Page 24 of Italian Baby Shock

‘Really? We had a whole night before. This was a mere fifteen minutes. Barely enough time to even get started.’

‘It was enough for me.’ She smoothed down her skirt and then sat opposite him, lifting her hands to deal with her hair, her lashes veiling her gaze.

And Cesare’s frustration pulled tight inside him. She was lying or at the very least hiding something and no matter what he’d told himself about not engaging, he wasn’t having it. Pushing himself out of his seat, he took a step over to where she sat and put his hands on the arms of her seat. Then he leaned down, getting into her space, his face inches from hers.

Her eyes went wide before darkening, her gaze dipping helplessly to his mouth.

‘Really?’ he murmured, satisfaction clenching inside him. ‘Tell me you aren’t thinking about kissing me again, having me inside you again, and maybe this time when we’re both naked.’

Fire leapt in her eyes, the pulse at the base of her throat beating hard and fast. ‘I’m not.’

‘Yes, you were. Do you really want me to prove it to you?’

She took a little breath. ‘I...no.’

‘Then tell me, Lark. Tell me you still want me. You had no problem with saying the words when I had you in my arms. Why is it so difficult now?’

‘Because...’ Her chest rose and fell as if she was fighting something. ‘Being with you made me realise what I’d missed out on. My first sexual experience and I don’t remember it. I don’t remember you. And what we just had now was...amazing, but it was also angry and fraught, and I don’t like being angry. I don’t like how you manage to get under my skin.’

Her honesty hit him in a place he wasn’t expecting. A place that remembered that night and how special it had been. There had been no tension between them except delicious sexual tension and neither of them had been guarded or angry with the other. There had been pleasure and an intimacy he hadn’t known he’d wanted until it had happened.

An intimacy he could not and would not have again.

He regretted that she didn’t remember, he realised all of a sudden. He regretted that she had no memories of their intimacy or closeness, or of the passion they’d shared. It was a loss for both of them.

‘I’m sorry, little bird,’ he said after a moment, and he meant it. ‘I’m sorry you don’t remember that night. But I don’t mind your anger. In fact, be angry with me all you want. Scream at me, shout at me, show me your claws. I like it.’

She stared up at him, searching his face for what he didn’t know. ‘I know what you’re trying to do,’ she said, her voice husky. ‘And it won’t work. I’m still not going to sleep with you again.’

Except she wanted to, he knew. He could see the truth in her eyes.

Why she was insisting on refusing him, he didn’t know, but clearly it had something to do with her feelings around her lost memories.

He couldn’t argue with that.

You don’t need to sleep with her again. Sex isnotjust sex for her and that makes it complicated. Disengage, remember?

‘Well,’ he murmured. ‘Far be it from me to insist.’ His hands tightened on the arms of her seat momentarily, then pushed himself away from her and straightened to his full height. ‘If you change your mind, you only have to ask.’

Yet more colour crept through her cheeks. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be changing my mind.’

For a moment, he stayed where he was, staring down at her, seeing the passion that lay deep inside her, burning like banked embers in her eyes. All it would take would be another touch, another kiss, and she’d go up in flames...

But no. He wasn’t going to touch her again.

He smiled. ‘Fine. If you do, though, let me know. I think you’d look pretty on your knees.’

Then he turned around, took his phone from his pocket and began to make the last of his phone calls.

CHAPTER SIX

LARK’SPALMSWEREsweaty as she sat her at tiny kitchen table, unable to concentrate on the crossword puzzle she was trying to do to pass the time.

Cesare—no,Signor Donati—would be here any minute and all the things she’d told herself she was going to do that morning hadn’t got done, because she hadn’t been able to settle.

Maya was playing in her playpen in the little living area just across the hall and Lark could hear the happy sounds she was making as she smashed a couple of wooden blocks together. She hadn’t started walking yet, but she wasn’t far off and Lark knew her playpen days were numbered. Which meant Lark’s life was going to get a little bit more difficult.

There was a thump then a cry, and instantly Lark leapt to her feet, her crossword forgotten. She went into the living room to find Maya sitting on her bottom and crying loudly, lifting her arms to Lark as she appeared.

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