Page 18 of His Innocent's Passionate Awakening

‘Four.’

‘And?’

Artie spread her hands outwards. ‘And nothing. I couldn’t cope with the side effects of medication. Meditation and mindfulness helped initially but not enough to get me outside the castello grounds. Talk therapy helped too at first but it was expensive and I didn’t have the time with my caring responsibilities with Papa to keep going with it.’ She gave a sigh and added, ‘I found it exhausting, to be honest. Talking about stuff I didn’t really want to talk about.’

‘The accident?’

Artie nodded, her gaze slipping out of reach of his. ‘So, there you have it. My life in a nutshell—no pun intended.’

Luca brushed a finger down her cheek. ‘Look at me, cara.’ It was a command but so gently delivered it made something move inside her chest like the slow flow of warm honey.

Artie raised her eyes back to his, the tip of her tongue sneaking out to sweep over her lips. ‘I’m sorry for misleading you. You probably wouldn’t have married me if you’d known. But I was so desperate to keep the castello. I don’t know what I’d do without it. It’s the only home I’ve ever known and if I’m forced to leave...’ She bit her lip until she winced. ‘I can’t leave. I just can’t.’

He touched her lip with the pad of his thumb. ‘Stop doing that. You’ll make it bleed.’ His tone was gruff and gently reproving, his gaze surprisingly tender. ‘We’ll find a way to manage this.’

‘How? If your grandfather is too ill to travel, then how will I ever get to meet him?’

‘Technology to the rescue.’ He gave a quick smile and patted his jeans pocket, where his phone was housed. ‘We can set up a video call. Nonno’s eyesight isn’t great and he’s not keen on mobile phones but it will be better than nothing.’

Artie moved a step or two away, her arms crossing over her body, her hands rubbing up and down her upper arms as if warding off a chill. ‘You’re being very understanding about this... I wouldn’t blame you if you tore up the agreement and took full possession of the castello.’

Please God, don’t let him do that. Please. Please. Please.

Luca came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. ‘That’s not going to happen.’ She suppressed a shiver as the movement of air when he spoke disturbed the loose strands of her hair around her neck. ‘We’ll work together to solve this.’

Artie turned to face him with a frown. ‘Why are you being so generous? You said earlier today you’re a selfish man, but I’m not seeing it.’

His smile was lopsided and his hands gently squeezed the tops of her shoulders. ‘I can be extremely selfish when it comes to getting what I want.’ His gaze drifted to her mouth and her heart skipped a beat. After a moment, his eyes came back to hers. Dark. Lustrous. Intense. The air suddenly vibrating with crackling energy as if all the oxygen particles had been disturbed.

‘Luca?’ Her voice was barely audible, whisper-soft. Her hand crept up to touch his lean jaw, her fingers trailing over the light prickle of his stubble. She sent her index finger around the firm contours of his mouth, the top lip and then the slightly fuller lower one. He drew in a sharp breath as if her touch excited him, thrilled him, tempted him.

His hand came up and his fingers wrapped around her slim wrist as if to pull her hand from his face. But then he made a low, deep sound at the back of his throat and his head came down and his mouth set fire to hers.

CHAPTER SIX

LUCA KNEW HE should stop the kiss before it got out of control. Knew he shouldn’t draw her closer to his body where his blood was swelling him fit to burst. Knew he was forty times a fool to be tempted to change the rules on their paper marriage. But right then, all he could do was explore her soft mouth and let his senses run wild with the sweet, tempting taste of her lips. She opened to him on a breathless sigh and the base of his spine tingled when her tongue met his—shy and yet playful, innocent and yet daring. Need drove him to kiss her more deeply, to hold her more closely, to forget about the restrictions he’d placed on their relationship. Call him reckless, call him foolish, but right now he would die without the sweet temptation of her mouth responding to his.

Artie pressed herself against him, her arms winding around his neck, her young, slim body fitting against him as if fashioned specially for him. He ached to explore the soft perfection of her breasts, to glide his hands over her skin, to breathe in the scent of her, to taste her in the most intimate way possible.

His hands settled on her hips, holding her to the aching throb in his pelvis, his conscience at war with his body. He finally managed to find the willpower to drag his mouth off hers, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to let her go.

‘You know this can’t happen.’ His voice was so rough it sounded like he’d swallowed ground glass.

She looked up at him with eyes bright and shining with arousal. ‘Why can’t it? We’re both consenting adults.’

Luca placed his hands around her wrists and pulled her arms from around his neck, but he still didn’t release her. His fingers circled her wrists in a loose hold, his desire for her chomping at the bit like a bolting thoroughbred stallion. ‘You know why.’

Her mouth tightened, her cheeks pooling with twin circles of pink. ‘Because I’m a virgin? Is that it?’

Luca released her wrists and stepped away, dragging a hand through his hair in an effort to get his pulse rate to go back to somewhere near normal. ‘It’s not just about that.’

‘Are you saying you don’t find me attractive? Not desirable?’ Self-doubt quavered in her tone.

Luca let out a gusty sigh. ‘I find you extremely attractive and desirable but that’s not why I married you. It’s not part of the deal. It will make things too complicated when we end it.’

‘How do you know that? People have flings all the time without falling in love with each other. Why not us?’

Luca put some distance between their bodies, but even a metre or so away he could still feel the magnetic pull of hers. ‘You’re young, Artie. Not just in chronological years but in experience. You said it yourself—you haven’t been outside the castello for ten years. Those were ten valuable growing-up years.’

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