She supposed it had been inevitable that they fall into each other’s arms, finally indulging in the passion that she’d felt toward him for years. For him she understood it was simply having sex.
Fine. She didn’t want ties here. Didn’t want to lose her heart. This was never supposed to be anything more than a fling. A chance encounter to explore passions. To replace horrible, ugly memories with something beautiful. Something that was her choice.
She had a life and career waiting for her in Colorado. She had aspirations of independence. Of having a peaceful, happy, fulfilled life.
Not once had she thought that she would let Luciano get to her heart again. But she had. Even now it was as if he were pulsing in her blood and stroking her skin. If she closed her eyes she felt him coursing thick and hot through her body, tugging and pushing her over the edge of passion when she least expected it.
He’d left her out of control. Reckless, not with her body but with her heart.
That was where she’d failed before. As an athlete she’d had a margin of upper edge over physical balance. But that training didn’t carry over into emotional stability. It didn’t shield her heart from the onslaught of emotions she couldn’t stop or control.
And that terrified her.
She was comfortable when she was in control. When she was with Luciano, she was horribly off balance. And to think it had only taken him a few days to break down the barriers she’d built around her heart.
For three days and nights she’d made love with him every possible way. Her choice. She’d wanted pleasure from him. Perhaps if she was honest she wanted to revisit the past, to do over what had gone so horribly wrong one cold winter night.
But she hadn’t wanted to involve her heart. Hadn’t wanted to fall a bit more in love with him as the minutes passed. Love?
Ha! How could she love a man who’d rejected her before? Who only wanted her for sex now? Never mind that she’d told herself she wanted this affair with him for pure pleasure. She’d been the one to seduce him.
That realization left no room for complaints. They were getting what they wanted from each other at the moment. As she’d told him, when the job was over, so was their fling.
Those words reminded her that she was tied to him for the duration of their contract. She would still have him in her bed, his strong arms banding around her while his steely length pulsed inside her, filling her with heat and passion. Banishing the emptiness within her.
But staying here with him meant she wouldn’t be free of the crazy nervous upheaval of emotions rioting within her. That wouldn’t happen until she left Italy and Luciano. Then she’d be free.
She was strong enough to have an affair and walk away with only battered emotions. She would survive.
She would welcome these memories of Luciano over those that haunted her with his old friend.
That was the promise she made to herself as she lifted her face to the setting sun. When her job here was finished, she would dredge up the courage to walk away with her head held proud, no matter how much a part of her would stay with him forever.
Luciano topped another undulating rise and she spied the village just below. He whipped over one long easy slope and they were there in the thick of it. Shop owners paused to wave as they passed. And up on the high step rose the majestic la Duchi Royal.
She drank it all in and reveled in the sensory buzz that hummed like a swarm of happy bees. Here she could get back to work instead of chasing hot pursuits with Luciano. She would distance herself from him during the day. If timing permitted, she would spend time with him at night.