He looked away. ‘I don’t know.’
Yes, he did. She waited.
‘You’ve done a lot for the fund,’ he muttered. ‘I thought it was a way of saying thanks.’
And that was all it was? She didn’t think so. She walked right into his personal space, her heart hurtling inside but trying to keep her efficient cool look on the outside.
He stiffened but didn’t move away.
‘Did you want to do something nice for me, Lorenzo?’
He looked to the side but still didn’t step back.
She smiled and took another pace closer. And closer still.
His hands were suddenly on her arms. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I thought I’d say thank you,’ she breathed oh-so-innocently.
His gaze dropped to her lips. His fingers tightened that extra notch but the rest of him stayed rigid.
Bingo.
The guy still wanted.
Well, the guy would get.
But not yet.
She reached up on tiptoe, brushed her lips ever so gently against his jaw—that inch too close to his lips to be purely platonic as he had once done to her. She stayed there a second longer, whispered in a way she’d only ever fantasised about, ‘Thank you, Lorenzo.’
She tried to move back but his hands were keeping her there now. ‘Sophy.’
Part warning, part what? Sophy couldn’t decide. But the whisper seemed to have gone down quite well.
He sighed—part groan—and his fingers softened, smoothing over her skin. ‘You smell good.’
‘Do I?’
He nodded. ‘I smell you everywhere.’
‘Cheap shampoo. Everyone uses it.’
‘No,’ he half laughed. ‘It’s you. Only you. And you don’t use cheap shampoo.’
Oh, that was nice. She let her weight rest against him a little more.
‘If we do this again, and I mean if, then no one knows,’ he said firmly.
‘What, it’s our “little secret”?’ She pulled back to look at him. She wouldn’t have thought he’d be one to care.
‘I’m not having gossip on site. No one is to know.’
‘So we remain professional through the day and meet up for rabid sex at night? Is that it?’
His whole body tensed.
She stepped closer, her confidence blossoming despite his obviously conflicted feelings. At least it meant he had feelings. ‘Let’s get one other thing straight, Lorenzo. If we do this again, and I mean if, then it’s for more than one night.’
He swallowed.
‘We’re not done until it’s finished,’ she told him quietly. She was not having another couple of days like this. She’d work him right out of her system. She’d had a taste of danger and she wanted to take it all until there was no danger left.
‘But it will finish.’
‘Sure.’ She nodded. It was serious physical chemistry, that was all. She’d get her stuff done for the exhibition and be able to walk away. A week or so would be enough to neutralise it. ‘Deal?’
He nodded. ‘Come upstairs with me now.’ His hands were seeking already, sliding beneath the hem of her clothing, hunting for bare skin.
‘I thought you didn’t want to have sex here?’ What about gossip onsite? Hell if any of them came looking for either of them now they’d be in trouble.
‘I’ve changed my mind.’
As his hot gaze drank her in she could read his thoughts and she struggled to stay calm.
She put her palm on his flushed cheek. ‘What about Kat? And Jemma and the others?’
He closed his eyes. ‘Sophy.’ He sounded so tormented.
She reached up. ‘I want you.’ She kissed him. His arms tightened and he didn’t let her free of the kiss. But his tension eased, his hands stroking with care now. So that had been what he needed. How surprising—so the neediness wasn’t all her? She could feel his heart pounding against her. Maybe they could go upstairs—sneak up there now just quickly.
Her phone rang. And rang and rang.
Sophy broke the kiss. ‘I have to get that,’ she muttered.
He looked at her, bitterness flashing on his face. ‘Of course you do.’
She scrabbled in her bag to find the phone at the bottom, smoothed her hair behind her ears, quickly inhaled to cover her breathlessness and put a smile on her face so her greeting would sound friendly. ‘Sophy speaking.’
He watched her, his face as readable as a stone. She flashed a wider smile at him.
‘Hi, Ted, what’s up?’ She swung away as she listened. ‘And you need me to pick it up? Sure. No problem. Give me the address.’ She dug back into the bag for a pen—no point asking her brother to text the details; he would say he didn’t have the time. Sophy repeated the address back to him, glanced up in time to see Lorenzo walking out of the room. Two minutes later the call was dealt with. Sophy stared at the door, wondering why he’d gone.
She went back into her office—found Kat had left Jemma figuring out stuff on her own.
‘It’s great you’re here.’ Sophy smiled, meaning it this time.
But Jemma’s attention wasn’t on her. She was looking out of the window.
Thud, thud, thud.
Sophy didn’t need to look to know what it was but she did anyway. He was back out there already bouncing his damn ball. Well, she wasn’t going to go running after him, not this time. She looked across and frowned at the fence. It was covered in even more graffiti now.
She didn’t see him the rest of the day, didn’t expect to see him until the next. But when her doorbell rang she wasn’t surprised.
‘Have you eaten?’ she asked as she opened it to let him in.
He was leaning against the door jamb. Dressed entirely in dark clothes—black trousers, a charcoal V-neck tee. ‘That’s not why I’m here.’
She deliberately leaned against the opposite side of the door frame. ‘No? Then why are you here?’
‘Don’t play games.’ His glare blistered. So he was still brooding.
‘You’d better come in.’
He crossed the threshold into the hall, stopped as he saw the black-clad sylph standing at the other end of the hall.
‘Lorenzo, you met Rosanna the other night. Rosanna, this is Lorenzo, my boss.’
His frown super-sized up.
Rosanna moved swiftly down the hall, her case rolling behind her. ‘I’m off, darling. Back in a few days. Be good.’ She grinned wickedly.
‘You too,’ Sophy tried to coo, but it was a squeak.
She heard Rosanna’s chuckle.
Lorenzo was still frowning long after the door had closed behind Rosanna.
‘She’s very discreet,’ Sophy said to reassure him. ‘She won’t say anything.’
He jerked his head to the side. ‘I’m not your boss.’
Oh, was that the problem? She smiled. ‘Yes you