The Tycoon's Rebel Bride (The Anetakis Tycoons #2)(23)

“Thank you so much. I truly appreciate you waiting for me.”

“It was no problem, miss. Good luck at your party tonight. I’m sure you’ll knock their socks off.”

She smiled and got out then waved as he drove away. With a smile, she entered the hotel and headed for the elevator. The absence of her security team gave her pause, and then guilt crept in. She’d been so caught up in her shopping that she hadn’t even considered phoning Reynolds to assure him that she was okay, and she hadn’t ever provided him or Theron her cell number, so it wasn’t as if they could have called her.

With a sigh, she pulled out her cell as she inserted the key to her hotel room. She entered, punching Reynold’s number. Then she looked up and saw four very angry men staring at her from inside her room.

Theron rose from where he was sitting on the couch, his eyes sparking. He motioned to the other three men. “Leave us,” he said shortly.

Isabella let the bags slide from her fingertips as the three men filed by. Reynolds shot her a disapproving look, and she smiled tentatively.

When they were gone, she glanced over at Theron who had closed the distance between them. He glowered menacingly, his face a veritable storm cloud.

“You didn’t fire them, did you?” she asked uneasily.

“Rest assured I know exactly where the blame lies,” he gritted out.

She bent down to collect her bags and walked around him toward the couch.

“Taking off from your security team was a foolish thing to do, Bella. Did I not impress upon you the need for them? What were you thinking?”

She turned and regarded him thoughtfully. “I had my reasons,” she said simply.

He threw up his hands in exasperation. “What reasons?” he demanded.

She smiled. “Nothing you would approve of. I didn’t stay long, and I took precautions. The very nice cabdriver looked out for me quite well, and the saleslady never left my side. Well, except when she went to get me shoes.”

Theron’s face went gray. “Cabdriver? You entrusted your well-being to a cabdriver?”

“Relax,” she said with a grin. “He was a perfect gentleman. He drove me to the department store and waited for me until I was through.”

Theron swallowed and looked as though he was fighting to keep his temper in check. Hmm. Theron losing his cool. That might be worth the price of admission.

“Why did you leave without your security team? What was so important that you would risk yourself in this manner?”

She held up her shopping bag. “I needed a dress for the party tonight.”

He drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes and then reopened them. He strode over to where she stood and gripped her shoulders. “A dress? You gave me the fright of my life for a dress?”

He shook her as he spoke and she gripped his waist to keep her balance.

“It wasn’t just any dress,” she murmured as she tried to keep the smile from her face. She probably shouldn’t bait him as she was, but making him lose his composure had suddenly become her mission. “I could hardly meet my future husband in anything but a truly spectacular dress.”

“You are the most infuriating, frustrating woman I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet,” he growled.

And then he crushed her to him, slanting his lips over hers in a forceful kiss that took her breath away. She moaned as his hands gripped her arms then slid over her back like bands of steel.

He tasted her hungrily, like a man starving, as though he couldn’t get enough. Tingling awareness snaked up her spine. Her br**sts throbbed, and her ni**les became taut points, pushing at his chest.

The sounds of their kiss, hot and breathless filled the room. One of his hands slipped to the waist of her jeans, and he yanked at her shirt until it came free. Then he slid his fingers over the bare skin of her lower back, right where her tattoo rested. He traced patterns over the small of her back as though he was aware of what was there.

Eager to taste him, she traced his lip with her tongue until he reached out to duel delicately with his own. Warm. So masculine, he tasted of strength, of heady power.

She lost herself in his arms, melted against his mouth. Her pulse sped up and bounced erratically. How she craved him.

His hand crept higher until it collided with her bra strap. He fumbled over the clasp and then he froze.

With a muffled curse, he broke away, his breaths coming hard and ragged. His eyes blazed like an out-of-control fire, and then he dropped his hands from her body like she’d burned him.

He swore again, a mixture of Greek and English and then ran a hand through his hair.

“Theos mou! We can’t…not again. This mustn’t happen again. I’m sorry, Bella.”

He held up his hands and then backed away. He paused at the door, his motions haphazard, like he was drunk. Then he turned to stare at her, his eyes still burning with unresolved desire.

“Your security team goes everywhere with you. Are we understood? From now on, they even go to the bathroom with you.”

She nodded, unable to do anything more. She was shaking too badly. As he left her hotel room, she gripped her arms and rubbed up and down to make the chill bumps go away.

“You can deny it all you want,” she whispered to the empty room. “You want me every bit as much as I want you.”

Nine

T heron rubbed the back of his neck in an effort to relieve the enormous tension that gripped him. Isabella still hadn’t arrived, and he felt equal parts relief and disappointment.