AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Why would you talk about somebody like that? If you think that little of her, why are you even seeing her?’
A sharp, nameless pang shot through him. Why, indeed?
He pushed the thought away and stared past her at the crowd of mid-morning shoppers. ‘That’s precisely why I am seeing her, cara,’ he said lightly.
‘That doesn’t make any sense!’
He saw the confusion in her eyes, could hear it in her voice. But how could he explain how he felt? That caring—truly caring for someone—was never going to be part of his life. Not now. Not in the future. His past had made sure of that. Even now, just thinking about it made him feel sick to his stomach. Just like when he was a child—
An all-too-clear memory of pleading down the phone at boarding school, begging his father to let him come home for the holidays made it suddenly hard for him to breathe.
For a moment, he stared fixedly at the empty coffee cup, waiting for his body to forget what his mind couldn’t. Finally, he forced himself to meet her gaze. ‘It makes perfect sense. Think of a relationship as a bank account. If you have one with a lower rate of interest, you’re not going invest much money in it, are you?’
Shaking her head, her eyes flashed angrily. ‘And that’s what this woman is to you? A low-interest account? Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to actually be with someone you do want to “invest” in?’
She was chewing her lower lip and he felt his body grow hard, remembering how that soft pink mouth had surrendered to his hungry kisses. ‘It’s sweet of you to worry about me,’ he said slowly, ‘but I promise you I get regular dividends.’
There was a slow, pulsing silence as he watched the colour rise over her throat and cheeks, and then she lifted her chin, her eyes challenging him. ‘Oh, I’m not worried about you—I’m sure your relationships suit your unique personality perfectly.’
He burst out laughing. She was such an odd mix: stubborn and scrappy as one of those cats that roamed the Coliseum; yet teasing and tempting him with her soft eyes and sweet smile.
A tension he hadn’t acknowledged before eased inside him. It was strange: normally he found it difficult—more like impossible—to talk about something as personal as relationships. Talking meant thinking, and thinking meant feeling, and feelings were like a summer sea: tranquil on the surface but underneath swarming with riptides and jagged rocks.
Only it didn’t feel like that talking here, now, with Flora. Instead, he felt as though she’d walked into his life, throwing open all the windows and ripping the dust sheets off the furniture. And instead of exposed, he felt exhilarated—excited, even.
‘You know, you’re wasted stuck out in the gardens talking to flowers. You should go into politics. Or maybe you could come and work for me in my public relations department.’
Her fingers twitched. ‘What? So you can boss me about at work as well as in my own home? I think not!’
‘You think I bully my staff?’
‘I think you bully anyone and everyone!’ she said bitterly. ‘Whatever it takes to get your own way. You were probably in nappies the last time you actually had to do something you didn’t want to do!’
Around him, the noise of the café seemed to retreat like a drawn breath, and despite the heat of the midday sun, he shivered as her words pressed against the black bruise of the past.
‘Actually, it was more recent than that.’ His voice sounded wrong—flat and tired—and he felt the air shift around them.
Her head snapped up. ‘What does that mean?’
A thread of anger fluttered inside him, and he grabbed it gratefully. ‘It means that you’re going off-topic,’ he said coldly. ‘I’m not here to discuss my character or even yours. Unless it’s somehow relevant to what happened yesterday.’
Leaning backwards, he gestured lazily for another glass of water.
There was another long silence. He watched her face grow still and furtive and felt a sharp jolt of satisfaction. Let her sweat! She’d been so determined to chastise him about his supposed engagement that she’d forgotten all about their own little assignation in the garden. Unfortunately for her, he hadn’t. And after that grilling she’d just given him he wasn’t about to let her wriggle off the hook.
His gaze rested on her face until finally, scowling, she met his eyes. ‘Fine! Look... It was wrong. I was wrong. I don’t know why it happened, but it won’t happen again—’
Reaching out, he picked up a piece of ice from the glass of water and sucked it between his lips. ‘How do you know?’ he said lazily.
She stared at him blankly. ‘I— What?’
‘How do you know it won’t happen again if you don’t know why it happened?’ He studied her face, enjoying her discomfort.
Flora gritted her teeth. She could no longer deny that she wanted him. How could she when she could feel the beat of desire throbbing in her veins? But sleeping with Massimo...even the idea of it set off alarm bells inside her head.
Her mouth was dry. More than
anything, she wanted to flee—not just from the undercurrents of tension swirling between them but the intensity of her response to him. Only despite knowing she should run like hell from his compelling, disturbing presences, something vague, some wavering thread kept tugging them closer.
