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‘Did I hurt you? You were with me all the way and then...you weren’t.’
‘No!’ Serena blurted out, horrified that he would think that. ‘No,’ she said again, quieter, and looked back at the view. ‘Nothing like that.’
‘Then...what?’
Why wouldn’t he let it go? Serena wasn’t used to men who gave any consideration to how much she’d enjoyed sex—they’d usually been happy just to say they’d had her. The wild child.
Luca’s voice broke in again. ‘You’ve already come in my arms, so I know what it feels like, but you shut down.’
Serena got hot, recalling the st
rength of her orgasm when he’d been touching her in the jungle... But that had been different... He hadn’t been inside her.
And she hadn’t been falling for him.
The realisation hit her now, as if she’d been blocking it out. She was falling for him—tumbling, in fact. No wonder her body had shut down. It had known before she did. She’d been right to fear his total possession.
She looked at him, shocked, terrified it might be written over her head in neon lights. But he was just raising a brow, waiting for an answer. Oblivious.
Her mind whirling with this new and fragile knowledge, she whispered, ‘I told you...it’s been a while.’
‘What’s “a while”?’
Serena stared at him, wanting him to let it go. ‘Years—okay? A long time.’
Something in his eyes flashed. ‘You haven’t had any lovers since you left Italy?’
She shook her head, avoiding his eye again, and said tightly, ‘No—and not for a while before that.’
God, this was excruciating!
‘The truth is I’ve never really enjoyed sex. My reputation for promiscuity and sexual prowess was largely based on the stories of men who’d been turned down. I’m afraid I’m not half as debauched as you might think...a lot of talk and not a lot of action.’
Luca was quiet for a long time, and then he said, ‘I could tell you weren’t that experienced. But you were touted as one of Europe’s most licentious socialites and you didn’t do much to defend yourself.’
She sent him a dark glance. ‘As if anyone would have believed me.’ She looked out over the view and felt somehow removed, suspended in space. ‘Do you know how I learned to French kiss?’
She could sense Luca going still. ‘How?’
Serena smiled but it was bitter, hard. ‘One of my father’s friends. At a party. He came into my room.’
She let out a shocked gasp when Luca grabbed her shoulders and pulled her around to face him. His face was stark, pale. His reaction took her aback.
‘Did he touch you? Did he—?’
Serena shook her head quickly. ‘No. No. My sister Siena was there...we shared a room. She woke up and got into bed beside me and the man left. After that we made sure to lock our door every night.’
Luca’s hands were still gripping her shoulders. ‘Deus...Serena.’
He let her go and ran a hand through his hair, looking at her as if she was a stranger. On some deep level Serena welcomed it. The other thing was too scary. Luca looking at her with something approximating gentleness...
She saw a lounger nearby and went over and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest. Luca stood with his back to the railing, hands in his pockets. Tense.
As if the words were being wrung out of him, he finally said, ‘It’s not adding up. You’re not adding up.’
‘What’s not adding up?’ Serena asked quietly, her heart palpitating at Luca’s intent look.
‘You’ve had nothing but opportunities to be difficult since you got here and you haven’t been. No one can act that well. A child who is medicated for being difficult, wilful...who grows into a wild teenager hell-bent on causing controversy wherever she goes...that’s not you.’
