Untamed Bachelors: When He Was Bad... / Interview with a Playboy / The Shameless Life of Ruiz Acosta

He smiled. ‘I happen to know she’d approve.’

‘I don’t know that she would—what about her kitchen garden? Thanks to the weather, it’s behind schedule. She’s trusting me to get on with the job in her absence.’

‘You’re not due to work again until next week. I’ve organised the company jet to be ready at three-thirty and booked a table for dinner tonight at the Sydney Tower Restaurant.’

Company jet. Dinner in Sydney.

And his undivided attention.

An incredulous laugh bubbled up. She was standing here in her dim, decrepit one-room apartment, being propositioned by an irresistible millionaire who’d already planned the entire thing. It was all moving so fast she felt as if she was being whisked up to the top of that tower already. ‘Mr Super Confident,’ she murmured.

‘The only way to make things happen.’

How was she going to keep up with him? ‘I don’t have anything suitable to wear to such an up-market restaurant, and didn’t you say you had to work?’

‘Not till tomorrow. And you’ll look gorgeous, whatever you wear.’

Oh, yeah? He hadn’t seen her wardrobe. ‘You work on a Sunday?’

‘It’s urgent and the only day everyone involved can fit it in. You can sightsee, shop or spend the time at the apartment, if you prefer. There’s a spa with a great view over the city and plenty of bubbles.’

‘Soap or champagne?’ ‘Both, if you so desire.’

And, oh, she did…She bit back a sigh. Her own Pretty Woman vision without the shopping spree.

Unlike the crowds and delays of commercial travel, they departed on time and with no fuss, leaving the dull grey Melbourne skyline behind.

Soon after take-off Matt fixed them drinks and nibbles, then excused himself to catch up on some work on his laptop, leaving Ellie to lie back on the wide leather seat and enjoy the comfort of the tiny private jet.

She watched the ice-cream clouds below them for a time, then flicked through a couple of architectural magazines. McGregor Architectural Designs featured on the cover of the previous month’s issue. Matt was standing at the base of some steps, jacket slung over his shoulder, a glimmer of that sexy-as-all-get-out grin on his face. A needle-thin glass-and-steel pyramid vaulted into the sky behind him. She recognised it as one of the city’s prominent buildings, but hadn’t realised it was one of Matt’s designs and the home of his business empire. The whole concept that she was in his jet, flying off to spend the weekend with him, blew her away.

In just over an hour they were descending over the Harbour Bridge, the water reflecting the deepening orange and indigo sky. Lights were coming on all over the city like thousands of twinkling fireflies.

A limousine picked them up and whisked them to the city centre. They stopped in front of a tall round building and stepped out onto George Street, thronged with tourists out on a Saturday night. The lobby sparkled with lights and black granite. Ellie had worked in Sydney but she’d stayed in cheap accommodation, not in…this. ‘You own an apartment in this building too?’ she asked as they stepped into the elevator.

‘Yes.’

‘How many places does one guy need?’

He grinned as they shot skyward. ‘I look at them as investments and it beats impersonal and unfamiliar hotel rooms.’

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a small lobby. Matt opened a wide-panelled door and the stunning harbour view greeted them through floor-to-ceiling windows. As she followed him through the spacious apartment she noticed vibrant autumn colours of amber and taupe. A tall arrangement of black lacquered twigs in a vermilion pot stood in one corner. Comfortable couches, the latest in electronic entertainment.

He stopped at a bedroom, setting their bags just inside the door. Her pulse stepped up at the sight of the king-size bed with its dark-chocolate quilt and apricot pillows.

The reason she was here.

The air crackled with sexual awareness but he said, ‘Feel free to make yourself at home. I’ve got some plans to go over before tomorrow morning. I’ll be in my study.’ Business before pleasure.

‘Okay.’ She closed her eyes briefly as he left, feeling way out of her comfort zone. What was she doing? She wasn’t the type of girl who went with a rich man for sex.

She crossed the room to watch the changing colours of the twilight sky. Last night Matt had been just a regular guy in a leather jacket who rode bikes to relax. The guy who’d slipped over in the mud with her. The guy who’d helped her wipe the mess off her kitchen floor when she’d been burgled and looked after her when she was ill.

Here on his own turf, this Matt was someone else. The permanent playboy and businessman, wealthier than she’d ever imagined, more influential than she’d given him credit for. He managed a business empire over two cities. A man way out of her stratosphere.

He was also the man she’d had the steamiest, most sensational sex of her life with.

If she could just concentrate on that and not think about how he was tugging at strings she didn’t want tugged. Making her feel things she didn’t want to feel. Making her vulnerable.

No, no, no. Not vulnerable. In control. Swinging her case onto the bed, she unzipped it with a firm tug and pulled out her one and only black dress. She slid the mirrored wardrobe door open to search for a coat hanger…

A row of after five dresses met her eyes, neatly arranged in colour from black through to white. Her stomach clenched, her fingers went limp. But only for a moment. Had the woman left her designer underwear too? Throwing her own cheap cotton dress on the bed, she flung open cupboard doors, yanked out drawers, rifling through briefs, boxers, socks.

She found an abundant supply of condoms in the top bedside drawer. An overabundance, in her opinion. She slammed the drawer shut. At least he was responsible, but did he have to be such a boy scout about it?

‘Ellie? I heard noises. What are you doing?’

She swivelled her head to see Matt the love rat at the doorway. The way he stared at her, brow furrowed, eyes questioning…Damn it, he made her feel as if she was looking for his hidden stash of cash.

She realised she was holding a pair of black briefs and dropped them back in the drawer. Lifted her hands away from his underwear.

‘The condoms are in the top drawer,’ he said, leaning lazily against the doorjamb. ‘In case you were wondering.’

‘Yes, I know. I was wondering why you’ve asked me here when you’ve clearly got plenty of female company to keep you occupied.’

His gaze followed hers to the open wardrobe and his expression cleared. ‘I forgot to mention them. They’re for you to choose something to wear this evening. I had the boutique from downstairs bring them up, but if the size isn’t right…’ He trailed off at her glare.

‘So my clothes aren’t good enough?’ She felt like three kinds of an idiot, accusing him without cause.

He frowned. ‘You were the one who said you didn’t have anything suitable to wear.’

Oh. Right. ‘I didn’t expect…Look…I’m sorry, okay?’ She waved a vague hand at the jumbled drawers. ‘I don’t need you to—’

‘Just choose something. That purple or the turquoise.’ His voice rumbled, water-smoothed stones beneath a deep-flowing river.

She could almost hear him say, One that comes off easily at the end of the evening. Could see it in the way his eyes seared her skin.

Or maybe he was saying, We can be late…

All the air left her lungs. She was tempted, so tempted, to walk on over and push his T-shirt up, kiss her way across that firm, hard abdomen and distract him from his work…‘Okay,’ she heard herself murmur as if she stood somewhere outside of herself.

He gave her a heated look, but then, just when she thought she’d been right all along, he glanced at his watch. ‘We’ll leave in thirty minutes.’

Chapter Eleven (#ulink_2aa5c825-b1cc-5f63-bdfb-c8d479f79d86)

POISED three hundred metres above Sydney, the scenery from the tower’s restaurant was, as always, spectacular. Matt barely glanced at it, preferring to watch the city lights reflected in Ellie’s eyes. To linger over the way her lips curved when she talked and admire the play of light and shadow over her cleavage in that low-cut turquoise dress.