of himself he had not realised were there until now. ‘Why?’
‘Because I want to see how you see me.’
‘I’ve never done a nude before.’ He gave her a flash of his bad-boy smile. ‘Well, not like that, I mean.’
‘That will make it even more special. Something that’s just between us. No one else has to see it. I wouldn’t want anyone else to see it. It’ll be totally private.’
He rubbed a hand over the back of his head, still wrestling with his conscience. It was a surprise to him that he still had one. A big surprise. He saw the trust shining in her bright clear gaze and felt like something dark and dirty inside him had been cleansed. ‘I thought you said art was to be shared?’
‘It will be shared.’ Her dimples appeared as she smiled. ‘By us.’
‘Can I look now?’ Lottie asked the following afternoon.
‘No, sit still while I get the angle of the light falling across your shoulder.’
‘But I’m getting cold.’
‘Hey, sweetheart, this was your idea, remember?’ He dipped his paintbrush and bent back to the task, his concentration fiercely played out on his features, making him look formidable and cross rather than playboy handsome.
Lottie wasn’t cold so much as she was dying to see what he had done. They were due to fly back to the island tomorrow now the quarantine had been lifted. The bug had been identified as food poisoning, ironically from a bakery that supplied the hotel. Only a handful of guests had been affected but the authorities had taken conservative measures to keep the infection contained.
The time spent with Lucca had more than made up for any inconvenience. She could not remember a time when she’d felt as happy and contented in someone’s presence. The private Lucca was not the public Lucca, or maybe she brought out a different side to him. She didn’t delude herself with the thought their relationship—fling—would last longer than it took for Madeleine and Edward to drive out of the Chatsfield Hotel driveway with Just Married written in shaving foam on the back windscreen.
But at least she would have something of him to keep with her always. His painting of her would be a reminder of the first time in his life when he had committed to something—someone—for more than a few hours.
‘Right.’ He sat back and wiped his forehead with a paint-smeared cloth that looked suspiciously like a Chatsfield Hotel hand towel. ‘It needs a few more touches but I’ll do that when we get back. This coat has to dry before I add any more detail.’
Lottie stepped out of the bath and quickly dried her feet and ankles on a towel before coming to look over his shoulder. ‘Do I really look like that?’
He frowned. ‘What? You don’t like it?’
She suddenly realised he was uncertain and hiding it behind a gruff impatience. ‘I don’t know….’ She put a finger to her lips and tapped against them as if in deep critical thought. ‘I think you could’ve done a better job with my breasts.’
‘What do you mean?’ He scowled at her irritably. ‘I spent bloody ages on your breasts. They’re perfect. They’ve got just the right amount of form and light and shadow.’
Lottie tapped him on the end of his nose with a playful fingertip, flashing him a cheeky got-you smile. ‘You are such a sensitive boy.’
‘Little witch.’ He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her close, taking her right breast into the hot cavern of his mouth and drawing deeply.
She looked down at his dark head against her white skin and shivered. She stroked her fingers through his closely cropped hair, breathing in the scent of the signature Chatsfield shampoo. She wondered with a sharp little pang if there would be a time in the future when she could smell cedarwood, leather, white rose and lavender and not think of him.
Lucca’s mouth went to her other breast, his tongue teasing the nipple into a hardened point. Her belly turned over in delight as one of his hands left her hip to cup her intimately. She pushed against him, wanting more, aching for him with every throbbing cell of her being.
‘We’re supposed to be giving you a rest,’ he said.
‘I’m rested.’
‘No, you’re not.’ He put her from him but softened it with a rueful smile. ‘Stop tempting me, baby girl. Don’t you know creative types are easily distracted?’
‘I like distracting you.’ She traced his bottom lip with her finger, then over his top one. ‘You look so intense when you’re working. You get deep frown lines here.’ She touched his forehead. ‘You look moody and grumpy, sort of like Beethoven.’
He gave a self-deprecating laugh. ‘Yes, well, that’s a side of me no one else sees. Thank God.’
Lottie put her hands on his shoulders and looked into dark brown eyes. ‘You’re a good person, Lucca Chatsfield. Don’t let anyone ever tell you any different.’
‘Don’t go pinning any angel wings on me, little princess.’ His eyes contained a dangerous glint. ‘I’m rotten to the core.’
‘I don’t believe that.’
His hands cupped her bottom, bringing her between his spread thighs. His erection was tenting his jeans; she could feel it pressing against her thigh, making her need of him all the more desperate. She reached down and undid his waistband, sliding his zip down and freeing him to her hand, caressing that proudly jutting flesh as she watched pleasure play out over his features. ‘You like it when I do that?’
‘What do you think?’
She rubbed his shaft up and down, rolling her fingertip over the bead of moisture that oozed from his tip. ‘I want to pleasure you.’
‘Here’s the thing.’ He stood and scooped her up in his arms. ‘I have this little rule about ladies coming first. Call me old-fashioned but that’s the way I always do things.’
Lottie quivered with anticipation as he lowered her to the bed in his suite. His eyes were black with desire as he parted her legs, stroking the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, ramping up her excitement with each slow caress. By the time he put his mouth to her she was already flying. Her back arched off the bed, her fingers clawing at the bedcover as wave after wave of ecstasy rippled through her. The intensity of her response to him always shocked her. It took her by surprise each and every time. Her response was never quite the same. There were new things to learn about her body each time he touched her.
But now it was time for her to learn more about his.
Lottie pushed him onto his back on the bed and straddled him. He was fully engorged, painfully so if the look on his face was anything to go by. ‘I want to suck you dry.’ She could barely believe she had said the shockingly erotic words, let alone meant them.
‘Not without a condom.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s safer for you with one.’ He reached for protection in the bedside drawer and handed it to her. ‘You can put it on me if you like.’
She
