not?’
‘Because it’s better this way.’
She followed him down a short flight of marble steps.
‘Are you sure you have never been down here before?’ Rico stopped at the bottom and turned to look at her.
‘Never.’
‘Then you’re about to get a very pleasant surprise.’
Zoë watched Rico punch a series of numbers onto a panel on the wall. A door slid behind them. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’ve changed the code so we won’t be disturbed. Zoë?’ Rico touched her face with one fingertip when he saw the expression on her face. ‘The code is twenty-one, twelve—my birthday. Don’t look so worried. You can leave any time you want.’
‘I just thought if there was an emergency—and I needed to get out in a hurry—’
‘An emergency?’ Rico smiled. ‘What? You mean something like this?’
And then somehow she was in his arms again, and he was kissing her so tenderly, so thoroughly, Zoë wondered how she remained standing. Heat flooded through her veins, and when his tongue tangled with her own a soft moan came from somewhere deep in her chest, showing him how much she wanted him to kiss her.
When he pulled back, she reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck to mesh her fingers through his hair and draw him close again. When Rico kissed her she felt no fear. She wanted him to know how she felt, that she was ready for him: moist, swollen, hot. But then she remembered…
‘First ice, and now fire?’ Rico murmured, looking down at her.
He was so tender, so caring—but how could she be sure he wouldn’t be shocked or disappointed when she experienced the painful spasm that had always made fully penetrative sex impossible for her? She had to be sure she wouldn’t stop, Zoë thought as her hand strayed to his belt buckle…
Rico moved her hand away, bringing her fingers to his lips to kiss each tip in turn. Zoë’s eyes filled with hot tears of failure.
‘You need to slow down, Zoë.’
Glancing up uncertainly, she saw his lips were curving in a smile. She started to try and say something, to explain herself, but, putting one firm finger over her lips, Rico stopped her.
‘I’m going to find you something to wear in the hot tub.’ He broke away. ‘And then I’ll order some refreshments for us from the kitchen.’
Something to wear? Food from the kitchen? She was so naïve! She had expected to be naked, feeding on him.
‘And then we’ll sample the hot tub together.’
Better.
She gazed around. The ancient walls had been sandblasted in this part of the castle until they were pale yellow. The floor was a mellow golden marble, and all the tiles and fittings had been selected with a view to nothing startling to the eye or the senses. The temperature was perfect, the silence complete.
Rico reached inside a beautiful old oak chest and brought out some fluffy caramel-coloured towels, then black swimming trunks for himself and a swimming costume the same shade as her eyes.
‘That’s a lucky find.’
‘Or good planning,’ Rico said.
‘You know your way around here pretty well.’
‘I should. The castle belongs to a very good friend of mine. Do you want to go and change now? Music?’ he added, handing her the costume.
‘Why not? Something gentle and soothing would be nice.’
‘I’ll see if I can accommodate you.’ His voice was ironic as he moved to select a CD.
A sinuous melody started weaving its spell around Zoë as Rico took hold of her hand again, and she went with him, deeper into the spa.
The hot tub in the centre of the floor was illuminated by hundreds of flickering candles. Zoë gasped. ‘How—?’
‘You ask too many questions. Just accept you’re going to be pampered for a change.’
There were a million questions she would have liked to ask him, but for once in her life she bit them back.
They changed in beech-lined changing cabins, and she covered her costume with one of the white towelling robes hanging on the back of each door.
‘To think I didn’t even realise this place existed!’
‘The hot tub is kept locked up for most of the time.’
‘Your friend must like you a lot to let you use it.’
Loosening the belt on his robe, Rico let it drop to the floor. Zoë kept her gaze strictly confined to his face, but to her relief saw the black bathing trunks in her peripheral vision.
‘Aren’t you going to take your robe off?’
‘Yes…yes, of course I am.’
Zoë waited until she was up the steps of the hot tub and had one leg in the water before slipping off the robe. Then she was in like a flash, submerged beneath the water before Rico had even climbed in.
There were tiny lights above her head, winking on and off in a deep blue ceiling decorated with puffs of smoky cloud to give it the appearance of a night sky. ‘This is unbelievable.’ Zoë sighed, stretching out her arms along the top of the tub to keep her balance in the swirling water. She leaned her head back, and closed her eyes.
‘I prefer an open-air bathroom.’
She looked up again. Rico had settled himself across from her. ‘You mean the sea?’
A door opened before he could reply to her, and a waiter came in with a tray of refreshments for them.
‘Thank you,’ Rico said, glancing round at the man. ‘You can leave them here.’
Zoë blinked. There was champagne on ice, two tall crystal flutes, a bowl of sweet wild strawberries, some whipped cream and a bowl of chocolate sauce on the tray. ‘Now I have seen everything.’ She shook her head incredulously.
‘You really think so?’
Rico’s voice was challenging, and soft. She didn’t answer.
Wrapped in fluffy towels, and stretched out on a recliner next to Rico’s, Zoë sipped champagne while Rico lay back watching her through half-closed eyes.
‘If this is the Cazulas way of thanking people for giving a party, I may have to stay a lot longer than I planned.’ Putting her glass down, she relaxed back against the soft bank of cushions and stretched out her limbs in languorous appreciation.
Selecting a plump strawberry, Rico dipped it in rich chocolate sauce. ‘Open your mouth.’
He
