AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I did but two burgers too late.’
The official peeled away before they reached a sparsely occupied private parking area. Ezio was speaking with a group of airport staff who were in the process of putting luggage in the boot of large shiny four-wheel drive with blacked-out windows.
It looked showroom-new. Tilda glanced at her brother, who was still looking interestingly pale.
‘If you’re going to be sick...’
‘Got it covered. I’ll open the window.’
Tilda grimaced. ‘Thanks for that image.’ And she watched as her brother climbed into the back seat. Ah well, if he did spoil the leather upholstery it would serve Ezio right for not realising that a teenage boy had to be told when he had had enough to eat.
‘You worry too much.’ He had not intended to say it but she looked so... Did the woman never put herself first?
‘Do I?’
‘About Sam.’ He’d noticed Sam trudging along looking sorry for himself and, having seen the boy keep the on-board chef on his toes, he was not particularly surprised or concerned. It was the worried looks floating in Sam’s direction that he somehow couldn’t filter out.
Her raised brows went higher, her delicate nostrils quivery with the effort of not responding.
Her restraint lasted a good ten seconds before, with a smile heavy with sarcasm, she bit back through gritted teeth, ‘I bow to your superior knowledge on the subject.’
‘I watched him munch his way through half a cow, and I happen to know quite a lot about unrestrained indulgence.’
‘I’m sure you do, but spare me the details of your sexual endurance.’
Laughter burst from his lips.
A drop-dead look was not quite as effective as she’d have liked when she knew her face was scarlet but she gave it a shot anyway. ‘And, if you watched, why on earth didn’t you stop him?’
‘In my experience, saving people from their mistakes is less effective than letting them suffer the results. You only stick your hand in the fire once...’ His eyes fell to her lips and he immediately felt the painful evidence that this was not always true; sometimes those flames were just too tempting.
‘Well, I wouldn’t know. I am not drawn to flames, and anyway, that is the most stupid thing I have ever heard!’ she exclaimed with a scornful sniff. ‘What would you do, let a toddler stumble into the path of an oncoming car to show that being hit by a big chunk of metal going at thirty miles an hour really hurts?’ She snorted. ‘Tough love is another way of saying “I don’t give a damn”!’
She broke off, breathless after her impassioned outburst. Every inch of her slender, supple body was vibrating with outrage that had fired up out of nothing, basically. Things seemed to overheat at a very low temperature between them but,Theos, she was quite magnificent... He had never been with a woman who aroused him this much.
He had never been with her.
He stood there wishing that he could go back to a point in time when he could have confidently tossed back that he didn’t give a damn and did not care what hurt his words caused.
That ship has sailed, mocked the sardonic voice in his head.
‘Fine. I spoke out of turn.’
The sparkle of disdain faded from her eyes, replaced by surprise. Perversely, the instant he stopped defending himself, she wanted to make excuses for him.
‘And I overreacted a bit,’ she admitted. ‘It’s my job to worry about Sam. I don’t always do such a great job and...well...it’s been the two of us for so long...’ She broke off, thinking it stillwasthe two of them. ‘And his life is changing so much he’s bound to struggle.’
‘Sam seems to be coping. He seemed resilient.’
‘He’s had to be. When Mum and Dad died, for a long time afterwards he had terrible night terrors. He’d wake up in the night screaming.’
Watching her face, Ezio wondered if Sam was the only one who’d had night terrors.
‘He used to ask me if I was going to die and leave him too.’ She gulped unshed tears, roughing the edges of her disclosure. ‘He had some grief counselling...we both did,’ she said quietly. ‘But I get scared sometimes. When things seem fine it all goes...’ She gave a helpless little shrug.
‘These boys he got mixed up with...?’
She nodded. ‘He’s sensible really, but he so desperately wants to belong...’
