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She tore at his shirt, studs popping, desperate to feel his bare, glorious skin. She let out a gasp of pleasure and satisfaction when she finally parted the shirt and ran her palms along his hair-roughened chest, revelling in the feel of sculpted muscle and hot skin.
Luca’s breath came out in a hiss and then he was pulling at her dress, the gauzy folds tearing under his urgent touch, and Hannah didn’t even care.
‘Luca,’ she gasped, and it was both a demand and a plea. She needed to feel his hands on her body. She felt as if she’d explode if she didn’t. He pulled the tattered dress down to her waist, leaving her completely bare on top as she hadn’t worn a bra with the halter-style dress.
Then he bent his head to her breasts, his tongue now touching where his hands had been, and Hannah clutched his head to her, nearly sobbing in pleasure at the feel of him tasting her.
But even that wasn’t enough. She needed more from him, of him, and when his hand slipped under her bunched dress, his fingers deftly finding and stroking her centre, she thought she almost had it. The pleasure was so acute it was akin to pain, a sharp ache that left her gasping. She skimmed the length of his erection, sucking her breath in at the way his body throbbed in insistent response to her touch. She pulled at his trousers, fumbling with the ties of his cummerbund, and with a muttered oath Luca ripped it away from him and tossed it on the sand. Hannah let out a gurgle of laughter that he swallowed with his mouth as he kissed her again and she gave herself to him, offering everything as her hands clutched at his shoulders and her hips rocked against his.
‘Hannah,’ Luca muttered against her mouth. ‘Hannah, I need...’
‘Yes,’ she answered almost frantically. ‘Yes, please, Luca, now.’
She parted her legs as he fumbled with the zip on his trousers. She didn’t have a second to consider if this was a good idea, if she’d regret this afterwards. She couldn’t think past the haze of overwhelming need that consumed her.
Then Luca was inside her, an invasion so sudden, so sweet, so much, that Hannah felt tears sting her eyes. It had been so long since she’d given her body to a man. So long since she’d felt completed, conquered. She wrapped her legs around him, enfolding herself around him as she accepted him into her body.
He stilled inside her as they both adjusted to the intense sensation. Luca’s eyes were closed, his arms braced by her shoulders. Then Hannah flexed around him and with a groan of surrender he started to move.
It had been a while, and it took her a few exquisite thrusts before she managed to find the rhythm and match it, and then with each thrust she felt her body respond, opening up like a flower, everything in her spiralling upward, straining towards that glittering summit that was just out of her reach—
Until she found it, her body convulsing around Luca’s as she cried out his name and the climax rushed over them both, their bodies shuddering in tandem, tears slipping down her face as she gave herself to the tidal wave of pleasure.
In the aftermath Hannah lay there, Luca’s body on top of hers, the thud of his heart matching her own. She felt dazed and dizzy and yet utterly sated. She couldn’t regret what had happened, not even for a second.
Then Luca rolled off her with a curse, lying on the sand on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes. Okay, maybe she could.
Hannah felt a whole bunch of things at once: the cold sand underneath her, the stickiness on her thighs, the grit in her hair, the torn dress about her waist. The pleasure that had overwhelmed her only moments before now felt like mere vapour, a ghost of a memory.
She pulled her torn dress down over herself, wincing at the shredded gauze. To think Luca had spent nine thousand pounds on this one gown. Not that she would have had a chance to wear it again, even if it hadn’t been ruined.
Luca lifted his arm from his face and turned his head to rake her with one quick glance. Even in the moonlit darkness Hannah could see how indifferent he looked, and inwardly she quelled.
This had been a mistake. A wonderful, terrible mistake, and one she would most certainly regret no matter the pleasure she’d experienced. How could she work with Luca from now on? What if he fired her? But even worse than the fears for her job was the piercing loneliness of the thought that he might shut her out of his life. He already was, and she’d barely been in it to begin with.
She took a deep, calming breath and told herself not to jump to conclusions.
‘Your dress,’ Luca stated flatly.
Hannah glanced down at it. ‘I’m afraid it’s past repair.’
‘I’m thinking of getting back to the room,’ he clarified impatiently. ‘I don’t care about the dress.’
‘Oh. Okay.’ She bit her lip, trying not to feel hurt. This was a far cry from pillow talk, but then they hadn’t even had a bed. They’d had a few moments of frenzied, mindless passion that Luca undoubtedly regretted, just as she was starting to.
Luca sat up, readjusting his trousers and then searching for the studs on his shirt. He found enough to keep the shirt mostly fastened, and he stuffed his tie and cummerbund in his pocket. Then he shrugged off his tuxedo jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
‘There. You’re mostly decent. Hopefully we can sneak into the room without anyone seeing us.’
‘And if they do?’ Hannah asked, thankful her voice didn’t wobble. ‘Wouldn’t they just think we’d done exactly what they’d expect us to do, and made love under the stars?’
Luca’s mouth compressed and he stood up, brushing the sand from his legs before he reached a hand down to her. She took it only because she knew she’d struggle getting up on her own. She was torn between an irrational anger—how had she expected Luca to act?—and a deep and disturbing hurt. She shouldn’t care this much. She hadn’t had feelings for Luca, not really.
Except somehow, in the last twenty-four hours, she had begun to develop them. She’d seen intriguing glimpses into a man whom she’d already respected and admired—glimpses of strength and emotion. She’d seen him determined and arrogant but also humble, concerned for her even while he was in the throes of his own emotional agony. Luca Moretti had depths she’d discovered this weekend that he hadn’t even hinted at before.
And he was hiding them all from her now. He dropped her hand the moment she was upright and started walking back towards the villa, its lights glimmering in the distance. Hannah followed him, clutching his jacket around her shoulders, wincing at the sand she could feel in her hair and clothes.
They skirted around the terrace that was now empty to the other side of the house, where the bedrooms’ French windows overlooked the beach.
‘You’d better pick the right room,’ Hannah muttered darkly. Hurt and anger were giving way to a weary resignation as she scrambled to think of a way to navigate this awful aftermath.
Luca didn’t even reply, just stalked ahead and then flung open a pair of windows and ushered her into their bedroom. Hannah stepped inside, her glance taking in the turned-down bed, the chocolate hearts on the pillows. Had it been only twenty-four hours ago that she’d been in this same room, this same position, except now everything felt drastically different?
‘Why don’t you get cleaned up?’ Luca said, nodding towards the bathroom without looking at her. ‘And then we’ll talk.’
CHAPTER TEN (#u4f4978b9-1712-5358-b80f-d37e100db43a)
LUCA SHRUGGED OFF his torn shirt as Hannah disappeared into the bathroom. What had he been thinking, slaking his lust with his PA? The trouble was, he hadn’t been thinking. He’d been utterly in the grip of his own awful emotions, and Hannah’s tentative comfort had been the balm he’d so desperately craved. It was only afterwards, after the most sexually and emotionally explosive encounter he’d ever experienced, that the regrets came rushing in. Regret to have slept with his PA at all, and, worse, shame that he’d allowed her to see him in such a vulnerable state. What must Hannah think of him? It had practically been a pity lay.
Except she had been just as gripped by the raw, urgent need that he’d felt consume him. She’d been just as desperate to have him inside her as he’d been to be there.
The knowledge didn’t make him feel any better. The whole thing was an appalling mistake, made about a thousand times worse by the fact that they hadn’t used any protection.
Hannah emerged from the bathroom, dressed in the same awful pyjamas she’d worn last night, but at least tonight Luca was grateful for the way they hid her body. The last thing he needed was to feel tempted again.
She didn’t look at him as she came into the room, going directly to the bed. Her body was stiff with affront and Luca watched in bemused disbelief as she reached for her book by the bedside table and then buried her nose in it.
He took a deep breath. ‘Hannah.’ She didn’t so much as look up from her book. ‘We need to talk.’
‘Oh, now we need to talk?’ Finally she looked up, and Luca saw anger firing her brown eyes, turning them to gold. Her hair was tousled about her shoulders, her face flushed, and, pyjamas aside, she looked utterly lovely.
But he had to stop thinking that way.
‘Yes, now we need to talk.’
‘Not right after?’ Hannah filled in. ‘No, you couldn’t bother to say boo to me then.’
Luca’s insides tightened with both irritation and remorse. He hadn’t treated her very well, back on the beach, but she’d blindsided him, in so many ways. ‘Clearly what happened took us both by surprise.’ She took a deep breath and nodded, her hands folded across her abandoned book. ‘So much so that I didn’t think to use any protection.’
Hannah’s lips parted on a soundless gasp as her eyes widened in shocked realisation. ‘I didn’t even think of that.’ She nibbled her lip. ‘But it’s not... I mean, based on the time of the month, I don’t think it’s risky.’
‘You’d let me know? I mean, if...?’
Her gaze locked with his and her breath came out in a rush. Luca felt the import of the moment, the enormous impact of what they’d shared together. More than he’d ever shared with any other woman, pregnancy or not. ‘Yes, of course,’ she answered. ‘If. But I really don’t think there’s going to be an if. So that’s one less thing to worry about.’ She tried for a smile but it wobbled and slid off her face, and she looked away, blinking rapidly.
‘Hannah...’ He expelled a shaky breath. He was finding this all a lot harder than he would have wished. He didn’t like the realisation that he’d hurt her.
Hannah glanced down at her laced fingers. ‘You don’t need to worry about me, Luca,’ she said quietly. ‘I wasn’t looking for some kind of fairy tale, and I certainly don’t have any expectations because of...well, you know.’
And that proclamation, which should have only brought blessed relief, caused him the most absurd flicker of disappointment. His emotions were clearly all over the place. ‘Good,’ Luca said shortly. ‘Then we can forget this ever happened and move on.’
* * *
With effort Hannah kept her face blank. Forget this ever happened. As if she could ever do that. Those passionate moments with Luca were emblazoned on her brain, his touch branded on her body. She swallowed and nodded.
‘Yes,’ she agreed, because what else could she say? Luca wasn’t looking for a relationship, and neither was she—and certainly not with a man like him. If she ever dared to risk her heart—and her son’s—it would be with someone who valued family, who wanted a child. Her child.
And yet Luca had put so much care into his plans for the family resort, and just a moment ago he’d almost looked disappointed that she was most likely not pregnant.
But she couldn’t go chasing after rainbows where none existed. He’d made his intentions more than clear.
Luca nodded, seemingly satisfied with her agreement. ‘You’ll tell me if the situation changes?’
‘If I’m pregnant?’ she clarified wryly. ‘Yes, Luca, I’ll tell you. It’s not as if it’s something I could hide, working for you.’
‘But you wouldn’t try to hide it?’
‘No, of course not.’ She frowned at him. ‘But let’s cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we?’
A terse nod was all the response she got and he disappeared into the bathroom while she tossed her book on the bedside table, too unsettled to read.
Even though she’d just told Luca they didn’t need to think about how to handle a pregnancy yet, she found herself doing just that—and her scattered thoughts soon morphed into the most absurd fantasy of Luca as a doting dad. This child could have what Jamie had missed out on. She pictured Luca cradling their newborn, his big, strong hands so tender with that tiny scrap of humanity. She thought of all the things that Jamie would experience without a dad—a lost tooth, riding a bike, Christmas and birthdays. This child wouldn’t miss out at all.
Then Luca came out of the bathroom and got into bed, his movements brisk and businesslike, and Hannah forced her wayward thoughts to a screeching halt. What on earth was she thinking, casting Luca Moretti of all people, into the role of a devoted father? He was anything but—not to the imaginary child they most likely hadn’t conceived, and certainly not to her son by another man. If she was pregnant, he’d probably pay her off and remain completely uninvolved. The antithesis of a happily-ever-after.
No, she had to clamp down on that kind of dangerous and foolish thinking right now. Luca wasn’t interested in relationships, and neither was she. As he’d told her, it simply wasn’t worth it.
* * *
The next morning Hannah woke to an empty bed; she’d been so exhausted from everything that had happened, she’d fallen asleep without any restless wondering of what Luca was thinking or feeling next to her.
Now, in the bright light of a Mediterranean morning, the events of last night took on a sordid and reproachable cast. What had seemed irresistible and exciting in the sultry darkness now felt shameful. She was glad Luca wasn’t in the room because she didn’t think she could look him in the eye. Just the memory of how she’d begged him to touch her made Hannah’s face flame.
Half an hour later, after eating breakfast delivered by staff and dressed in another one of her ensembles from Diavola, her hair and make-up done, Hannah felt more in control of the situation, or at least as if a mask of calm respectability had been put in place.
Luca hadn’t returned to the room and so she decided to go in search of him. She saw several suitcases in the foyer and realised Andrew Tyson’s guests were starting to depart. She’d known she and Luca would be leaving some time today, and the thought of returning home to Jamie, to her mother, to normal life, brought a rush of relief. She couldn’t handle any more of her seesawing emotions.
She wandered through a few more rooms before she found some of Tyson’s guests along with his family in a breakfast room, enjoying coffee and pastries. Laura Tyson gave her a friendly smile as she came into the room.
‘You’re Luca Moretti’s fiancée, isn’t that right?’
‘Yes...’
‘I saw the two of you sneak out at the end of the dinner last night,’ Laura said confidentially, her eyes sparkling. ‘I don’t blame you. Luca is certainly a handsome man, and he obviously adores you.’
That sincerely delivered statement nearly made Hannah choke. ‘Thank you,’ she murmured. She couldn’t manage any more. This awful pretence was straining at its seams. Another lie and it would explode. She would.
Laura leaned closer to Hannah and lowered her voice. ‘To tell you the truth, I think my father favours your fiancé to take over the resorts. He mentioned how impressed he was with his plans.’
‘Oh...well, that’s encouraging to hear.’ Hannah smiled, genuinely glad for Luca even amidst the turmoil of all her feelings. Based on the proposal she’d seen, he deserved to win the commission.
‘He’ll make the announcement shortly, I’m sure.’
‘Today...?’
Laura wrinkled her nose. ‘Probably not for a week or two. This is a big decision for him.’ Her smile fell as she admitted, ‘I think he’s still hoping one of us will show an interest, but Stephen and I had different dreams.’
‘He’s a doctor...’
‘And I work in pharmaceutical research. Our little sister died of leukaemia when she was only four years old,’ Laura explained quietly. ‘It had a big impact on all of us...and I think we’ve chosen to honour her memory in different ways.’
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ Hannah said, knowing the words were inadequate yet meaning them utterly. She knew what it was like to lose someone at a young age.
‘I’m glad that someone is interested in taking the resorts on,’ Laura said. ‘I know they’re a bit worn. Dad hasn’t had as much energy as he used to, and he’s never been good at delegating. But I hope with your Luca on board things will change for the better.’
Her Luca. As if. ‘I hope so too,’ Hannah said and Laura gave her one more smile before turning away.
Luca came in the room a short while later, his face and body both tense. Even grim-faced as he was he looked devastatingly attractive in a grey pinstriped suit matched with a crisp white shirt and dark blue tie. The elegantly cut suit showed off his muscular body to perfection, and he strode into the room as if he owned it, his gaze searching out Hannah.
As his deep brown eyes locked with hers Hannah felt a fiery heat start a blaze in her belly, much to her irritation. She’d worked for the man for three years and he’d never caused that reaction in her in all that time. Yet right now she couldn’t deny the magnetic pull of attraction that had her unable to break away from his penetrating stare. She could only pretend it didn’t exist.
‘Hannah.’ He nodded towards the door. ‘Are you ready to leave?’
No lovey-dovey play-acting this morning, she noted. He must have known that he’d sealed the deal.
‘I didn’t realise we were leaving so soon,’ Hannah answered. ‘I’ll pack right away.’
Luca followed her down the hall and into their bedroom. The huge, airy room felt claustrophobic as she got out her suitcase and started neatly folding her clothes into it. Her hands trembled and she hid them in the folds of a dress.
‘I spoke to Laura just now,’ she said, her voice an octave higher than normal. She cleared her throat and tried again. ‘She seems quite sure that you’ve secured the bid.’
‘Tyson is keeping us on leading strings,’ Luca answered. He prowled around the room, his hands shoved into his pockets, every stride predatory and restless.
‘Laura said it was a big decision for him to make.’
‘I think he just likes toying with us,’ Luca answered dismissively. ‘That’s the kind of man he is.’
‘If there really is bad blood between you,’ Hannah said slowly, amazed that she hadn’t thought of this earlier, ‘why would he sell the resorts to you?’
Luca stilled, his back to her as he gazed out at the sparkling sea. ‘Because he doesn’t know it was me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s complicated,’ he answered on a shrug, his voice gruff. ‘Suffice it to say, Tyson doesn’t realise there is any history between us. Only I do.’
Hannah frowned, Luca’s admission making her uneasy. How was what he’d said even possible? And yet Luca clearly meant it. He also very clearly wasn’t going to tell her anything else, and she didn’t want to ask. She’d got in too deep with Luca Moretti already.
‘I just need to get my wash bag from the bathroom,’ she said. ‘And then I’ll be ready to go.’
