‘I brought you to my room because I heard you crying in your sleep and I didn’t want you to disturb Nico. You spoke your mother’s name,’ Sergio added gently.
She swallowed. ‘I dream about her sometimes.’ She looked away from him, feeling incredibly vulnerable. She had a vague recollection of being upset and feeling comforted by strong arms that had held her. Another memory, of running her hands over a broad, hair-roughened chest made her blush and hope fervently that it had all been part of a dream.
‘I was glad I was able to comfort you.’ Sergio confirmed the worst and Kristen winced with embarrassment to know that she had actually stroked her hands over him while she had been asleep.
‘I’m sorry if I disturbed you,’ she said stiffly.
‘Having your gorgeous body cuddled up close to me was no hardship, cara.’
Beneath his softly teasing tone, Kristen heard something deeper and darker that evoked a coiling sensation in the pit of her stomach. Desire throbbed between them, but she could not, would not fall into its delicious embrace.
Panic sharpened her voice. ‘I did not cuddle up to you.’
‘Oh yes, you did.’ He moved so fast that before she had realised what was happening she was lying flat on her back and his hard body was covering hers so that she could feel every muscle and sinew of his thighs pressed against her. Even more shocking was the feel of his rock-solid arousal jabbing into her belly, and she couldn’t prevent her body’s instinctive response as molten heat pooled between her legs.
‘You clung to me like a limpet,’ he taunted. ‘And you cried out my name. Perhaps returning to Casa Camelia brought back memories of all that we shared four years ago?’
‘All we shared was sex.’ Somehow Kristen managed to sound scathing; refusing to let him see how much his words affected her. She pushed against his chest and tried to slide out from beneath him, but he had pinned her to the bed and every slight movement she made resulted in his burgeoning arousal nudging deeper between her thighs. ‘You didn’t share anything else with me, least of all yourself. You kept a barrier between us and I never knew what you were thinking...or feeling.’
‘I gave you more than I’ve ever given to any other woman,’ he told her intently.
‘Am I supposed to feel flattered by that? Was I supposed to feel grateful that you fitted me into your busy work schedule?’
‘I asked you to stay in Sicily with me. You were the one who chose to leave.’
‘Because I knew that if I had stayed as your mistress our relationship would have been all on your terms. You expected me to give up everything that was important to me, even though you knew that gymnastics was a big part of my life.’
‘My position as head of a division of the Castellano Group necessitated me travelling extensively and working long hours. But you needed to be in England to train with the gymnastics team. I couldn’t see how we could continue our affair if we were rarely together or even in the same country.’ Sergio exhaled heavily. ‘The reason my parents divorced was because my mother was determined to pursue an acting career in America and she and my father never spent any time together.’
‘We could have tried to work something out. But you refused to make compromises. You made me feel that I was unimportant and that my feelings didn’t count.’ Kristen bit her lip. ‘You did the same at the hotel in London. You were in such a hurry to have sex that we still had our clothes on, and as soon as it was over you were on your phone, no doubt discussing business. You made me feel cheap,’ she muttered.