Chapter Three
XAVI’S EYES SNAPPEDopen to pitch black. His phone was ringing. He groped his bedside table until his hand fell on it.
Bringing it to his face, his heart slammed into his ribs and all sleepiness fell away when he saw the name on the screen.
‘This is an unexpected pleasure,’ he murmured. He’d thought she would make him wait a minimum of a week just to play with his mind.
‘I’ll marry you.’
He expelled a long breath and smiled. ‘That is the best news a man could be woken to at two in the morning. I assume you timed it deliberately?’
‘Naturally.’
‘You always knew how to keep me on my toes.’ And always in a good way. One particular memory stuck in his mind of Beth flopping onto her back after making love and deciding she wanted to go for a drive. It had been three in the morning. Thinking she just wanted to take it for a spin, he’d thrown some clothes on, indulgently given her the keys to his sports car and jumped in the passenger seat beside her. She’d put the soft top down, turned the music up and hit the accelerator. Three hours later, they’d been sat on La Malvarrosa beach eating churros and watching the sun rise.
Their impulsive trip had resulted in him missing a board meeting and being on the receiving end of his grandfather’s anger and disapproval for the first time.
There was a long pause. ‘Xavi, are you sure you want to do this? I’m not the Beth you remember. I haven’t spent eight years in a silo. Things have happened that have shaped me.’
‘What things?’
‘Things I will tell you about when the time is right. I just need to be certain you understand that you won’t be marrying the Beth of old.’
He laughed. ‘You’re still Beth, but I already know you’re not the Beth of old, and I know we’re going to have to get to know each other again, butmi vida, that kiss we shared proved the spark that was always there still lives.’
There was another long silence before she murmured, ‘Okay, on your head be it. Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.’
He laughed again.Dios, it felt good to laugh. It felt even better to know he’d soon have Beth back in his bed. The buzz in his veins since their kiss wasn’t even close to abating. Just to imagine her head on the pillow next to his and her gorgeous red hair fanned over it made the buzz tighten and thicken in anticipation. ‘Where are you? I’ll send my driver for you.’
‘Let him sleep,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘I need to go home and sort things out in England, but if you meet me at my grandfather’s villa after breakfast, we can get the ball rolling for our wedding before I leave.’
He sighed and then grinned at his impatience. Just five minutes ago, he’d been asleep and expecting to wait days longer for her answer. If she’d said no, he’d have been back to fighting wars to retain his control of the Rosbel Group. Beth’s agreement meant that fight was wonandhe had her back in his life.
Dios, all he’d thought about since their kiss was how good the sex had been between them. All their years apart, he’d forbidden himself from thinking about it, but now he was free to let the memories unleash and remember how incredible it had been between them. To break apart from her, he’d needed those days in Milan without her sexy, distracting presence to enable him to think clearly, had needed to block the receptors in his brain from switching on once he was back in his bedroom delivering the words he knew would break her heart.
The blocked receptors were back in full working order, and very soon, once she’d wrapped up her affairs in England, she’d be back in his bed permanently, and they could make up for all the lost time between them.
‘I will get my team on it… How long are you going to make me wait to be my wife?’
She laughed, that old infectious, joyful sound that had never failed to bring a smile to his face. ‘I’m happy to marry as soon as it can be arranged.’
‘That makes me very happy.’
The tone of her voice changed slightly. ‘I do need to ask a favour of you.’
‘Anything.’
‘Would you mind sorting out all the taxes and stuff on my grandfather’s estate? I know it’s all different to how it works in England and I wouldn’t have a clue where to start.’
‘Your grandfather named me as his executor, so consider it done.’
‘Thank you.’
‘De nada.What time tomorrow?’
‘Nine?’
‘That works for me.’
