Page 56

He did not.

Instead, the concierge returned with a very nice-looking grey bag with rope handles and, peering in, she saw there was a box, tied with a beautiful ribbon and sealed with wax, so she could hardly open it here.

Sealed closed.

Like him.

Then, somehow knowing, her head whipped up and there he was.

They stared for a moment and then Stella didn’t quite run, but she dashed to him and was straight into his arms.

‘Come on,’ he said, his arm gripped around her, marching her straight to the elevator, as if he were a detective making a discreet arrest.

Of course there were people in it, and worse, he had to release her and swipe his card for the elevator to accept his request for the penthouse floor.

‘Room?’ he said, repeating what she had earlier said and making her laugh as they stepped into his luxurious suite, a glittering view of London laid out before them, but he flicked closed the blinds.

‘Stella…’ She heard the warning, knew he was about to tell her it was just one night.

‘I know.’ He could put a waiver for her heart in front of her now and she would sign it.

She almost wept in relief as his mouth came down hard on hers, and he half kissed her, half carried her to his bed and gently threw her on it and then he unbelted and unzipped and came down on top of her. Both dressed, both longing to be together, and as he stabbed in, the weeks of missing him were gone, the loneliness she always felt, ended. There was such power to him, so much male energy as now he took her and so willingly she gave.

‘I missed you,’ she admitted, because when he was inside her she could not quite hide the truth.

‘I know.’

His breathing was ragged, lost in the tight grip of her, as beneath him she came undone.

He could tell her he’d missed her too, that the past two weeks had been hell, and the only salvation in it the thought of her.

But he took her faster instead, then stilled and swelled to her intimate pulses.

‘Gabe…’

She said his name as she came, all the longing of the past weeks released, and then lay there, the world spinning, wondering how this all worked.

If she should just get up and go.

Or would they go down to the restaurant and attempt dinner before they said goodbye?

‘Go and do your work,’ he said, suggesting she take out her laptop, stripping off and getting into bed. ‘I’ll get us room service.’

She looked up at him.

‘In ballo c’è la stessa posta,’ he said. ‘The stakes are the same.’ He tried to translate the saying, but Stella already got it.

They’d broken their one-day rule, so whether or not she stayed…

‘Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,’ she said, but he pulled a face.

‘Ours is better.’ He hoisted her from the bed. ‘Go and work.’

* * *

Gabe had been right—the proposal was almost done, and soon she had sent it to Daisy, and it was dinner in bed.

And then they slept together.