his warm eyes on her.
“You like it when people go bananas over your food.”
“Of course.”
But that wasn’t why he was studying her. There was a huge difference between pride in one’s work and curiosity about an attraction and she knew that curiosity when she saw it.
She put down her fork, caught in his gaze, the moment. “What are we really doing here, Rafe?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“You aren’t staring at me like someone who wants to make sure I like his food.”
“You are beautiful.”
Her heart shivered. Her eyes clung to his. She wanted him to have said that because he liked her, because he was ready to do something about it. But a romance between them would be a disaster. She’d be hurt. She’d have to leave Monte Calanetti. She could not take anything he said romantically.
Forking another bite of food, she casually said, “Beauty doesn’t pay the rent.”
His voice a mere whisper, he said, “Why do you tease me?”
Her face fell. “I don’t tease you!”
“Of course, you do. Every day you dress more beautifully, but you don’t talk to me.”
“I’m smart enough to stay away when a guy warns me off.”
“Yet you tell me I must be prepared for you to stay.”
“Because you...” Like me. She almost said it. But his admitting he liked her would be nothing but trouble. He might like her in the moment, but he wouldn’t like her forever. It was stupid to even have that discussion.
She steered them away from it. “Because if I stay, no more firing me. You’re getting me permanently.”
“You keep saying that as if I should be afraid.” He slid his arm to the back of her chair. His fingers rose to toy with the blunt line of her chin-length hair. “But your staying is not a bad thing.”
The wash of awareness roaring through her disagreed. If she fell in love with him, her staying would be a very bad thing. His touching her did not help matters. With his fingers brushing her hair, tickling her nape, she couldn’t move...could barely breathe.
His hand shifted from her hairline and wrapped around the back of her neck so he could pull her closer. She told herself to resist. To be smart. But something in his eyes wouldn’t let her. As she drew nearer, he leaned in. Their gazes held until his lips met hers, then her eyelids dropped. Her breathing stopped.
Warm and sweet, his lips brushed her, and she knew why she hadn’t resisted. She so rarely got what she wanted in life that when tempted she couldn’t say no. It might be wrong to want him, but she did.
His hand slid from her neck to her back, twisting her to sit sideways on her chair. Her arms lifted slowly, her hands hesitantly went to his shoulders. Then he deepened the kiss and her mind went blank.
It wasn’t so much the physical sensations that robbed her of thought but the fact that he kissed her. He finally, finally kissed her the way he had the night he’d walked her to her car.
When he thought she was free.
When he wanted there to be something between them.
The kiss went on and on. Her senses combined to create a flood of need so strong that something unexpected suddenly became clear. She was already in love with Rafe. She didn’t have to worry that someday she might fall in love. Innocent and needy as she was, she had genuinely fallen in love—
And he was nowhere near in love with her.
He was strong and stubborn, set in his ways. He said he didn’t do relationships. He said he didn’t have time. He’d told her he hurt women. And if he hurt her, she’d never be able to work for him.
Did she want to risk this job for a fling?
To risk her new friends?
Did she want to be hurt?
Hadn’t she been hurt, rejected enough in her life already?
She jerked away from him.
He pulled away slowly and ran his hand across his forehead. “Oh, my God. I am so sorry.”
“Sorry?” She was steeped in desire sprinkled with a healthy dose of fear, so his apology didn’t quite penetrate.
“I told you before. I do not steal other men’s women.”
“Oh.” She squeezed her eyes shut. Paul was such a done deal for her that she’d taken him out of the equation. But Rafe didn’t know that. For a second she debated keeping up the charade, if only to protect herself. But they had hit the point where that wasn’t fair. She couldn’t let Rafe go on thinking he was romancing another man’s woman. Especially not when she had been such a willing participant.
She sucked in a breath, caught his gaze and quietly said, “I’m not engaged.”
Rafe sat up in his chair. “What?”
She felt her cheeks redden. “I’m not engaged.”
His face twisted with incredulity. “You lied?”
“No.” She bounced from her seat and paced away. “Not really. My boyfriend had asked me to marry him. I told him I needed time to think about it. I was leaving for Italy anyway—”
He interrupted her as if confused. “So your boyfriend asked you to marry him and you ran away?”
She swallowed. “No. I inherited the money for a plane ticket to come here to find Rosa’s relatives and I immediately tacked extra time onto my teaching tour. All that had been done before Paul proposed.”
“So his proposal was a stopgap measure.”
She frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Not able to keep you from going to Italy, he tied you to himself enough that you would feel guilty if you got involved with another man while you were away.” He caught her gaze. “But it didn’t work, did it?”
She closed her eyes. “No.”
“It shouldn’t have worked. It was a ploy. And you shouldn’t feel guilty about anything that happened while you were here since you’re really not engaged.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I called him after we returned from Rome and officially rejected his proposal.”
“You told him no?”
She nodded. “And told him I might be staying in Italy.” She sucked in a breath. “He wished me luck.”
Rafe sat back in his chair. “And so you are free.” He combed his fingers through his hair. Laughed slightly.
The
