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“Why would she care?”
Did he really not know? “Because she’s in love with you.”
“Is she?” he said carelessly. Hallie gave him a wistful smile.
“Most women are, I imagine. Even I almost was, once.”
Cristiano focused abruptly on her. She felt the intensity of his gaze burn through her soul. “You were in love with me?”
She swallowed.
“For a year, I often cleaned your penthouse—did you know that?”
He shook his head.
“Anytime your regular housekeeper, Camille, was sick or needed to take her grandchildren to school.” She gave a wistful smile. “Dusting your pictures, I used to look at your face and wonder what it would be like to...”
“Yes?” he said, drawing closer, putting his hand on her bare shoulder above the straps of her sundress. A hard shiver went through her.
The elevator reached their floor, and the door slid open with a ding.
“But that was before I knew you,” she said steadily. “Now nothing on earth could make me love you again.”
She walked out of the elevator, head held high. Cristiano reached past her to unlock the penthouse door with his fingerprint, still holding their baby’s carrier on his arm.
The city skyline, sparkling through floor-to-ceiling windows, was the only light in the penthouse.
The darkness was suggestive. Intimate. Setting down the baby carrier, Cristiano turned to face her.
“I don’t know about love,” he said in a low voice. “It’s not something I’ve ever felt, or wanted to feel.” Reaching out, he tucked a tendril of Hallie’s hair behind her ear. “But from the moment I first heard you sing, I knew you were different from any woman I’d ever known.”
“Thank you.” Shivering from his brief touch, she tried to smile. “That’s why I came to New York. Did you know? I dreamed of becoming a world-famous singer.”
For all his praise, he looked surprised. “A singer?”
Hallie gave a low laugh. “Did you think I came all the way from West Virginia because my big dream was to be a maid in your hotel?”
“No?” Cristiano smiled. “You certainly have the voice, cara. The heartbreak and longing of your song—you made me feel it. Your voice was the first thing I noticed about you.” His eyes slid over her face, to her bare shoulders, down her curvy body beneath the cotton sundress. “Do you want to know the second thing?”
A wave of heat went through her. Her cheeks burned as she whispered, “No.”
Maybe he wasn’t doing it on purpose, she thought. Maybe he flirted without thinking, like breathing. He couldn’t really still want her. But something in his eyes made her think—
He turned away, picking up the baby carrier. Beckoning Hallie to follow, he pushed open the first door down the hall.
“You can sleep here tonight.”
Confused, she followed him into the pristine guest room that she’d cleaned many times long ago. “Who’s in charge of cleaning this now?”
“Still Camille. I have no idea who her backup is.” He gave her a crooked grin. “They’re more careful than you were not to be seen.”
With a snort, Hallie looked around the guest room. “Every time I changed these sheets, they seemed untouched. I used to wonder if the room was ever used.”
He set the baby carrier gently on the floor. “It isn’t.”
Frowning, she turned to look at him. “Never?”
“You’re my first guest.”
