Page 13 of The Sicilian’s Deal For 'I Do'

The coincidence was uncanny. Butof courseit wasn’t a coincidence. He was waiting for her.

With a heart that wouldn’t stop jolting, she changed course, moving towards him as if drawn by magnetic force, stopping a metre away, staring. Her insides leapt, the recognition overwhelming. ‘What are you doing here?’ Had she forgotten something? She did a quick mental catalogue of what she’d taken to his house—purse, phone, keys. She definitely had all those. Something else? ‘How did you know where I was?’

His eyes flashed to hers. ‘Get in the car, Mia.’ The command made her pulse shiver.

‘Thank you for the kind invitation, but I think I’ll choose to decline.’

He ground his teeth, his jaw visibly moving with the effort. ‘Get. In.’

‘It is a free country, isn’t it? Or are you proposing to kidnap me?’

‘If that’s what it takes.’ He moved closer, and a thrill of anticipation rushed through her. Mia knew she should have been annoyed at his heavy-handed, dictatorial manner but, in truth, she found it exciting. The thought of being kidnapped by Luca conjured all sorts of strange, unacknowledged fantasies. Mia remembered how it had felt to be carried by him last night, as though she weighed little more than a feather. She wanted to feel that again. Her determination was slipping.

Looking in one direction and then the other, she jerked her attention back to Luca. ‘Only because I don’t want anyone my parents or fiancé know to see me talking to you. Of all people!’ She was pleased at how withering her voice sounded.

‘Heaven forbid.’ His own was scathing. ‘Now.’ He wrenched open the door and gestured impatiently for her to take her seat.

Mia shot him one last fulminating glare then moved to the car, careful to give him a wide berth. It was a futile manoeuvre, because if she’d hoped to avoid being close to him, inhaling his intoxicating fragrance, she was just about to step into the lion’s den. The moment she was inside the car, sliding across the plush back seat to the far side, he joined her, folding his far larger frame into the seat then leaning forward and pressing a button that lowered the screen between himself and the driver.

‘Leave us. I’ll call when I’m ready.’

‘Yes, sir.’

The driver left and then Luca turned to Mia, eyes swirling with dark emotions. ‘What happened last night?’

She blinked at him, deliberately avoiding the question. ‘You need me to explain it to you? I would have thought you understood the biology...’

His expression showed he wasn’t amused. ‘You disappeared.’

She tucked her hands together on her lap. ‘No, I left after we finished.’

His eyes probed hers, as if looking for something, she didn’t know what.

‘And you think that’s okay?’

She stared at him, genuinely dumbfounded. ‘I’m sorry, what?’

‘You left without even having a conversation with me? Without explaining your virginity? Without telling me—anything?’

Anger was a whip, stirring Mia to a fever pitch. ‘Isn’t that a little like the pot calling the kettle black?’ she demanded fiercely. ‘You left me standing in a church in a ridiculous wedding dress with three hundred people watching! You seriously thinkIoweyouan explanation?’

‘So what does that mean?’ he snapped. ‘That last night was payback?’

‘Is that your way of saying sex with me was a punishment? Gee, thanks,’ she muttered, reaching for the door.

His hand came across, grabbing her wrist, and sparks ignited beneath her skin.

‘You know that’s not what I meant.’ His voice was a sensual rumble, and he was closer now, his body framing hers, big and strong. She shrank back into the seat, afraid of how her desires might overtake everything else.

‘Yeah, well, I don’t care. You can think whatever the hell you want. It happened. We had sex. Isn’t that why you invited me over?’

‘Yes.’ His answer came without delay and Mia tried to ignore the strange sinking feeling in her chest cavity. ‘But I didn’t realise you were totally inexperienced.’

Mia glared at him. ‘Does it make a difference?’

His frown was instinctive. ‘Yes,’ he said after a beat. ‘You should have mentioned it.’

‘And you should have mentioned that you weren’t planning to marry me.’

---