AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Now he never would.
That old familiar ache stabbed at him again and he shook his head free of thoughts of Nikki. Dio, how often had he been reminded of her lately? And this wasn’t even about Nikki. This was about a woman who wouldn’t be dressed 24/7 in work gear if she was his woman.
‘A tomboy with a fetish for lingerie,’ he said. ‘How does that work exactly?’
And even in the dark he could see her blush. ‘I went to a lingerie party once. Reluctantly. And I only bought something because I felt I should buy something and it turned out I liked the feel against my skin. I mean, everyone expected me to look the way I did, and shoes and handbags and other girlie things didn’t suit the work, but lingerie was pretty and it was my little secret.’
‘You know,’ he said, his voice softening, ‘you wouldn’t have this little problem you have if men actually knew what you were wearing underneath.’
She looked up at him and blinked, one long delicious sweep of dark lashes against her cheek, her eyes bold and challenging when she opened them.
‘But you know, and I’ve still got “this little problem.”‘
Touché. But not for long.
He put his hand to her face and drew the back of his fingers down her cheek and felt her shuddering response. ‘I need to admit something to you, Holly. There’s another reason I want to see you dressed in silk. A selfish reason. And that’s because when I dream about making love to you, I dream about peeling a gown made from silk from your skin and letting it pool at your feet, rather than unbuttoning you out of your khaki armour plating and work boots.’
‘You dream about undressing me?’ Pink tongue moistened pink lips. Her breath caught.
He nodded. ‘But it looks like, in this case, I’ll just have to make an exception.’
Her heart skipped a beat.
‘Does that mean …?’ she whispered, hardly daring to hope. ‘Are you saying that …?’
‘I’m saying that I’ll make love to you, Holly. I’m volunteering to help you out with your little problem. I’ll show you how good it can be making love to a man. But that’s all I’m promising. Nothing more.’
She blinked up at him and whispered, ‘Yes,’ and he longed to pull her into his arms and show her just how much he wanted to, but they weren’t exactly alone and they didn’t need to make this arrangement public. She didn’t need the baggage of people whispering after he’d left that she’d been abandoned for the second time by someone who only wanted her for the vines. So instead he blocked her from view with his body, and allowed himself the sweet luxury of tracing the curve of her lip with one finger.
‘That was the right answer.’
She opened her mouth and caught the tip of it between her pink lips and brushed it with the tip of her tongue and he felt his groin tighten so hard it would take a solid ten minutes of walking in a cold vineyard before he could rejoin the party.
The party seemed interminable, and while Gus begged off relatively early after the speeches, the guest of honour could hardly leave before the end. And the party was wonderful, Mamma Angela’s lamb on the spit was sublime and people were genuinely excited for Holly, the entire community behind her, and not just because a win for Holly was a win for the entire region.
But while on the outside she smiled and accepted their congratulations, on the inside she burned.
Because Franco would make love to her.
Tonight.
She’d behaved herself all night, sitting on one glass of wine because this was her party and she was the guest of honour and she couldn’t let herself get messy.
Or that’s how it had started.
Then she’d been too wired to drink, too conscious that every passing minute took her one minute closer to the afterparty, the private party to come between her and Franco.
But being stone cold sober had its disadvantages too, when it meant you were tense and jumpy and your throat scratchy and dry, and as Franco held open the car door for her and she gave him a tight smile, Holly wished she’d had a couple more.
Never was a bottle of Purman’s Rubida on a back seat a more welcome sight.
‘I see you brought us something to drink,’ she said as he climbed into the driver’s seat, and he just smiled enigmatically.
‘You could say that.’
* * *
‘I thought it best to use the cottage,’ he said as he pulled up outside. ‘Less chance of you being recognised than if we turned up at a hotel anywhere around here.’
She nodded. Thank God one of them was thinking. She’d been too busy anticipating. ‘What about Josh?’
‘Josh is “otherwise engaged” with the girl from the bakery. He won’t be back before lunch tomorrow.’
