She thought back to those confidences when he had told her about his background and she could understand that he would have had an inherent deep respect for the mother figure in a child’s life and so had allowed his ex more leeway than he should have.
Before she’d met Flora, it had been easy to feel manoeuvred and resentful.
Now, though, she was glad that she was here if the sham drove his ex to a place where relations between them changed into something healthier.
If Sophia accepted that her ex was really and truly no longer within her orbit but had embarked on something serious with another woman, then surely she would accept defeat and move on with her own life and that could only be good for her and Flora alike.
It was easy to get stuck in one place and then moving on became impossible.
When other people got dragged into that dynamic, as in the case of a six-year-old kid, then it could be a disaster.
The door was still ajar and there was still no sign of Alessandro when Georgie returned to their shared living area.
She wondered whether he had taken himself off somewhere to work or else had maybe got wrapped up in something and had lost track of time.
She knocked.
No answer plus the lights weren’t on. At least not in the outside sitting area off which his bedroom, like hers, would be.
She walked through into darkness, switched on the light and then tentatively headed towards the bedroom.
As with the outside sitting area, the door was ajar.
And likewise, it was dark inside. She pushed the door and whispered his name.
If Flora made a surprise appearance now, then heaven only knew what would go through her mind.
She was supposed to be her dad’s girlfriend. Girlfriends didn’t do a lot of tiptoeing and anxious whispering. Even a child of six might find that odd.
When she eventually got up the courage to fully open the door it was to find Alessandro sprawled on the bed and for a few heart-thumping seconds, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could feel her mouth go completely dry.
Was he…naked?
Beads of perspiration formed on her forehead and she loudly cleared her throat and took a couple of steps into the bedroom.
The room equalled hers in size but the figure on the bed gave it an intensely masculine feel that hers lacked.
The covers were twisted around him and he was lying on his back, one arm flung to the side, the other resting on his torso, most of which she could see because he had obviously thrashed around during the night.
He had a beautiful body.
Burnished brown against the white covers.
One leg was fully exposed, long and muscular. The other was half concealed by the rumpled bed linen.
She shouldn’t have to be doing this!
Since when was it part of her remit to wake a slumbering Sleeping Beauty because he had overslept?
She spun round on her heels and banged on the top light and then instantly turned it to dim because it revealed just a little too much heart-stopping reality for her liking.
‘Alessandro!’
From the dim recesses of sleep, Alessandro heard his name being called and he half moved under the covers and opened his eyes without sitting up.
He grunted.
Georgie was standing by the bed with her arms folded glaring at him.
