A Proposal to Remember

‘You pig!’ Laughing and squealing, she thumped him hard, spluttering and screwing up her eyes against the water. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Economising on water.’ He was laughing, too, and she gasped as he pulled her close and kissed her, ignoring the water that was raining down on both of them.

She leaned into him and kissed him back, and sudden

ly the laughter stopped and the kissing intensified until their mouths fused hungrily, the chemistry a living, powerful force between them.

Her whole body was singing with excitement and suddenly she was breathlessly aware of his arousal and the fact that he was totally naked.

An unbearable ache was building between her thighs, but when she felt his fingers on the zip of her soaked jeans she reached down and grabbed his hands, stopping him.

What was she doing?

His skill and experience had her at flashpoint in seconds, but the speed with which he could reduce her to a shivering mass of desperation made her nervous. She’d only ever kissed boys before and Carlo certainly wasn’t that. He was a fully adult male and he wasn’t playing games.

‘Wait—it’s too fast…’ The water was streaming over her hair and down her back and he reached out a hand to stem the flow, speaking softly to her in Italian as he held her against him.

‘You want me to stop?’ He switched to English and she struggled to control her response.

‘Yes— No…’ She was shaking against him and he gave a groan and slid a warm hand over her back.

‘Have you any idea how much I want you?’

Zan gave him a shaky smile, breathlessly aware of his masculinity. He had a fantastic body. His confidence with his own sexuality was in complete contrast to her own inexperience and she felt completely out of her depth.

From the moment she’d stared into his eyes in the snowy street she’d decided that even if she only had sex once in her whole life, she wanted it to be with this man. But now that the moment had come she felt hideously unsure.

Carlo probably thought that any woman who was prepared to kiss him in a public place was equally experienced and relaxed about sex.

She was still panicking when she felt a warm, soft towel draped around her shoulders.

‘Take off your wet jeans and go and put on your least provocative outfit,’ Carlo said, his voice infinitely gentle as he stepped back and let her step out of the shower.

She bit her lip and looked at him anxiously. ‘I…thought we were going to…’

‘Well, we’re not,’ he said softly. ‘At least, not yet. You’re not totally sure and I want you to be totally sure.’

She hesitated and shook her head, painfully self-conscious. ‘It’s just a bit fast. I don’t know you— I can’t—’

‘So we slow it down.’

He made it sound perfectly simple and she looked at him shyly, surprised that he wasn’t more annoyed with her. ‘And you’re OK with that?’

‘Well, I’ll need a lot of cold showers,’ he admitted ruefully, ‘but we’ve already agreed that if I step out of line you can black my other eye, so I’ll do my best to hold back as long as I can. Now, go and get dressed quickly.’

When Zan arrived back in the sitting room Carlo had the towel wrapped around his hips, his black hair damp and tousled from the shower as he flicked through her CD collection.

‘Carlo.’ She came to a halt in front of him, her smile hesitant. ‘Are you angry?’

He glanced up. ‘Of course not.’ He seemed surprised by the question. ‘Why would I be?’

Zan thought of all the conversations she’d overheard when her brothers hadn’t known she was listening, and bit her lip.

‘Because I made you think that I… I’m sorry if you thought I… I didn’t mean to lead you on…’

Ebony brows came together in a frown. ‘You are always entitled to say no, cara mia.’

‘But I didn’t want to say no,’ she said quickly, a blush touching her cheek. ‘Not exactly. But it all seemed a bit quick and— I know you’re very confident, but, you see, I’ve never actually done it before.’