jungle. And this time the stakes were so much higher.
At that moment the little hairs all over her body stood up a nano-second before she heard a noise behind her. She had no time to keep obsessing over whether or not she’d picked out the right dress. Squaring her shoulders, and drawing on the kind of reserves that she hadn’t had to call on in years, Serena turned around.
For a second she could only blink to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Her ability to breathe was severely compromised. Memories of Luca seven years ago slammed into her like a punch to the gut. Except this Luca was infinitely harder, more gorgeous.
‘You’ve shaved...’ Serena commented faintly. But those words couldn’t do justice to the man in front of her, dressed in a classic tuxedo, his hard jaw revealed in all its obduracy, the sensual lines of his mouth even more defined.
His thick dark hair was shorter too, and Serena felt an irrational spurt of jealousy for whoever had had his or her hands on his head.
She was too enflamed and stunned by this vision of Luca to notice that his gaze had narrowed on her and a flush had made his cheeks darken.
‘You look...incredible.’
Luca’s eyes felt seared, right through to the back. She was a sleek, beautiful goddess. All he could see at first was bare skin, arms and shoulders. And acres of red silk and gold, sparkling with inlaid jewels. A deep V drew his eye effortlessly to luscious curves. There was some embellishment on the shoulders and then the dress fell in a swathe of silk and lace from her waist to the floor. He could see the hint of one pale thigh peeping out from the luxurious folds and had to grit his jaw to stop his body from exploding.
She’d pinned her hair back into a low bun at the base of her neck. It should have made the outfit look more demure than if her hair had been around her shoulders in a silken white-golden tumble, but it didn’t. It seemed to heighten the provocation of the dress.
Luca registered then that she looked uncomfortable. Shifting minutely, those long fingers were fluttering near the V of the dress, as if to try and cover it up. The woman Luca had seen in Florence had been wearing a fraction of this much material and revelling in it.
She was avoiding his eye, and that made Luca move closer. She looked up and his pulse fired. He came close enough to smell her clean, fresh scent. Suddenly it felt as if he hadn’t seen her in a month, when it had been just a day. A day in which he’d had to restrain himself from going down to the charity offices.
Danger.
He ignored it.
He might have expected her scent to be overpowering, overtly sensual, but it was infinitely more subtle.
Familiar irritation that she was proving to be more difficult to grasp than quicksilver made him say brusquely, ‘What’s wrong? The dress? You don’t like it?’
She looked up at him and need gripped Luca so fiercely that his whole body tensed. But something very cynical followed. He’d had an entire wardrobe of clothes delivered to the apartment—and she wasn’t happy?
Her eyes flashed. ‘No, it’s not the dress.’ Her voice turned husky. ‘The dress is beautiful. But what were you thinking, sending all those clothes? I’m not your mistress, and I don’t want to be treated like one.’
Surprise lanced him, but he recovered quickly. ‘I thought you’d appreciate being prepared for a public event.’
Serena looked down and muttered, ‘You mean public humiliation.’
Something shifted in Luca’s chest. He tipped up her chin, more concerned than he liked to admit by her uneasiness. Colour stained her pale cheeks and Luca almost gave in to the beast inside him. Almost. With a supreme effort he willed it down. ‘What I said before...about exposing you to public scrutiny...that won’t happen, Serena. I won’t let it.’
Her eyes were wide. Wounded? Her mouth thinned. ‘Isn’t that part of the plan, though? A little revenge?’
Luca winced inwardly. What did this woman do to him? She called to his most base instincts and he could be as cruel as his father ever had been. Shame washed through him.
He shook his head, something fierce erupting inside him. ‘I’m taking you out because I want to be seen with you, Serena.’
As he said it he realised it was true. He genuinely wanted this. To have her on his arm. And it had very little to do with wanting to punish her. At the thought of adverse public reaction a protective instinct nearly bowled him over with its force.
Before he could lose his footing completely, he took her by the hand and said gruffly, ‘We should leave or we’ll be late.’
In the lift something caught his eye, and he looked down to see Serena’s other hand clutching a small bag which matched her dress. Her knuckles were white, and when his gaze travelled up he could see the tension in her body and jaw.
The lift jerked softly to a halt and almost against his will Luca found his hand going to the small of Serena’s back to touch her. The minute his hand came into contact with the bare, warm, silky skin left exposed by the backless design she tensed more.
He frowned as something had dawned on him. ‘Are you...nervous?’
Serena’s eyes flashed with some indefinable emotion and she quickly stepped out of the open doors of the elevator, away from his touch, avoiding his narrowed gaze.
‘Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just been a while since I’ve gone to anything like this, that’s all.’
Luca sensed that there was a lot more to it than that, but he gestured for her to precede him out of the building, realising too late what awaited them outside when a veritable explosion of light seemed to go off in their faces. Without even realising what he was doing he put his arm around Serena and curved her into his body, one hand up to cover her face, as they walked quickly to his car, where a security guard held the passenger door open.
In the car, Serena’s heart was pumping so hard she felt light-headed. The shock of that wall of paparazzi when she hadn’t seen it in so long was overwhelming. And she couldn’t help the fierce pain of betrayal. Everything Luca had just said was lies...and she hated that she wouldn’t have expected it of him.
She was a sap. Of course he was intent on—
Her hand was taken in a firm grip. She clenched her jaw and looked at Luca in the driver’s seat. His face was dark...with anger?
‘Serena, I had nothing to do with that. They must have been tipped off.’
He looked so grim and affronted that Serena felt something melt inside her. Felt a wish to believe him.
‘It won’t happen again.’
She took her hand from Luca’s and forced a smile. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
The imprint of Luca’s body where he’d held her so close was still making her treacherous skin tingle all over. The way he’d drawn her into him so protectively had unsettled her. She’d felt unprotected for so long that it was an alien sensation. Maybe he hadn’t planned it. She recalled him biting off a curse now, as if he’d been as surprised as her...
Once
