The Italians: Luca, Marco and Alessandro. Natalie Anderson

      He didn’t answer directly. She felt his head resting on her shoulder, but he held the rest of him away from her. ‘I want you like I have never wanted before.’

      There it was again—want. And there was an unmistakable note of agony in there as well. She closed her eyes. He didn’t want to want her like this.

      ‘I’d better get back to the others.’ He pulled away.

      ‘I need a minute.’

      ‘Of course.’ He took another couple of deep breaths and left.

      She made it to the bathroom but there was no way she could disguise the colour in her cheeks or the redness of her mouth. It had only been minutes—maybe three? But everything had changed.