AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘The very last thing,’ Sophie breathed, lowering her eyes.
‘So now we’ve established that, believe me when I tell you that I’m interested in what you have to say. And I’ll tell you something else... You and my dad...’ He shook his head, and smiled and shrugged at the same time. ‘I never realised how entwined your lives were.’
‘I do work for him on a full-time basis...’
Alessio smiled softly. ‘My extremely dedicated PA works for me full-time. Our lives are far from entwined.’
Sophie grimaced. ‘I suppose to start with, when we were still getting to know one another, it was a more formal arrangement. We had a rigid schedule for pretty much everything. But it wasn’t long before...’
‘Before my father started pushing the boundaries like a toddler?’
Sophie laughed. ‘Hecanbe quite mischievous sometimes.’
Their gazes met and held. Was she aware of how exciting she was?
No, she wasn’t.
Looking at her, Alessio knew that she had no idea how invigorating it was for him to converse with a woman who wasn’t out to impress him. It wasn’t just the tenor of her voice that he liked, but the substance behind what she said. She was so different from the women he dated that she could have been from another planet.
There was no name-dropping...no flirting...no thrilling anecdotes about exciting parties where so-and-so had been chatting to so-and-so and you’d never guess who was there...
She was...bloody refreshing.
And he was enjoying more than just their conversation.
He was enjoying the play of emotions that criss-crossed her face and her responses to what he said—some of which he could tell she was trying hard to downplay.
He was enjoying the way she blushed, because he didn’t have much experience of women who did that.
Because he only went for a certain type of woman.
That was the thought that registered on the outer edges of his brain as he continued to look at the woman sitting opposite him, admiring the smoothness of her skin, the intelligence in her eyes, the girlish disingenuity and the strength beyond her years that blended into an intriguing mix.
Was it her novelty that he found so captivating all of a sudden?
Of course it was.
What else?
Alessio’s work life was high-octane, so he had always liked the predictability of women who didn’t stress him. He didn’t want to have to deal with shrewish demands or hissy fits. His life might not be free of them completely, but in truth his interactions with the opposite sex were not rollercoaster rides.
After a long hard day at work, who wanted a rollercoaster ride?
In fact, who wanted a rollercoaster ride with anyone? Ever? Certainly not Alessio. As far as he was concerned, emotional rollercoaster rides were for fools who allowed their hearts to dictate their behaviour.
He would never be that person. He would never allow his heart to get in the way of anything. He would never open himself to the pain of loss because he had learnt from a young age that love and loss were entwined. He had loved his mother and he had lost her, and it had driven him half-crazy as a kid.
And he had loved his father and lost him as well. Not in the physical sense, but emotionally. Because his father had withdrawn into a world that had excluded him, Alessio. He had shut the door and that door had never been reopened. The lock on it had just grown rustier over time...harder to break.
So self-control always lay at the heart of Alessio’s dealings with women. And if this happened to be one of those rare instances when his self-control was missing in action, then he knew that there was nothing to worry about.
Why would there be?
Curiosity flared. What sort of guys did Sadie go for anyway? Tall? Short? Thin? Fat? What fish in the sea took her fancy? He wanted to find out more about her, and he liked the novelty of that.
At the receiving end of those dark, speculative, brooding eyes, Sophie felt the rush of nerves. Her body urged her to move forward, to let herself be absorbed by his powerful, charismatic personality. But her brain took fright and she jerked back. Her hand whipped to the side and a wine glass shattered at the sudden impact.
Was it instinct or distraction that made her reach out to try and save it at just the wrong moment?
