to Kasumi. ‘Isha o yonde kudasai.’
‘You can tell her yourself when you see her,’ Emma responded coolly.
‘I’ve dropped my wallet!’ Luca laughed. ‘Can someone please call a doctor? I was practising new phrases!’
He made her laugh, but her little flare of jealousy was acknowledged and out there now—and she didn’t know how to handle him, or this energy that swirled between them. His dangerous offer still dangled in the air and right there at that moment she wanted to reach out and grab it. Maybe she could fake it, Emma thought wildly, maybe she could pretend that she wasn’t a virgin. Maybe her body would just know what to do. Evelyn buzzed and he picked up his briefcase. ‘Don’t bother going back to the office,’ he said, nodding to a PC. ‘Do it from here and then finish up for the day…’ He frowned at her pale face. ‘Actually, have tomorrow off.’
‘I’ve got a full schedule tomorrow.’
‘Cancel it—my orders.’ Luca shrugged. ‘Have a day off and sort out whatever “nothing” is, or, failing that, catch up on some sleep. I’ll see you on Monday.’
And as always, he left home as easily as he left a hotel room—just turned and walked out of the door without a second thought.
As he handed his driver his bag, her voice reached him. ‘Have a safe trip.’
He looked back over his shoulder, a throw-away comment, a rushed farewell on the tip of his tongue, and in that moment he glimpsed it.
Leaving.
How it could feel to leave home.
‘See you Monday.’ His voice was gruff and Emma stood there as he closed the door behind him.
Now that he was gone, she breathed.
She wanted to tell him.
For the first time ever, she actually wanted to confide in someone—to tell him what ‘nothing’meant. To share, to reveal, not that he might fix it, because she knew no one could do that, not so he might wave a magic wand and make her father suddenly better, or the nursing-home fees smaller, or the anger at her father’s past treatment of her disappear. It was none of that. No, standing in that bedroom, seeing him lying on the bed, those dark blue eyes concerned, all she had wanted was to do exactly what Luca had said.
Fare force.
To escape for a little while, to lie down beside him in a dark room and let the world carry right on without her for a little while.
As the door flung open again she stood to attention almost, snapped the smile back on her face as Luca hurried in and strode across the lounge towards her. He must have forgotten his passport or phone or…
And then it happened.
What she had been secretly thinking about from the very first time she had seen him.
What she had desperately been trying to avoid and ignore.
That bubbling, simmering tension between them finally acknowledged.
His arms pulling her in and his mouth pressing on hers.
Wrapping her in his embrace and crushing her with his mouth.
And it should have been unexpected, should have caused shock, anger, except it was just pure relief.
Sheer, sheer relief to be kissed and to kiss back.
His tongue was cool and he tasted of mint and man and coffee and escape—and Emma didn’t at that point question it. All she did was feel it. The bliss of firm lips and the scent that had always made itself known captivated her as it intensified in their close proximity.
His body to touch was everything her eyes had promised—lean and powerful beneath her hands and against her own body.
His eyes were closed, she had to look, had to see him, and it made her want this moment more because he was as lost in it as she. He moved from her mouth, his moist lips lingering on her cheeks, his hands on the small of her back pushing her hips into his, and then it was her ear he was kissing. Instead of moving her head away, with his kiss, she leaned towards him, curved into his touch, weaker in her body as Luca’s mouth met her throat and thoroughly kissed it too—her neck was arching and his hands had moved, both now on the peach of her buttocks and pressing her heat into him. Then his mouth found hers again and she tasted his ragged breaths—and it was just like the first time she’d ever seen him, because the world was black again, everything diminished and nothing else mattered, just his kiss and his body. And who cared where it might lead or the damage it might do, because for the first time ever she wasn’t thinking or fixing or solving or surviving—she was living, just alive and alert, but only for this, for him, for them.
And then the intercom buzzed—Evelyn warning him they would be late.
‘That,’ Emma said in a shaky voice as he pulled back from her, ‘didn’t just happen.’ She put her fingers up to her lips, could feel them swollen and tasting of him, and what had been simple and natural a moment ago was suddenly very confusing.
And then he kissed her again.
‘Or that,’ Luca said, and he stared into her lovely clear eyes and saw the whir of confusion. She was wholly adorable and for a second he felt regret.
Real, wretched regret, because soon he’d have to get used to missing her.
But it was too late for regret, because he’d pulled the pin now and the countdown to the inevitable end had started.
As Evelyn’s voice on the intercom filled the room, warning she was on her way up, he gave Emma a quick frantic look that made her giggle. ‘Don’t tell her!’
‘God, no…’ Emma swallowed. ‘Just go…’ She was more than confused now, trying to assert herself, wishing she could turn back the clock, only Luca was upping the ante now.
‘Think about Italy.’ He was still holding her, his kiss this steam that wouldn’t evaporate. She felt as if she’d been running, could feel her hammering heartbeat and the dampness between her legs. His knowing eyes were on hers, his hands on her hips, and he pulled her a little way in towards him once more, giving her just another small, decadent feel of what was there waiting there for her if only she could reach out and take it.
‘What are you so scared of?’ Luca asked, and after just a moment’s thought she gave him a very honest answer.
‘Losing.’ She stared back at him, and it wasn’t just the job, or the jet-set lifestyle, she was scared of losing, but him. ‘Let’s just forget that it happened.’
Futile words—and they both knew it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘DAD, please don’t cry.’
He always got upset when it was time for her to leave. She hadn’t got to the nursing home till eight p.m., and so couldn’t stay, but Luca left for Sicily tomorrow—he had finally agreed to stay with his family for a few nights so at least for a couple of days she’d be able to see more of her father.
It
