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‘I was playing you, Dante.’
‘So youdon’twant me?’
‘I want a lot of things—not all of them are good for me.’
It was the best she could come up with. He was like cake in the baker’s window—tempting, delicious, but it went straight to her hips.
Or in Dante’s case between them.
‘No sex, then.’ He shrugged.
His hand was by the side of her head now, and his face was so close she almost dared not breathe.
‘Come to think of it,’ Dante said. ‘I prefer to remember you sweet and willing, and those little gasps that came from here...’
His finger moved to her throat. Her heart felt like a bird trapped in a net as he taunted her with his words.
‘I prefer to remember you pleading for me not to go slow while I thought I would die trying to come.’
Alicia no longer knew how to breathe as he took her back to that sultry afternoon. ‘I’m not sharing your bed,’ she said.
‘Fine with me. I don’t like sharing a bed, anyway. It’s a palazzo, Alicia. There are his and hers chambers...’ He smiled. ‘Nice, huh?’
She stared at the lapel of his jacket.
‘The flight leaves at midday. That gives you a few hours to get ready.’
‘It will take more than a few hours to turn myself into one of your lionised—’ She halted herself, hating the evidence of her jealousy.
‘A few clothes...’ He watched her blink, as if remembering how much she liked the pretty things. ‘A designer wardrobe shouldn’t pose a problem. After all, wearein Milan...’
‘I have to work.’
‘Call in sick.’
‘And tell them what?’
‘Have you been living under a rock, Alicia?’ he mocked. ‘Say that you kissed a Sicilian...’ he said. ‘That you just got pinged...’
She stared.
‘Or you could fake some gastro issue? No hotel would want you working...’ He put a hand on her stomach. ‘Not very sexy, though.’
His hand was warm through the cotton of her dress, and there was a certain security to be had in her loathing. The bliss of their afternoon together had been so tainted by the evidence of her lack of exclusive rights, Alicia doubted she’d ever get over that fact.
‘We’re not sexy any more, Dante.’ She was lying through her teeth, but convincingly maybe, because he dropped all contact.
‘Fine with me.’ He pulled back, and as he spoke she could feel where his hand had been on her stomach. ‘One weekend, Alicia. I get to bow out of the entertainment circuit my father has me on. Even playboys need sick days.’
It was tempting.
Perhaps, after a weekend together, she would be able to gauge better whether to tell him about his son... She thought of his baby, whom she had cared for, and how her heart had broken at removing herself from Roberto’s life.
Ultimately she would never have access to this much help with her search for Beatrice again, Alicia knew. A trained team searching for her would get her so much closer to her goal.
Yet it was not her twin nor even his son that had her on the edge of saying yes.
It was him.
