Molly was aware of being warm and sticky as he moved over her. Of her hair all mussed and her teeth unbrushed—but somehow none of that seemed to matter because Salvio was touching her as if she were some kind of goddess. His fingers were sure and seeking and goosebumps rippled over her skin in response as he smoothed his hand over her belly. She felt as if she were soaring as she wrapped her thighs around his hips and gave herself up to the exquisite sensation of that first sweet thrust and then the deepening movements which followed.
She loved the way they moved in time. The way she felt as if she were on a fast shuttle to paradise when another orgasm took her over the top. And she loved his almost helpless expression as his face darkened and he pumped his seed inside her. The way his tousled head collapsed onto her shoulder afterwards as he uttered something intently in what she presumed was more Neapolitan dialect. His breathing was warm and even against her neck and, terrified he would fall asleep and delay his departure, she shook him. ‘Salvio,’ she whispered. ‘Don’t go to sleep. You’d better go. Before anyone wakes up.’
‘Then you’d better get out of here, too,’ he instructed, pushing aside the rumpled duvet. ‘Right now. Before anyone sees you.’
For some reason his remark dispirited her and brought her crashing back to earth, allowing reality to puncture her little bubble of happiness. But despite the insecurities which were bubbling up inside her, Molly managed to retain her cheery smile, enjoying the sight of Salvio pulling on his jeans and sweater and quietly opening the door as he headed for the bathroom.
Once he’d gone she got out of bed and pulled on her discarded underclothes—pulling a face as she smoothed her crumpled work dress over her hips and rolled her black tights into a little ball, which she gripped in her hand. She’d be able to do something with her appearance once Salvio had left, she reasoned—glancing up as the door opened as he came back into the bedroom, his dark hair glittering with tiny drops of water from the shower.
In silence he dressed before snapping his overnight case closed, his expression very serious as he walked towards her. For a moment he just stood in front of her, his gaze sweeping over her like a dark spotlight, as if he were seeing her for the first time.
‘So why?’ he questioned simply. ‘Why me?
Molly expelled a shuddered breath, because in a way she’d been waiting for this question. He hadn’t asked her last night and she’d been glad, because she hadn’t wanted the mundane to spoil what had been the most fantastic night of her life. In a way, she would have preferred it if he hadn’t brought it up now—but he had, and she needed to answer in a way designed to keep it light. Because she didn’t want a single thing to tarnish the memory of how glorious it had been. She shrugged. She even managed a smile. ‘I don’t meet many men in this line of work,’ she said. ‘And certainly none like you. And you’re...you’re a very attractive man, Salvio—as I expect you’ve been told on many occasions.’
He frowned, as if her honesty troubled him. ‘I want you to know that I didn’t invite you in here in order to seduce you,’ he said slowly. ‘I’m not saying the thought hadn’t crossed my mind earlier, but that wasn’t my intention.’
She nodded. ‘I know it wasn’t. You were being kind, that’s all. Maybe that’s why I agreed to have a drink with you.’
He gave an odd kind of laugh. ‘You had a very profound effect on me, Molly.’
There was an expression in his dark eyes which Molly couldn’t work out but maybe it was best that way. She didn’t want him telling her it had been an inexplicable thing he’d done. She wanted to hang onto what had happened between them—to treat it as you would one of those precious baubles you hung on the tree at Christmas. She didn’t want to let the memory slip from her fingers and see it shatter into a million pieces.
‘I’m glad,’ she said, holding onto her composure only by a thread, her heart pounding frantically beneath her breast. ‘But time’s getting on. You’d better go.’
He nodded, as if being encouraged to leave a bedroom was a novel experience for him, but suddenly he turned and walked towards the bedroom door without another word, and Molly’s heart twisted painfully as he closed it quietly behind him. She stood there framed in the window, watching as he emerged from the house, his dark figure silhouetted against the crashing ocean, and for a second he looked up, his black gaze capturing hers. She waited for him to smile, or wave, or something—and she told herself it was best he didn’t, for who knew who else might be watching?
Throwing his bag inside, he slipped into the driver’s seat, the closing door blotting out her last sight of him. His powerful car started up in a small cloud of gravel before sweeping down towards the coastal road and she watched until it was just a faint black dot in the distance. As sunrise touched the dark clouds with the first hint of red, Molly wondered if Salvio’s life was a series of exits, with women gazing longingly out of windows as they watched him go.
Her cheeks were hot as she whipped the bottom sheet from the bed and removed the duvet cover. She would come back later to collect the linen and clean the room from top to bottom. But first she needed a hot shower. The Averys had plenty of events coming up and Molly had a long list of things to do today. Perhaps it was good that the weeks ahead were busy during the run-up to Christmas. It would certainly stop her from dwelling on the fact she would never see Salvio again. Never feel his lips on hers or his powerful arms holding her tight. Because this was what happened in the grown-up world, she told herself fiercely. People had fun with each other. Fun without expectations, or commitment. They had sex and then they just walked away.
Quietly, she closed the guest-room door behind her and was creeping along the corridor with the exaggerated care of a cartoon thief, when she became aware of someone watching her. Her heart lurched with fear. A shadowed figure was standing perfectly still at the far end of the guest corridor.
Not just anyone.
Lady Avery.
Molly’s footsteps slowed, her heart crashing frantically against her ribcage as she met the accusing look in her boss’s pale eyes.
‘So, Molly,’ Lady Avery said, in a voice she’d never heard her use before. ‘Did you sleep well?’
There was a terrible pause and Molly’s throat constricted, because what could she say? It would be adding insult to injury if she made some lame excuse about why she was creeping out of Salvio’s room at this time in the morning, carrying a balled-up pair of tights. And now she would be sacked. She’d be jobless and homeless at the worst possible time of year. She swallowed. There was only one thing she could say. ‘I’m sorry, Lady Avery.’
Her aristocratic employer shook her head in disbelief. ‘I can’t believe it!’ she said. ‘Why someone like him could have been interested in someone like you, when he could have had...’
Her words trailed away and Molly didn’t dare fill the awkward silence which followed. Because how could Lady Avery possibly finish her own sentence without losing face or dignity? How could she possibly admit that she had been hoping to end up in Salvio’s bed, when she was a married woman and her husband was in the house?
Molly’s cheeks grew hot as she acknowledged the shameful progression of her thoughts. Behaving as if the Neapolitan tycoon were some kind of prize they’d both been competing over! Had the loneliness of her job made her completely indiscriminate, so that she had been prepared to leap into bed with the first man who had ever shown her any real affection? ‘I can only apologise,’ she repeated woodenly.
Once again, Lady Avery shook her head. ‘Just get back to work, will you?’ she ordered sharply.
‘Work?’ echoed Molly cautiously.
‘Well, what else did you think you’d be doing? We have ten people coming for dinner tonight, in case you’d forgotten. And since this time I’m assuming you won’t be obsessing about one of the guests, at least the meat won’t arrive at the table cremated.’ She