‘So where do we go from here?’ she asked bluntly. ‘I mean, here we are, having a bit of fun, and the reason I ask is because last time I looked at the date on my phone, we still have a few days left here.’
Alessandro burst out laughing and looked at her for a few seconds with a slow, hot burn in his eyes that set her nerves tingling.
‘You don’t beat around the bush, do you? Well, we definitely won’t be playing thelet’s-pretend-this-never-happenedgame.’
‘No.’ She reddened. ‘I don’t think it’s going to be possible to pretend that this never happened. Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m not asking about what happens when we leave here in a few days’ time. I’m asking what happens for the remainder of our stay here.’
‘What would you like to happen? I know whatI’min favour of. I want to keep this going while we’re here, Georgie.’
He swept his hand between her thighs.
‘Let’s enjoy one another before we get back to reality. What do you say…?’
‘Only,’ Georgie returned, heart flipping over, ‘if you can guarantee that you won’t do anything stupid like fall in love with me.’
Which made him laugh again.
‘You have my word.’
CHAPTER NINE
ROOM SERVICE. Personalised Menus created just for them and delivered with the pomp and ceremony of a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Alessandro and Georgie quickly realised that they preferred it to going to any one of the amazing restaurants in the hotel and the park even though it would have been no trouble arranging a babysitter.
When money was no object, nothing was too much trouble, but the intimacy of having dinner with no one around was irresistible.
Alessandro had told her that he liked being with a woman who didn’t spend hours getting ready to go out and whose enjoyment didn’t come from basking in other people’s admiration, with whatever food that was on offer playing second fiddle.
Now, Alessandro was sitting on the sofa with the menu on the table in front of him, not that he needed a menu. Whatever he wanted was cooked for him. He watched her as she emerged in a fetching ensemble of grey silk culottes and a matching vest with tiny buttons down the front.
It was loose and fell to the waist and he could see that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her small breasts jutted against the thin silk, her nipples pushing out in two tiny cones.
‘You look good.’ He stood up to hand her a glass of wine and then continued standing until she was close enough to breathe her in.
‘So do you,’ Georgie quipped back.
‘There. Compliments out of the way. We both look good.’
‘Oh no! Are the compliments done already? I wanted them to keep coming.’
‘I figure you’re only half joking when you say that. Thinking that you were second best to your sisters because you weren’t as academic has taken its toll. I was shocked when you told me about your dyslexia. Shouldn’t be but…no, shocked isn’t the right description. I was…gutted for you. So what I’m saying is that I can rustle up a couple more compliments if you like.’ Alessandro grinned and patted the space right next to him as he sat back down. He wanted to feel her small body curving against his, so that he could dip his hand at will underneath the loose silk top and play with her breasts until he knew what effect he was having between her thighs.
Georgie blushed, sat next to him and rested her head against his shoulder before pulling back to sit and look at him.
‘I thought you didn’t like the psychobabble stuff. Are you going to start analysing me?’ She wished he would. He could spout the psychobabble stuff till the cows came home as far as she was concerned, because it would prove that he cared. Telling him about her dyslexia had felt natural and she’d been thrilled when he’d responded with a look of sympathy and tenderness.
She’d stopped pretending that she didn’t have feelings for him and she was willing to see every small concession of affection from him as a declaration of an emotion he didn’t know he possessed.
From nowhere, hope had sprung like a weed, stubbornly pushing past common sense and reason and sending shoots down deep inside her.
For the past three days the sex had been mind-blowing…the holding hands had made her heart beat fast…and the stolen looks with Flora in between them had sent her nervous system into skittering free fall.
Just looking at him now, casually dressed in Prada and Ralph Lauren, all black polo shirt and black jeans, was enough to make her mouth go dry.
‘I’m beginning to get a kick out of this psychobabble stuff. Maybe I chose the wrong career.’
Georgie laughed. ‘I’m not seeing it,’ she told him wryly. ‘Anyway, women might get too distracted to spill their hearts out if they were lying on a couch looking at you. Not that I think the lying-on-a-couch thing still happens.’
