Page 31 of Royally Roma
Whatever had happened to him as he’d stared down at the flowers appeared to have passed. The heated distance had returned to his gaze, calm and menacing. But the pull she felt toward him was stronger than before.
She had the sudden urge to rise up on tiptoe and press her wet lips to his until the rain consumed them.
She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
But the tour is over. He’s not my client anymore. Technically speaking.
She was splitting hairs and she knew it. The real reason she couldn’t kiss him again had less to do with the fact that she was his hired guide and more to do with protecting her heart. Far more.
She wasn’t ready. Not yet. She wasn’t sure she would ever be ready.
It was a sobering thought. Was she really prepared to spend the rest of her life alone? She’d been lied to by her own father and then again by Elio, the only man she’d ever allowed herself to trust. She had every right to be wary. She had every right to question her own judgment.
But for how long?
She swallowed. Hard. The idea of never being kissed like that again was almost too much to bear.
She pulled in a ragged breath. It was time to go, before she found she couldn’t. “This concludes our tour. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself.”
“Enjoyed myself?” He looked at her for a long, loaded moment. “That I have. Thank you for a lovely day. It was unexpected.”
Unexpected.
She would have thought that a strange way to describe a tour that he himself had requested, but for the kiss. “I could say the same.” Why was it so difficult to say good-bye? “When does your flight leave?”
“To tell the truth, it was scheduled to leave two hours ago.” He regarded her as if trying to memorize her.
She couldn’t take that look. Not for a second. It made her bones ache.
She aimed her gaze at her feet. “Oh.”
“So I really must be going,” he whispered.
A lump formed in her throat, which made her feel beyond ridiculous. She shouldn’t be feeling this wistful. She shouldn’t be feeling a lot of the things she was experiencing at the moment.
“Of course. You have a plane to catch.”Deep breaths. You just have to make it through the next two minutes.“As soon as I collect payment, you’ll be a free man.”
“Payment.” A tantalizing muscle in his jaw clenched.
Clearly he’d forgotten the tour wasn’t prepaid. She could understand how that might have slipped his mind. Ordinarily the touring company collected payment in advance or at least a deposit. But posh clients from high-end establishments like the Hotel de Russie were spared this routine.
She pulled out her notepad and flipped to the information she’d jotted down about his reservation and waited for him to retrieve his wallet from his pocket.
Except he wasn’t reaching for his wallet. He was just standing there looking vaguely uncomfortable. Uncomfortable, albeit still far too handsome for a mere mortal.
She thrust the notepad toward him. “Yes. The agreed upon price was two hundred fifty euro.”
He frowned at the spiral-bound pages. “I’m afraid that might be a problem. I don’t have two hundred fifty euro in cash on me at the moment.”
She shrugged and flipped the notebook closed. “That’s not a problem at all. I can take a credit card.”
It was then and only then that Julia began to worry. Because he still wasn’t reaching for his wallet, and that make no sense at all. He owed two hundred fifty euro for the tour. He could clearly afford it. He was staying at the most exclusive hotel in Rome. The Cartier strapped round his wrist probably cost more than she made in an entire year.
She glanced at his arm and found his wrist was bare. No watch at all, just a pair of understated silver cuff links on the French cuffs of his dress shirt. That was strange. She was sure she’d seen him glancing repeatedly at a fancy wristwatch earlier, before he’d snuck out for his urgent visit to the barber.
Maybe she’d been mistaken. Anyway, whether or not he wore a watch didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was still standing there empty-handed.
Why isn’t he reaching for his wallet?
