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He hated the answer he was going to have to give. ‘The day before the accident.’ It took huge effort to keep his voice calm, to keep it steady, but even to his ears each word he’d just said sounded cold. He’d studied the photo since then, shocked to see a hint of trouble in Seb’s eyes. Would she notice too?
She looked up at him and tears filled her eyes, making them shine like gemstones. Before he’d thought about the consequences, he moved around the desk and took her in his arms. Without hesitation, she sought the comfort he offered and pressed her face in her hands, her forehead on his chest as sobs racked her body.
‘Dio mio. This is too much for you.’ He wanted to clench his fists in anger but instead spread them over her back as the sobs continued, smoothing them over her and pulling her closer against him.
‘No, it’s not.’ The strangled words came out in a rush, muffled by her hands and his body.
‘It is, cara, it is,’ he soothed, just as he’d done for his sister many times as they’d grown up, but this wasn’t his sister. This was a woman he desired with every nerve in his body.
‘I should, I should.’ Sobs prevented her words from coming out and, without thinking, he lowered his head, pressing his lips into her hair. She stilled in his arms momentarily and he closed his eyes against the memories of when he’d thought his life was complete. He pushed back the knowledge that he’d failed to be the man his wife had wanted, lifted his chin and took in a deep breath.
It seemed like for ever that he held Charlie as she cried, each sob transferring her pain to him, increasing his guilt for not having been there the night Seb had decided to take the car out again. He would have seen the drink-and drugs-induced euphoria and could have stopped him. The discovery still shocked him now. How had they worked so closely together for all those months without him noticing Seb had such a problem?
He lowered his head, once more pressing his lips against her hair, his aim to soothe both of them. But, as he held her tighter, uttering words of comfort in Italian, he knew he had to stop, had to let her go. It shocked him to admit he wanted to be more than just a shoulder to cry on.
Thankfully the tears subsided and a huge sob shuddered through her. She looked up at him and they were so close they could have been lovers. Without any effort at all he would be able to press his lips to hers, but her tear-stained cheeks reminded him they were not lovers and exactly why they were here.
‘I should have done this a long time ago.’ Finally she spoke a little more calmly, her words slightly wobbly after crying.
‘This is the first time you have cried?’ Incredulity made him pull back slightly as he watched her expression change, become softer, less pained.
She smiled up at him, nodding. ‘Thank you.’ Her voice was barely above a whisper and she blinked as tears escaped her eyes. She rubbed one cheek roughly with her fingers but, before she could reach the other cheek and before he could think about what he was doing, he gently wiped the tears away.
Everything changed in that second. They became cocooned in a bubble of sizzling tension. Unable to stop himself, he held her face in his hands, her skin warm and damp from crying. Her green eyes locked with his, sadness and grief swirling with something quite different and completely inappropriate.
‘Prego.’ His natural response sprang to his lips but his voice was husky and deep. He couldn’t take his gaze from hers, couldn’t break that tenuous contact which held them together.
She closed her eyes and leant her cheek against his hand. Instinct took over and he caressed her face then pushed his fingers into her hair, the silky softness of it almost irresistible. He wanted to kiss her, to lower his head and taste the fullness of her lips.
He moved towards her and she opened her eyes. For what seemed like an eternity she looked up at him, her breathing fast and shallow. His heartbeat sounded so loud in his ears as he watched the green of her eyes change until they swirled with browns, like trees as autumn approached.
He wanted her. That was all he could think of at that moment. Nothing else was important. Nothing else mattered.
She moved nearer, her eyes closing, spreading her long damp lashes on her cheeks, and then her lips met his. It was a gentle kiss, full of hesitancy at first, but, as he pulled her close, one hand buried in her long hair, it deepened, became something much more. He shouldn’t be doing this, not now, not ever.
* * *
Charlie’s head spun and she knew she shouldn’t be kissing him like this, knew it would only mean complications, but the need to feel his lips against hers was overwhelming. Her senses were on overdrive, every nerve in her body responding to him. Heat exploded deep inside her and she pressed herself against him. His arm tightened around her back, pulling her closer, and his fingers scrunched in her hair, holding her head at just the right angle as his tongue moved between her lips, entwining with hers.
