Living the Charade

‘I visit too many cities as part of my job. My mother lives on the other side of the island and I bought this place when she fell ill a couple of years ago.’

‘Is she okay now?’

‘Fine. Fitter than I am.’

Miller’s lips twisted into a faint smile. ‘Well, it’s lovely here. Peaceful.’ She glanced out over the lawn towards the beach and he caught the nervousness in her eyes. ‘But I should probably be heading back home.’

Her lips were still kiss swollen from last night, and he noticed a slight red mark from where his beard growth had grazed her neck. He’d have to be more careful of her soft skin, though some primal part of him was pleased to see his mark on her.

‘It’s seven in the morning. Are you sore?’

She coloured prettily. ‘That’s personal.’

‘Sunshine, it doesn’t get any more personal than my mouth between your legs.’

She gasped. ‘You can’t say that!’

She looked mortified, and for some reason her reaction pleased him. He was so used to women preening and posing in front of him that her embarrassment was refreshing. She hadn’t been a virgin, he knew that, but she wasn’t a practised sophisticate either, and one of the things he loved—hell, liked—about her was that she was so easy to tease.

He stepped closer to her and urged her stiff body into the circle of his arms. ‘I’ve embarrassed you?’

‘Yes, but I don’t know how.’ She gave a deep sigh. ‘I should have expected you to just say what you think. It’s one of the first things I noticed about you.’

She gripped his forearms as if to hold him off, but he’d have none of it, his thumbs drawing lazy circles over the thin cotton of his robe covering her lower back, gentling her until she fitted against him as naturally as his tailor-made jumpsuit.

‘What else did you notice?’

‘That you had ripped jeans and needed a shave.’

Tino gave a hoot of laughter. ‘Sunshine, you are hell on my ego.’

‘Your ego is one area I would never worry about.’

She was watching his mouth, and his laughter dried up instantly. ‘I usually start the day with a run followed by a green smoothie, but this morning I’m going to make an exception.’

Her aquamarine eyes lifted to his, her pupils expanding as he watched. ‘What are you replacing it with?’

He enclosed the nape of her neck with his hand, slowly bringing her mouth to his. ‘That depends on the answer to my earlier question.’

She frowned, and he pressed his pelvis into her to facilitate her memory recall. She smiled, and he felt tightness in his chest.

‘Only a little.’

Her answer sent the tightness lower. ‘I promise to be gentle.’

* * *

Miller must have dozed, because she awoke to the feel of Valentino spooning her from behind as he had done first thing that morning. Then she had slipped out of his bed, because the sensation of waking with his protective arm draped around her waist, his fingers resting protectively over her abdomen, had been both frightening and exhilarating. And now the same feelings were back.

He just seemed to swamp her. His warmth, his scent, her desire to burrow against him and never leave. It was as instinctive to her as breathing.

Right from the beginning she’d sensed he would have this intense effect on her, and wasn’t that the reason behind her fear now? Hadn’t she avoided feeling such intense emotions for another person because she knew better than most how tenuous relationships were? But how could a playboy racing car driver with a reputation for having a death wish make her feel so...so safe? So secure? It had to be straight hormones because otherwise it defied logic!

As did her current feeling of wellbeing. Something she hadn’t experienced since before her parents had divorced, she suddenly realised. And hot on the heels of that little revelation was the unwelcome understanding that she had been trying to get this same sense of belonging from her job for years.

On some level that wasn’t a total surprise, because she had always treated work as a second home, but what was newsworthy was that even the thought of making partner didn’t give her quite the same sense of safety that Valentino did right now.

Confused, and feeling slightly exasperated with her seesawing emotions, Miller again tried to creep out from under his arm—only this time his strong fingers spread out like tentacles to cover her whole belly.

‘Am I going to have to tie you to my bed to make sure you’re still here when I wake up?’