After the Storm (All I've Ever Needed)(25)

He turned his hand over and gripped hers tightly.

“I’m not going to hurt you, cara.”

It was a foolish promise. She knew he meant ‘deliberately hurt’, but it was strangely comforting to hear him say the words. There was something so dependable about him. It wasn’t just his physical strength—he gave the illusion he could move a mountain if it stood in his way.

“I must go,” he said abruptly.

“Of course you must.” Natalie was surprised at the bitterness in her voice. It was still early enough for him to claim that he’d been to a nightclub. Some of the more decadent ones didn’t end until noon.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Aren’t you going to shower first?” she taunted as he slipped his shirt on.

“I’ll grab one when I get home.”

Stephano spent more money than he cared to admit on a range of men’s toiletries that kept his skin in top condition. He didn’t doubt that Natalie had a similar or even better range—she had perfectly clear skin—but it was easier to go home, have a shower and change into fresh clothing.

“Aren’t you afraid that she will smell my scent on you?”

“I’m a grown man. My mother…” Natalie watched Stephano’s hands still in the act of fastening his belt. If that wasn’t an indication of guilt what was? “Which she are you talking about, exactly, cara?

“The woman you kissed outside the office the morning after your father had taken ill.”

“Woman?”

“I only got a glance of her, but she definitely looked like feminine to me.”

“Is that why you’ve been acting the way you have since then?”

“I played second fiddle to another woman once. I wasn’t ready to do that again.”

Stephano sat on the stool in front of her vanity mirror and calmly pulled on his socks and then his shoes without responding. His movements as he tightened the laces of his formal shoes were precise and deliberate.

Finally he stood up and walked over to the bed. He brushed the curl that had fallen over her forehead back and raised her chin until she was looking up into his eyes. “Trust is everything to me, cara. Without it we can have nothing.”

Natalie gasped as he turned and walked out of the room.

What the hell did he mean by that?







Comes The Calm





“Good morning, Natalie.” Stephano’s response to her greeting on Monday morning was frosty.

Natalie battled with her temper. If she had been wrong about the other woman all he had to do was say so. After all, it wasn’t as if she’d made some random accusation—she had seen him kiss the woman.

With a day full of meetings, Natalie arrived back at the office at five thirty to find it empty. She could have gone home instead of coming to the office after her last meeting, but had returned in the hope of seeing Stephano and having it out with him.

Disappointed, she walked around her desk to take her computer off sleep mode and shut it down completely. Stephano rarely left the office before half past six, so he must be trying to avoid her.

“I thought you would have gone straight home.” Natalie jumped as Stephano entered the room with a steaming mug of black coffee.

“I had something I wanted to complete before tomorrow,” she explained.

“Would you like a coffee?”

“Sure.” She’d had a creamy mochachino from Belgique in Wanstead less than an hour ago, but the coffee seemed to be a peace offering; it would have been ill mannered of her not to accept.

Stephano returned with her coffee, pulled up a chair next to her desk and sat sipping his, staring at her as if he as trying to read her mind.

She took tiny, occasional sips of hers and stared back at him. She was too angry at him to feel any shyness.

“Trust is everything to me,” he said quietly, breaking the palpable silence between them.

“You said that already, but what exactly do you mean by it?”

“My last girlfriend Renata is a beautiful woman who could have been a model if she was four inches taller, and yet she’s very insecure. I abandoned the guys and went home to her the first three times she called me when I was out with them. She begged me to come home, saying that she needed me. It was exciting to get home and find her waiting for me…ready for us to—”

“Should you be telling me this?” Natalie interrupted, wanting to scratch the woman’s eyes out already.

“I’m trying to explain why I need trust in a relationship,” Stephano replied patiently.

“Okay, but can you do so without telling me how gorgeous your ex-girlfriend is!”

Stephano laughed at her vehemence and Natalie wanted to kick herself for coming across like a jealous shrew.