Читать книгу Modern Romance July 2016 Books 5-8 - Кейт Хьюит - Страница 23

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

LUCA’S LIPS CRASHED down on Hannah’s and it felt like coming home. Her mouth opened under his and her hands clutched his lapels. He heard her soft moan and it incited him further. He wanted her. He needed her.

‘Luca...’ she muttered and he pulled her to him, his hands sliding over the slippery satin, anchoring on her hips, wanting to keep her as close as possible.

She pressed against him, the softest part of her arching against him so he could barely restrain himself from peeling her dress away from her body and burying himself inside her warmth.

The limo began to slow to a stop and with a gasp Hannah pulled back, her face flushed, her lips swollen.

‘I’m home...’

‘This is home,’ Luca growled, and pulled her towards him. She came willingly, melting into him, her lips finding his as she rubbed against him.

‘I can’t, Luca,’ she mumbled but then let out a breathy sigh as his hand cupped her breast.

‘You really can.’

She laughed shakily. ‘Is this really a good idea?’ She pulled back again, and even in the darkness of the limo he saw the unhappy confusion in her eyes.

Luca took a deep breath, willing the fire in his body to fade. ‘It seems like a very good idea to me.’

‘I still don’t want a fling, Luca.’

He glanced away, feeling cornered and yet knowing it was unfair. Just because Hannah didn’t want what he did...

And hell if he actually knew what he wanted.

‘Couldn’t we just take one day at a time?’ he asked. ‘And see what happens?’

Hannah stilled and he turned to face her. She looked delectable, half-sprawled on his lap, her hair falling down from its chignon, her eyes bright and luminous, rosy lips parted.

‘What exactly are you saying?’

‘That I don’t want to lose you. But I don’t know how much I have to give.’

She let out a trembling laugh. ‘That’s honest, I suppose.’

‘Most people don’t start a relationship promising for ever,’ Luca said gruffly.

Hannah’s gaze sharpened. ‘Is that what you’re suggesting? A relationship, rather than a fling?’

‘Yes.’ The word came reluctantly, and Hannah could tell. She laughed again, the sound one of both sorrow and hope.

‘Well?’ Luca asked. ‘What about it?’

‘One day at a time?’ she said slowly, and Luca nodded, holding his breath, amazed at how much this meant to him. How much he needed her to say yes.

A slow, shy smile bloomed across her lovely face. ‘Sounds pretty good to me.’

* * *

The next morning, as she headed into work, Hannah was fizzing with both anticipation and anxiety. She couldn’t wait to see Luca, but she was afraid he might have changed his mind. Afraid that one day at a time might mean one day, full stop. Last night, in the darkness of the limo, after the intensity of their charade for Tyson and then that passionate, overwhelming kiss, maybe Luca had said things he regretted in the cold light of morning.

Her doubts were swept away when Luca strode into the office and, going right to her desk, pulled her towards him for a thorough kiss.

‘Good thing no one else is on this floor,’ Hannah exclaimed, her lips buzzing, when he’d finally released her. ‘What if someone saw?’

‘No one did,’ he returned before heading into his office. Hannah sat down at her desk, her lips buzzing, her heart singing with joy.

She told herself to slow down, to take one day at a time just as Luca had said, because neither of them had any idea what tomorrow could bring. But her mind and heart both went leaping ahead anyway. Seemed as soon as she’d got over the anxiety of actually starting a relationship she went tumbling in, head-and-heart-first.

Luca asked her to spend Saturday with him—the day with Jamie and the night the two of them alone. Both prospects filled Hannah with both excitement and nervousness. Introducing her son properly to Luca was a big step—and as for the night...

She just felt excitement about that.

Luca had asked her what kinds of things Jamie liked to do, and she’d told him the usual five-year-old-boy pursuits: the park, the zoo, football. ‘And he’s mad about planes,’ she’d confided. ‘We always go outside to look at them heading for Heathrow.’

Luca had typed it all into his smartphone, looking as serious as he did when conducting a million-pound business deal. Hannah’s heart had ached with love.

Yes, she was falling in love with this man, and it was happening so hard and fast it scared her. Luca might not be keeping up. In fact, she was quite sure he wasn’t. Every interaction that didn’t have his hands on her body and his mouth on hers was difficult for him, the words stilted but sincere. He was trying, but it was hard. And maybe one day, even one day soon, it would become too hard.

But in the meantime...

She would do as Luca said and enjoy each day as it came. She knew she couldn’t stop herself from falling in love with Luca, even when her mother worried about her, even when she stared at her son’s sleeping face and wondered if she was setting everyone up for a catastrophic fall. She knew what it was like to love and lose. She didn’t want that to happen again, no matter what she’d told Luca about wanting to try.

Saturday dawned sunny and warm, a perfect spring day that felt like a promise. Luca picked them up not in his usual limo, but in a flashy sports convertible that Hannah had never seen before. Jamie leapt up and down with excitement at the prospect of travelling in such a vehicle; Luca had even gone to the trouble of installing an appropriate car seat.

‘It’s perfectly safe,’ he told Hannah, even though she hadn’t said anything. ‘I can see the worry in your eyes. But this car has been crash-tested in all sorts of situations.’

‘Is it yours?’

‘Yes, although I don’t drive it as often as I could. I usually prefer to be driven, and use the time to work.’

‘You do have an admirable work ethic,’ Hannah said with a smile. She buckled Jamie into his seat. ‘So where are we going?’

Luca waggled his eyebrows. ‘You’ll see.’

She smiled, enjoying seeing this lighter side to the man she loved. ‘It’s a surprise?’

‘Yep.’

The surprise turned out to be a visit to a private airfield, with Jamie being allowed to scramble in and out of planes, from private jets to a retired fighter plane, culminating in a helicopter ride over London. Jamie’s eyes were huge as he pressed his face to the window and Luca pointed out the London Eye, Big Ben. Hannah’s heart felt so full she couldn’t keep from grinning. From squeezing Luca’s hand the whole ride, simply because she needed to show him how much he meant to her.

They had a luxurious picnic lunch that Luca had arranged on a field overlooking the planes, and as Jamie cavorted around, running off his excess energy, Hannah turned to Luca and put her hand over his.

‘Thank you. This day has been amazing. Jamie will remember it for ever.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘But, you know, the park or the zoo would have been fine, too.’

‘I know not every day can be like this,’ Luca admitted wryly. ‘But I suppose I wanted to make a good first impression.’

‘Trust me, you’d already done that with the cakes.’ She paused, her hand still over his, longing to know more about this man her heart had already yielded to. ‘How is it you grew up with so little and yet now you have so much?’

Luca shrugged. ‘Hard work, a lot of determination, and a good dose of luck.’

‘Where did you grow up?’ Hannah asked. ‘I’m ashamed to admit I don’t even know.’

‘A small village in Sicily.’ Luca’s expression closed, and Hannah knew this had to be hard for him. ‘My mother was unwed when she had me, and in that kind of remote, traditional community we both suffered badly, albeit in different ways.’

‘Oh, Luca, I’m sorry.’ Now she understood why he’d asked if she’d been married when she’d had Jamie.

‘It made me determined to escape.’

‘And foster care? Was that hard?’

He shrugged, the negligent movement belying the deep emotion she saw fermenting in his eyes. ‘It was what it was. A home for orphan boys in rural Sicily—what do you expect? But I had a good teacher and he encouraged me to apply for a scholarship. From there I went to university, and when I was twenty-two I bought my first property, a falling-down building in one of the worst districts in Naples.’

‘And what did you do with it?’ she asked, intrigued.

‘I developed it into a halfway house for homeless teens and sold it to the government.’

‘You’ve never forgotten your roots,’ Hannah said slowly. She’d known that Luca had been committed to certain principles in all of his property deals. She just hadn’t understood what had motivated him.

‘I never have,’ Luca agreed, his voice going a bit flat. ‘And I never will.’ His tone had turned ruthless, almost menacing, and it made Hannah afraid to ask any more questions. In any case, Luca asked one instead. ‘Tell me about Jamie’s father.’

Hannah tensed even though she knew he had a right to ask the question. ‘What about him?’

‘Did you love him?’

‘Yes, but it feels a long time ago now.’

‘You told me you knew what it felt like for someone to expect you to slot in his life.’

Hannah sighed. ‘Yes, that was what Ben expected, and I didn’t realise it until I stopped.’

‘What do you mean?’

She hesitated, not wanting to access all these old memories yet accepting that Luca had a right to the truth. ‘I met Ben while in college. He had dreams of travelling afterwards, seeing the world. When we’d started dating we planned this carefree life, traipsing around Europe and Asia, taking jobs as we could, living totally free.’

Luca studied her, his gaze both serious and intent. ‘And then what happened?’

‘And then I fell pregnant. Accidentally. And I realised that I wanted to keep the baby, that Ben’s dreams of travelling the world weren’t really my dreams, even though I’d convinced myself they were. I’d never been anywhere, as you know, and I liked the idea of an adventure. I just liked the idea of a bigger adventure, of being a mother, better. I couldn’t turn away from that.’

‘And how did...Ben react?’

‘He wasn’t pleased, to say the least. He was furious with me, and he demanded I have an abortion.’ She tucked her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on top as she recalled that last, awful confrontation, felt the ensuing, needling guilt. ‘I could sympathise with him a little, because I’d done a complete about-face, and now wanted something we’d both agreed to not wanting, at least not for a long while.’ She paused, her gaze unfocused as she recalled Ben’s parting words. I’ll damn well go alone, then.

‘Hannah?’ Luca’s voice was gentle, breaking into her unhappy thoughts. He squeezed her fingers. ‘What happened?’

‘We had a huge row. He said he was going to travel anyway, and leave me behind. And then he stormed out and jumped onto his motorcycle, and twenty minutes later crashed into a lorry. He died instantly.’ She raised her eyes, giving Luca a sorrowful smile. ‘I’ve chosen to believe that he might have come round. He was shocked, and understandably so, and he always did have a temper. And I felt terribly guilty, still do really, for yelling right back at him. But he would have come round. He wouldn’t have left me or our child, not if he had a choice.’ Luca didn’t answer and Hannah let out a wobbly laugh. ‘You probably don’t believe that. And maybe he wouldn’t have, but I don’t want Jamie to know that about his father. You’re actually the only person I’ve told.’

‘Not even your mother...?’

‘I didn’t want her to think badly of Jamie’s father...and I felt guilty for my part in the whole mess.’ She sighed. ‘But it did make me realise what I wanted a relationship to be, and it’s not simply wanting to be with someone when they go along with your plans. It’s wanting to be with someone whatever the plans. Because plans fall apart. People change. I’ve learned that lesson more than once.’

Luca turned her hand over, stroking her palm with his thumb. ‘So have I.’

‘I don’t want to rush you,’ Hannah blurted. ‘I know this is new...for both of us. But with Jamie involved...’

‘I understand.’

‘It can’t all be fancy cakes and helicopter rides.’

‘I know.’ Luca’s expression turned distant. ‘But I can’t help but want to give Jamie some of the things I never had.’ He gave her a quick, reassuring smile. ‘I won’t spoil him, I promise.’

‘I know you won’t. I can’t believe we’re even talking about this. You’ve exceeded my expectations in so many ways,’ she admitted with a laugh. ‘I should have told you I had a child ages ago.’

‘I would have reacted differently,’ Luca said sombrely. ‘You’ve changed me, Hannah.’

Her heart lifted and she lifted his hand to her mouth to press a kiss to his palm. ‘Not too much, though. Because I like you the way you are.’

‘Just enough,’ Luca assured her, and then leaned across to kiss her tenderly.

* * *

Jamie fell asleep on the way back home, and Luca carried him inside to a waiting Diane.

‘Have fun,’ Diane said, kissing her daughter on the cheek, and then Hannah was back in the sports car with Luca driving to his flat in Mayfair.

She’d never been to his home before, had no idea what to expect. She’d been touched that Luca had wanted to bring her there, and not to some anonymous luxury hotel. He was inviting her into his life in so many ways.

As excited as she was to be alone with Luca, she was also incredibly nervous. The last and only time they’d made love it had been hurried and desperate, a moment of passion neither of them had been expecting. Tonight would be completely different...a deliberate coming together and giving of themselves. Hannah didn’t want to disappoint him.

‘I feel a little nervous,’ she admitted after Luca had parked the car in the underground garage and they were riding up the lift to his penthouse flat.

‘Nervous? Why?’

‘Because this is different. What if...what if I’m not good enough?’

Luca’s eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline. ‘Trust me, Hannah, you’re more than good enough. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this night for most of my life.’

She smiled tremulously, pleased by his words but not quite sure if she could believe them. Luca had had dozens, hundreds of women, and was the most powerful, compelling, and attractive man she’d ever met.

And what was she? A single mum with stretchmarks and a B-cup bra size.

The doors of the lift opened directly onto his flat, a single open space with a soaring ceiling and panoramic views of the city. Hannah stepped out onto the marble parquet floor, her heart making its way up to her mouth.

Luca stepped behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. ‘Hannah. Trust me. I want to be with you more than I’ve wanted to be with anyone in my life.’ Gently he brushed her hair aside to kiss the curve of her shoulder, his lips lingering on her skin so a shudder ran through her body.

‘I feel the same way,’ she whispered, because how could she not? Luca was amazing. He’d blown her world clean apart.

‘Good,’ Luca said gruffly, and slid his arms around her waist, drawing her back to rest against the hard wall of his chest. She could already feel his arousal, felt an answering desire race through her veins, pool between her thighs.

‘I brought lingerie,’ she told him on a shaky breath. ‘But I don’t know if I want to wait long enough to put it on, just so you can take it off again.’

‘I don’t,’ Luca answered in a growl. ‘Save it for another night.’ He spun her around, his hands delving into her hair as his mouth found purchase. Hannah returned the kiss, revelling in it, in him, in the freedom and luxury of the whole evening ahead of them.

Still kissing her, Luca backed her towards his bedroom, separated from the living area by linen-covered screens. The bedroom contained nothing but a massive bed, the navy silk duvet stretched invitingly across. With a little smile Luca pushed her back onto it, and then covered her body with his own.

They kissed and kissed, legs and limbs tangling, hands smoothing over every body part they could find. Laughing, both of them, breathless with anticipation and joy.

After a few frenzied moments Luca rolled away, his breath ragged. ‘We don’t need to rush.’

‘I rather feel like rushing,’ Hannah admitted. Every part of her ached with the need for Luca to touch her, and, more than that, to feel that glorious sense of completion and unity she’d felt before.

‘Well,’ Luca answered as he rolled back to rest lightly on top of her. ‘You can’t always have everything you want.’ He popped the button on her jeans and ran his hand lightly over her belly. ‘Sometimes you have to be patient.’

‘Are you going to teach me, then?’ Hannah asked, her breath coming out in a shudder as Luca tugged down her zip.

‘If I can,’ he admitted and pressed a kiss to her belly. ‘If I can be patient myself. I want you so very much, Hannah.’

His heartfelt words made her heart sing even as his hands made her body burn. He stripped off her clothes and then it was her turn to unbutton his shirt, tug down his jeans. She ran her hands over the sculpted muscles she’d only glimpsed in the dark.

‘You really are the most beautiful man. It’s most unfair,’ she complained laughingly.

‘Unfair? Do you really want to look like me?’

She curled a hand around his impressive biceps as his mouth dipped to her breasts. ‘No,’ she confessed breathlessly, ‘but sometimes I feel like an ugly duckling to your swan.’

Luca lifted his head, his gaze locking on hers. ‘Hannah, you’re beautiful.’

‘To you, maybe, but from a purely objective—’

‘To me, yes. Completely to me.’ He brushed the hair away from her face and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips before saying, ‘I can’t be objective when it comes to you. All I see is a woman who makes me burn. Who cares what anyone else thinks?’

‘When you put it like that...’ Hannah said, her laugh turning to a gasp as Luca’s mouth moved lower.

She writhed underneath his sure and knowing touch as he used his mouth and hands on her most sensitive places. Arched her hips, inviting him to a deeper caress and then sighing with both satisfaction and need as he took her up on her blatant offer.

And she touched him, revelling in the hard planes of his chest, the sharp curve of his hip, and the pulsing strength of his arousal.

Luca groaned as she wrapped her hand around him. ‘You’re going to kill me.’

‘But you’ll die happy,’ Hannah teased.

Then, finally, he was moving inside her, her body stretching to accommodate him, her eyes widening as she felt him in her deepest part. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands clutching his shoulders as he began to move and she matched his rhythm.

‘Luca...’

She closed her eyes as she surrendered herself to the wave of pleasure they were both riding to the crest, until Luca touched her cheek and whispered raggedly, ‘Look at me, Hannah. I want to see you as I make love to you. I want you to see me.’

Hannah opened her eyes to see Luca gazing at her with burning need, and that blazing look was what had her tumbling over the edge of that wave, until they were both lost in pleasure.

Afterwards they lay in a tangle of limbs and covers, their heart rates slowing as their breathing settled. Hannah stretched and then snuggled into Luca, his arm coming around her shoulders. She felt sated and happy, her body nearly boneless.

She smoothed her hand down Luca’s chest, enjoying the liberty of touching him. Her hand drifted lower and he caught it in his.

‘Give me a few minutes, at least,’ he murmured, and she laughed softly. ‘Vixen,’ he teased, and pressed a kiss to her hair.

‘I like taking one day at a time,’ Hannah told him lazily. ‘And one night at a time.’

‘Glad to hear it.’

‘It’s funny to think that if you hadn’t needed a fake fiancée we wouldn’t be here like this.’ She’d meant to tease but she felt Luca tense next to her. She rolled onto her side, her hair brushing his chest as she looked at him. His expression was bland, and she’d learned how he used that to hide his true, deeper feelings. ‘Luca? What is the history between you and Tyson?’

‘I told you before, it happened a long time ago.’

‘But it matters,’ Hannah said quietly. ‘It certainly mattered to you during that weekend. And yet he doesn’t even know...how can that be?’

‘Leave it, Hannah.’

She recoiled at the taut note of warning in his voice. She’d thought they’d moved past that kind of thing. She’d thought they’d been opening up to each other. She’d certainly told Luca more about herself than she had anyone else.

‘Why can’t you tell me about it?’ she asked, and Luca rolled off the bed so he was sitting on the edge, his back to her.

‘Because it’s not important.’

Hannah knew she shouldn’t push. She might be risking everything they’d only just started to build, and yet...what had they built, if they couldn’t talk about this?

She took a deep breath. ‘It is important, but you obviously don’t want to tell me.’ She waited for something from Luca, but he didn’t reply.