Page 22 of The Maid Married To The Billionaire

And now here they were in the bedroom where the bonfire of her best hopes had previously burned into dreary ash. Apprehension leapt through her. ‘There’s just one thing I don’t like...the choking thing,’ she muttered uncomfortably, needing to put that out there but cringing at the necessity of saying it.

Comprehension gripped Enzo and he mentally cursed the male who had put that nervous, anxious look on her flushed face. ‘I’m not into that sort of stuff. In fact, I’m pretty vanilla in my tastes. Nothing to frighten the horses, as my grandmother would say.’

‘That’s a very English saying,’ she remarked, relief filling her to overflowing.

‘My grandmotherisEnglish. Nonno...my grandfather...met her when she was a chalet girl at a ski lodge when they were both very young. Against everybody’s wishes, they married and they’re still together.’

‘That’s why your English is so good.’

‘Probably.’ Enzo could see the nerves infiltrating her again, her skin taut across her cheekbones, eyes downcast. ‘Do you mind me asking if your ex was your first lover?’

Skye nodded silent confirmation.

‘So, practically a virgin on my terms,’ Enzo teased as he unzipped his jeans and kicked them aside to come down beside her on the rucked bed. ‘I may not be able to offer you for ever, but I can show you pleasure and, hopefully, a little fun.’

He didn’t have a shy bone in his body. Why would he have? she asked herself, scanning his near godlike physical perfection. He was all bronzed, hair-roughened vitality and virility. He was also primed for action and there was definitely more of him than she was accustomed to dealing with. She lay back on the bed, trying not to feel like a human sacrifice, wondering for a moment what insanity had persuaded her that she ought to try again to see if intimacy was any different with Enzo.

‘Look on the bright side,’ Enzo whispered, leaning over her with unvarnished cool. ‘If you don’t like it with me either, you don’t ever have to do it again.’

‘I suppose that’s a good point,’ she said, a little breathless at him being that close.

She sat up again, almost knocking him back, nervous tension making her jerky and indecisive. She peeled her pyjama top over her head, snaked her hips free of the shorts, flung them on the floor, lay back down again and found Enzo staring down at her with wondering amusement brimming in his gaze.

‘What?’ she said flatly.

‘You’re so obviously in this “let’s get this over as fast as possible” mode,’ he proffered. ‘And that’s not how I operate.’

Skye ignored him to slide beneath the duvet, too self-conscious about her lack of sexy curves to stay naked on top of the bedding.

‘Do you think it’s possible for you to switch off your brain and relax for a moment?’

‘Doubt it.’

‘You’re not allowed to bail on me as soon as it’s over, either,’ Enzo warned her, although a quick departure had never bothered him with any other woman because he never stayed the whole night with anyone. But he already knew that it would be different with Skye, that he hadonechance and he had to go for it and make the most he could out of it.

‘Why not?’

‘Because that’s not what I want...perfunctory sex, brief and superficial.’

‘I thought that’s what you specialised in. Isn’t that what womanisers do?’

‘What would you know about womanisers?’ Enzo enquired as he slid in beside her, sudden heat burning down her right side, making her shiver in reaction.

‘Nothing,’ she admitted.

‘Well, there you are. It’s not all about scoring for me, at least not with you.’

‘I’m sure you say that to all your women,’ Skye told him huffily. ‘I don’t need that sort of reassurance. I’m perfectly happy just to be here...foronenight.’

‘And all the more precious for it,’ Enzo husked, claiming her parted lips with his warm, hungry mouth, stealing the very breath from her lungs as honeyed warmth spread through her lower body, driving off the chill of nerves that had been spreading through her.

‘Enzo... I—’

‘Shush,’ he hummed against her parted lips. ‘I’m not going to do anything you don’t want to do and the minute you say stop, Istop. You can trust me.’

Skye drew in a quivering breath, feeling reassured. ‘All right.’

‘It will be better than all right; it will be fantastic because we have explosive chemistry.’

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