‘Well, it’s complicated. It would take hours to explain.’ And he didn’t have hours. Not to spend on talking. He leaned towards her and the faint scent of lilac drifted to him. ‘Let’s not talk about boring stuff like jobs, Ella. Because on a night like this the stuff we aren’t saying is deafening us—can’t you hear it?’
She stared straight into his eyes, feeling herself beginning to melt, knowing what was coming next and both scared and longing to hear it. ‘Stuff like…like what?’
‘Like the fact that I have waited just as long as it is possible to wait and now I want to kiss you. And that if we order any more food it is going to be completely wasted because I would prefer to take you back home, where I can kiss you in private.’ His dark eyes glittered unrepentantly as they lingered on her lips. ‘Shocked?’ he drawled.
‘Not shocked, no,’ she said slowly, because his words had scraped sharp, jagged fingernails over her senses, leaving her raw and aching.
There had been men she had wanted before, of course there had, but never like this—with a wave of longing so powerful that it seemed to have punched out all her breath and heartbeat and sense and reason. She shook her head again.
‘What, then, if not shocked?’ he murmured.
His eyes caressed her and she could feel the warm, honeyed throb of her blood urging her on, compelling her to tell him what she really wanted.
‘Impatient, I guess,’ she said huskily, and swallowed.
His eyes narrowed, her reaction taking him momentarily by surprise—but the unexpected was a very potent aphrodisiac. He withdrew a wallet, peeled off several notes and threw them down on the table.
‘This was supposed to be my treat for all your help,’ Ella protested.
‘Shut up,’ he said softly.
‘And you’ve left far too much,’ she commented as he stood up.
‘Then it will be a pleasant surprise for the waitress, won’t it?’
She hoped he could afford it—that he wasn’t making an expansive gesture just for the sake of impressing her. But then he was putting his arm around her shoulders, and his fingertips were brushing against her bare skin, and all she could think about was his touch.
They walked breathlessly into the street, and as soon as they were out of sight of the customers he pulled her hard against him, choosing a darkened alcove where they could not be seen—like a college boy who wanted to get intimate without ruining his bachelor reputation.
It seemed to have taken a long time to get here, but at last she was in his arms, and he was kissing her, and she was kissing him back, and suddenly things began to spin out of control.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘NICO!’ Ella gasped as his lips drove down on hers, shocking and cajoling them into an instant, yielding response.
‘Si? Che cosa?’ he whispered impatiently, circling his hips against her and hearing with triumph yet another gasp.
‘We can’t do this!’ She closed her eyes as he blatantly pressed the rock-hard cradle of his desire against her. ‘Not here!’
Nico stilled. She thought he was going to take her there? Unzip himself and pull her panties down and do it up against a wall? His desire rocketed almost out of control and he pulled his mouth away and closed his eyes, trying desperately to steady his breathing.
‘Let’s go,’ he bit out.
He took her hand and Ella let him, in such a daze that it might as well have been his village, not hers, as she blindly mirrored his footsteps until they arrived back at the cottage.
Her hands were trembling so much as she tried to unlock the door that he took the key from her. Once they were inside the hall, he turned to her, lifted her chin and stared down into her troubled face, creasing his forehead into a frown. ‘What is it?’
‘What must you think of me?’ she breathed.
Ah! He hid a smile. He knew this game. Women wanted sex just as much as men did, but nature made them need to dress it up as respectable—if sex could ever be described in such a way.
‘What do I think? I think you are very beautiful, cara, and I want to make love to you very much.’
She pulled away from him, her eyes dark with hunger—but years of conditioning was hard to get rid of in just a couple of short hours. She pointed towards the kitchen. ‘Maybe…maybe I should make us some coffee?’
For a moment he was incredulous. She had been in his arms, just seconds away from instant surrender, and now she was distancing herself? It was unknown—and unheard of! A pulse beat deep in his groin. If he moved towards her again and touched her would she have the strength to repeat her actions? He thought not.
But something stopped him, and it was more than the unimaginable idea that she might hold firm in her resolve. No, once again it was the tantalising prospect of experiencing what other men must encounter every day of their lives. Having to fight for what they wanted.