A Moment on the Lips(44)
On the other hand, how could he walk away when she needed him so badly?
Between them, his head and his heart were ripping him apart.
He lay awake for a long time after she’d fallen asleep; the combination of the unfamiliar bed and the unfamiliar warmth against him meant he couldn’t just relax. And it felt as if something were cracking inside him.
Much, much later, she moved against him. Murmured his name in her sleep. Pressed her mouth to his skin. And he was lost. When he responded, kissing her back, it wasn’t the usual heat between them; this was something different. Something softer, gentler, sweeter. Something that he knew had the power to destroy him.
And, God help him, he found himself welcoming it with open arms.
Carenza had recovered her bounce by their Saturday morning session. She was still wrestling with figures that weren’t working out, but she was back to her happy-go-lucky self, teasing him and tempting him. And Dante was shocked to find himself suggesting that they repeat the previous Sunday.
‘Challenging me to roller skating?’ she teased.
‘Or we could go up to Vesuvius, if you want to play with fire,’ he teased back.
The look on her face was all the reward he needed. Maybe, just maybe, this was going to work out.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ON TUESDAY morning, Dante looked up when he heard the rap on the door at half-past seven, and frowned when he saw Carenza in the doorway. He couldn’t remember making an arrangement to meet her today. Particularly at this time of the morning. He was about to ask her what she was doing here, when he realised how rude that sounded, and changed it to, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning.’
‘I’m your eight o’clock appointment,’ she said, surprising him.
Since when? It was the first he’d heard of it.
‘And I know it’s not eight o’clock yet, but we need to go now,’ she added, before he could ask.
He looked at her, bemused. ‘Go where?’
‘You’ll see when you get there. Come on, the taxi’s waiting.’
‘Taxi?’ What was she on about? He blew out a breath. ‘Princess, I hate to break this to you, but I have a pile of meetings this morning.’
‘I know. They’re with me. I’m also your nine o’clock appointment. And—’ she said with a smile ‘—just so you know, I’m your appointment for every single slot for the next two days.’
‘What?’ He wasn’t quite following this. Was he having some sort of weird, über-realistic dream? ‘How?’
‘Mariella moved all your meetings,’ she explained.
He felt his eyes widening. ‘She did what?’
‘Don’t worry,’ she said softly as she rummaged under Mariella’s desk and retrieved a small suitcase. ‘You’re not going to be the hot topic on the staff grapevine or anything. I happen to know what today is, and this is my way of saying thank you for helping me with all the mentoring stuff. Mariella approves. She says you work too hard.’
He blew out a breath. ‘If you know what today is, then you also know that I have plans for tonight.’
‘Ah. They’ve also moved by two days. Your mum says you work too hard, too.’
He stared at her. ‘You spoke to my mother?’
‘We had coffee. And pastries. Um, and we had lunch, the other day.’ She retrieved an envelope from the top drawer of Mariella’s desk and checked inside. ‘Good: your passport. I like your mum, by the way.’
And he’d just bet that his mother liked her, too.
Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. It felt as if someone had just dropped him into the gladiator’s den at the amphitheatre in Pompeii and told him he was going to fight a whole pack of lions, single-handed and with no kind of armour whatsoever.
Female lions. Scary ones. His mother, his secretary, and … Carenza. He’d had no idea that they’d been plotting together.
‘Relax. You’re going to enjoy this. Trust me.’ She stroked his face. ‘Don’t go all closed on me and shut me out, Dante. I want to spoil you a bit. What’s so wrong about wanting to make a fuss of someone on their birthday?’
He couldn’t even begin to tell her that.
‘And you’re so difficult to buy for. That’s why I wanted to give you—well, you’ll see.’
‘So where are we going?’