After the Storm (All I've Ever Needed)(7)

Numb with shock, Natalie quickly re-positioned her monitor and adjusted the blinds covering the window so that he wouldn’t know she had been looking out for him like a love-sick fool.

She should have known better than to doubt her first instincts. Alarm bells had immediately gone off when Stephano hadn’t as much as extended an invitation for a walk in the park over the weekend. She had gone home thinking that she’d been ‘laid and played’, but after reading the first of the three romance novels she’d finished over the weekend she’d been once again convinced that good men did exist and Stephano was one of them.

She’d come to work this morning eager to see him, to find out if he’d missed her as much as she’d missed him, hoping that he would admit that not one waking hour had passed without thoughts of her and the scorching sex they’d had.

She should have known that it was all too good to be true.

“Sorry, I’m late, guys,” Stephano apologized as he burst into the office. “Crazy weekend and then my father complained of chest pains last night and had to be rushed to hospital. Turns out he had a nap too soon after eating a large portion of my mum’s lasagna and had a bad case of heartburn.”

Yeah, right! She wanted to snort in derision but instead asked politely, “How’s he feeling now?”

“Much better, thanks,” Stephano replied, giving her a secret wink that she didn’t acknowledge. “They ran tests on him and finally released him this morning.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Their colleagues seemed to miss the sarcasm in her voice, but Stephano’s eyes narrowed as he took a seat behind his desk and looked across at her.

She ignored him, dipping her head and pretending to be engrossed in her work.

At lunch rather than go late with Stephano and two of their other colleagues as usual, she went early to a local wine bar with Morgan and grabbed a sandwich on her way back.

That evening, Morgan who usually left early had a project that was due the next morning. He stayed late to finish it and at half past five the office was empty except for the three of them. Several times Natalie saw Stephano glance in Morgan’s direction with ill-concealed annoyance. Normally she would have been annoyed too; she’d always thought of this time of the day as their special time. Just the thought of sitting close enough to see him, even if not touch him, had thrilled her. Often when she had gone to the bathroom to ready herself for the journey home by Tube, she’d found herself wet with longing.

Not today, though!

Morgan finally shut down his computer, grabbed his coat and threw them a hasty goodbye, saying that he had a blind date with a hot new guy.

Natalie felt both exhilarated and apprehensive being alone with Stephano again. Her heartbeat quickened and she wondered for a moment if she would have a heart attack as he quickly rounded his desk and stalked over to her.

“Natalia?”

It’s Natalie, she wanted to scream at him. The arrogance of the man thinking that he could come over and say her name with his sexy Italian voice in the same way he had called her ‘darling’.

“Yes,” she responded coolly, lifting her head and looking calmly into his eyes.

“Natalie?” he repeated. This time he got it right she noted—the ice dripping from her voice must have chilled him. He could have no idea how much money it had cost her in therapy and finally hypnosis to be able to call up her Ice Queen persona when she needed it. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be,” she responded innocently, widening her eyes in surprise at his question. She held the puzzled look just long enough for effect and then gasped as though all thoughts of the events three evenings previous had completely slipped her mind, “Oh, you mean about Friday evening?”

Words, she had discovered far too late in her physically abusive relationship with Michael, can sometimes hurt more than blows to the body. And worst than words, indifference.

“Stephano, it was fun,” she said airily as if sleeping with hunky work colleagues was something she did on a regular basis. “But let’s not repeat it.”

He stood silently looking down at her for long moments, his jaw clenching and unclenching. Her stomach fluttered nervously as she held his gaze, but strangely she didn’t feel fearful that he would resort to physical violence. Finally he reached out and cupped her jaw, running his thumb along the surface for a few bone-melting seconds before bending his head and kissing her softly.

“If that’s your decision, cara, I respect it,” he whispered as he straightened.

Yes, that’s my decision!, she wanted to scream at him. I deserve more than to always play second fiddle to another woman.