St Piran's: Italian Surgeon, Forbidden Bride (16 page)

As if by instinct, they moved in unison to close the last of the gap between them, and the instant he touched her, the instant her lips met his, the doubts that had seemed so real for a moment dissolved into nothing. They needed no words because their bodies talked for them. Jess found she couldn’t formulate a single coherent thought as Gio continued what he had begun that morning and in the shower, devoting his time and attention to her.

Every touch, every kiss, every caress of his fingers and brush of his lips and tongue built the pleasure layer by layer. She writhed against him, her body turning molten as his mouth worked down the column of her throat, setting every nerve tingling and every particle of skin on fire. He trailed down the valley between her breasts, bypassing flesh that yearned so badly for his attention and continuing down to her navel. She hadn’t known she was so sensitive there but the tantalising, teasing quest of his teeth and tongue had her body arching up to meet him, seeking more.

She must have spoken the word aloud because he chuckled, the huff of warm breath against her skin a subtle and teasing caress of its own. She moaned as he finally turned his attention to her breasts, the perfect pressure of his fingers driving her crazy.

‘Gio, please,’ she begged, craving the touches he teasingly denied her.

Relenting, his teeth gently grazed one sensitive nipple before his tongue salved the delicious sting. Then he sent her to the stratosphere as he took the peak into the warm cavern of his mouth. When she thought she couldn’t bear it a moment longer he released his prize, turned his attention to its twin and began the exquisite torment all over again.

Impatient, her eager hands traced the muscular contours of his shoulders before working down his back, urging him closer. She wanted to explore and savour him as he was doing to her, but she was so close to the edge she couldn’t wait a moment longer to know the joy of being united fully with him.

He took a moment to protect them and she pleaded with him not to wait any longer as he moved to make
them one. She arched up to meet him, wrapping her legs around him, gasping his name at the delicious sensations as her body welcomed his and, finally, they were one.

‘Jessica…’

‘Yes. Please, Gio. Don’t stop.’

She had never experienced anything as magical and special as making love with Gio. It was incredible, earth-shattering and she never wanted it to end. He murmured to her in Italian as they moved together in a rhythm as old as time. She abandoned herself to him completely, as he did to her, and the mix of exquisite tenderness and fiery passion she found with him was a devastating combination.

When the inevitable moment arrived, Jess clung to him, burying her face against him, breathing in his musky scent, calling his name as they drove each other over the edge to a shattering release. As she spun out of control, she didn’t care if she never came down to earth again, just so long as she was with Gio.

Gio gazed at Jessica’s sleeping form, the wild fire of her hair tossed across the pillow and a couple of tell-tale little marks on her otherwise flawless, silky-smooth skin following the intensely passionate night they had shared. It had been the most incredible experience, beyond anything he had imagined. And it had scared him.

He wasn’t sure at exactly which moment during their sensual night together it had happened, but he had suddenly known with surety and not much surprise that he loved her. It may have happened far more speedily but, as with Sofia, they had begun as friends first and foremost. He and Sofia had been children and their emotions
had evolved slowly, whereas with Jessica the friendship and the desire had hit in tandem.

The pain of losing Sofia had nearly killed him and he’d never imagined wanting another woman again. Then he had met Jessica. He not only wanted her in every way but he liked and respected her as a person and valued the special friendship they shared. So why was he feeling so unsettled? Things had happened so fast, he had fallen so deep so quickly and he knew that if he tied himself to her and anything happened, he would never recover a second time.

Could he take the risk on Jessica’s health? All he knew was that he couldn’t face the prospect of burying another woman he loved. It was a possibility he couldn’t ignore when making a decision that would affect both their futures.

Waking up alone had been unnerving and when she went downstairs and found Gio making coffee in the kitchen, Jess’s unease increased. He greeted her with a smile, but she sensed a change in him. He was on edge, distant. And when he backed off physically, moving away when she would have stepped in for a hug, a cold chill went through her.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, fear building as he failed to meet her gaze.

‘Nothing. I…’

‘Gio?’

He ran a hand through his hair, a characteristic sign of agitation. ‘I’m just not sure what to think about this. It’s all happened so quickly.’

‘You regret it.’ Her heart sank.

‘No! Of course not. Neither of us was expecting
this. The connection was there from the first and our friendship is special and important to me,’ he explained, his expression sombre, and Jess sensed a ‘but’ coming. ‘But—’ Jess allowed herself a humourless smile ‘?maybe we should slow things down, take some time. I’d never considered having a new relationship. I’m not sure I’m ready. Especially after what happened with Sofia.’

Everything in her screamed in protest. ‘I see.’

‘I need to be sure, Jessica. Not of you but of me. Losing Sofia nearly killed me and I can’t go through anything like that again,’ he finished, emotion heavy in his voice.

The awful thing was that she understood. She couldn’t argue against his words and the chance of something happening was greater with her with the HIV hanging over her head than it was with another woman. Wrapping her arms around herself, she tried to hold everything together, to not let him see how deeply the rejection had wounded her. Because that was what it felt like. And in that moment, the truth hit home with devastating force… she loved him. In every way and with every part of her being.

Gio had said their friendship was important and apparently he considered things would go on as before, but Jess felt as if part of her was dying inside because friendship was never going to be enough now.

‘I’m going to Italy at the weekend for my parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary,’ he reminded her, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

Her heart breaking, Jess struggled to keep her voice as normal as possible. ‘My cottage should be ready by then, so I’ll move out.’

‘I didn’t mean that.’ He frowned as if her leaving was not something he had considered.

‘Living here was only meant to be temporary,’ she pointed out, knowing she couldn’t stay with him and not
be with
him. ‘It’s for the best.’

His frown deepened, confusion and disappointment mingling in his intensely blue eyes. ‘If that’s what you want.’

It wasn’t what she wanted at all, but she didn’t see how she could do anything else if what she really wanted?Gio himself?was not an option.

The next few days were like purgatory, and by the time Friday arrived, Jess was at breaking point and not at all sure how much longer she could hold on. Pretending to accept Gio’s decision to return things to a platonic footing had involved the performance of her life. She hadn’t been able to sleep, lying in a bed a short distance down the corridor from him, wanting more than anything to be in his arms. But it wasn’t going to happen and the sooner she faced that and rebuilt her battered defences, the better it would be.

He went to Italy on the Friday and, after the loneliest night in the house without him, Jess tried to hold back the tears as she packed her things into her car and then put Dickens and Kipling into their basket for the short journey to her cottage. The kittens would miss Gio almost as much as she would, she reflected sadly. He’d been so good with them. She choked back the emotion as she recalled the way he had lain on the floor, chuckling as the two growing kittens had romped over him. And the time she’d come in late one Friday night after her session of volunteering at the Samaritans to find Gio
lying asleep on the sofa, the kittens curled up on his chest in a tangle.

Feeling numb inside, she secured the house and drove away from it, wondering if it was for the last time. However much she hurt, she couldn’t blame Gio. She knew how devastating Sofia’s death had been and it was understandable that he was wary of embarking on another relationship, especially with someone like her. She was well at the moment, and she would do all she could to stay that way. As Luca and her specialist, Mr Jackson, frequently told her, there was no reason why she couldn’t live into old age with very few problems at all. But anyone would be wary of taking on that uncertainty, especially someone who had experienced what Gio had.

No, Gio was not to blame. It was her own fault. She’d hoped for too much… had dared to dream and to believe in the impossible. Now she had to pick up the pieces because fairy-tale, happy-ever-after endings didn’t happen to people like her.

‘Why did you stay the night with me?’

It was one of the things Megan had most dreaded Josh ever asking and it had played over and over in her head since the day in A and E when they had done the unthinkable and faced their past.

Aside from not wanting to acknowledge the truth to herself, she certainly didn’t want to tell
Josh
the answer to his question. To admit that she had been drawn to him from the first moment she had seen him and that, despite his reputation, she had yearned for him for years like some lovestruck teenager was beyond embarrassing.

Between medical school and caring for her grandmother,
she’d had no time for a social life, so going to a party on New Year’s Eve had been a real treat. Wearing an exquisite dress, her hair and make-up done, she’d felt like Cinderella. Only she’d been granted a bit longer before the spell had been broken… not at midnight, for her, but lunchtime the following day.

For the first time, Josh had approached her. Given his undivided attention, she’d melted like an ice cube under the noon sun. He’d made her feel special. Surprisingly, they had talked and talked, and she’d found him so much
more
than she had ever expected. He’d been funny, he’d listened as if what she’d had to say had mattered, he’d sympathised about her grandmother, and he had confided in her, too. The night had ended in the inevitable way, the sexual chemistry and tension between them impossible to resist.

Megan closed her eyes and tried to push away the painful memories. She had believed in her heart that what they had shared had been more than one night. Much more. Or she never would have gone home with Josh in the first place. They’d connected. On every level. She hadn’t imagined it. And it
hadn’t
just been the sex, amazing as that had been. She knew Josh had been spooked by their closeness as he’d freely admitted that he’d revealed things to her that he’d never told to anyone else. He’d told her she was different. He’d been so genuine. And she’d believed him. Had
wanted
to believe him. So badly.

They had finally, reluctantly, parted but only after Josh had made love to her one last time and had made her promise to meet him that evening. It had been noon when she had rushed home to her grandmother feeling a mix of guilt and euphoria. The hours with Josh had
been the most amazing of her life and she hadn’t been able to wait to see him again. So when he had stood her up, failing to meet at the agreed time and place, she had been confused and upset.

When she had finally seen him several worrying days later, he had blanked her completely, laughing with his friends, ignoring her as if their night had never happened. She’d been devastated. Even now she could remember how she had felt… used, cheap, stupid, incredibly naïve and very, very hurt.

Megan shivered in reaction as the memories of that lonely, frightening time and what had followed over the next months flowed through her. Ashamed, she had withdrawn and hidden herself away. And then she had discovered that she was pregnant. And
so
scared.

Weeks later she’d experienced a searing pain and had remembered nothing until she had woken up in hospital to learn that Josh had been part of the team who had not only taken away her baby but had performed a hysterectomy, depriving her of ever becoming a mother. She’d been devastated, the sense of loss and grief overwhelming.

Eight years on, listening to his explanation and seeing his own emotion had given her much to think about. The hurt remained, both at his rejection and at the loss of her baby. But while there was much she was still angry with him about, she no longer blamed him for the miscarriage or the lengths taken to save her life.

Despite their past and all that lay between them? including the very real presence of his wife—the chemistry remained. When they worked together in A and E, they often knew what the other was thinking or doing without the need for words.

She knew he was out of bounds. She knew what had happened the last time the chemistry had led her astray. And she couldn’t forget the way Josh had rejected and betrayed her. So discovering that she was still vulnerable to him, still drawn to him and still unable to get him out of her mind, frightened her.

If she showed the slightest weakness she feared what might happen. And only heartache would lie ahead. She had learned her lesson the hard way the last time round. So why did she have the terrible feeling that history was going to repeat itself?

L
ATE
on Sunday afternoon Jess walked along the surfing beach east of Penhally’s harbour, lost in thought. It had been another beautiful day, but the air was cooling as the sun began its slow descent towards the horizon. Pushing her hands into the pockets of the floaty skirt that fell to her knees, Jess sighed. There was no escaping her thoughts. Thoughts that were stuck in one place and refused to budge. With Gio.

He would be back tonight and tomorrow she would see him at work. She wasn’t sure how to continue pretending that nothing had happened or behave normally, accepting they could only ever be friends.
Could
she be friends when she wanted so much more? It was a question that had pounded in her head all week and she still didn’t know the answer. All she did know was that she had missed him terribly and faced with a choice of never seeing him again, then, as sad and pathetic as it sounded, any part of Gio was better than no Gio at all. Even if she was dying inside. Because she had fallen in love with a man who had experienced such heartache that he couldn’t take a risk on someone whose future could be as uncertain as hers.