But he pushed that concerning notion aside, because their mouths fit together perfectly. Still. And the heat between them was still there, instant and overwhelming andperfect.
Antonluca was a connoisseur of flavor and hers had no equal.
He licked his way into her mouth and then enjoyed that slick, hot, connection. The way she kissed him back immediately, as if she had hungered for him in precisely this way, the same way he had for her.
Across time. Across the sea.
The kiss deepened, got darker and richer.
He remembered this, too. The way this fire danced inside of him, lighting him up, making his cock hard at once, as if he’d never touched anyone but her. Nor ever would.
He remembered the way she had gifted him her innocence with that smile of hers, shy but bold at the same time, and how he had thought to himself then that he would do anything at all to make sure that every memory she had of that night was a good one.
Even though this was the woman who had betrayed him in the press.
Something that hadn’t changed in all these intervening years, now that he thought about it.
And maybe she was having second thoughts herself, because she pushed away then. She stepped back to put space between them, her fingers rising to press against her lips.
Once again, they stared at each other as the cold December morning beamed in from outside.
Hannah dropped her hand and he watched as she put her armor back in place. When he kissed her, she was supple and pliable in his arms, but as he stood there she…became someone else.
Cool. Remote. Formidable, even.
But she was still Hannah. He could see it in her eyes.
Those beautiful green eyes that reminded him of summer.
“I don’t even know your name,” she said.
This, Antonluca found difficult to comprehend. “Of course you must know my name. Or did you think you were meeting with a ghost?”
Her green eyes narrowed slightly. This, he discovered, made her no less beautiful. Not even when her lovely chin lifted in what could only be called a quiet act of aggression. “You are only known in these parts asil maestro, I fear.”
Antonluca would not have believed anyone else who said such a thing to him, but this was Hannah.
Because he knew that she had not recognized him that night in New York.
But surely she must have figured out who he was since. He thought it was unlikely that his business manager wouldn’t have mentioned that it had been Antonluca himself at the restaurant at night, though he might not have known what had happened afterward.
Now, as then, she looked at him so guilelessly that he simply couldn’t believe that she would lie. Or that shecould.
When, truly, he should have known by now that everyone lied, and especially to him if they thought they might benefit from it in some way.
He almost wanted to remain a mystery to her forever, because he couldn’t remember the last time someone hadn’t known who he was on sight. Healmostwanted to keep this revelation going for as long as it could.
But something in him wanted her toknow himmore.
So he told her, straight and almost harsh. “I am Antonluca Aniello, Hannah.”
And then he watched her turn so pale he thought for a moment that she might collapse. He even moved slightly forward, prepared to catch her, but she didn’t swoon. Or crumple at his feet. She stood very still for a very long time, swayed only slightly, and then turned away from him, moving back across the library floor.
He thought she might actually walk out—but it seemed she was pacing, because she turned around again, and marched back to him in the same agitated fashion.
“You,” she said as if she could not comprehend it. As if it didn’t make sense. “Youare Antonluca.TheAntonluca.”
He inclined his head. “I am.”
