An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret

She said, ‘I... I should go back to my room.’

He shook his head, battling an irrational urge to lock his door and never let her out of his sight. One thing was certain after that conflagration: once would not be enough with this woman. Not by a long shot.

‘There’s no need for that... Have your bath and then we’ll get some food. I have no intention of letting you rest for too long.’

She looked at him, her eyes growing wide as she understood his meaning. Quickly followed by a faint blush.

Sebastio groaned. ‘Edie...bath. Now. Unless you want to test your energy reserves before we eat?’

CHAPTER SIX

EDIE LOOKED ACROSS at Sebastio where he sat at the end of the dining table. He’d insisted on bringing food up here from the kitchen and she felt like giggling when she thought of how they must look, eating omelettes and bread and drinking wine in a room that was more used to high-society gatherings.

After her bath Sebastio had dressed Edie in a pair of his sweats, tying the waist tight, and one of his sweatshirts. It drowned her, but she guiltily relished his scent around her. He’d put on jeans and a loose shirt.

He sat back now. ‘What?’

Edie shrugged, feeling embarrassed to have been caught staring. She said the first thing she could think of. ‘Your bedroom—it’s not done up like the other rooms... Why is it so bare?’

He shrugged. ‘When I gave instructions to redecorate the lodge I told the interior designers they had carte blanche in every room except my bedroom. I have no interest in how the house is done up. I mainly use it for corporate events. I prefer to keep things simple. My penthouse is modern, clean—it reflects more of my personal taste.’ He waved a hand to indicate the plush luxurious furnishings in the rest of the house. ‘This place, these furnishings, it’s what people expect to see.’

‘Just like the Christmas decorations, even though you hate Christmas?’

He took a sip of wine and she saw the gleam in his eye—a warning not to stray too far down this path. ‘Exactly.’

Through the window behind Sebastio Edie could see dawn stealing across the sky. The entire world was white and still, and as she took another sip of wine she’d never felt more decadent. Or more alive.

Sebastio put his wine glass down and stood up, holding out his hand. She took it, letting him pull her up. Without words he led her back up the stairs to the bedroom.

Edie knew what this was—a very finite and fleeting moment of madness while they were in this bubble. She had to keep reminding herself of that, no matter what happened.

* * *

When Edie woke again it was dark outside. Shock hit her when she realised that a whole day had passed.

She suspected that if the world hadn’t ground to a halt as spectacularly as it had outside Sebastio wouldn’t have been so keen to let the days and nights melt into one another, blurring the passage of time. She had the sense that ordinarily the boundary lines with his lovers would be very well marked.

And she didn’t think it was because she was different—no matter what her tripping pulse might tell her. It was because they’d been forced into this abnormal situation by forces outside their control.

Sebastio had turned on the TV earlier, and they’d watched news of massive blizzards and treacherous conditions across Britain. There was a national alert for people to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.

Edie had had a text from her parents, asking if she was okay, and she’d blushed as she’d responded. They thought she was tucked up in her flat.

She turned her head now and looked at Sebastio, lying beside her. Her breath hitched. He was so beautiful. The covers rode down low, barely covering his sex. She could see the start of the dark hair curling between his legs and it was incredibly erotic.

She was amazed that he retained that slightly guarded look even in his sleep, and had to stop herself from reaching out to smooth the line in his brow.

What he had done to her...what they had done together... Her mind was still shying away from looking at it too closely. Like not looking directly at the sun. The pleasure he’d wrung from her body with such ruthless precision... It overwhelmed her even now just to think of it.

For a long time, when she’d been ill, she’d never thought she’d feel comfortable or at ease in her skin a

gain. Sebastio had returned something very precious to her: her confidence in herself as a sexual woman. She wasn’t cold, or frigid. She hadn’t been irrevocably damaged...

Her heart squeezed. Apart from her fertility. Which was not something a man like Sebastio ever needed to care about. She would be long gone from his life before anything like that would need to be discussed.

At that moment Sebastio made a low groaning sound. Edie tensed. She realised that there was a faint sheen of persipiration on his skin. The frown lines on his face seemed deeper.

Then he jerked upright in the bed with such a sudden movement that Edie sat up too, her heart pounding. He cried out in Spanish, in a hoarse voice, a stream of words that Edie couldn’t understand.