The Valquez Seduction

What did he mean? That she wasn’t? That she was too strait-laced and uptight to have a good time? She might not be used to colouring outside the lines but she had her crayons sharpened. But she was going to use them on someone a little less self-assured than him. ‘Yes, they are.’ Her chin went up. ‘So am I.’

The meshing of his brown-black gaze with her blue one felt like a taser shock to her system. Her whole body reacted with a zinging fizz that whizzed through her blood like a missile. ‘Is this your first time?’

Daisy felt her blush spread a little further until her whole body felt as if it was being engulfed by fire. How could he know that? How could he possibly know that? ‘Erm…in Vegas, you mean?’

His slow smile tilted the side of his mouth. It tilted her stomach as well, like a paper boat on a tidal wave. ‘Sí.’

Oh, God, please don’t keep speaking in Spanish or I will sleep with you. Here. On the floor right in front of everyone. ‘It’s my first time to the US, and yes, to Vegas as well.’

‘What do you think of it so far?’

Daisy kept her gaze locked on his, not that she had any choice in the matter. Her eyes weren’t responding to the message from her brain to stop staring at him like a star-struck fan in front of a Hollywood superstar. ‘It’s bold and brash and in-your-face. Vegas, I mean. Not the States in general. I haven’t been anywhere else except LA and that was only when we landed at the airport.’

‘Did you fly or drive down?’

‘We came by bus.’

His half smile was still doing weird and exciting things to her insides. His smell was doing equally weird and exciting things to her senses. His citrus-based cologne had grace notes of a rain-washed cypress pine forest that was powerfully intoxicating. For a tiny moment Daisy wondered if she’d done the wrong thing in knocking back his offer of a dance. She was supposed to be fluttering her flirting wings. What better way to get off the ground than with a bad boy who did nothing but flirt and have fun? But then she saw the anticipatory glint in his eyes. He thought he had her in the bag—erm, bed. Damn him.

‘How long are you staying in Vegas?’ he asked.

‘Four days.’

His eyes moved over her face again, as if memorising her features. He lingered a little too long on her mouth, making her itch to send out her tongue to moisten her lips. Daisy had never been more conscious of her body language. She knew it had the potential to contradict every word she said. If it hadn’t already.

‘If you change your mind about that dance I’ll be over there.’ He jerked his head towards the area of the bar he had come from.

She raised her chin again, giving him a pointed look. ‘With your date?’

He gave a negligent shrug of one of his broad shoulders. ‘She’s someone I just met.’

‘And will sleep with just the once before you move on to the next candidate?’

His smile widened. ‘You’ve heard about me?’

Daisy gave him the sort of look she would give one of the naughtiest boys in her kindergarten class. ‘It’s not a reputation to be proud of. Sleeping your way around the world with a bunch of nameless women you’ll never see again.’

His eyes glinted wickedly. ‘It’s a tough gig but someone’s got to have the stamina to do it.’

Do it. The words triggered a flood of erotic thoughts to her mind. Him doing it. Her doing it. With him. Their naked bodies wrapped together, his hair-roughened thighs entrapping hers, his hands cupping her breasts, touching her in that secret valley between her thighs.

Daisy suppressed a whole body shudder, somehow keeping her features in her best haughty schoolmistress mask. But, looking at his dancing black eyes, she suspected he knew exactly the effect he was having on her. It was the same effect he had on any woman with a pulse. He was utterly gorgeous. Über-sexy. Terrifyingly irresistible.

She gave him another one of her stiff on-off smiles to disguise the torment of temptation currently assailing her. ‘Will you excuse me? I’m falling behind my friends in the having-a-good-time stakes.’

He didn’t move a millimetre, which meant she had to sidle down off the stool and brush past his tall muscle-packed frame. The shock of his body against hers was like coming into contact with an electric fence. She glanced up at the laughing gleam of his gaze and another fiery blush swept over her entire body.

‘A word of advice before you go.’

Daisy pursed her lips. ‘Go on.’ If you must. She didn’t say that bit out loud. She didn’t need to. Her folded arms and rolled eyes said it for her.

He pointed to the drink she had left behind. ‘Don’t leave your drinks unattended.’

She gave him an irritated glance. How galling to have him point out her oversight. It made her feel all the more foolish and gauche. ‘I have been out at night before.’

‘Maybe, but some of the nightclubs along the strip have had a problem with drink spiking. Better to be safe than sorry.’

‘I know how to take care of myself.’

His eyes had the most annoying habit of staring at her mouth, which made her want to stare at his. She fought the impulse but within a heartbeat her gaze had tracked to the sensual seam that was no longer smiling but set in more serious lines. For some reason it made him even more stop-the-traffic gorgeous. She drew in a breath that felt as if it had thumbtacks attached. The ear-throbbing music faded into the background. The sweaty, gyrating crowd on the dance floor might have been in another state for all the notice she took of them. In spite of all the competing aftershaves and expensive perfumes, she could still smell him. The sharp fresh tang of his cologne was imprinted in her brain and she knew she would never be able to walk past a cypress pine without wanting to hug it. It was a shame he was so arrogant. A little fling with someone like him would have been fun to talk about with the girls when she got home.

But a one-night stand?

Out of the question.

Daisy gave him an arch look. ‘Do I have lipstick on my teeth or something?’

‘Why don’t you smile so I can check?’

She pressed her lips together. Where was a naughty step when you needed one? ‘Why did you come over to talk to me?’

His eyes twinkled as they held hers. ‘I saw you staring at me.’

‘I wasn’t staring!’ Daisy spluttered. ‘My friends pointed you out and I merely glanced at you to see if I recognised you, which I didn’t. Sorry if that upsets your ego.’ She wasn’t one bit sorry.

A hint of a smile still lurked in the black ink of his eyes. ‘It doesn’t.’

‘No, I imagine not.’ She knew she sounded ridiculously prim but she couldn’t seem to help it. The words kept coming out in a steady stream—sounding scarily like Miss Edith Cassidy, her starchy soon-to-retire headmistress. ‘I expect you’re used to young women the world over dropping into a swoon when they see you but I’m not one to be impressed by outward appearances.’

‘What does impress you?’

Daisy paused as she thought about it. ‘Erm…’

He leaned back against the bar and crossed one ankle over the other as if prepared to settle in for the night. ‘Money?’

She frowned. ‘Of course not.’

His mouth curved in a cynical arc. ‘What, then?’

‘Manners. Intellect. Morality.’

His smile became an amused chuckle. ‘An old-fashioned girl hanging out in Vegas. Who would’ve thought?’

Daisy was sure she would have permanent lines around her mouth from all the lip-pursing she was doing. ‘Were you born naturally obnoxious or is it something you’ve worked on over the years?’

He pushed himself away from the bar and ran an idle fingertip down the length of her bare arm from her shoulder to her wrist, still with that mocking smile curving his mouth. ‘Save the last dance for me, querida.’

Daisy gave him a withering look as she brushed past him to join her friends, ‘Dream on.’