VITTORIO'S WOMAN (The Vittorio Series) (7 page)

To say she was anxious to catch a glimpse of Simon was the understatement of the year, the proof was in the erratic thumping of her heart and the air that seemed to have trapped itself in her lungs.
  It was silly to be standing at the window; the helicopter pad was too far away for her to see it land, but Lilly couldn’t seem to help herself.

It took some time for the car to make it back to the house
.  Lilly had moved from the hall window to one of the spare rooms with a view of the front driveway.  She held her breath as Gaetano and Luc helped Simon out of the car and into his wheelchair.  Disappointment rolled through in her waves when she saw that he was wearing dark glasses, but it was the fact he kept his gaze pointed straight ahead and his face perfectly expressionless that made the bottom drop out of her stomach.  She kept hoping he would turn his head, that he would glance around or look at any one of the four people surrounding him, but he didn’t.  Lilly wanted to cry.  There was no indication at all that he could see.

She waited until he’d been taken inside then hurried back to her room and grabbed the book she’d borrowed from Simon’s library and curled up in one of the cushy armchairs.
  Not that she thought he would come rolling into her room as soon as Gaetano got him upstairs, but just in case he did, Lilly didn’t want him thinking she’d been pacing the floors waiting for him.  She understood now why Milana hadn’t called her; the poor woman had probably been so distraught she hadn’t even thought about it.  Lilly only wished she’d had more time to prepare herself so her voice wouldn’t give her away when she faced him.

It took an excruciatingly long time before she heard them enter Simon’s room
, and though she should have been ashamed of herself for leaving the adjoining door open a few inches, she was too busy trying to hear what they were saying to worry about the impropriety of it.  For all the good it did, she thought a moment later, because they were all speaking in Italian.  It was several minutes before the voices died down and then stopped altogether, a good indication they’d left Simon alone, and it was several more before she heard him call for her.

She rose slowly from the chair, forcing herself to remain calm.
  No matter what, she couldn’t let him hear the emotion in her voice.  Not an easy feat, considering she was close to tears and her heart was stuck in her throat.  Lilly crossed the room, one hand pressed to her belly in a futile attempt to quell the gymnastic routine that was taking place. 

She inched the door open and stepped inside, each hesitant step taking her closer to the bed where Simon sat with his back propped against the headboard, his long legs stretched out in front of him.
  With a sinking heart, she saw that he was still wearing the sunglasses, his expression as unreadable as it had been when they’d helped him out of the car.  She stopped just a few feet from the bed.

“Did…did you need something?”
 she asked, cursing herself for sounding so feeble.

Simon patted the spot beside him.
  “Sit next to me.”

Lilly swallowed back a groan.
  She didn’t want to get that close to him.  It would be too easy to reach out and touch him, too easy to get lost in the nearness of him and forget all the firm resolutions she’d made in the long hours since he’d been gone.  But she did it anyway.  Because Simon asked her to.  She sat down on the edge of the bed, turning slightly so that she was facing him.

“Simon, I…I don’t know what to say.”

Simon reached up and drew his glasses off then tossed them on the nightstand, his eyes never leaving her face.

“
Bellissimo
,” he said softly.  “You are so beautiful,
cara
, much more beautiful than I…imagined.”

Lilly’s brows drew together.
 
Imaged
?  She’d been so sure Simon remembered her from the party, had truly believed that was the reason he’d been attracted to her.  Obviously she was mistaken and he had no recollection of ever having seen her before, which made her wonder if his confession about trying to seduce her so she’d feel compelled to leave was the real motive after all. 

Lilly’s stomached knotted painfully, because if that was true then the purpose for Simon’s plea to make love had merely been a shock tactic to scare her off.
  Oh, God, no wonder he’d said those awful things to her; he’d never intended for it to happen.  But when she’d hopped into his bed naked as the day she’d been born, what was he supposed to do?  Afterwards, he’d been appalled by what they’d done and naturally blamed her.  It was too humiliating for words.

Simon couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
  He’d almost slipped and told her she was as beautiful as he remembered but thankfully caught himself in time.  She was thinner than she’d been when he’d first seen her, and her skin seemed abnormally pale, but other than that, the image he’d kept of her in his mind was exactly the same; glossy blonde hair, eyes as blue as a clear summer sky, lips that begged to be kissed.  His gaze swept over her, drinking in every detail before returning to her eyes.  So expressive they were, mirrors to a heart that was obviously troubled.

“Come closer Lilly, I can barely see you in this dim light.”

“I could open the drapes if you like,” she offered, flinching at the panicked sound of her voice.

“No bright sunlight, doctor’s orders.
  Now come closer.”

“Honestly
, Simon,” she huffed as she inched forward, “if I get much closer I’ll be in your lap.”

“A brilliant suggestion,” he grinned then reached out and hauled her backwards onto his lap.
  “Much better,” Simon whispered, his mouth already descending on hers.

“Wait!
  Simon, we…we have to talk.”  Lilly squirmed in his arms, realizing a little too late that her bottom grinding against his groin only made matters worse.

“No,
cara
,” he growled softly, “I have waited too long to see this.” 

Lilly’s feeble attempt to resist him fizzled and died with the first light caress of his lips.
  So much for being a pillar of strength and keeping her distance, she thought as her fingers curled around the back of his neck.  Her resentment over the horrible things he’d said went by the wayside too, and by the time Simon’s arms tightened around her and his tongue started doing the most delicious tango with hers, Lilly had forgotten every single argument she’d come up with for leaving. 

Liquid goo, that’s what she felt like; hot, melty, spineless liquid goo.
  Dear God, the things he did to her body, her mind, her reckless heart.  She was pretty much at his mercy when he finally drew his head back, a sexy grin pasted to his face.

“
This
is what I have longed to see,
mio amore
.”  His finger trailed down the side of her face.  “Your skin flushed from my kisses, your lips full and moist, but it is the look in your eyes at this moment that I wanted most to see.”

She shifted uncomfortably and tried to make light of it.
  “What look would that be,” she laughed, “shell shock?  Post-lobotomy maybe?”

Simon’s eyes sparked with amusement.
  “There is that,” he agreed.

Lilly’s expression suddenly sobered.
  “We have to stop doing this, Simon.  I can’t think when you kiss me and we both know it will only lead to disaster.”

“How can anything that feels so good lead to disaster?”

“It wouldn’t, not for you.  I may be a bit naïve, Simon, but I’m not stupid.  I don’t mean any more to you than all the other women you’ve been with.  I’m just…convenient, that’s all.”

“Convenient,” he repeated, rolling the word around in his head.
 

Yes, it was definitely convenient to have the woman he loved living in his house, sleeping in the room next to his.
  Although it would be a hell of a lot more convenient if she was sleeping in his bed and he was able to make love to her properly.  Simon reached up and gently brushed the stray curls back from her face.  So naïve, his sweet Lilly, only he hadn’t known just how naïve or innocent she was until he’d returned to his room a short while ago.  And now she was here in his arms, her eyes so haunted and sad because she thought she didn’t mean anything to him. 

Simon hugged her to him.
  “Do not say that ever again,” he said fiercely.  “You are very special to me,
cara
, and I do not consider you a
convenience
.  You feel it too, I know you do.  Say it,
carissima
, say you have feelings for me.”

Lilly kept her cheek pressed against his chest.
  If she looked at him now he would see it in her eyes, and she wasn’t ready to confess her love for him just yet.  She wasn’t sure she trusted him and she sure as hell didn’t trust herself, not when she had all the will power of a bee in a flower garden when it came to Simon.  Still, some small part of her begged her to open up at least a little bit and give their relationship a chance to grow.

“I
do
care for you Simon, deeply, and it scares me to death.”

“Why should it scare you?”

“Because I’ve never felt this way for any man before, and because I’m afraid that what you feel for me isn’t real.  Not that I think you’re deliberately being dishonest,” she rushed to assure him, “but it’s not uncommon for a patient to have a sense of…gratitude for their caregiver.  It’s often  misinterpreted as lo…something more intimate than it really is.”

Simon cupped her chin and gently forced her head back.
  “Make no mistake, Lilly, I am extremely grateful.”  He kissed the corner of her mouth.  “I am grateful you have come into my life.”  He kissed the other side.  “I am grateful that I am not one of those patients who is confused about their true feelings.”  Simon’s mouth hovered just over hers.  “And I am grateful that you understand this because it means you will allow us to continue what we have begun.”

Lilly’s pulse jumped when he brought his lips so close she could almost taste them.
  “Please, Simon,” she whimpered helplessly, “you’re not listening to me.”

“But I
am
listening.  You want to know if what we have is real.  So tell me, my darling,” he whispered, “does this feel real to you?”

Of all the bone-melting, mind-scrambling, heart stopping kisses Simon had given her before, this one left them all in the dust.
  It was more sensual, more intense, more…everything.  Lilly had only been intoxicated a few times in her life but she distinctly remembered it feeling a lot like this.  Her thoughts were jumbled and disjointed, her body flushed and feverish, and she was so lightheaded there was no doubt she’d crumble in a heap if she attempted to stand up. 

Considering the radical responses from the rest of her body, it seemed doubly odd that her heart rate had slowed down to a snail’s pace, beating as sedately as if she was asleep.
  But it wasn’t until she let her hand slip from around his neck and her palm settled on his chest that she understood the full impact of it because Simon’s heart was thumping just as lazily as hers was.  It wasn’t sexual, Lilly thought with some surprise; that was the key factor in what made this kiss so different. 

Oh, she was warm and tingly all right
, and there were at least a million or so butterflies fluttering around in her stomach, but there wasn’t that frenzied sexual need to strip him naked and have her wicked way with him.  There was just…the kiss; a deliciously gentle, fairytale kiss that made her believe in castles and knights and happily ever after.  That’s when Simon lifted his head, and with only a few whispered words, managed to burst her soaring bubble of dreams and send it plummeting to the ground.

“Sleep with me tonight,
cara mia
.”

A good dousing in ice water couldn’t have cooled Lilly off faster.
  She pulled away from him, her voice as chilled as the blood in her veins.  “I can’t believe you, Simon Vittorio!”

Genuinely confused by the abrupt change in her demeanor, Simon wasn’t quite sure how to handle it.
  “I did not mean to upset you, Lilly.  I only thought if we slept together…”

“Oh, I know what you thought and what you were thinking
with
,” she said caustically.

Simon’s lip twitched but he didn’t dare let himself smile, though it was incredibly difficult not to.
  Lilly was exquisite when she got her temper up, and right now she looked as if she would just as soon strangle him as look at him.  Obviously she’d misunderstood, and he probably should have tried to clear it up right away, but Simon was not a man to deny himself pleasures, and the temptation to see just how worked up she’d get was simply too much.

He smiled indulgently, speaking to Lilly as if she was a temperamental child.
  “Now
cara
, do not upset yourself.”

She met his composed gaze with a murderous glare.
  “Upset myself?  I am
not
upsetting myself,
you
are upsetting me!  You suck me in with this beautiful speech about how grateful you are to have me in your life and how
real
your feelings are and then turn right around and negate everything you said by asking me to have sex with you.  Your arrogance is unbelievable, and I have no intention of…”  Lilly’s tirade ended in a surprised squeak when Simon pulled her up hard against his chest. 

“
Madre di Dio
,” he growled softly, “you are the most exciting woman I have ever known.”

Lilly planted her hands on his shoulders to keep him from kissing her.
  “And you, Simon Vittorio, are the most infuriatingly thick headed man
I
have ever known!  I don’t want to kiss you,” she gritted as his mouth drew nearer in spite of her efforts to hold him back.  “Damn it, Simon, I’m not one of your fawning starlets who’s just dying to tumble into bed with you.” 

She was struggling in earnest now, for all the good it did her, but she was furious at him for ruining everything and making her feel like an even bigger fool than she did before.

“
Mio tesoro
, my darling, stop fighting me.  We both know you want to kiss me,” he goaded her. 

Lilly let out a frustrated growl.
  “Kissing isn’t the problem, it’s what the kissing leads to.  Or rather what you were
hoping
it would lead to.”

“You amuse me,
Lilly.  I do not recall asking for anything more, nor did I do anything to suggest otherwise.”

“What?”
 she squeaked incredulously.  “How can you say that with a straight face?  You asked me to have sex with you!”

“You are mistaken,
carissima
.”

Lilly’s temper blew sky high.
  “I know what I heard, and there aren’t too many ways to interpret what you said.  Oh, I don’t blame you for trying.  God knows I made it easy enough for you the first time, it’s just that I thought you were different. But of course you’re not,” she laughed derisively.  “You’re a man, oh boy are you ever, so naturally you think with your…” 

Lilly gasped when she suddenly found herself staring up into a pair of incredibly dark eyes.
  How had she ended up on her back with Simon looming over her?

“
Essere
tranquillo
,” be quiet, he ordered.  “You and I need to work on our communications skills with one another, my little wildcat.  I did
not
ask you to have sex with me.”

“You most certainly…”
  Warm lips and a brief but passionate kiss cut her off.

“You will listen to what I have to say or get more of the same for each interruption,” he warned.
  Lilly opened her mouth then quickly clamped it shut again.  “Very wise decision.”  Simon chuckled when she lifted her chin obstinately, pressing her lips even more tightly together.  “I should have phrased it differently, then perhaps you would still be kissing me instead of fighting me.  When I asked you to sleep with me tonight, that is exactly what I meant.”

“I don’t believe…”
  Damn, his punishing kisses were turning her insides to mush and she didn’t want to be turned into mush, she wanted to stay mad at him.

Simon reluctantly ended the kiss
, though he had faith Lilly wouldn’t be able to maintain her silence for long.  He studied her face for a moment; flawless skin that felt like silk beneath his fingertips, stubborn little chin and high cheekbones, lips that tasted like heaven, and those big baby blues of hers.  Was it possible to fall in love all over again each time he looked at her?  He didn’t dare let his thoughts stray to her body, not when he was bent on convincing Lilly he wanted more from her than just sex.

“When the doctor removed the bandages and I was told my eyesight had not been damaged, do you know what my first thought was?”
  Simon hoped she’d say something so he could kiss her but she merely shook her head so he continued.  “I thought…how wonderful it would be to sleep with you, to hold you in my arms and kiss you good night.  I wanted your beautiful face to be the last thing I saw before I fell asleep and to open my eyes in the morning to the same lovely vision.”

“Oh
, Simon,” she whispered ruefully, “is that really what you meant?”

“
Si, mia bella
.  I have never spent the night with a woman before, but I could think of nothing else from the moment the bandages were removed.”

The warmth in Lilly’s eyes faded.
  “You’ve never spent the night with a woman,” she repeated in a tone that was flat and disbelieving.

“Not the entire night, no.
  I make no excuses for the number of lovers I have taken, but I promise you none of them meant more to me than a warm body to pass the time with.  I have never invited a woman into my own bed, it was always their place we went to, and I never once stayed until morning.”

Lilly wasn’t entirely convinced.
  Oh, she believed that he’d never brought a woman to his own house because it was easier to avoid any issues of commitment if he could get up and leave when he wanted to.  And she believed he’d never stayed until morning and that he’d never allowed himself to feel anything for any of them.  What she didn’t have complete faith in was his reasons for asking her to share his bed.

“So…when you asked me to sleep with you, was it your bed or mine you had in mind?”

Simon grinned.  “
Cara
, this is my house, both beds belong to me.”

“My point exactly.
  It’s not as if you could suggest we go to my place since I don’t have one, and even if I did, commuting wouldn’t be very practical considering we’d have to travel by helicopter or boat.  So you really had no choice but to…”

A low growl vibrated in the back of his throat.
  “You are trying my patience woman.  Why is it so hard to believe that my feelings are sincere?”

“It’s
because
of all those other women,” she said miserably.  “There’s nothing glamorous about me.  I’m not especially beautiful, and except for the fact that I happen to be the only single female on the island that’s not married or related to you, I just don’t understand how you could be attracted to me.”

Simon considered that for a moment.
  “Let me try to explain so you will understand.  All those other women…they were like shiny stars and I was fascinated by them for a short time, but they were not unique, Lilly.  Each star was just the same as the last so I moved on, searching for one that was different, special.”  A soft smile curved his lips as he gazed down at the rapt expression on her face.  “You, my darling Lilly, outshine every woman I have ever known.  If they are stars then you are the sun, blocking out their insignificant light so that I see only you.”

What defenses could she possibly muster against something that?
  His words, the husky rasp of his voice, the tender look in his eyes; they all conspired together to strip away the last layer of resistance.  Lilly slowly inched her arms around his neck and drew his mouth down to hers.  She was tired of fighting it, tired of pretending she didn’t want him more than her next breath.  She belonged to him, had been his for the taking from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. 

Having accepted that she would be Simon Vittorio’s woman for as long as he wanted her, Lilly raised the white flag and surrendered her heart.

                                                               ***

Lilly’s eyelids fluttered open, a groggy smile playing on her lips when she discovered Simon propped up on one elbow, eyeing her as if he was ravenous and she was breakfast.
  A jolt of electricity zinged through her body when one long finger made a feathery trail down the side of her face then coaxed her chin up so her mouth was in a prime position to be kissed.  Except he didn’t kiss her, he simply fixed his gaze on her lips until the heat of it sent shivers racing up and down her spine.

“Are you waiting for an invitation?”
 she asked, surprised by the sexy husk in her voice.

Simon’s focus moved from her mouth to her eyes, his breath hitching in his throat for a moment to see such undisguised desire in their depths.
  He’d promised Lilly there would be nothing sexual about sleeping together, that it was all about the intimacy of holding each other and giving her a part of himself he’d never even offered another woman before.  But now he wasn’t sure he could hold to his end of the bargain, not if he kissed her the way he wanted to…or the way her eyes were begging him to.

“Perhaps I should ask what the invitation entails before I decide if I should kiss you or not.”

A searing heat shot straight through her, and for the first time in her life, Lilly didn’t even consider doing the sensible thing.  Because doing the sensible thing meant leaving Simon’s bed for the safety of her own room and giving up the incredible warmth of his body.  She wanted to lose herself in his kisses and experience once again the rapture of making love to him.  She wanted Simon to touch her, to feel her skin tingle when his calloused hands glided over her skin, and she wanted him to make this torturous ache between her thighs to go away.  It was her decision, he’d made that clear, but she’d already made her decision the night before.  She belonged to him, and right now she needed him to make that possession complete.

Lilly giggled at the disappointed look on his handsome face when she pushed him back, but it was quickly replaced with a triumphant smile when she made her intentions clear by peeling off her nightie and matching panties.
  He whispered her name on a sigh, his dark eyes growing even darker when she boldly straddled him and took him inside of her. 

She was ready for him, her slick moistness making Simon’s entry only slightly uncomfortable as her sore muscles stretched to accommodate his size.
  He was impossibly hard, and the friction of his rigid flesh against her much softer inner muscles made her moan out loud as she began to gyrate her hips.

Tiny explosions erupted throughout her entire body as if someone was setting off charges, blasting her relentlessly until they melted into one huge fiery burst of scorching flames.
  She rode him through it, a second climax beginning to mount even before the first one had wrung what it could from her.  Spurred on by the needs of her own body and the rasping pleas from Simon to have mercy on him, Lilly abandoned the measured rise and fall of her hips, impaling herself on him with an untamed fury that should have embarrassed her.  Instead it made her feel wild and free, their primal mating more exhilarating than anything she’d ever experienced.  It wasn’t until much later, after they’d made love for a second time then bathed and prepared to eat breakfast that it hit Lilly. 
They hadn’t used protection
.

She dropped down into the chair beside Simon, her legs suddenly too wobbly to hold her up, and watched in numbed fascination as he devoured his food with vigor.
 
It hasn’t occurred to him yet
, she thought.  It couldn’t have, otherwise he’d be sitting there with his stomach churning like hers was and beating himself up for being so irresponsible instead of plowing down his breakfast like there was no tomorrow. 

Lilly mentally counted back the days to her last cycle and grimaced.
  Not that she was an expert on ovulation, but she’d taken a course in Human Growth and Development as part of her major in college.  If memory served her right, she and Simon had made love three times smack dab in the middle of her most fertile period.  She cast a furtive glance at him, wondering how he was going to react to the news he could very well have fathered a child in the past twenty-four hours. 

Simon swallowed down the last of his eggs, immensely pleased with how the morning had unfolded.
  He reached for his coffee and lifted it to his lips, noticing for the first time since they’d sat down that Lilly hadn’t so much as taken one bite of her food.  Oh, she was putting on a good show of shuffling it around on her plate but it was obvious she was lost deep in thought and wasn’t conscious of what she was doing.