“Please,” she whispered. “People might hear.”

His nostrils flared. “Christ, don’t blush like that or I’ll fuck you right here.”

“Dominic!” A more forceful whisper laced with alarm.

Coming to his feet, he walked around the table to pull out her chair and, bending low, murmured in her ear, “There’s a quiet hallway not twenty feet away where I could fuck you if you promise not to scream.”

“Don’t you dare!” she hissed. But her body was instantly engaged, eager and willing, the impetuous pulsing between her legs sending out hard-core signals of availability.

“Don’t challenge me, Katherine,” he said quietly, then stood upright, eased back her chair, and held out his hand. “That always has predictable results.”

“I’m not touching you until you promise to behave,” she said as quietly, looking up at him, not moving.

“Don’t be silly. You don’t like me to behave. We’ve always agreed on that, if nothing else. Now take my hand. People are beginning to stare. I don’t care, but I know you do. Or would you like to be the center of attention? I could start undressing you if you like. I could have them clear the room”—he smiled wickedly—“or not if you’re in an exhibitionist mood. I could fuck you on the table.” He glanced around and smiled at all the staring faces before returning his gaze to Kate. “What do you say, baby? Round one here or are you going to take my hand?”

“I’ll make you pay for this later,” she said fretfully, placing her hand in his, aglow with lust after Dominic’s provocative offer of exhibitionist sex. “After I’ve come a few times.”

He pulled her to her feet with a knowing grin. “Sounds like fun times ahead. We can discuss your agenda in the car.”

SIX

Once they were in the car, he asked, “Where to?”

“A pharmacy first.”

He grinned. “Is that all I mean to you? A hard dick?”

She ran her hand over the bulge in his crotch, enjoyed his quick intake of breath, then flashed him a grin of her own. “Let’s just say it’s priority numbers one through twenty at the moment. I think I wore out my vibrator—or actually, your vibrator. Thanks by the way, it was better than mine. I won’t ask how you knew that because I do have an agenda. Afterward you can explain.”

“Maybe there won’t be an afterward. Maybe I’ll just keep fucking you.”

She briefly shut her eyes, then smiled up at him. “Right now that sounds absolutely heavenly. This has been a very long month.”

“Thirty-six days,” he muttered, looking grim for a split second. Then he turned and hit the switch for the intercom. “A pharmacy, Chu. The first one you see.”

As the car pulled away from the hotel entrance, he debated what to tell her about the security risks they faced. He had no intention of revealing how dangerous it could be—it would only scare her. So he decided to avoid any reference to the Balkan mafia. “Would my place suit you? I don’t mean to alarm you, but it might be safer. We’re having slight problems with a business competitor,” he improvised. “A matter of industrial espionage on our research lab here. They might be doing some surveillance.”

She shot him a look. “Were they following me today? I had a creepy feeling someone was watching Johnny and me when we left work. I can’t imagine what I’d have to do with your research lab though.”

“No, of course not. Perhaps it was some of our security people.” He pulled out his phone. “Give me a minute. Max will know.”

His conversation was circumspect after Max said his men weren’t in place yet, Dominic’s speech deliberately guarded. After ending his call, he turned back to Kate, his expression neutral. “Max said he’d talk to our men. If you saw them they weren’t doing their job. You should be fine now.” His comment was only half a lie because she would be fine as of tomorrow morning. “So no more creeping you out,” he added with a smile.

“Just out of curiosity”—a quick grin—“are you stalking me?”

“Maybe a little.”

“So no one actually saw me in the lobby at Raffles.”

“Not really.” That got him off the hook about CX Capital; better she thought he was keeping tabs on her. And of course, he was; he’d known her assignment was closing down before he’d left Paris.

“You’ve been monitoring my activities.”

He smiled. “It’s become a habit.”

“That leaves me somewhere between pissed off and flattered.”

“Hold that thought.” Chu was stopping at the curb outside a small shop with a green neon pharmacy sign. “Let me take care of this first.”

“Wait,” she ordered, putting her hand on his arm. Faced with the danger of becoming involved with Dominic again, she wavered. “Why am I doing this,” she whispered, “when I promised myself I wouldn’t?”

“For the same reason I flew halfway around the world. What’s between us defies reason. We’re obsessed, infatuated—”

“Probably deranged,” she muttered.

“But in a good way, babe.” Leaning over, he kissed her, quickly, heatedly, then softly sighed and sat up. “It’s going to be fine. I promise.”

“Easy for you to say. You’ll get on your plane and—”