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The sound of excited revelry reached her before she saw the impromptu party. They were gathered in the lawns in front of the cottages. Each and every one of her guests, including Cristiano. He was, unsurprisingly, in the centre of the group, and the blonde she’d met earlier seemed to be hanging off his every word.
They’re just another group, Ava reminded herself. Get a grip. “Good evening.”
Her smile was breeziness itself, but Cristiano knew Ava better than that. She was self-conscious. She was anxious. And it was because of him.
Good.
Let her feel the emotions. They were far nicer than the dark desire that was plaguing him. Even with the willing body of Cindy beside him, every fibre of his being was trained on this Australian. A woman he had loved once, and sworn to forget afterwards.
“Oh, good. These are amazing,” Cindy said, standing and taking the tray without a word of thanks. “Did y’all try these already?”
Ava’s smile didn’t drop for an instant, but she was in retreat mode. Her duty done, she was already backtracking from the group of guests.
And Cristiano didn’t plan to let her get away so easily. He watched as she moved down the path and then stood with a lithe grace. “I’ll be right back,” he said to no one in particular, and moved with single-minded determination behind Ava. He caught her easily.
He didn’t speak, but perhaps she heard his footsteps, because she turned and stared straight up at him. “What is it?” She was hanging on by a thread.
Cristiano stared at her in silence. Her question was excellent. What did he want from her? What was he hoping to say or do? He let out a sound of frustration.
“Are you happy, Ava?”
“Happy?” She stared at him as though he’d started to speak Greek.
“Yes,” he hissed, then reached for her hand. She presumed he was going to return to the question of her wedding band, and so she prepared her answer. Angus and she had divorced only two months after they’d married. It had barely been a marriage, even then. Was she ready to reveal that to Cristiano?
She didn’t get a chance to find out. The question she was waiting for didn’t come.
Instead, he laced their hands together and pulled her gently behind him.
The sensible part of Ava’s brain was shouting at her to detach herself from him and storm back to the house. To lock all the doors and keep this man, who had always endangered her equilibrium, away from her. But he fascinated her. He enthralled her. He didn’t need to touch Ava to make her his captive. She had been from the moment she’d first seen him, and she would be forever more.
“Cris,” she said urgently, but he didn’t slow down. In the distance, she was vaguely aware of the group of guests, but he skirted away from them and instead led her to the cottage she’d assigned him. Her favourite cottage. The best.
Sanity was somewhere within Ava, but she wasn’t heeding it. How could she stop? How could she turn away from him, after years of craving anything from this man?
She had hoped against hope that he would change his mind. That he would come back to her of his own accord. That he would realise the mistake he’d made in choosing the adventure of travel over the adventure of love and commitment.
Then again, he thought she was married, she reminded herself forcibly. Staying away was the honourable thing, given the circumstances.
“Cris,” she repeated, but he kept moving, pulling her with him. Only when he reached his cottage did he slow – just enough to open the door and lead her inside. Why did she go? Ava couldn’t have said.
The lights were off, and at first Ava wondered if
perhaps the fuse had blown again. But he reached across and impatiently flicked a lamp into life.
“Damn it, Ava,” he muttered, taking a step so that he was right in front of her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” She swallowed nervously; her veins were pounding with the force of her blood. She lifted a hand to the slim column of her neck, but her eyes didn’t leave his face.
“Like you want nothing more than for me to do this.” He lifted his hand and ran a thumb across her lower lip. Her body jerked in response. How long since she’d been touched like that? Her eyes widened but she didn’t step away. The past was there, an enormous hole she was slipping back into.
“Maybe I do,” she said, wondering why she was so willing to be pulled back into her history.
His expression was dark. And with good reason. Cristiano Cesar Barata was furious.
“You want me to do this?” He murmured, dropping his hands to her hips and pulling her hard against him.
Ava wanted so much. She wanted to rewind the clocks. She wanted to go back to a time when they not only desired one another, but felt love too.
