‘Yes, if you really want to know.’
‘Why wouldn’t I find you sexy? Beautiful?’
‘Because…’
‘Because…?’
‘Because I don’t think that this conversation is appropriate.’
‘That’s not an answer. Give me an answer.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake! Because that’s not the sort of thing that’s ever happened to me!’ Erin burst out in a rush. ‘Satisfied?’
‘No.’
‘What do you mean by that? What do you mean byno? You can’t say that.’
‘You fascinate me, Erin Fisher, which is why I want to find out more about you. And yes I can say it. I just did.’
They stared at one another.
When he reached out to trace the outline of her jaw, she audibly gasped but the thrill of his touch was…electric. It turned every bone in her body to jelly. She wanted to subside right back onto the bench but weirdly, she was incapable of any movement at all. She could only stare at his beautiful face, cast in shadows. That feathery touch had come and gone in seconds but the heat from his finger lingered, and she had to resist the temptation to cover the spot with her hand.
She longed to touch him back. Yearned for it and yet the awareness of the danger of going there roared through her with the force of a volcano.
This was a risk she couldn’t take.Wouldn’t take.She wanted love and this road led to…despair. She knew this man, knew herself…knew the two should never, ever merge.
‘Since when do I fascinate you, Raffaele?’ she scoffed weakly.
He shrugged and looked up to the dark, cloudless sky, the hundreds of thousands of stars studding it, then gazed at her thoughtfully for a couple of seconds.
‘I don’t know and you’re right. Ridiculous conversation. You don’t have to answer anything.’ He smiled crookedly. ‘Sometimes curiosity gets the better of me and yes, add to that that I happen to find you sexy and it’s a combustible mix. You go back to your cabin. I’m going to remain out here for a bit…get my thoughts in order.’
Faced with a choice, Erin dithered, watched as he sat back down, stretching his long legs in front of him.
This was about as exciting as life had got for her in…in as far back as she could remember.
She’d played it safe. She always had. With her love life, with her work life, with her plans for her future. As she’d learned from her parents, choosing not to walk the straight and narrow might lead to adventure, but there were too many downsides for it to ever appeal to her.
But now, under a velvety black sky studded with a million stars and the man who’d featured in too many of her fantasies over the years… She could barely breathe as excitement reared its head, beckoning her to explore.
Somehow she found herself sitting on the bench next to him. Succumbing to something more powerful than all her internal back-and-forth reasoning.
‘I work for you.’ She turned to him and heard the pleading in her voice.
‘I get that and like I said, you don’t have to indulge me.’
‘This is just a simple conversation.’Was it?‘I suppose I’ve been working for you for quite some time so it’s only natural we end up sharing a little more than just the superficial stuff… No big deal.’ The steamy, sultry air made her lazy, challenged her to step out of her comfort zone for once in her life even though she continued to tell herself that a conversation was just…a conversation.
She sighed into the stretching silence. ‘My life…on the road so much of the time…it was difficult to form friendships, to form relationships. My mum and dad only ever saw it all as a huge adventure but really, for me, my most secure time was when we were at the commune and things were the same every day. I missed that when we took to the road. I missed the routine, I missed the sameness. I missed the faces that would be there every morning when I woke up and every evening before I went to bed, and those times when we settled for a bit…when I managed to go to school…it was hard. The other kids… You know kids, they can be cruel. They sometimes laughed at us, called us names. That said, there were a lot of amazing times, a lot of friendly faces but even so…’ She turned away, mortified at her outburst but when she moved to stand up, he stayed her with his hand.
‘Keep talking, Erin.’
His voice was low and serious, the voiceof a friend. Except he wasn’t a friend, was he? Or if he was, then this was no longer an innocent friendship. A Pandora’s box had been opened and she was struggling to put the lid back on it. Her head was saying one thing but her body was exerting a power that was too strong.
‘What else is there to talk about?’ Erin breathed in deeply at the memories of her younger years. ‘Is this all information overload? I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of stamina for women pouring their hearts out to you.’
Raffaele was caught up in a moment he couldn’t have foreseen in a thousand years.
