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She felt the hard clench of her heart. Not just physically. That was the trouble. Everything about their affair was good. All the things she’d tried not to dream of were hers for the taking, because Alessio di Bari was an amazing man. Generous, intelligent and sexy—with a dry wit which often took her by surprise. Sometimes she wondered if he seemed so relaxed in her company because she’d been so adamant about not wanting a permanent relationship. Or did it all boil down to their insane chemistry—his specialist subject, as it happened—which combusted whenever they came close?
She glanced at her watch, realising there was no time to waste on unanswerable questions. She needed to hurry so she would be ready in time to meet him. In the end it was all a bit of a rush—especially as she went home via Stacey’s apartment, although she was still wearing her work clothes, which meant that, because Jago was full of cold, he covered her jacket in snot before giving another angry squall.
‘He never stops!’ wailed Stacey.
‘Shh... Shh...’ Nicola cradled the tiny baby and smoothed damp, wispy curls away from his forehead. ‘Don’t worry. He won’t be like this for ever—and he’s just got a bit of a cold, hasn’t he? It’s always difficult at the beginning, Stace. All the books say that.’
Stacey nodded, but her lips were working frantically as if she was trying very hard not to cry. Nicola’s heart went out to the new mother as she made her a pot of tea and a sandwich, before rushing off home to get ready. Trying to fight off the plastic flap of the shower curtain, which kept sticking to her skin, she wondered what kind of future there would be for little Jago, with a father who was in and out of jail and a young couple with practically no prospects.
Butshehad done it, hadn’t she?Shehad climbed out of the gutter and made something of herself without help from anyone else. And she would be around for Jago. Free of any family demands of her own and probably earning loads more money by then—there was no reason why she couldn’t become a guiding presence in his life.
Her phone pinged, her heart giving a predictable leap when she read the message.
Where are you?
She replied, trying to emulate his terse style.
On my way.
She had requested a venue less public than the Starlight Room because she didn’t want word getting back to Sergio on the grapevine—but the moment she walked into the restaurant Alessio had chosen as an alternative, she wished she’d kept her mouth shut. Because this was very private, yes—achingly so. Worse still, it was romantic. The flicker of tall creamy candles was the predominant source of lighting and it gave the room an intensely intimate feel. Rich brocade fabric lined the walls and there were heavy velvet drapes in darkly jewelled shades of emerald and crimson. It made her think of things she had no right to be thinking—about love and longevity and what was going to happen to them. About how much longer she could maintain this façade of not caring for him.
Alessio was rising to his feet, just as he’d done the first time they’d had dinner together. But things had changed. Back then she had been wary of him and he had been wary, too. She remembered the faint air of hostility which had radiated from his brooding frame. There had been calculating appraisal—from both of them—not this extended eye contact which managed to convey a wealth of repressed longing in a single moment. But nothinghadchanged, Nicola reminded herself fiercely. Not really. Only her own stupid mindset.Shewas the one who had started romanticising about what was only ever intended to be a functional relationship.
‘Hi,’ she said as she slid into her seat, slightly inhibited by the narrow skirt of her apricot silk dress. ‘Hope I haven’t kept you waiting.’
‘Well, you have—but I thought that was your modus operandi,’ he offered drily.
‘I’m a busy working woman,’ she returned, with a smile. ‘How’s life in Manhattan?’
‘I’ve barely been there all month. Stockholm. Geneva. Munich.’
‘That sounds like remarkably little down-time to me.’
‘Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?’ He paused, his blue eyes slanting her a look of soft promise. ‘How’s life in London?’
‘Oh, you know. Same old, same old.’ Sitting back while the waiter filled their flutes with champagne, she wondered what he’d say if she told him she’d been acting as a quasi-mother since she’d last seen him. That the woman in the sleek apricot dress had been sponging the shoulder of her work shirt just an hour earlier. ‘Are we celebrating something?’ she questioned, watching as straw-coloured foam fizzed up the side of her glass.
‘We could be.’ He shrugged and smiled. ‘The German branch of my company has turned in record profits for the first half of the year.’
‘And does that...does something like that give you an inordinate amount of pleasure?’
‘No, Nicola.’ There was a pause. ‘Yougive me an inordinate amount of pleasure.’
Nicola’s heart thudded, because when he looked at her that way—with that smoky expression which made his blue eyes smoulder—it made her feel dizzy with desire. It’s sex, she reminded herself weakly. And because that’sallit is, you need to showcase some of your newly learned expertise. He doesn’t want a lover who’s going to gaze at him with her mouth open like a stranded fish, while imagining what his first-born might look like. He wants a sassy woman who’s going to turn him on.
‘Is this going to turn into some sort of verbal foreplay?’ she questioned quietly. ‘Are you going to make me want you so much that I won’t be able to concentrate on what I’m eating?’
‘On the contrary,’ he demurred silkily. ‘I intend to feed every one of your senses tonight, Nicola. And also—’ He halted as the head waiter arrived at their table, obviously keen to discuss the merits of the menu and wine list, but Alessio simply raised his eyebrows at Nicola. ‘Shall I order?’
She nodded and waited until the waiter had gone away before looking at him quizzically. ‘You were saying?’
Whathadhe been saying? Alessio frowned. It was difficult to recall a word, let alone a sentence, when she was dazzling him with all her fresh blonde beauty, which he had missed during the fortnight they’d been apart. When she had arrived here tonight, every man had turned to watch her but she had been totally oblivious. She had no idea just how alluring she was and he liked that about her, he realised suddenly.
‘I’ve been thinking—’
‘Oh, dear. Could be dangerous.’
‘It suddenly occurred to me how much I’ve told you about myself,’ he mused. ‘Things I’ve never told anyone else.’
