‘I will send a car for you in a few hours. Rest first.’ He stood tall and proud in the middle of his living room, the opulence of it still not quite fitting with the picture of the man Seb had painted in her mind.
Rest. She wasn’t sure she could, but she was glad that at least she’d be alone. His gesture of comfort had been hard to shrug off earlier. She wanted nothing more than to be held by him, to be safe in his arms, but she didn’t trust herself. Whatever it was between them, she could only ignore it if she physically kept her distance.
‘Alessandro?’
‘Yes.’ He looked at her, his dark eyes no longer full of the passion she’d seen in them at the test track. Now they were cold, full of dismissal.
‘Your sister? Is she all right now?’
‘Yes, thankfully, she made a quick recovery and even graduated with full honours.’
She nodded, unable to say anything, the pain of losing Seb more raw than it had ever been. She wished she could allow Alessandro to hold her. She’d never felt so alone. ‘But Seb didn’t.’
Without another thought, she went to him, needing his strong embrace and the warmth of his body. He didn’t say a word as he took her in his arms, infusing her with his strength, but it felt different. Every muscle in his body was tense.
She pulled away. She shouldn’t have done that, not after this morning.
‘I won’t be back tonight,’ he said curtly, picking up his car keys.
She blinked in shock. Was she driving him out of his own home? ‘Because of me?’ Her voice was hardly a whisper and she bit her bottom lip with her teeth.
‘Not you—me.’ The sternness in his voice didn’t go unnoticed. ‘I think it’s for the best. Boundaries have been crossed, but it won’t happen again.’
She stepped back further from him. ‘Good, but you don’t have to stay away on my account.’
‘I do, Charlie, I do need to—for Seb and the promise I made him to look after you.’
‘You are looking after me.’ She really should let him go, simply because she didn’t trust herself not to want him. His offer to leave her alone became more tempting by the second as her heart hammered harder while he stood before her.
‘My staff will see to your every need and a car will be available to take you wherever you need to go. I will see you at the launch.’
‘Not before?’ Stunned, she couldn’t believe it. The launch was the next evening. Was he going to keep as far from her as possible for the next twenty-four hours? Did the boundaries they’d crossed mean that much?
* * *
Alessandro stood and looked at her, wanting nothing more than to take her back into his arms, hold her and inhale her sweet scent. But he couldn’t. It would be disastrous if he did. He’d already proved she was the one woman who made him lose his mind and he knew if he stayed there would be no stopping him.
‘No, it will be better if I don’t.’ He kept his voice level and stood rigidly straight, but didn’t miss the look of disappointment slide across her face.
‘But this is your home.’ Her delicate brows furrowed in confusion and concern.
‘Tonight it is yours. I will go elsewhere.’ He had to. He already knew beyond doubt that he had very little self-control where she was concerned. He didn’t want to be involved with any woman, but especially this one.
‘To a friend?’ She dropped her gaze and he knew exactly what she thought. That he was going to warm the bed of another woman. Well, so much the better if it stamped out the electricity that raged between them and the heady lust he felt for her. One thing was for certain; it couldn’t go on, not if he wanted to honour his promise to Seb and keep his sanity.
‘Something like that, sì.’ He moved towards the door, needing to go before he relented and told her he was intending to spend the night in his office, something he did on occasion. His office was all geared up for such nights, but this would be the first time he’d been driven there by a woman.
It certainly wouldn’t be as hard as staying here with Charlie when all he wanted was to make her completely his. But she could never be that to him, not now.
‘Buonanotte, cara. Sleep well.’
CHAPTER SIX
IT WAS ALMOST twenty-four hours since Alessandro had left her at his apartment. Charlie had enjoyed the indulgence of being alone to begin with. She’d spent the first hours in her room, the same room Seb had stayed in, looking for anything left behind that connected with him. Any clues as to what he’d been doing in the days before the accident, but that had proved futile. She realised it was foolish to think there would be any evidence left in the room a year after he’d last been here. So she’d turned her attention to the rest of the apartment to learn about the man who owned it.