Was she imagining this attraction? Was she complicating things unnecessarily? Her lack of experience made her uncertain, but she was better to ask and know than not. Wasn’t she?
“Before,” she said, dropping her eyes, then realising the folly of that when they landed between his legs, reminding her forcefully of how his arousal had felt against her belly. She squeezed her eyes shut instead, but that didn’t help. Sucking in a deep breath, Ally continued, “When we kissed.”
“Si?”
With her eyes closed, the husky, velvety tones of his voice were all the more compelling. She blinked and forced herself to look at him.
“Doesn’t that blur the lines?”
“We can’t do this without showing a level of physical intimacy, when we are with other people?”
She frowned. Was that all it had been for him? A performance? “So that was…just for your grandfather’s benefit?”
He grimaced. “It would be easier if I said yes.”
“I don’t want what’s easier right now. I want to understand.”
“I presume you’re familiar with sexual attraction,” he said, tone implying a joke.
But Ally was too stricken to smile. She felt completely out of her league, gauche and childish. She jerked to standing, moving to the edge of the terrace and staring out at the water without seeing it. The sun was warm on her bare skin but she barely registered it.
“Allegra?” Her name on his lips was a caress, wrapping around her, more present and appreciable than anything else. There was no longer any distance between them; he was standing at her side, studying her in a way that made her feel as though all her deepest secrets were on display.
“Is there a problem?”
She’d probably regret this. Then again, her dad had taught her many lessons in life, and one of them was that honesty was the best policy. As an oldest, she understood that there was nuance to that—sometimes, honesty was better softened, suchas with her father’s surgery, when she’d fibbed that he’d been accepted into a free trial. If she hadn’t, he’d have refused the treatment, and there would have been no hope remaining.
But now? With Luca looking at her, and the obvious chemistry humming between them, Ally knew she had to level with him.
He deserved that. “It’s not a problem, exactly.” She shook her head a little. “But, about…before.”
“When we kissed?”
“It felt like more than a kiss.” Her voice was uneven. She cleared her throat, tried to calm her nerves. “It felt like a prelude to something.”
“Something we agreed we would not happen,” he finished for her.
She pressed her teeth into her lower lip and nodded.
“Perhaps that was a stupid promise. Perhaps we should instead say that sex between us means nothing. That no matter what happens physically, we know this marriage is fake.”
She turned back to the view, because it was almost impossible to have this conversation whilst looking right at him. He was too handsome, too desirable. She was losing herself in his gaze. “The thing is,” she said, unevenly, “I’m not…” she cleared her throat again before forcing herself to spit out what she wanted to say. “I’m not familiar with sexual chemistry.”
“What does that mean?” he asked, then, with a soft laugh. “Are you trying to tell me you’re a twenty-four year old virgin?”
Just the way he asked the question showed her how ridiculous this was. She was mortified. Quickly, she spun away from him, shielding the hurt on her face. But she heard his soft curse, in his native tongue, and a second later, he’d moved his body to stand in front of her.
“You’re a virgin,” he repeated, this time, his tone held confusion and amazement. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
She jerked her head once, still not meeting his gaze.
“How? Why?”
She groaned, turning away from him, but his hand caught her arm and gently spun her back. “Stop running away from me.”
Her throat was thick. She hesitated then nodded her agreement. “I just…am.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
