A Night of Living Dangerously by Jennie Lucas Read Free Book Online Page A

end,” he said, holding out his hand.
    Reluctantly, she took it. He led her across the ballroom, stopping many times to say farewell to his friends and admirers before they finally escaped up the stairs, through the foyer and out the double doors.
    Outside, beneath the hundred-year-old mansion’s shadowy portico, the August night was foggy and cold. “It must be midnight,” she murmured.
    “Almost. How did you know?”
    “Because all night I’ve felt like Cinderella.” She looked up at him, and gratitude, real gratitude, rose above her regret that the night was over. “Thank you for the best night of my life.”
    He blinked, then frowned. Abruptly, he pushed her against a white stone column. She shivered as she felt the cold, hard stone against the hot skin of her back.
    “I don’t think you understand,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not taking you to your home.” He paused. “I’m taking you to mine.”
    She stared at him in shock, hearing only her own hoarse breath and the rapid beat of her heart.
    “You’re my employee. There are rules.” Alessandro’s eyes were dark with heat, his dark hair dappled with streaks of silvery moonlight as he held her beneath the shadows of the portico. “But I’m going to break them,” he whispered. “I’m going to kiss you.”
    Staring up at him, Lilley felt as though she was lost in a strange dream. Tendrils of hair whipped across her face; the fabric of her dress moved languorously against her thighs.
    “All night I’ve thought of nothing but touching you.” His hands moved down her shoulders to her naked back. He lowered his head to her ear, and she felt his lips brush her tender flesh. “If you want me to stop, tell me now.”
    She closed her eyes as she felt the warmth of his fingers stroke her bare skin, felt his powerful body, barely constrained by his civilized tuxedo, against her own. His fingertips stroked up her neck, and he tilted her head upwards, his face just inches away. She shivered, her lips parted. The two of them were alone in the foggy, moonlit world.
    Then she heard paparazzi yapping like small dogs from the curb, barking out questions that were muffled by a sudden howl of cold wind. He twisted away from her sharply. Moonlight caressed the hard edges of his face, making him look like a dark avenging angel as he scowled behind them. He grabbed her wrist.
    “Come on.”
    He pulled her down the stone steps, past the shouts and flashbulbs of the paparazzi and the reporters who screamed questions and lunged for Lilley as they passed. Alessandro knocked them aside with his powerful arm, gently pushing her into the waiting limousine before he slammed the door behind them.
    “Drive,” he ordered the chauffeur.
    The uniformed driver gunned the engine, roaring away from the curb and plummeting down the steep San Francisco hill. Lilley exhaled as she looked through the window behind them. “Are they always like that?”
    “Yes. Take the alleys,” Alessandro said. “In case they follow.”
    “Of course, sir. The penthouse?”
    “Sonoma.” Alessandro replied, rolling up the privacy divider.
    “Sonoma?” Lilley echoed.
    He turned to her with a sensual, heavy-lidded smile. “I have a villa. It will give us complete privacy.”
    She swallowed. This was all happening so fast. “I don’t know …”
    He gave her a wicked half grin. “I swear I’ll have you back in the city safe and sound before work on Monday.”
    Work! As if that was what she was worried about! Exhaling, Lilley noticed two plates of delicious food and white wine chilling in a bucket of ice. As the divider closed with a thunk, blocking off the driver’s view of the back seat, she looked nervously at Alessandro. She’d been starving for hours, but suddenly dinner was the last thing on her mind.
    Smiling, he put his hand on her cheek. She could see slivers of silvery light reflected in his fathomless black eyes as he whispered, “I thought a woman like you existed only in