She needed to understand that he valued her. To try to repair the damage he’d already inflicted.
The door of her room opened and she walked out, standing on the landing at the top of the stairs to her attic suite. At this first glimpse of her his heart simply tumbled from his chest and fell at his feet.
If there was ever a goddess embodied on earth, it was Simone in this moment. In a silk dress, encrusted with crystals, shimmering gold like sunlight at dusk. The front plunged in a vee, showing off her creamy cleavage. Draped over her shoulders and flowing down her back was a short cape, glittering with beading. The fabric clung to her curves, gleaming in the soft light.
He didn’t know where to look or what to do. The heat of immediate and unrelenting desire scorched through him. Thank God his jacket was buttoned closed because her shocking effect on him would have been immediate otherwise. He’d been plunged into the ninth circle of unrequited hell.
She was so regal, like a queen greeting her subjects. Her lips the red of arterial blood. Her fingernails and toes a matching colour. On her feet she wore heels. Glittering sandals to match the dress. Tall. Spiked. He wanted to open his mouth and say something about her choice of footwear, but he gritted his teeth. She was a grown woman, as she’d already made clear. He had no right to butt into her life. That was not the relationship they had.
Yet for one brutal, blinding moment, he wished it was. He wanted to have it all.
‘Exquisite,’ he said. The word left his mouth before he could think. How dare anyone have ever called her plain? How could he have even dignified the idea with his own attempts at press releases to explain the way she looked when she was perfect, just the way she was?
She began to walk down the stairs. He held his breath, watching every step. Not relaxing until she was safely next to him.
‘Our car’s arrived,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Are you ready to leave?’
‘Of course. I’m looking forward to it.’
Simone was a beauty with no compare. He’d known it to some extent before, but to his shame, it was as though tonight she’d been reborn and he was seeing her for the first time. He didn’t know what had brought about this change but he liked it, far too much.
‘Then let’s go.’ He held out his arm. She hesitated before slipping hers through it. They had another flight of stairs to navigate and he couldn’t bear the vision now flickering through his head, of her pitching forward and falling.
She gripped the railing with one hand and lightly held his arm with the other. At the top of the stairs, his heart began to beat a rapid and thready rhythm. He made his way down slowly, one step, then another till they reached the bottom and he escorted her into the car. Safe.
‘Where did you get the dress?’ he asked. She glittered in the car, like the most precious of jewels he wanted to lock in a safety deposit and hide away. The sensation was overwhelming, irrational. ‘I had no idea you were looking.’
She shrugged. ‘It was time and Marchesa found the place for me.’
She’d put every other woman to shame tonight. There was no one who’d eclipse her. He wanted to cancel the evening. Tell the driver to turn the car around, take Simone home, carry her to the bedroom and make love to her for hours.
He hadn’t been like this since he was eighteen and overfull with hormones. It had to stop. Simone had been clear about the parameters of their relationship. He was her employer. She was his executive assistant. Nothing had changed.
And until he could get himself under control, he needed distance.
‘I have some people I need to speak with tonight,’ he said. Business was something he could hide behind, something she’d understand. ‘But I’ll be claiming a dance.’
His mouth wouldnotstay quiet but the temptation with her was too great. Later, after he’d taken some time, he’d be composed and back to his normal self. Then he’d dance with her, and not before.
‘I’d like that,’ she murmured. ‘And I’ll hold you to it.’
Leo was a man who kept his promises. This was one he might regret ever having made.
Their car slowed, pulling up along the red carpet of a charity ball to support homeless services. One of many similar charities that he backed after his time on the streets, in the hope of helping other young people stay out of trouble. Leo also knew that the night was a perfect one to show solidarity between Simone and himself. To put an end to whatever gossip remained in the aftermath of her fall. Still, he couldn’t help thinking the night was centred on him, when all he wanted was for the focus to be on her.
The car door opened. He got out, waiting by the door as Simone left the vehicle, stepping out as if she was made of molten gold. The cries of photographers filled the night, calling their names to get their attention. He might have been used to this, ready to smile on cue, but Simone wasn’t. Leo knew how intimidating a red carpet could be for the uninitiated.
He slipped his hand around her waist, almost expecting her to be stiff and uncomfortable, but she relaxed into him, as if this was where she was always meant to be. The perfect fit, just as on the night of their wedding. He leaned down, murmured in her ear.
‘Just smile,’ he said.
At every call of her name, Simone turned and beamed like the consummate professional she was. More beautiful than any human had a right to be. They passed through the gauntlet, talking to a few people on the way in till they got inside and he reluctantly relinquished her.
It was for the best, because whilst he wanted to keep her close, Leo knew in the end, he always had to let her go.
The ballroom was Italy at its most opulent. Frescoes adorned the ceiling. A beautiful blue sky filled with cherubs, angels and pastoral scenes. The walls gilded in an extravagant Rococo style. Chandeliers dripping from the ceiling. Huge urns of flowers filled niches along the walls. It felt as if Simone had stepped into another world, half-expecting Titania, Queen of the Fairies, to burst through a doorway at any moment.
It was glorious in its excess. Once she might have criticised it as unnecessary and frivolous but tonight, she leaned right in. The ball was for a good cause. One close to Leo’s heart. She knew how much these kinds of functions could raise, when the wealthy opened their pockets. If it helped homeless teenagers like Leo had once been, all the better.
