First Rapture (The Rapture #1)(9)

“Does yours?” she easily deflected his question.

“Yes,” he readily admitted. “Sometimes it’s unbearable.”

He felt her tiny jerk, as if she was startled by his answer.

“So find a Sherri to share your bed.”

“I don’t want Sherri.” He lifted his head to meet her wary gaze. “I want you.”

CHAPTER TWO

I want you…

They were precisely the words that Madison had been waiting to hear. Weren’t they?

It was why she’d returned to Vegas. Why she was at this ridiculous party.

Why she was on this balcony with Luc’s arms wrapped around her.

But now, for the first time since tracking down Luc Angeli, she found herself wavering.

It didn’t make sense.

Was it because Luc was forcing her to consider the possibility he might not be the complete ass**le she’d always believed? Or because she was reacting to him with the same giddy, heart-racing excitement as when she was an overly-hormonal teenager?

Whatever the explanation, she found herself debating the very sensible option of turning on her heel and walking away.

Briefly she hesitated, balanced between flight and fight. Then the memory of how this man had plagued her over the past eight years at last hardened her resolve.

This ended tonight.

A teasing smile curved her lips as she slowly untangled herself from his arms.

He’d claimed he was lonely, but what did he know about it?

He’d probably had hundreds of lovers since she’d left Vegas, while she…

Her spine stiffened, her expression deliberately provocative. She couldn’t make it too easy. Even a man with Luc’s massive ego would be suspicious if she didn’t make him work to earn her forgiveness.

“You think I’m going to fall back into bed with you?”

His dark eyes smoldered with a growing frustration. Unlike her, he felt no need to disguise his consuming desire.

“I think the fire that burned between us eight years ago is still there, just waiting for an opportunity to reignite,” he growled, his gaze lowering to where her ni**les pressed against the silky fabric of her dress. “Don’t deny that you feel it, too.”

She did, of course.

She might have spent the past years fiercely regretting giving her virginity to this man, but the second she’d stepped onto the balcony she’d been blasted with an unwelcomed awareness.

A knowledge that was rubbing against her already raw nerves.

She’d expected to find Luc attractive.

He’d always been indecently handsome, with the charm of the devil. And the years had only emphasized his potent attractions.

His narrow, bronzed face was leaner and his features even more finely sculpted. The dark eyes were filled with a newfound confidence. And his body more sleekly muscled beneath his Armani tux.

He was all male temptation. The sort of man who would make any woman melt.

But the unexpected realization that he had the power to arouse her with a mere glance was annoying as hell.

Dammit. This time she was the one in charge of the seduction, not Luc Angeli.

She tilted her head to the side, deliberately allowing her hair to slide over her bare shoulder.

Madison hadn’t spent years in front of a camera without learning a few tricks. “I see your arrogance hasn’t changed.”

Luc sucked in a slow, deep breath, the dark eyes predictably lowering to the gentle swell of her br**sts before returning to meet her faintly mocking gaze.

“Perhaps not, but I have,” he said, his voice low with sensual invitation. “I promise this time will be different.”

“Changed how?” She deliberately glanced down at his bare fingers. “You clearly still avoid commitment like the plague. Unless there’s a little woman at home you haven’t mentioned?”

He arched a brow, nodding toward fingers that were bare of rings. “Isn’t there a saying about people who live in glass houses?”

She shrugged. “I intend to marry and start a family once my business has gained a firm footing.”

“So do I.”

Madison blinked, caught off guard by his swift retort. The thought of him married with a pack of children was…

Agonizing.

“You?” She tried to laugh off the unexpected pain.

“Why not me?” he murmured, reaching up to brush her hair back over her shoulder, his touch heart-stoppingly gentle. “Of course, first I need to find my Cinderella.”

For a crazed minute, Madison allowed herself to become lost in the dark promise of his eyes. How many years had she spent fantasizing that she could be the woman to earn this man’s love? That she alone could mold him from a ruthless playboy to a man dedicated to one woman.

Even after he’d walked out of the trailer, leaving her completely humiliated, she’d harbored a secret hope he would change his mind and return.

She gave a sharp shake of her head.

Christ. She was an idiot.

This was no fairytale. She was here for a purpose and clearly the sooner she got it finished, the better.

Before she did something truly stupid.

She forced her lips into an inviting smile, grimly assuring herself that the streaks of lightning searing through her body as his fingers skimmed down the line of her body were nothing more than lust.