Dirk: A Stepbrother Romance(18)
Slowly, she sank onto her bed, examining the earring in her hands as she recalled the betrayal she had suffered. She waited for the excruciating pain to come again but all she felt was a dull throb of sadness. Suddenly, Alexandra realized that she was healing; she was getting over Andrew, and with amazing speed! She knew this new uber-wealthy guy in her life had something to do with it alright.
What did it say about their relationship though, that she was already getting over him in less than a week? And why did she care…he had been an ass! She realized happily that her heart was finally catching up with what her brain had known for some time. She deserved better.
A slight knock sounded at the door and hastily, she sprang to her feet. She took off the second earring and wrapped both of them in a bit of tissue. She would sell them or something, she decided as she picked up her little purse. She could never bear to wear them again. That chapter of her life was over. Finished. Kaput. Amen.
Besides it represented a love that had been a lie from the beginning, she recalled, with a little renewed pain.
Forcing a smile onto her lips, she opened the door and promptly forgot all about Andrew Carson. The vision standing in front of her door was enough to make any woman forget her own name.
He was wearing a black sports coat over a pale pink shirt and dark blue trousers. The ensemble was equal parts casual and elegant; there was just something about that man and the way he managed to pull off any style.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured reverently, his dark eyes scanning her face, trailing down her dress - was it her imagination or did his gaze linger on her cleavage, - before flipping back up to hold her gaze.
He made her feel beautiful, ravishing, and insanely sexy.
His right hand rose slowly to caress her cheek, his gaze boring into hers as he said, “Let’s eat.”
Alexandra stared at him in confusion. His words were innocent enough, but for some reason they sounded very dirty, as if he wasn’t talking about food at all.
“Lead the way,” she said breathlessly, taking the arm he offered her. A frisson of electricity leaped from his skin to hers at the slight contact and she clamped her jaw. It was going to be a long night.
Leandro was suave, witty, charming and cultured, as well as an excellent conversationalist, Alexandra decided a few hours later as she dissolved into helpless laughter at yet another one of his jokes. The man could charm a magpie off a tree if he put his mind to it.
“So, you kissed her best friend just to get back at her, and she didn’t even flinch?” she asked, laughing helplessly as he ended yet another anecdote.
“I used my teeth and all! Nothing! Not even a blip!” he affirmed in a comically outraged tone.
“Well consider the fact that your kiss was in actual fact a bite on her best friend’s nose, you earned yourself a slap, and your love interest was five at the time,” she laughed, delighted.
He chuckled, a rich warm sound that flowed over her like warm chocolate. “I still think my brother was to blame. He told me the proper way to kiss was to bite a lady’s nose and Mia Caruso wouldn’t eat my cake at lunch, which meant she didn’t like me. So I bit her best friend’s nose to make her jealous,” he concluded plaintively, sending Alexandra into delighted whoops of laugher.
They had been sharing memories of childhood stories and so far, the man had kept her in stitches.
Other diners turned around frequently to smile at the handsome couple who were obviously enjoying each other’s company; a fact which was lost on Alexandra, but not on Leandro. He loved seeing her eyes fill with humor and he enjoyed watching the comical surprise that kept flitting over her features with every outrageous story he told.
She was incredibly beautiful and sexy; he had been in a serious sweat ever since he saw her in that dress. It hugged her body in all the right places and made him want to run his hands down her soft curves. Her ass was firm, round and full. Walking in behind her at the restaurant, he had been able to think of little else. The high slit at the back of her dress hadn’t helped much either; it kept shifting and showing him flashes of her thigh before settling back into place. By the time they were seated, his blood was on a slow simmer.
“Dessert?” the waiter asked, hovering solicitously at her elbow.
“How about ice cream?” Leandro suggested grinning. “It will trigger your happy hormones,” he added winking suggestively.
“You’re kidding right? With me looking like this?” Alexandra asked, with a self-deprecating laugh.
“I don’t understand,” Leandro said as the waiter strode off.
“I’m fat,” she told him, leaning forward.
“Fat? You are a woman, and you are sexy as hell. I never liked how people throw that word around these days anyhow.” he observed.
“You should see me without my gown; I don’t know. I bet you’d change your tune if you put me next to all your size zero model friends.”
“You are nuts! You are a sexy, curvy, voluptuous woman in her prime and for your information I have wanted to tear that dress off you ever since I saw you in it! You are the most attractive woman I have ever met.”
“Yeah right!” she scoffed as she looked down at her glass of champagne. She was afraid to see sincerity in his eyes because if she started to believe him, he could end up treating her even worse than Andrew had. What if he saw her without her clothes and decided she was fat and completely unattractive?