so you think I am like this man?’ Alessandro asked. His voice was even, but Mia felt the hurt emanating from him, and a wave of sorrow and regret rushed through her.
Alessandro was nothing like her father. The realisation washed through her in a cleansing flood. Yes, he could be brutal in business, ruthless in his ambition, but he was never cruel. He’d already shown her how his hostile takeovers were, in essence, mercy missions. Although he could be autocratic, he never sneered or insulted or mocked simply to show his power, because he could. His kindness was genuine.
‘No,’ Mia said quietly. ‘I don’t think you’re like him, Alessandro.’ Another realisation was jolting through her, more powerful than the first. No, she didn’t think Alessandro was like her father, not really. Not at all.
But maybe she was like her mother.
That, Mia realised, had been her real fear all along. Not that she’d be beholden to a man like her father, but that she would act like her mother. She wouldn’t be able to help herself. She’d fall in love with Alessandro, just as her mother had with her father, and give up everything for him—willingly. That was what she was afraid of.
Yet how could she admit so much to him now? The last thing she wanted Alessandro to know was the hold he had over her, or that even now she was halfway to falling in love with him, and fighting it all the way.
‘I understand why you would be wary, Mia,’ Alessandro said. ‘Of course I do. But if you know I am not like that…’
Mia shook her head helplessly. The problem was her—her weakness, and her fear. Yet did loving someone have to mean losing yourself? If Alessandro wasn’t like her father, was there really any danger? Did she want to be so in thrall to her past and her own fears that she missed out on life, on love?
Yet Alessandro had never said anything about love.
‘Mia?’ Alessandro prompted gently. ‘What is going on inside that beautiful head of yours? Tell me, so I can help.’
‘I don’t know,’ she confessed. ‘A million things. I’ve always believed I would never get married. I’d never…’ She hesitated, for she’d been about to say love, and she wasn’t ready for that. She was quite sure Alessandro wasn’t, either. ‘I’d never have that kind of relationship,’ she amended. ‘And I never wanted it. But now…’
‘Now?’
‘Now we have to have some kind of relationship, and yes, it scares me. But part of me…wants it, and that scares me, too.’
‘All this fear.’ The music had ended, and Alessandro stopped their swaying, raising her hand to his lips. He brushed a kiss across her knuckles as his gentle yet determined gaze met hers. ‘I will do my best to allay your fears, cara. The last thing I want is for you to be afraid—of me, of anyone or anything. I promise never to hurt you, never to take advantage of you, never to make you regret joining your life with mine.’
‘Those are big promises, Alessandro,’ she whispered shakily. Yet she knew he meant them.
‘Yes, they are.’ Her hand was still at his lips as he kept his gaze on her, now fierce and glittering. ‘Do you believe me, Mia? Will you trust me?’
Could she?
‘I want to,’ she whispered.
‘Then let yourself. See what can be between us, Mia. Discover how good—how wonderful—it could be, if you let yourself trust. Fall. I’ll catch you. I promise I will.’
His words were a siren song that she ached to listen to, and believe. If only it could be so easy. If only she could leave her fears behind and step into this bright, glittering future Alessandro promised. Why not? Why not at least try, for Ella’s sake, for her sake, for theirs?
‘All right,’ she whispered, and Alessandro smiled, victory lighting his eyes as he drew her towards him and kissed her right there on the dance floor, in front of the crowd, his lips on hers like a seal, branding her with his mouth just as he had with his words.
As they broke apart, Mia’s lips buzzed and her face flamed. She felt as if she’d just jumped off a cliff, and she couldn’t yet tell whether she was flying—or falling.
‘Shall we go?’ Alessandro murmured, and she knew what he was asking. They’d been on a dance floor before, in thrall to their shared desire, and he’d asked her the same question. And once again, she could agree, she could let herself be caught up in what was spinning out between them, let it sweep her along so she didn’t have to think or wonder—or fear.
‘Yes, let’s,’ she whispered, and Alessandro laced his fingers through hers once more as he led her through the crowd, the faceless blur barely registering as they left the ballroom and, just as they had once before, stepped out into the warm spring night.
They were both quiet during the limo ride to the private airport where they took a helicopter back to the villa. Mia’s heart thudded in her chest as she thought about what was ahead of them, what she’d agreed to.
No regrets…
The short helicopter ride seemed over in a moment, and then they were walking up towards the darkened villa, Mia achingly aware of Alessandro’s powerful body next to hers. With murmured thanks, he dismissed Alyssa, who assured Mia that Ella had gone to sleep with no problems, and was still sleeping soundly.
At the bottom of the sweeping staircase, Mia paused as Alessandro stood there, his eyes blazing silver as he looked at her, the villa dark and silent all around them.
What was he waiting for?
Why wasn’t he taking her in his arms, kissing away the last of her fears and objections? She was ready to be swept up in something bigger than herself, ready to let herself go. At least she hoped she was.
‘What now?’ she finally asked, when she could bear the silence no longer.
Alessandro met her gaze directly, his hands spread wide. ‘You tell me.’
She eyed him uncertainly. ‘What do you mean?’
‘This moment is yours, Mia. You choose it. You decide what you want now, how far you want this to go.’ He drew a shuddering breath. ‘Do you want me?’ Although his voice was assured, the question held a stark note of painful vulnerability that touched Mia deeply.
For the first time Alessandro was surrendering his control…and in this, the most important and elemental aspect of their relationship.
She’d been fully anticipating him to sweep her into a masterminded and smoothly thought out seduction, and she’d been willing to go along with it, to be caught up in it and, in a way, relieved of any real and active choice…even though that was what she’d been fighting for all along.
But Alessandro wasn’t giving her that option. He was making her choose now, making her fully own the decision she thought she’d already made, back in the ballroom. This could be no silent surrender, defeat by acquiescence, overwhelmed by his sheer force of personality and innate authority that she tried to resent and yet somehow craved. Alessandro wouldn’t let it be that. He was making this moment hers, making her choose it to be theirs.
He
