Renzo leaned down and kissed her, and Faith’s body started to melt. It surprised her, how she could respond so instantly after what they’d just done. She should be replete, too satisfied to react.
And yet she wasn’t. It was a shock to realize that if he wanted her again, right now, she’d happily wrap herself around him and go along for the ride.
And it was terrifying, too. If she couldn’t control herself now, what would happen later, when she was so accustomed to his lovemaking that the inevitable breakup would crush her? She’d be one of those pitiful women who kept calling his office—except that she was the gatekeeper.
Faith wanted to whimper and wail—and surrender to his touch.
Renzo was oblivious to the feelings crashing through her as he kissed her, and the covers inched down until she could feel the air sliding over her breasts, her torso.
“Beautiful,” he said, his hot mouth kissing a trail to her breasts. “I think I should keep you naked at all times.”
“It would make getting work done a little difficult,” she said, trying hard to be sophisticated and cool.
He propped himself on an elbow, his gaze smoldering. “Not if you worked in here.”
She reached for the covers again, and this time he did not stop her. “I—I think I should go back to my room now.”
His brows lifted in surprise. And then drew down as his features clouded. “Why would you want to do that?”
She couldn’t look at him. Her heart was pounding, her stomach flipping. What was she doing? “Thank you for showing me what it was like. For being my f-first. But I still work for you, and if I’m going to do my job properly, then I should go back to my own room now.”
His face was a thundercloud. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him so angry. Not even when Niccolo Gavretti had tried to kiss her. He swore in Italian—and then in English, shocking her with the coarseness of his words.
He shot from the bed and stood there in all his naked glory. “Fine. Go then.”
Misery sliced into her. They’d been so close, and now she’d done this. She’d alienated him when all she wanted to do was turn into his arms and sleep the night away. “You need to turn around.”
“No.” His voice was hard, cruel. “We just had sex, Faith. I think I know what you look like. What you feel like. If you want to leave, get out of the bed and get dressed right now. I’m not going anywhere.”
She hesitated a minute before climbing from the bed and dragging the top cover with her. Renzo wrapped his fists in it and stripped it away, forcing her to stand there naked and exposed.
Like he was.
She wrapped her arms around her torso, turning in a circle while she searched for her dress. It was on the other side of the bed. She went to get it but before she could bend down, he was there, jerking her into his arms, pressing the full length of her naked body against his.
“You don’t want to go,” he said harshly. “You’re only doing this because you think you have to. Because you think I won’t want you anymore. But I do, Faith. I do.”
Faith shivered. Her hands were fists against his pectoral muscles, her forearms resting against his chest. And she was softening inside, aching and wanting and needing. When he held her, she wasn’t embarrassed or afraid. She simply wanted him, wanted this man she cared for more than she should.
It was already too late to protect her heart, she realized. She was falling, falling hard, and there was nothing she could do, short of leaving now. Leaving, going to the airport, climbing on a plane, and flying back to New York, where she would get another job and never, ever see Renzo again.
She should run away now, but she didn’t have the strength.
“I don’t understand this,” she said, her voice full of anguish. “Because you shouldn’t, shouldn’t …”
He gripped her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Stop trying to tell me what I should and shouldn’t want.” He took her hand, dragged it down his torso, to the evidence of his desire for her. Already, he was hard again, and she gasped as she wrapped her hand around him.
His breath hitched in, and her bones dissolved. How could she walk away from this?
She couldn’t. It was impossible. And he knew it, too.
He pressed her back on the bed, turning her until she was on her knees. And then he showed her another way to tumble headlong into pleasure, entering her from behind so that she gasped at the erotic fullness of his possession. His fingers skimmed over the sensitive heart of her even as he moved so exquisitely inside her. When she flew apart this time, he gave her no quarter, gripping her hips and thrusting into her until he came with a ragged cry and they collapsed together onto the bed.
Then he pulled her into the curve of his body and anchored her to him with a hand firmly on her hip. Once more she tumbled, only this time it was into the sweet oblivion of sleep.
THERE was a rumbling in Faith’s ear. Someone was mowing grass and the sound of the mower was filtering into her consciousness, waking her slowly. But, no, the sound was warmer than a mower. And then a cold, wet nose tickled her ear and Faith’s eyes snapped open.
Lola lay curled on the pillow next to her, purring happily. Faith turned her head. Renzo was standing near the window, naked except for the towel wrapped around his waist, coffee cup in one hand, other hand propped against the window frame above his head.
He turned when she stirred. And then he moved toward the bed and her heart squeezed so tight she couldn’t get her next breath out. Lola lifted her head and mewed, then bounded toward Renzo as he perched on the side of the bed. He laughed and scooped her up, nuzzling his cheek against her fur before putting her down again.
Faith’s heart thumped hard. The thin ice beneath her cracked just a little more, threatening her with a headlong plunge into emotions she wasn’t prepared to deal with just yet.
Renzo looked up at her, his eyes clouding over. “What is wrong, Faith? Did I hurt you last night?”
Yes. Because it was beautiful and magical—and it wouldn’t last. He wasn’t hers, and she was just another in a long line of women who’d fallen into his bed and under his spell. Even though she’d known better.
“No, of course not,” she said, shifting herself higher in the bed until she was sitting back against the pillows.
He didn’t look convinced. “I’m sorry if I was … rough,” he said. “I should not have taken you like that when this is still so new to you.”
Her ears were hot. She couldn’t meet his gaze. Lola wandered over and stretched her little paws against Faith’s leg. Faith stroked the silky head, her heart so full of feeling for man and beast that she thought she would burst with it.
“There is nothing you did to me that I did not want,” she admitted, her gaze firmly fixed on the gray-striped kitten. She was afraid to look at him, not because she was embarrassed, but because she was afraid he would see what was in her heart.
But he wouldn’t allow her that kind of evasion. He tilted her chin up with a finger, forced her to look at him. Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Her blood rushed through her veins, swirled in her head and heart until she felt dizzy.
“How do you feel this morning?” he asked.
Like I’m in deep, deep trouble. “Fabulous,” she said. “Slightly sore, but not unpleasantly so.”
“Regrets?”
“No.”
His