      The sunset on the balmy evening attracted the great and beautiful onto the streets below. I people-watched, until my gaze inexorably drifted over to the soaring turrets of the Riviera One hotel.

      To Gideon Mortimer and all the dirty things he could be doing with the brunette. Impatient with the direction of my one-track thoughts, I walked back into the living room just as my phone buzzed.

      Change of plan. Need to reschedule dinner but meeting is still on. My driver will pick you up at seven thirty.

      Irritation flicked to disappointment then back to anger with myself for being disappointed. I was a grown woman draped in diamonds and my best Louboutin heels. Hell if I was going to let that go to waste. My fingers flew over the screen as I tapped out a reply.

      Where is he taking me?

      The dialogue cloud bubbled and I realised I was holding my breath. I released it impatiently.

      Casino de Monte-Carlo.

      Cancel the driver. I’ll drive myself.

      The cloud rippled again.

      Very well. But you won’t always have things your way, Leonora.

      For some stupid reason I gave in to the urge to smile, then I closed my eyes and imagined him saying that last line to me, that edgy hunger on his face.

      God, I was losing it.

      And yet, despite my admonishment to myself, two minutes later, I grabbed my clutch and leather jacket, and headed down to the private garage of my apartment building. I slipped behind the wheel of my silver Porsche Roadster, my heart thumping as I secured the seat belt and gunned the throaty engine.

      The Côte d’Azur was always meant to be where I returned to make one definitive point before moving on. It was where I would rise like a phoenix from the ashes of my relationship and walk away whole again.

       And are you whole?

      My smile dimmed a little as the question shot alarm through me, bruising a little bit as it slammed into my heart. After a minute, I let it drift away unanswered, relieved when I saw signs for Monaco.

      In Casino Square, I handed the valet my keys and, settling my jacket over my shoulder, I entered Casino de Monte-Carlo. Membership of the iconic establishment had been a necessity for my business. Almost every client who visited the South of France craved the singular thrill of throwing a die in the famous casino. I knew the staff by name and I greeted a few as I made my way into the main gambling salon.

      Wine spritzer in hand, I drifted through the crowd, the excitement I’d been trying to ignore resurging through my blood as I entered the inner sanctum, where staggering amounts of money were won and lost on the gambling tables. This was where Gideon was likely to be.

      When СКАЧАТЬ