‘Trust me—I won’t be one of those annoying errant land mines, Ella.’ He smiled slowly, flipped her hand over and traced tiny circles on the sensitive underside of her wrist. He held her gaze. ‘You know what you’re getting with me—no nasty surprises. What we’ll have is fun for a week or so and then I’ll disappear from your life.’
‘No nasty surprises…’
‘None. I’ll leave. And when I do…’ he smiled. ‘…you won’t regret that I’ve been…’
Chapter Three
Would she regret it? Could she trust him? He’d smiled that slow, lazy, utterly charming smile and she’d blinked away all her doubts. She’d forgotten her vows to be careful after Steve. She’d relegated to oblivion all her resolutions about only letting any man into her life when she knew that he could be trusted.
‘You should take a few days off,’ he’d said, as they’d left the restaurant hand in hand, heading for the place he had rented on the outskirts of town. ‘I want you to myself while I’m here and shadowing you is going to get in the way of that. Unless there are private cubby holes where we can hide…?’
‘You can’t do that!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because…you’re here for a fortnight! You’ve signed up to work.’
‘I’m not on a pay roll.’ He’d shrugged. ‘And I’m okay with trading some of my time here for more pleasurable pastimes. Live on the wild side, Ella—forget about duty for a minute.’ He’d pulled her against him and kissed her, and that kiss had been devastating. He’d looked her in the eyes, sifting his fingers through her hair and cupping her face. ‘And that means not finding excuses to be careful all the time. I’m not as poor as you think, even if I happen to be your slave for a fortnight.’
‘Hardly a slave!’
‘Don’t knock it. I like the thought of you giving me orders. Take the rest of the week off. I’ll book us somewhere—a cottage. We can play house until I leave next weekend.’
‘Play house?’
‘By that,’ he’d clarified quickly, ‘I mean lie in bed all day and only get up to shower or eat.’
He’d rented a cottage…What had he expected?He’d taken time out with women before—a five-star hotel somewhere in a bustling city. He travelled extensively and occasionally had a woman travel with him. If she disliked falling in line and taking second billing to his work commitments, then nothing had ever been said, because he’d lavished her with expensive gifts and taken her to classy restaurants. Money was always a great persuader.
Now, though… He’d had his EA find a suitably rustic cottage buried in the countryside. She’d emailed a picture of it and Rocco had given her the go-ahead. It was nothing Rocco Mancini would have contemplated in a million years, but as soon as they’d reached it, it had felt right.
Two days on, it still felt right. There were no expensive shops, no expensive restaurants, no expensive gifts bought. There was just a cottage in the middle of nowhere, nestled in rolling green hills.
‘Need a hand?’
Rocco was sprawled on the deep, old-fashioned sofa watching as Ella busied herself in the kitchen. They were playing house. It wasn’t something he’d done before in his life but he was doing it now and enjoying it. Outside, the fading sun was casting the last shadows over a garden bursting with wild flowers. Inside, the furnishings were cosy and worn, with lots of throws on the chairs and sofa, wooden beams on the ceiling and a central stone fireplace that dominated the living area.
Ella looked across at Rocco lying on the sofa, ankles loosely crossed and one hand behind his head, the other dangling to the side. It was a little after six and her body still tingled from when they had made love only a couple of hours before.She felt dampness spread between her legs and knew from the slow smile he shot her that he could read exactly what she was thinking.
I want you.Ella couldn’t believe how far she’d come from the cautious girl who had resented having someone rearrange her work pattern by showing up without warning in her carefully ordered office to the girl she was now: open, free and trusting. She’d taken one look at the cottage he had rented for the week and had known that this was a guy whogot her.
‘What would you like to help me with?’ she teased now, strolling towards him with a knife in one hand and an onion in the other.
‘I can’t have a conversation with you when you’re approaching me with a knife. A man can get a little edgy around a woman with a knife.’
Ella burst out laughing. Yes, he got her. Got her in ways she had never expected. He made her laugh with his dry wit and listened to her with dark, pensive eyes that encouraged her to confide, confide, confide.
‘Would you know how to cook a meal?’ she smiled, moving to sit next to him and then curling into him as he adjusted his big body so that she could fit neatly into him.
‘I can rustle up something edible if I have no choice.’
‘Honestly, Jose, for a guy who lives on his own, I’m shocked that you’re not more proficient in front of a cooker. I guess you get women to cook for you?’
Now and again, Ella noted little things that made her think, like ripples quietly disturbing the calm surface of a lake. Such as the fact that she knew precious little about him aside from the basics. Of course, she reasoned, she didn’t need someone’s entire back story to know that they were right for her; that they were kind, good and fair. He’d told her to have an adventure, to live in the moment, and that was what she was doing. She wasfollowing his lead, stepping out of her comfort zone and enjoying it.
Except…time was moving on and now, nestled against him, feeling his heartbeat through his tee shirt, she wondered where things were going. Time felt in short supply and suddenly she had a pressing urge to find out more about him, to make the connection between them stronger.
Maybe to know whether there was room for them to develop what they’d started after he left…?
