Page 19 of Their One-Night Rio Reunion
‘Ana...’
She held her breath.
‘This isn’t about me wanting you. You are a beautiful woman. Very desirable. I’m not made of stone. Of course I’m...aware of you...’
All she heard for a long, dizzying second was‘very desirable’. He thought she was desirable. Beautiful. Ana couldn’t breathe.
‘...not going to happen.’
Ana blinked. She’d missed whatever Caio had been saying due to the rush of blood to her head. ‘What’s not going to happen?’
He gestured with a hand between them. ‘This. Us.’
‘Why not?’
Caio’s jaw clenched. ‘Because it’s not a good idea. We were married. We had a relationship.’
Ana stood up. ‘You do realise how crazy that sounds? If anything, it’s stranger that we didn’t consummate the marriage.’
Caio’s gaze narrowed on her face. ‘You made it pretty clear on our wedding night that you weren’t interested in consummating the marriage.’
Ana flushed when she recalled her feeling of panic that Caio would realise how much she wanted him. ‘That’s not fair. I told you I had no idea what kind of person you were. What you’d expect.’
A look of disgust flashed across his face. ‘I’ve never forced a woman to do anything against her will, and I wasn’t about to start when we got married.’
Ana bit her lip. This wasn’t going at all the way she’d envisaged. ‘No, I know. And I never thought you were capable of...that.’
‘What was it, then?’
Ana looked at Caio. She was practically naked. She had nowhere to hide. She took a breath. ‘I was afraid you’d realise how much I... I fancied you. That it would be...humiliating.’
Caio shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t have humiliated you.’
A memory popped into Ana’s head. ‘I was certain you didn’t want me. That you were immune to me. At that cancer charity benefit last month you were so tense. You could barely touch me. I thought it was because you couldn’t wait to see the back of me.’
That had been a low moment for Ana—the realisation that Caio must be counting down the days to when he was free again. Free of this arrangement with his convenient wife.
But he shook his head, his mouth tight. ‘Definitely not immune.’
Ana’s pulse tripped. She lifted her chin. ‘So why not...now?’Was he going to make her beg?‘We’re two consenting adults. No one needs to know. I know I’m not your usual type, if that’s what you’re—’
Caio put up a hand. ‘I have a type?’
Ana lifted a shoulder. ‘Tall, skinny... Beautiful.’
‘There’s no comparison,’ Caio said abruptly.
This really wasn’t going well. Ana wished she had a long voluminous cardigan to wrap around her body. ‘I know. You don’t need to remind me of that.’
Caio took a step towards her. She looked up.
‘No, I didn’t mean it like that.’ He stopped and ran a hand through his hair. ‘I meant that you shouldn’t compare yourself with women like that. You are so much more than them. You are sexy in a way that they could never be.’
Sexy. Suddenly Ana’s self-consciousness drained away. Her mouth was dry. ‘You do want me.’
He looked at her. Glared at her. She was filled with a fizzing, buoying sense of vindication.
‘Ana...dammit.’ He stopped. ‘I won’t lie to you. Yes, I want you. I’d have to be devoid of all my senses not to want you. But it’s not happening.’
