The Italian's Bedroom Deal Read Free Page A

if you’re interested in the music. I know there’s dancing over by the pool,” she suggested.
     
    Max smiled enigmatically. “I don’t think I’d feel comfortable leaving you in that dress, cara. What did your father say when he saw you?”
     
    Clarissa wasn’t sure how, but she had forgotten about the sexy dress until his admonishment. She shouldn’t have been surprised at his comment, especially when the dress had been purchased solely to lure him, wasn’t what she was hoping for. She shook her head in frustration. A femme fatale, she wasn’t. “I doubt my father even realized what color my dress is,” she said as she looked back at the party and took a seat on the bench behind her.
     
    “Ah, well, I’ll have to inform him that it is a very pretty pink with small roses across the back and a very….feminine cut.”
     
    Clarissa perked up. He’d noticed? She turned her soft blue eyes to his, searching his features hopefully as he looked down at her. The man was too gorgeous for words, she thought. And if only she could figure out how to entice him, her evening would be perfect. He was so tall, she thought. And muscular! Her heart skipped a beat as his sexy, bedroom eyes smiled down at her. Her eyes moved lower, looking at the lips she longed to kiss, wondering if he would be a demanding lover or a soft, affectionate one. She shivered at the idea, knowing that anyone as overwhelmingly male as Max would be demanding. The man positively oozed sex appeal, she thought.
     
    Unfortunately, instead of some witty, seductive remark that would encourage him in some not-so-subtle way, all she could manage was a pathetic, “Thank you,” in response.
     
    “You’re welcome. Would you dance with me?” he asked with supreme confidence that she would accept. The music had changed from a hard thumping rock beat to a softer, jazzier tempo.
     
    And of course, she did. She slid her hand through his arm, allowing him to guide her through the throngs of people and onto the hardwood dance floor that had been specially built for tonight’s party.
     
    Sliding into his arms, feeling his large, warm hand close over hers, she became even more determined than ever to finish this evening out as she’d planned. It had taken her a month to find the perfect dress and even then, she hadn’t known if he would be attending. So now that he was here and she was wearing what was undeniably a sexy dress, she had to figure out how to make this night end with the hoped for result.
     
    Seeing all the space he maintained between their bodies, she became slightly discouraged but no less determined. Unfortunately, she wasn’t exactly sure how to close the gap between their bodies. Sighing, she wondered why men treated her as if she were made of glass. Max was no different, she thought with frustration and a large mix of irritation that he would treat her just as other men did. Why was he being so nice? She read the papers, for goodness sake! She knew that other women threw themselves at him and, according to the gossip columns; he was finicky but generally always had some woman warming his bed. Why not her? Tonight!
     
    Knowing that her wayward thoughts wouldn’t get her goal accomplished, she focused on the man, figuring she should get to know him better so she could find a way to get him to move closer to her. “Why were you delayed?” she asked, trying desperately for a topic of conversation.
     
    “I had meetings that lasted until about a half hour ago. But my intention was always to come here tonight,” he replied, swinging her out of the way of a couple that had imbibed too liberally of the flowing champagne. “And what have you been up to since I last saw you? I think you mentioned something about a French work you were translating.”
     
    She smiled, delighted that he remembered their conversation. “I finished that. It was fascinating. Unfortunately, I’m translating a very dry, very tedious users’ manual for a