The Italian's Bedroom Deal (5 page)

As the waiter laid the leather portfolio which contained the check on the white linen table cloth, Clarissa instantly grabbed her purse. “I’m buying you lunch. It was my request so I’ll pay,” she said and took out her wallet, reaching for the check.

That comment only enraged him further and he stood up, his anger apparent in each gesture. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Max snapped. He tossed several bills onto the check then took her arm, guiding her out of the restaurant and immediately into the back of a waiting limousine.

As soon as the car was in motion, she started to speak, trying to make him understand what she was asking of him and why, but Max silenced her. “Not until we’re alone,” he said and turned to look out the window.

Clarissa could tell that he was furious with her but she still didn’t understand his anger. Why would he be upset by her proposition? He’d kissed her, hadn’t he? That meant he was slightly attracted to her, right? It wasn’t like she was asking him to marry her or anything. She just wanted experience in a specific area and she wanted her teacher to be a master at the act. He should feel complimented that she was asking him. Not furious with her. Besides, all he had to do was say no, not interested. He didn’t have to act as if she’d committed a felony.

She glanced at his profile, biting her lip in confusion. Was he angry that she’d asked him an inappropriate question in a public place? Was that all this was about? She couldn’t figure him out. She knew he’d been with many women before. His picture was all over the newspapers and he usually had a beautiful woman on his arm. Never the same one of course. She refused to believe a man as dynamic, powerful and virile as Max would leave them on their doorstep with an innocent kiss on the hand as he’d done to her last weekend.

The car stopped in front of a large steel and glass skyscraper and he stepped out, each of his movements reinforcing his anger as he marched her through the lobby and up the elevators. It wasn’t until they were in his enormous office and the doors were closed that he turned to her, pacing back and forth while she stood in the middle of the carpet.

After several minutes of pacing, he seemed to get his anger under control and he finally turned to face her, his eyes glaring at her softer ones. “Explain this request to me again and do it in terms that make sense,” he demanded.

Clarissa wasn’t nervous anymore. In fact, she was fascinated. She’d read so many articles about his businesses but none of the words used to describe him had she ever seen in action. Around her, Max was charming, suave, masculine and all that was kind and considerate.

Now, seeing him in action as he snapped out orders, she understood in a small way how he’d been able to create his empire from almost nothing. If she were in business with him, she could easily be terrified of his anger. She’d read articles about how he destroyed anyone who opposed him. She definitely hoped she didn’t fall into that category simply because she was asking to have an affair with him. Having Max as an enemy would be truly terrifying, she now realized.

Bracing herself, she forced her words to be succinct and direct. “I asked if you would be interested in a short term affair so I can gain some insight into a world I don’t know anything about,” she explained. She waited a moment, watching in amazement as a muscle started twitching in his jaw. “Max, you should be flattered that I asked you first. I don’t know very much about you but what I do know, I respect a great deal. And I think you would be a magnificent lover, especially for my first time,” she said, only blushing slightly at her small speech.

He put a hand to his forehead, leaning his head down in an effort to concentrate. She watched in fascination as a vein on his forehead started throbbing. “And what about the marriage part? Why not wait until you’re married to discover what passion is like? Shouldn’t your husband do that for you? Won’t you be disappointed that he won’t be your first lover?” He paced again and turned to her before she had a moment to respond. “You should wait for marriage, Clarissa!” he snapped out.

Clarissa cringed in horror at the suggestion. “No thank you.” Her heart was pounding and she wished she could just shrink back into the wood work. He wasn’t interested in her in that way and she hated the humiliation that flooded through her body, making her stomach clench painfully. And marriage! What was wrong with a little affair? How could that hurt anyone? Why couldn’t she just enjoy sex?

Max stopped pacing and glared at her, stunned by her furious reaction to what he thought of as respectful ideas about her personality and her future. “Why is that so horrible an idea?” he demanded.

Straightening her shoulders, she turned to face him, unafraid of her stance on this issue. Forgetting her embarrassment over his imminent rejection, she faced him squarely. “I’m not going to get married,” she said evenly, looking right back at him without fear. “That’s one thing I’ve seen from too many angles and don’t want any part of.”

For the second time in less than a half hour, she’d shocked him. Max could feel the anger draining away to make room for his confusion. “That’s insane. Every woman wants to get married.” He wasn’t speaking just in general though. He’d experienced and avoided too many women’s attempts to get him pinned down in the matrimonial state. How could this one, delicate, tiny, beautiful woman not want what every other woman of his acquaintance strived for in sometimes horrifying ways?

“Not me,” she confirmed with feeling.

He looked at her for a long moment, trying to determine if she was teasing him or not. The look in her eyes, the honesty and belligerent stance all indicated that she was not teasing. That she was, in fact, very serious about her position. He dismissed that though. His past experience with women was that all were more than eager to get married. “You’re being silly again. You’re just too young to know your own mind.”

That did it. His comment about her age sent her over the edge from irritated to outright furious. She dropped her arms to her side and walked toward him. “I’ll have you know that I’m not as young and naïve as you’d like to believe. I’m twenty-five years old and, just because I don’t have any sexual experience, that doesn’t make my opinions stupid or irrelevant,” she snapped, poking him in the middle of his chest on each point. “Think about how you would have felt when you were twenty-five. Were you out of your mind with silly ideas? Or did you consider all your actions to be well thought out and informed?”

“I was completely sane,” he replied evenly but his eyes were snapping fire. “but then again, I wasn’t asking someone to have sex with me to appease my curiosity. That’s a little mercenary, isn’t it?”

“When you put it that way, then yes,” she yelled back at him. “But maybe if you say it as if I was trying to gain knowledge instead of for more mercenary reasons, I might come out looking a little more pristine!”

“You’re white washing the point,” he countered angrily.

“You’re being sexist!”

“Sexist?” he huffed. “How can you say that? Gender roles have absolutely nothing to do with this discussion!”

“How old were you when you had sex for the first time?” she demanded.

“That’s not the point!”

Her hands on her hips, she glared right back at him, unwilling to back down now that he’d started this battle. “That’s exactly the point,” she countered, livid that he was being so obtuse. “You’re saying that I shouldn’t have sex until I’m married and my husband is the only lover I’ll ever know.”

“Yes. But that doesn’t make me sexist.”

She couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling at that comment. “Sure it does. You have two groups of women. Those that are okay to have affairs with and those that are off limits, reserved strictly for marriage and not for dallying with. But do you have those designations for men? Is it not okay for a man to initiate an affair with a woman even if all he wants to do is find out what it would be like to have sex?”

He fumed because she’d tagged him exactly. “You’re missing the point.”

Clarissa shook her head. “No, Max. I’m not missing the point. And if I understand you correctly, you’re declining my offer of an affair simply because I’m one of those women you think should be pure and chaste until their wedding night.”

“Yes! The fact that you’re twenty-five years old and still haven’t experienced what it is like to be with a man tells me exactly that. You’re a good girl! You should definitely wait until you’re married and forget all this silliness.”

She hated those words and they hurt deeply. With as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances, she pulled her purse over her shoulder and faced him one last time. “I’m sorry that you’re not interested in having sex with me. I thought that you of all people would be wonderful to initiate me. But I understand that I’m not your type. Thank you for lunch.”

She turned and reached for the door handle, preparing to leave before the tears at the back of her eyes toppled over to her cheeks. She would not cry in front of Max, she vowed to herself. She’d lost too much dignity already and she wasn’t going to lose any more simply because he was a cold hearted, sexist jerk with archaic ideas about men’s and women’s roles in social situations.

“Clarissa, stop!” he demanded but she kept on going. She was almost free, she thought. Just a few more steps and she’d be out of his sight and in the hallway leading to the elevators. The handle was cold under her hot fingers and she wanted to clutch it to her cheeks, desperate to appear normal and not have red cheeks around Max.

Just as she was going to wrench open the door, Max’s hand stopped her, laying his palm against the wood, effectively trapping her in his office. “Where do you think you are going? This conversation is not over. There’s definitely more to discuss, Clarissa!”

“I beg to differ,” she said, not turning to face him. “Let go of the door, Max.”

“Not until we’re finished.”

She laughed softly. “That’s an odd comment at this juncture in our meeting. I didn’t think we’d ever started.” She was standing at the door with her back to him, fighting to maintain the small amount of dignity that she had left after this humiliation.

He sighed heavily and she could feel his warm breath on her neck. The feeling sent shivers down her arms, right to her heart and she wished with all her heart that he wasn’t such a horrible person to believe she was too good to have sex with.

“I meant with this conversation. You can’t leave until you understand my point of view. I think you’ll do yourself a great disservice if you proceed with this foolhardy plan.”

She spun around and leaned against the door, staring straight ahead, which meant she was staring at the middle of his chest. “Max, you’ve made your decision very clear. You’re not interested in having sex with me so let me go. There’s nothing else to say.”

Her words sent his frustration level over the edge. “Who says I’m not interested in having sex with you?” he growled a moment before his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her hard against him. At the same moment, his mouth covered hers in a passionate kiss that blew away all her senses. Her fingers, which had been clenched into small fists by her side, slowly uncurled. One hand, then the next tentatively touched his cheek.

His mouth moved over hers with merciless passion while his tongue invaded hers, moving in and out, tasting, enticing. From the first moment, Clarissa couldn’t think, couldn’t move but as her hands caressed his skin, her body moved of its own accord. Instead of leaning against the door, her body reached up, feeling his solid strength against her soft curves. She reveled in the feeling and he didn’t relent against her mouth until she sagged against him, her knees unable to hold her any longer.

“So does this mean yes?” she breathed when he lifted his head slightly.

“Dios!” he cursed and stepped back as if she were on fire. “Of course it does not mean ‘yes’!” He started his pacing once again, running his long fingers through his hair in frustration. “I can’t believe you’re still thinking of offering that to me. You should be trying to figure out how to make me propose!”

Clarrisa leaned weakly against the door as she watched him, her senses still inflamed with desire which only increased as she took in his tall, muscular body. “But I’ve already told you. I don’t want to get married.”

“And I’ve already told you, you’re being silly,” he replied, not really paying much attention to her at the moment as he tried to get his raging desire for her under control. “And I shouldn’t have kissed you again. I apologize for that.”

That hurt, Clarissa thought. Of all the things he might have said, explaining his regret for that wonderful kiss was the deepest wound. “Okay, on that note, I need to leave.” She pushed away from the door and turned but again, his hand stopped her.

“What are you going to do?” he demanded.

“Do?” she parroted. “I don’t really know, Max. I hadn’t made it past the hope that you would help me out. But since you’re turning down my offer, I’ll have to rethink my strategy.”

“Would you care to let me know when you’ve figured it out?” he asked, calm returning to his voice once again.

Clarissa thought about it for all of five seconds. “No. I don’t think I will. I believe I’ve humiliated myself enough around you. I’ll stop while I’m painfully behind. Good day, and again, thank you for the lunch.”

“I’ll let my driver know you’d like to go home.”

She shook her head. “No, thank you. I don’t think I’m going home immediately.”