She breathed deep now. Years had passed since she’d managed to escape, and she’d carved out a life for herself where she was in control. This place had become a sanctuary to her. Safe. Behind closed gates. With security. A handful of staff who respected her space and never came too close.
She actually felt like she’d healed in the past year and then Cassian Corti had turned to face her and put out his hand and she’d almost had a panic attack on the spot. Somehow managing to mutter something about dirty hands.
He’d looked at her as if she’d had two heads. She was a freak.
‘Lili?’
Lili looked up. It was Maria holding an empty coffee-pot. She said, ‘He wants more coffee.’
Lili took it from her and forced a smile. ‘Thank you, I’ll bring it up, you can go and check that his office is ready for his meeting. They’ll need paper and pens. Make sure there’s water.’
‘Of course.’
The girl left and Lili pushed all the memories aside and filled the pot with fresh coffee. She took a deep breath and went back up to the terrace to find Cassian Corti with shades covering his eyes now, face turned towards the lake. She made her presence known. ‘It’s going to be a beautiful day. Any plans aside from meeting your solicitor?’
He turned away from the lake and towards her. She refilled his cup with coffee. He said, ‘The coffee is good, you know how to make it well.’
She put the pot down. ‘I’m a bit of a coffee snob. I like it strong.’
He lifted his cup towards her. ‘Me too, this is perfect, grazie.’
He was still looking at her but Lili couldn’t see his eyes. Her skin prickled but it had nothing to do with fear. It was awareness and it was so surprising that Lili couldn’t name it for a second. When she did she told herself she was being ridiculous. She was a woman with a pulse, her reaction was that of a straight female reacting to an Alpha male. Basic biology and chemistry at work. Nothing more.
But, he was the first man to spark that awareness, which was disconcerting.
He said, ‘Actually, after I’ve freshened up I’ll meet Matteo in the gardens and have a look at how they’re being kept, if you’d let him know?’
‘Of course.’ Lili seized on the opportunity to escape and told herself that her tripping pulse had more to do with the sudden activity after months of inactivity than anything to do with her charismatic boss’s arrival.
* * *
About an hour later when Lili felt sure that her boss must have freshened up and gone out to meet Matteo, she went up to his bedroom suite with the small overnight bag that had been with him on the boat, delivered by Tommy after they’d got back to the villa.
So used to navigating the villa on her own without fear of running into anyone, Lili pushed open his bedroom door and went over to the massive four-poster bed that dominated the room. The French doors that led out to the terrace were open, curtains moving gently in the breeze.
She put the bag on the bed just as she also noticed his discarded tuxedo. He had a fully stocked closet full of clothes here so he’d obviously changed into something else.
Lili picked up the suit and his scent hit her nostrils. Leather and amber notes mixed with something sharp, citrusy. Tantalising.
A movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn her head and it was only then she realised that a full length mirror in the bedroom was showing a reflection of the shower in the bathroom, and it was too late to turn away. What she was looking at would be burnt onto her brain forever.
Cassian Corti was in the shower, his back to her, arms lifted, hands in his hair. The water sluiced down over his body, perfectly honed muscles moving under sleek olive-brown skin.
His shoulders were broad, as was his back, narrowing down to lean hips and down to strong thighs. But she couldn’t take her eyes off his powerful and muscular buttocks. Slightly lighter in colour.
Lili was filled with a longing, yearning sensation that started in the very pit of her being and spread out to every limb, making her blood pulse. She had the strangest urge to take off her clothes and step into the shower behind him and slide her arms around him and press close to his back—
Her blood ran cold. Sheneverever imagined touching someone else. But she suddenly had the ground-shifting realisation that if she was the one doing the touching, the prospect was exciting, not terrifying.
It was too much to unpack. Cassian Corti had been at his villa for barely an hour and Lili was unravelling all over the place. She turned and fled before he could find her gawping at him as if she’d never seen a naked man before, which, she hadn’t.
The thought of him witnessing her arrested moment was enough to galvanise her out of the villa and back down to the gates at the lake to make sure they’d been locked again.
CHAPTER TWO
AFEW HOURS LATER, after lunch had been served on the terrace and Cassian Corti was in his office with his solicitor, Lili carefully juggled a tray of coffee and knocked lightly on the door.
Her boss sounded irritated when he called, ‘Yes, come in.’
