The Italian's Secretary Bride (13 page)

‘I may not be slim but, between you and me, I'm exceptionally good in bed,' she explained.

The sight of their shocked faces and open mouths made her chuckle softly to herself as she walked to the changing room.

 

Alice slipped into the shallow end of the pool, having first ascertained that Luca was not there yet. Her efforts to break all speed records getting changed had worked.

When he did appear all thoughts of simulating cramp and having to leave the pool were forgotten. She just stared. He was quite simply perfection in motion!

Her eyes darkened and her breath quickened as she watched him with hungry, covetous eyes. There was not an ounce of spare flesh on his magnificent torso, his legs were long, his belly washboard-flat and his shoulders powerful and broad. Her glazed half-closed eyes were drawn to the light dusting of body hair on his olive-toned tanned chest. It narrowed to a directional arrow of dark fuzz on his belly until it disappeared beneath the waistband of the shirts that he wore low across his narrow hips.

The way her nipples suddenly hardened and tingled could have had something to do with the temperature of the water, but the cause seemed more likely to be the image in her head after following that arrow to its source.

She gulped and looked away. Ducking beneath the surface of the water until her lungs burned didn't decrease the raw visceral feelings twisting in her stomach.

A hand like steel suddenly wrapped around her middle. Alice was so surprised to find herself hauled bodily upwards that she took a startled breath. When her head emerged she immediately began to cough. Her head went forward onto the chest of the man who held her as she coughed and spluttered. A firm hand did some soothing stroking of her bare back as she was convulsed by noisy spasms that racked her entire body.

‘What the hell did you think you were doing?' he blazed.

The soothing stops here, she thought. Luca had barely given her time to catch her breath and he was yelling.

‘
Me
doing?' she squeaked, seeing his dark irate face through a mist of tears.
'Me?'
she repeated, her voice rising a quivering decibel or two.

‘You could have drowned.'

Alice sighed. It was clearly time to fess up. ‘No, I really couldn't…' Her voice faded as his incredible eyes darkened and she felt a shudder run through his body.

‘Oh, yes, you could. Have you any idea how long you were down there?' Luca had and each second had lasted half a lifetime for him. ‘If I hadn't seen you go under have you any idea what could have happened? Then when you didn't come up I…' She saw the muscles in his brown throat work as he swallowed convulsively.

‘Why the hell didn't you wait for me to arrive? And where the hell was the lifeguard?' Without waiting for her to respond, he added in a voice that shook with anger, ‘It's criminal negligence!'

‘I didn't drown, Luca.'

Her quiet words seemed to have a soothing effect on him. ‘No. Did you get cramp? Have I said something funny?'

She shook her head and bit her trembling lower lip. ‘I didn't have cramp. I was just messing around really.'

‘Messing around?'

‘Oh, for heaven's sake, if you must know I was fine until you nearly drowned me.'

If she hadn't been busy nearly drowning she would have noticed before now that nothing much more than a drop or two of water separated her lightly clad body from his bare torso.

They were effectively sealed from shoulder to thigh. She was painfully aware of how hard his hair-roughened flanks were against her smoother skin.

She unwound her arms from around his neck and, hands flat against his chest, tried to push herself free but his grip didn't slacken.

‘I saved you,' he rebutted grimly.

‘My hero,' she intoned with shaky sarcasm.

‘I didn't expect gratitude, but…will you keep still or you'll drown us both.'

She gave a scornful snort. ‘In five feet of water?'

A muscle along his jaw quivered. ‘People have been known to drown in five inches of water. We should get you checked over by a doctor.'

‘I'm actually fine. Look at me. Do I look like I'm in need of medical attention?'

Luca accepted her invitation and looked. He loosed his arm from about her waist and, retaining a grip on both her hands, took a step back himself.

Alice noticed that the face so disturbingly close to her own was pale beneath the tan and, though he was looking right at her, there was an odd, unfocused look in his eyes as though he wasn't seeing her.

‘I wasn't drowning, you know. I'm actually quite a…competent swimmer,' she admitted guiltily.

‘Sure you are.'

His patronising tone made her teeth clench. ‘I am.'

‘Like I said, it's all about confidence.'

‘Perhaps you could tell me what I'm doing wrong?' she suggested innocently.

‘All right, then,' he agreed. ‘And don't worry, I'm here.'

She secured the goggles that had been hanging loose about her neck across her face. ‘Knowing you're here makes me feel so safe.' Then, arms stretched in front of her, she dived cleanly beneath the water. Surfacing a few feet away, she began to swim, settling immediately into the familiar rhythm as her body cut a clean, streamlined swathe through the water.

She reached the far end exhilarated but not out of breath. She trod water waiting for him to reach her. It didn't take him long; she was technically a better-than-good swimmer but he was much more powerful.

‘
Actually
, it's all about timing, technique and breath control.'

‘You little witch!' he cried, brushing the water from his eyes with the back of his hand. ‘That was your idea of a joke?'

Hair slicked back that way, he reminded her of a sexy seal. ‘I tried to tell you,' she reminded him defensively. ‘But you were so patronising I couldn't resist.'

‘Patronising! I thought you were scared of the water when all the time you swim like an Olympic contender.'

‘I'm not
that
good,' she protested modestly. ‘The Commonwealths maybe?'

He shook his head, covering everything in the immediate vicinity in a shower of water droplets. ‘Damn it, you swam competitively, didn't you?'

Guiltily she nodded. ‘It was a long time ago and I'm terribly out of shape these days.'

‘You don't look out of shape to me.' His burning glance licked down the full feminine curves of her body attractively displayed in clinging black Lycra.

‘Luca…' Her agonised whisper only made him grin.

‘Why did you tell me you couldn't swim?'

Without replying Alice lay on her back and with a couple of lazy kicks reached the side where, with a sigh, she flipped over onto her stomach.

‘I didn't mean to, it just came out,' she admitted miserably.

Luca, shoulder-deep in the water, curled a hand over the grab rail. ‘For any particular reason?'

‘Well, you said…and I thought…if you thought then I wouldn't have to swim with you…but…'

‘Stop!' he pleaded, holding up his hand. ‘You didn't want to swim with me so you lied? Does that about cover it?'

Not meeting his eyes, she nodded.

‘Couldn't you have simply just said no?'

Her eyes widened. ‘Have you any idea how hard it is to say no to you?' she demanded.

‘Do you find my company so distasteful, Alice?'

‘I wish!'
she exclaimed unthinkingly.

‘Then you like my company?'

‘Oh, for God's sake, Luca, don't you understand? I can't string two words together when you're fully dressed,' she revealed incautiously. ‘I
knew
I'd do or say something really daft if I saw you like…' Her eyes met his and she groaned before sinking once more beneath the surface.

Alice opened her eyes and found herself looking into Luca's lean dark features. Her lips parted in a startled ‘O' of shock.

As she kicked for the surface Luca grabbed her shoulders, his mouth sealed tight to hers preventing the bubbling air escaping. Alice twisted her arms tight around his neck and wound her long legs around his hips. Tightly entwined that way they slowly rose upwards.

As their heads broke the surface they both reacted simultaneously, gasping hungrily for air.

Luca, his chest still heaving with the effort to replenish his oxygen-starved lungs, was the first to recover.

‘That gives an entirely new meaning to mouth to mouth.' His eyes slid to her full lips and lingered on the lush pink softness. ‘You know, you have the most indecently seductive mouth I have ever seen,' he imparted throatily.

Without a word Alice took his water-drenched face between her hands and lovingly stroked the dark hair from his face before pressing her lips hungrily against his.

‘You are so beautiful it makes me want to weep,' she confessed against his mouth. ‘I simply can't bear it…I…' She broke off as his hands curved around her buttocks, drawing her body towards his.

Luca's eyes dwelt on the vulnerable, exposed length of her slender neck. He sucked in a deep, painful breath before pressing his mouth to the base of her throat. Slowly he worked his way lovingly upwards until he reached her lips.

They kissed, both driven by the same unspoken desperation, deep, drowning kisses that made Alice's vision blur and her heart ache.

The pool attendant cleared his throat for the third time before the couple noticed he was there.

‘Is there anything I can do for you?'

Luca responded to such exquisite tact with an appreciative smile. ‘Actually we were just leaving.'

The young man looked relieved.

Alice slid her fingers into the wet hair at his nape and touched her thumbs to the strong angle of his jaw. She gave a discontented pout.
‘We are?'

‘He was tactful, but that poor guy was basically saying
get a room
. Didn't you hear that?'

Alice shook her head from side to side. ‘I was distracted,' she admitted.

Luca's tongue darted out to touch the finger she ran across his lips. ‘You're distracting. But about that room?'

‘I have a room,' she recalled happily.

‘So you have. Do you think it might be a good idea to continue…this there?'

‘Anywhere you like.' And shockingly she meant it. If Luca had wanted to make love to her there and then she would have had no objections.

‘Right then, perhaps?' He extended a hand.

Alice ignored his hand and, palms flat on the Italian-tiled poolside, levered herself out with an agile twisting motion that left her seated on the poolside with her toes dangling in the water. Aware that Luca's eyes were closely following everything she did, she gathered her long hair in one wet hank over one shoulder and twisted until the excess moisture dripped onto the floor.

‘You've done that before.'

Alice gave her head a flick that sent her hair flying backwards. ‘It's a matter of confidence,' she confided, smiling.

‘Witch,' he accused huskily. Then as his eyes slid over her voluptuous dripping form he corrected himself. ‘No, mermaid.'

She held out her hands to him. ‘Aren't you getting out?'

‘I think it might be better for all concerned if I waited until I cooled off.' In response to her baffled frown his eyes dropped significantly.

‘Oh!' she gasped, scrabbling to her feet. ‘I see.'

‘You, I don't mind seeing,' he admitted. ‘Maybe I'll do a few lengths?'

‘Excellent idea, I'll see…that is, I'll…later.' As she headed for the women's changing room she heard the sound of his husky laughter.

‘A
RE
you going up?' Luca asked from within the lift.

The elderly couple who reached the lift before Alice nodded to Luca. ‘Very kind,' the woman murmured as he stepped aside to let them enter.

‘And, Alice!' He affected shock as he saw her approach. ‘Now this is just spooky. I was only thinking about you…well, not five minutes ago. How are you?'

‘Fine.'

‘You look marvellous.' He appealed to the couple already established in the lift. ‘Can we fit another little one in?'

‘Of course.'

She squeezed past him into a corner to mutter with a pleasant smile fixed firmly on her face, ‘If you don't shut up I'll kill you.'

In her experience awkward silences were the norm for lifts, but the short one that followed her gagging order had a life of its own! His whistling didn't help either. For the benefit of their interested audience and her nerves she made a valiant attempt to initiate a normal conversation.

‘I understand you're renovating a place in Tuscany, Luca,' she said in a bright, slightly too loud voice.

His eyes flickered in her direction. ‘Yes.'

Her teeth grated as he started whistling again. ‘And Roman says your family have owned property in that valley for generations. He says it's very beautiful.'

Luca scanned her frustrated face. ‘Are we going to have a conversation about property?'

‘That's the sort of thing people talk about in lifts,' she whispered.

The lift stopped and the couple got out but three more people got in.

‘Roman's right, it is very beautiful, but if you're angling for an invite I'm afraid—'

The first sniff of rejection and her defences sprang into life. ‘
Me
angle for an invite from
you
!' She injected a double dose of scorn into her laughter. ‘I don't get many holidays and when I do I like to spend them with like-minded people whose company I enjoy. People,' she added pointedly, ‘I can relax around.'

One dark brow lifted. His eloquent eyes sparkled with malicious mockery as they skimmed her flushed, antagonistic face. ‘You can't relax around me?' His glance dropped to her tightly clenched hands. ‘I can see we'll have to put some work in on the relaxation front. But actually,' he continued, ‘I was about to explain that the facilities are primitive as yet.'

'Oh!'

‘Actually the facilities are non-existent,' Luca admitted. ‘No running water, no electricity—'

‘You've had problems with your contractors?' It was some comfort to know that things didn't always go Luca's way. He had problems with tradesmen like normal people.

‘No, I'm doing most of the work myself.'

Her eyes grew round with astonishment as they focused back on his face.
'You!'

His wide, sensual mouth curved into an amused smile that widened to reveal a set of perfectly blindingly white teeth.

Attractive smile
, she immediately registered.

‘It must be the peasant in me.'

Alice blinked to clear the distracting image that immediately entered her head of Luca stripped to the waist revealing tautly muscled golden flesh glowing with the honest sweat of labour. She swallowed convulsively and, aware of their audience, arranged her features into an expression of bland interest.

‘Sorry, I'm boring you.'

Too bland.

‘No, actually, I am interested. My sister is a furniture restorer…on a small scale. She and her husband renovated an old granary and she said that finding craftsmen who could recreate the original artisan's work was the hardest part of it.'

Luca nodded. ‘That's true, but it's not why I'm doing the work myself. I get a kick out of building with stone.' He narrowed his eyes as though he could see the stone he spoke of and made a descriptive fluid gesture with one hand.

Her eyes were drawn to the long, tapering length of his brown, infinitely elegant fingers. A shiver traced the tingling path of the imaginary caress that travelled the length of her spine and was followed by a second wave of heat that left her fair skin washed with rosy colour.

The lift stopped yet again, disgorging and taking on passengers. Did nobody take the stairs any more? Carrying on a normal conversation when her entire body was tingling with arousal, when her head was filled with erotic images, was not easy.

‘Roman says it will be quite a show place when it's finished.'

‘It's a long-term project but sometimes things are worth waiting for, don't you think?'

No longer caring about keeping up appearances, she gave a deep sigh. Just looking at him made her ache with longing. ‘If I have to wait much longer…I'll…'

Luca pressed a finger to her lips. ‘Keep it together,
cara
,' he whispered into her ear. ‘We're nearly there.'

To see this incredibly beautiful woman almost fainting with lust for him was one of the most arousing experiences of his life…second only to the underwater kiss. The next project in Tuscany would be a very large pool.

When the lift finally reached her floor Alice all but fell out in her haste to escape.

‘Do you and my brother have a lot of conversations about me?'

She blinked as her eyes connected with his blissfully blue eyes.
Blissful blue?
Oh, God, this is just what I need! Why is it we women insist on falling in love with and weaving our sexual fantasies around the most unsuitable men we can find? she wondered. Her attempt to trivialise what she was feeling didn't help. She wanted Luca with every fibre of her being and she loved him with an equal intensity.

‘You're hardly out of our thoughts.' The truth, even though she hadn't admitted it to herself before, was that once she'd realised that she was milking her boss for information about his brother she had made it a rule not to mention him at all.

Sexual fantasy was fine, she reminded herself. But that was not what this was; this was real. Was she ready for real?

‘That might have been the longest few minutes I have ever spent,' he said. ‘All I wanted to do was kiss you senseless. Have you ever made love in a lift?'

She swallowed and asked hoarsely, ‘No, have you?'

‘The things I haven't done could fill a book, but it wouldn't be as thick as the book filled with the things I've imagined doing to you.' Luca watched her lips part in a soundless sigh and he lowered his head.

The depth of her response shocked Alice and, from the look in his eyes when he lifted his head, she thought maybe it had shocked Luca too.

He ran a hand over her still-damp hair, trailing his fingers in the soft, fine ringlets around her face. ‘You're incredible,' he said, short of breath.

‘So are you.' He reached for her but she stepped back, shaking her head. ‘Come on, we'd better go to my room or we could get arrested. Now that would make the headlines.'

‘You could be right. My sense of decorum goes out of the window when I'm around you.'

Approaching the door, Alice turned her head. ‘About the headlines…Our photo wasn't news, after all.'

‘No.'

Something in his voice made her query. ‘Do you know something about that?'

‘I called in a few favours,' he admitted, stepping through the door behind her.

Alice gulped when she heard it click closed, but didn't turn around.

‘Alone at last.'

She felt him walk up behind her, she felt the long, lean, hard length of him up against her, and with a purr that was part sheer relief she leaned into him.

Luca leaned down and pushed her hair back. ‘I love the way you smell.' Her head fell back against his shoulder as he kissed her neck.

‘I like that.'

‘We like the same things,' he rasped huskily. ‘Do you like this too,
cara
?'

Alice gasped as his big hands came up to curve possessively over her incredibly sensitised breasts. Unable to speak, she nodded. Her eyes closed as his fingers slid down the loose neck of her top caressing the smooth upper slopes. With unerring accuracy he located the front fastening catch. She gave a stifled moan as his fingers moved over her aching flesh.

Her spine arched when he located her nipples. She lay there passively while ripple after ripple of hot sensation swept through her as he teased the rosy peaks. When she could bear his clever caresses no longer she twisted around and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Luca's eyes burned with a dark fire that made her quiver with anticipation as he caught her wrists and held them above her head. Then, still looking into her hot, aroused face, he took the hem of her top and pulled it over her blonde curls. Very carefully he pushed the lacy fabric of her loosened bra back to expose the full proud swell of her breasts.

His fierce gasp was audible. ‘You're incredible! Perfect.'

Alice gasped his name out loud as he dropped to his knees in front of her. Her teeth were chattering helplessly with reaction to what was happening. ‘What are you doing?'

In reply he placed one hand in the small of her bare back. The lightest application of pressure brought her towards him. The first brush of his tongue over one erect rosy nipple and she was lost. The contact sent a surge of pleasure like nothing she had ever known through her body.

‘My God!' Her entire body shuddered in reaction. She knew the erotic image of him kneeling there before her would never leave her.

‘You like that?' he asked in a whisper.

In reply Alice slid her fingers into his lush dark hair and shut her eyes tight as he went exactly where she guided him. The sensual touch of his hands and mouth made her skin burn with desire until her skin felt as though she were literally on fire. Her entire body was so sensitive to his touch that the lightest caress made her squirm and moan.

When his fingers slid under the waistband of her trousers, skating lightly over the soft curve of her belly, the feral moan lodged in her throat escaped in a long, low, keening cry.

Luca's head finally lifted. The strain he was under was etched in the tenseness of his features and the blazing heat of his darkened eyes.

She ran her fingers down the curve of his cheek. ‘Please, Luca.'

His lips curved in a slow, sensual smile, then without saying a word he rose in one fluid motion and almost casually lifted her into his arms.

He lowered her on the bed, carefully pausing to smooth her hair around her face. Kneeling over her, he ran his tongue over her quivering lips before plunging deep inside her mouth…again and again.

Her hands slid off his shoulders as he levered himself away from her and Alice opened her eyes. In the grip of wild and uncontrollable emotions she cried out. ‘I love your mouth…'

‘That,' he said thickly, ‘makes me happy.'

Eyes half closed, she ran a finger along the swollen outline of her own full lips. ‘Good, I want to make you happy.'
Because I love you.

He didn't respond to this husky confidence, but the hands that were sliding her trousers down her legs developed a tremor.

Moments later she was completely naked.

‘You're beautiful.' The primitive need stamped on his features made the breath catch in her throat.

‘Even with this?' She moved her hand to cover the ugly scar faded now to a thin white line on her abdomen.

‘What are you—?' she cried out in startled confusion as both her hands were imprisoned either side of her head. Luca's big body curled over her. His eyes blazed angrily down at her.

‘Never try to hide yourself from me, Alice.'

She felt overwhelmed and excited by this masterful display. ‘I won't.'

He scanned her face, then, apparently satisfied with what he saw, grinned. ‘I feel pretty overdressed.'

She watched—how could she not?—her heart beating fast as he fought his way out of his clothes with flattering urgency and a total lack of self-consciousness.

He was every bit as breathtakingly magnificent as she had imagined. A flush ran over her skin as she lowered her eyes and swallowed; he was very aroused.

The mattress gave as Luca joined her on the bed. He laid his hand on the curve of her hip as he stretched out beside her until they lay thigh to thigh.

Alice turned her body towards him as she laid a tentative hand on his flank. She was shaking. ‘I've wanted to touch you for such a long time.'

A sigh shuddered through Luca's body and she felt the vibration through her fingertips.

‘Then touch me,
cara
,' he rasped, kissing the side of her mouth.

Alice accepted his invitation until his painfully aroused body could bear no more. He slid his hands between her smooth thighs. A keening cry of pleasure left her throat as his exploration deepened.