Page 33 of Perfume Girl

Her pleased expression caused a flurry of sensations to run through me. It reminded me of when we’d spent time alone in the stables, the way she’d looked at me then with the same curiosity, her interest piqued as she seemed to peer beyond my physical appearance.

I had to put those thoughts out of my mind.

“I look forward to joining The House of Beauregard, Astor.” She went coy. “May I call you that?”

“In private, yes.”

Destroying this woman and her threat to my business was going to be a delicious pleasure.

“Welcome aboard, Ms. Wren. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”Right before I crush you.“How does this Thursday sound? That gives you enough time to find a place closer to work.”

“That’s great. Thank you.”

“One more thing.” I stepped forward and peered down at her. “I’ll even go so far as to personally mentor you.”

“I’d better go now,” she whispered.

“I’ll escort you.”

“No need.” She hurried out the door without looking back.

I stood there riveted by the exotic scent of daturas. It had taken me a while to figure out what she was wearing, but that poisonous, beautiful flower was unmistakable. Raquel had thought that it alone could lower my defenses. If I knew the cause of this sudden arousal, then I could fight it. It was my strength.

She’d met her match.

Yet Raquel was a dichotomy. Her presence had filled the room with light, and now there was a void where she’d been standing—so much so that I re-imagined her there. A shudder of pleasure ran up my spine.

She could use that voluptuous body of hers with devastating effect, her sensual curves enthralling a man to forget all reason. Her personal scent offered a promise of so much more, and I had to lean against the wall to prevent myself from going after her.

I needed to cleanse myself of her and there was one quick way to do just that. Moving swiftly through the cabin, I stripped naked when I hit the bathroom and then stepped inside the small cubicle, standing beneath the showerhead.

I squeezed my eyes shut as a gush of freezing cold water drenched me. I desperately tried to wash off her aura.

But my mind soon betrayed me with its wild imagining of Raquel’s mouth opening to take mine, willingly accepting my tongue as it ravished hers, me conquering her entirely, me entering her and burying myself deep inside her…Raquel arching her back and screaming my name.

I rested my forehead against the glass door, my jaw tight with frustration and my breathing ragged. I dared Raquel to risk it all by challenging me.Me.

My senses were still being ravaged by her exotic datura scent. It had found me again, even in here.

She was bewitching.

I had to quell my addiction to this stranger.

And fast.

IHAD QUICKLY FOUND Alocal hotel suitable for a temporary stay in South Beach. And I was learning how to navigate around this grandiose structure where I was now employed.

The lab was my safe place, and even with its sterility and high-tech equipment it was cozy enough to help me forget that it wasn’t really mine, it washis.

Soon I would rescue my formula and get back to the life I loved.

I tried not to think about Astor Beauregard, whose office was above me on the top floor. And I tried not to think about how easily he could seduce a female with that arrogant smirk of his and those deep hazel eyes.

There were probably a slew of women hanging off his arm when he partied late into the night at those high-end clubs this town was famed for. I wondered what type of companion he preferred. Not that I cared…his private business had nothing to do with me.

I just wished Astor wouldn’t look at me with that all-seeing gaze. His glare went right through me—insideme—as though he were searching my soul for answers to an unspoken question.

He was the kind of man no woman in her right mind would go near. Yet my body rebelled at this logic whenever I was in the same room with him, and it was obviously because he smelled so damn good. His brand of sin was a terrible distraction.