Then he turned, opened the door and left.
12
Nat was slightly preoccupied when she picked Julian up from the crèche that afternoon. Alessandro’s kiss still blazed a tattoo on her lips and all she could think about was the coming night. She should be furious at his Neanderthal behaviour and they would need to talk aboutthat, but she’d never been on the other end of such a blazing kiss and frankly she’d been too damn turned on to do anything other than cling.
‘Don’t flirt with anyone,bella. I don’t like it.’
She’d been pissed off at him for sure but not scared or intimated – far from it. She’d picked up on the electric energy bristling through his system, charging the air in that tiny space, and practically swooned. His accent had been more pronounced. And the way his beautiful mouth, capable of such eroticism, had looked almost savage?
He’d never looked more Italian and, despite her affront, it had lit her up and she could not wait to exact a little revenge between the sheets tonight.
‘I think he’s coming down with something,’ Sharyn said, interrupting her fevered thoughts of seduction. ‘He’s been somuch more interactive lately but today he was really quiet. He didn’t eat much at lunch and he feels a little warm.’
All thoughts of the night fled as concern for Julian rose to the fore. Nat placed her hand on Julian’s forehead. He did feel a little on the warm side. She knelt beside him. ‘Are you not feeling very well, matey?’
Julian shook his head. ‘My tummy feels funny.’
Hmm, maybe he’d eaten something that didn’t agree with him. Or he was brewing a gastro bug. Fun –not. ‘Come on. We’ll get you home and give you something for the fever. Papa can look at you when he gets home, okay?’
Julian brightened a little and Nat’s heart rolled over in her chest. It was gratifying to see that, even unwell, Julian was looking forward to seeing his father. Theyweremaking progress.
They arrived home half an hour later after stopping at the chemist to buy some medication for Julian’s fever. Nat administered a dose and ensconced him in front of the television with Flo and strict instructions to stay settled. Half an hour later Julian was in the kitchen, Flo in tow, seemingly back to his old self.
‘I’m hungry.’
Nat quirked an eyebrow as she felt his now cool forehead. ‘You all better?’
‘Yep.’
She smiled, hoping it was so and not just thanks to the medication that had broken his fever. ‘We’ll just give you some toast for now in case you feel sick again and Papa should be home soon.’
Julian nodded happily, and when Alessandro came home two hours later he looked in Julian’s ears and down his throat and listened to his chest. ‘It all seems okay,’ he declared.
Nat nodded as Alessandro’s gaze bathed her in flame and it was hard to concentrate on anything other than him and what she was going to do to him when they were alone.
By the time Julian was ready for bed a couple of hours later he was feeling warm again and a little subdued. Nat administered some more medicine and Alessandro swept him up in his arms and carried him to bed. Her heart gave a painful squeeze as she watched Alessandro stride up the stairs with him. The way Julian’s skinny little arms clung to his father’s neck made her want to sing with joy.
They seemed like any other father and son and it was both satisfying and, strangely, sexy.
Nat had a quick shower in her en suite, her thoughts bouncing from Julian’s state of health to the thawing of relations between father and son to the smoulder in Alessandro’s gaze that caused her skin to tingle everywhere as she scrubbed it.
She dressed in her sleep shirt – a pointless exercise – and wandered into her room at the same time Flo wandered out. Some kind of sixth sense alerted Nat to where her pet was heading. The cat didn’t like to intrude on father–son time and seemed to have developed a fascination with Alessandro’s bed – not that she could blame Flo.
‘Flo,’ she growled.
Flo ignored her, disappearing from sight. Maybe it was her mistress’s scent, so ingrained in the sheets, that attracted her so strongly. Or maybe it was just some primal recognition of pure animal lust. Whatever the reason, Alessandro hadn’t warmed as much to Flo as he had to Julian.
She couldn’t hear any of the usual giggles or excited interaction coming from Julian’s room as she followed Flo’s twitching tail down the hallway. Julian wasdefinitelynot his usual self.
‘Flo,’ she whispered at the cat as she crept into Alessandro’s room to find her pet casually licking its leg in its favourite spot – the middle of Alessandro’s huge bed.
At least the room was looking more lived-in now than the first night Flo had strutted her way in. They’d all gone through boxes markedMasterlast weekend and personalised Alessandro’s room. Julian had been so excited when they’d come across a piece of pasta art he’d done for his father the previous year. When Alessandro had hung it in pride of place on the wall opposite his bed, his little chest had puffed out like a rooster’s.
They hadn’t come across the boxes with photographs in yet but with Julian and Alessandro getting on much better and she and Alessandro preoccupied during the nights, the urgency for that had gone by the wayside.
‘Flo,’ she said again, hands on hips, her low voice holding a note of warning as the cat continued to ignore her. ‘You know you’re not allowed in here, madam. Alessandro will not be impressed.’
A fine lifting of the hairs on the back of her neck alerted her to his presence a second or two before his arms encircled her waist and she was pulled back into the hard muscles of his front.
