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‘Why do you turn them down? You don’t like the emotional baggage that comes with it?’
His jaw clenched before he consciously eased it. ‘Since the baggage belongs to them, not me, no, I don’t. I turn them down because more often than not they, like your father, were in the wrong in the first place and want an easy passage to absolution.’ His gaze drifted over her face, imprinting every feature deep in his mind.
‘Well, I’m not holding my breath. And if he doesn’t it’s his loss.’
‘Exactly so,’ he concurred.
He held his coffee in one hand while his other spiked into her hair and cradled the back of her head. ‘You’ve turned out to be an unexpected surprise in many ways,duci.’
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Or to the bewilderment that preceded the flame lighting through his eyes. And, like so many terrifying things to do with this man and the seismic shifts he caused in her, she let herself be swept away by another kiss.
Then he was pulling away, determination stamped in his face as he nudged her back. ‘Presents. Now. Then I have very definite ideas of how else you can wish me Merry Christmas.’
The first orb contained a platinum bracelet with a stunning sapphire stone in the middle. Then came a pair of diamond earrings. The third contained a QR code declaring it as a ticket to spend the day with—
Her jaw dropped when she read the renowned poet laureate’s name.
‘Alessio, I can’t accept all this,’ she protested after the twentieth priceless gem had fallen into her lap.
‘You must. None of them are quite my type.’
Whose type are they?she wanted to ask. She didn’t. Instead she raised an eyebrow. ‘Not even the poet laureate?’
‘I already met them after I ensured their favourite writing ink distributor didn’t go out of business when the unfavourable economy threatened them.’ At her gasp, his lips quirked in a shadowy smile, then he nudged a few more presents towards her. ‘Be assured,duci, everything I need to make this a memorableNataleis well within my reach.’
She didn’t need a crystal ball to know what he meant. But the knowledge twisted an ache in her heart and a graver comprehension that she was in much deeper than she wanted to be. That she already dreaded taking the road that led away from this place. Away from Alessio.
To hide the emotional earthquake juddering inside her, she reached for the nearest globe. Then the next. Opening presents she had no intention of taking with her.
And then making a great show of throwing herself into a day she was certain would haunt her with its near perfection because of the man who resided in the centre of it.
A series of loud pings echoed across the room, making her startle out of her Boxing Day, front-of-the-fire-post-lovemaking haze.
She tried to turn but Alessio held her captive, his lips continuing their lazy exploration of her neck. ‘Alessio.’
‘Hmm. I think I’m addicted to the way you say my name. There’s always a hint of exasperation in there that gives me great insight into how I affect you.’
‘And that pleases you? Why am I surprised?’
His grin brushed her shoulder, and she tried desperately not to melt even though she suspected that, while her body might be willed into submission, her emotions were another matter entirely. She moaned as he licked at a particularly strong erogenous zone before his mouth drifted up to sear over hers. They were locked in another torrid kiss when another round of pings erupted into the air.
Alessio tensed slightly, the implications settling on both of them.
When he lifted his head, she sucked in a slow breath. ‘The internet connection is back.’ Why was there a hint of mourning in her words? Why did her heart sink a few feet too?
‘Hmm.’ This time, it wasn’t the lazy purring of a satisfied jungle animal. It was sharper, tinged with acceptance. Purpose, even.
When his lips left her skin, she fought not to beg him to return. To forget the outside world.
He had a vendetta to complete. And she...
She had a mother to appease. A sister to locate. A job to return to shortly after the new year.
For the first time in her life, though, not even the job she loved could pierce the gloom settling over her as Alessio rose to his feet in all his naked glory and crossed the room to where his phone had been discarded what felt like a lifetime ago.
His profile turned serious, then downright forbidding as he read the torrent of messages. She sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees as she watched him. She should get up too, go to her room and fetch her own phone and get on with the business of the rest of her life.
But she couldn’t move. Didn’t want to leave this enthralling little bubble created despite the acrimony pushing at it. Despite every rationale shrieking that it was the very worst of ideas.
