She whirled round, her eyes widening with interest. ‘What did you say?’
‘Take your shoes off.’
‘Oh. Shoes. Right. Yes.’ She shook her head as if she’d been thinking of something else entirely.
He nodded. ‘Come paddle with me. It’s the best remedy after a hard day’s work.’
‘Not skinny dipping this time? Oh, come on, don’t look so sour, Lucas, you can’t pretend it didn’t happen.’ Reaching with her good hand to slip off her sandal, she lost her balance and cried out, gripping his arm and laughing. ‘If I fall it’ll be all your fault, Dr Beaufort.’
But he was there, catching her, holding her, lowering her to the sand. He slipped her shoes off and they put their feet in the cool water, watching as it lapped lazily at their ankles. She was right, it had all happened and keeping a stiff upper lip about it wouldn’t change a thing. He needed to loosen up.
‘Is it okay if I...?’ She leaned her head on his shoulder. ‘Can I ask you a question?’
His heart hammered as he realised he preferred the joky kind of loosening up to the answering questions kind. ‘Depends what it is.’
‘Why me, Lucas? You could have any woman you want—yes, you could.’ She laughed as he shook his head. ‘Why me? Was it just because I was there? Was I...convenient?’
‘God, no.’ He hadn’t been sure what she was going to ask, but he sure as hell hadn’t imagined this. He thought back to that weekend. First impressions. The way she’d insinuated herself under his skin. And he tried to be honest...even though he’d never said anything like this before to any woman. Mainly because he’d never thought or felt anything like this before. ‘You dazzled me, Gigi. You were so fresh and vibrant and happy and fun. Everything I’m not. And that bikini...wow. You’re seriously beautiful. The question you should really be asking is why did you choose me? The serious, dependable, boring older man?’
He felt her shiver against him. ‘Your kisses are far from boring, Lucas. You are amazing. Gorgeous, dedicated, handsome. Your passion for your job shows the minute you walk into the hospital and lasts a long time after you’ve left. You’re older, sure, and that has a definite appeal—I am so over men my age. You just can’t trust them.’
‘What does that mean? I’m pretty sure I’ve always been the same me.’
‘I imagine you have, but some guys need to grow the hell up.’
‘What happened?’ His interest was piqued.
She shook head. ‘I want to talk about you, Lucas. That’s far more interesting. When we met you were very aloof and out of reach, which, let me say, is also very sexy. At first, I admit, I thought you were a challenge. I wanted to know if I could...well, I wanted to seduce you.’ She lifted her head and turned to look at him. ‘God, I sound so childish...but you turned me on the moment our eyes met.’
‘And was I so easy to seduce?’ He laughed as he drank in her beautiful features, her heated eyes, that perfect kissable mouth. Wanting to stay in this moment with her, he pushed back the cryptic comment that had accompanied the sudden hardness in her eyes as she’d talked about immature men. Something had happened and he was going to find out...later.
Right now, Lucas wanted to remember the seduction of that August weekend. ‘I tried to do the right thing.’
‘You put up a bit of a fight, sure.’ She smiled, her eyes glittering.
He wanted a rerun of that weekend. No...he wanted this Gigi, the one who was carrying his child who could be sincere and focused and yet light-hearted. Who took her responsibilities seriously and yet saw the fun in everything. He wanted to make love to her here on the sand, in his bed back in Seattle, even in his gilt-edged suite at the palace. He wanted her.
She swallowed as she looked at him and he knew she was feeling the same tumult of emotions. This was getting deeper, their connection getting tighter, more complex. ‘Oh, Lucas, I liked your loyalty to your friend, that you had standards. I liked it that you liked me too, but thought you shouldn’t. That kind of...oh, chivalry, I guess, is lacking these days and is very sexy.’
His eyes roamed her face, dipping to her mouth. He could still taste her. Wanted to again. ‘And now?’
She smiled. ‘Nothing’s changed. I still think you’re sexy, but also deep and thoughtful. I know you can laugh and play, but you keep forgetting how. I think it’s my job to help you remember.’
‘Oh?’
She nodded, her hand creeping to his chest. ‘And did I mention sexy? We could... You could kiss me again.’
He ran his thumb over her bottom lip, wishing, wanting to put his mouth there. ‘You know I want to. But, like I said, you dazzle me. You make me want things I can’t have.’
‘You can have me.’ Her eyes glittered again and she smiled, whispering the last word against his throat. ‘Tonight.’
He inhaled her scent. Curled towards her throat. Imagined stripping off that dress. There was nothing he’d rather do. Nothing. So saying what he said next was damned hard. ‘But that will cloud our judgement. Make decisions more difficult. If we’re going to get through this with any sanity we have to just stay friends. Like today...we’ve got on well. We’ve talked; I feel as if we’re making progress building a foundation for the future and for our child. We’re having a good evening...at least I am.’
‘We can make it even better.’
‘Or a lot worse. Do you think we will be able to work things out when we’re clouded by our emotions? Do you think we’ll be able to decide what’s best for our child when we’re kissing each other senseless? And what next? We both know a relationship is unlikely. We can’t go on chasing each other halfway around the world just for sex. What about when one of us decides they want to have a proper relationship with someone...more suitable?’
By that he meant she was destined to marry someone royal. Not a doctor. Not him. One day she’d tire of her sensible plaything and get real with someone out of his league, and then where would he stand?
And how would his heart recover? Because he knew...he knew that, to him, this was much more than desire. He liked her, admired her, enjoyed her. Wanted to spend more and more time with her, and that could only be to the detriment of both their futures.
‘More suitable than a...stupid, silly princess, you mean? I thought you were different, Lucas, but it turns out that you’re just like everyone else,’ she ground out, as the tease whooshed out of her.
Then she pressed her lips together and he watched her shrug on the metaphorical royal armour, straighten her back, her eyes glazing with an emotionless film, visibly retreating behind decorum. An eerie sangfroid she’d been taught to wear her whole life, to cover up any emotional reactions in public.
He’d expected her to shout at him, even wanted her to, but she was so quiet, so contained, so in control that it scared him. And he’d made her like that by his safeguarding and sensible choices. Yeah, he was the stupid one, not her. Never Gigi.
How to wind the clock back? ‘Giada, I—’
‘No.’
It was too late. He knew he’d pushed her away one time too many.
She scrambled up, grabbed her sandals and walked up the beach, waving goodbye and blowing kisses to Angelo, pretending everything was just fine. When in reality Lucas had just made everything a million times worse.
CHAPTER NINE
‘GIADA, WAIT. WAIT!’
No.
She did not, would not wait for him. This was the last straw. She wasn’t going to allow this to happen again. She was going to close herself up, instead of being an open book. She should have learnt that lesson with Leandro. Thought she had. Where were her promises not to get involved again? What happened to her resolve to keep every man at an emotional arm’s length? To play and not let her heart get embroiled? And yet here she was, making a fool of herself, offering herself up on a plate, just to be rejected. Again.
‘Wait! Giada
!’
She only stopped because she’d reached the car, so she whirled round to look at him. ‘Why? So you can reject me again?’
The driver’s side door blasted open and Maria was there, her hand at her hip, ready to grab her weapon, eyes darting from Lucas and then back to Giada. ‘Your Highness? Is everything all right?’
‘Yes, it is, Maria. We’re just...’ Lucas glared back at Giada’s right-hand woman, breathing hard and fast. If he was shocked at Maria’s readiness to intervene, he didn’t show it.
‘What exactly are we just doing, Lucas?’ Giada asked him, unable to keep the anger out of her voice.
‘I need to talk to you. In private.’ He glowered at Maria and then back at Giada. Neither of them moved. Something flickered behind his eyes. ‘Oh, hell. Okay. Giada, come. Now.’
‘Where?’
He took her hand and tugged her back towards the restaurant, then swerved sharp right to the secret cove. Before they’d even managed to close the gate he pushed her gently back against a tree.
‘Gigi.’ His hands cupped her face. ‘Come back to me. Come back.’
‘Who?’ she threw at him. ‘The Silly Princess?’
‘No. You’re not. You’re... God, I can’t even say it. I’m so...damned tied up.’ He closed his eyes and she could see the struggle in him. She knew how hard it was for him to let go of his control. How he feared rejection so much that he was always so buttoned up. How he feared what might happen tomorrow so he wouldn’t take the best from today, from her.
But then he stroked her hair back from her face and looked deep into her eyes. And just like that very first time, she saw him make his decision, saw the clarity and need in his gaze.
‘I want you. My Gigi, not the polite public face. I want you. The real Gigi. The one with heart and soul. The one who cares deeply, who fights fiercely. The one who loves fun and wants nothing more than to enjoy life, and why not?’ He shook his head as if realising something for the first time. ‘Why the hell not take what we can, when we have the chance? We don’t know what’s around the corner.’ He took her bandaged arm. ‘Or when something bad might happen. Grab that chance, right? With both hands.’
My Gigi. Her heart squeezed. These angry moments were raw and ugly but each one brought them closer and closer. He just needed to stop fighting it. They both did. What they had was something she’d never experienced before, something intense and imperfect and yet beautiful and wonderfully wild. Who knew if she would ever have it again?
She pressed her palms, both the good one and the sore one, against his cheeks and laughed. ‘I’m here. Your Gigi. And I’m not going anywhere until you’ve kissed me.’
‘I can’t... I can’t stop this... I try to hold back but I can’t. It’s like there’s an invisible force compelling me towards you. I thought I’d got over it after you left but you walked back into my ER and bang! Here it is again.’
Then there was no more talking because he slid his mouth over hers and her body almost exploded with desire. How could she feel this way about someone who was so utterly different from her? So wrong in so many ways? How could she want so much from him? With him?
But he saw her. Knew her. Saw beyond her title and her money, saw the real Gigi, and he wanted her.
His kisses brought her home, made her new. She wanted...oh, she wanted so much. Everything. She wanted to feel him against her, on her. In her. Wanted and wanted and wanted until she thought his kisses and his touch would never be enough.
His hands moved over her body, slipping the flimsy straps of her dress over shoulders, freeing her breasts so he could suck her nipple.
‘Yes,’ she moaned, arching her back at the sensation of his wet mouth on her tender skin.
Dio. She wanted his mouth everywhere.
She reached through the space between them so she could cup him, stroke him.
He groaned into her hair. ‘Are you sure this is safe?’
‘I’m not going to get pregnant, because I already am.’ She laughed. ‘Surely a doctor should know that?’
He raised his head and his gaze snagged hers, so intense, so true. Raw hunger filled his eyes. A desire so pure and bright she felt it in her soul. And then he smiled...not just his mouth but his whole face, his body, shrugging off that stern tightness. ‘I need to be inside you, Gigi. I meant...is there a chance anyone can see us here?’
‘It’s dark. No one apart from Maria knows we’re here. And Angelo, possibly, if he’s seen my car is still here.’ She clamped her arm around his neck as he made to step away from her. ‘Don’t go.’
‘There’s nowhere I’d rather be than with you.’
But she knew that wasn’t true. Sure, for tonight he’d stay, but he’d go back to Seattle soon enough. But they had tonight. They had this.
‘But...’ He kissed her again, hard, then stroked her face. ‘I am not going to put you at risk of being caught out here with me, doing the kind of things I want to do to you.’
‘Lucas,’ she moaned as her imagination ran riot. ‘I don’t care about being caught.’
‘I do. This is not my private beach, it’s someone else’s. We don’t know who we can trust.’
‘But Angelo is...’ Not wanting the magical spell to break, she nibbled Lucas’s ear. And from her own bitter experience she knew well enough not to trust anyone. ‘I just love it here. I’m sure—’
‘We are going back to the palace.’ He slipped the straps of her dress back onto her shoulders.
She grabbed his arm. ‘I can’t run the risk that between here and the palace you’ll put your Captain Sensible head on and leave me all aching and frustrated.’
‘I want you, Gigi. I will still want you at the palace. And tomorrow, and the day after. You make me want to be Captain Slightly Less Buttoned Up. Captain Spontaneous. Captain Devil May Care.’ Laughing—such a joyous melodic sound coming from his throat—he crushed her against the bark, enslaving her mouth with deep, wet, hungry kisses.
When she drew breath she giggled, pressing her body against his to feel the outline of his erection against her thigh. Wishing they were naked. Wishing he wasn’t Captain Sensible trying very hard to be someone he wasn’t. But she liked him all the more for trying for her sake and she knew she could only push him so far. She wiggled against his erection, making him groan. ‘Captain Seriously Sexy.’
‘Who is taking you back to the palace. We are going to bed. But don’t worry...’ he traced a fingertip down the front of her dress, between her breasts, making her shiver in anticipation ‘...I am not going to let you sleep for a very long time. Do not argue.’
He linked his fingers in hers and walked her back to the car. ‘How fast can Maria drive this vehicle?’
‘I’ll ask her to step on it.’
She could barely breathe, feeling the heat of his body next to hers, knowing he wanted to be inside her...wishing he was. But when he slipped his hand out of her grip and stroked her thigh, bunching her dress in his fist so he could access higher and higher, she thought she was going to die of frustration and need. They couldn’t get home fast enough.
As they walked through the front door the security guard nodded. ‘Goodnight, Your Highness.’
‘Goodnight, Enrico.’ She waved, upping her pace. Bedroom. Now.
Lucas fell into step behind her, following her up the grand staircase. They passed one of the housekeepers, who gave a little bow. ‘Sleep well, Your Highness.’
‘You too, Nicole.’
It wasn’t until they’d turned the corner into the empty corridor leading to the Napoli suite that Lucas caught her hand again. ‘Is there ever a moment when this place isn’t like Piccadilly Circus? Where have all these people come from?’
She laughed. ‘They live here.’
‘You have no privacy. Ever.’
She remembered how they’d made love in his bath, in
his pool, in his kitchen, not having to worry about being seen, and wished they were free to roam around her house, doing the same. She sighed against him. ‘It’s my life.’
‘I don’t know how you live with so many people underfoot all the time. I value my freedom too much.’ He shook his head. He didn’t want this kind of life, that was obvious.
But he did want her.
They reached the door to his suite and she hesitated. He tugged her into the shadows, pressing his mouth to her throat. ‘I don’t suppose there’s one of those secret corridors between here and your rooms?’
‘Indeed there is. Why do you think I suggested you stay in this particular suite?’ She giggled against his chest, breathing in his scent of something wild and male that drove her crazy with desire.
‘I love how you future-proofed my stay.’ He grinned.
She shrugged, her fingers playing across the neckline of her blouse. ‘What can I say? I’m an eternal optimist.’
‘Is it easy to find? In the dark?’ The growl in his voice drove her sexual hunger up a notch.
‘Oh, Captain Sensible, I’m turning you! You love this cloak and dagger life, right?’
‘If it means I get to undress you again, then yes.’
‘It’s just there.’ She pushed open the door to his suite and pointed to a panel in the wall. ‘I’ll come to you.’
‘You’ll come with me. Over and over.’ He pushed her hair back and kissed behind her ear. ‘You have sand on your cheek, Princess Gigi.’
‘I’ll shower.’
‘No,’ he growled. ‘We can do it together.’
* * *
She was nervous. Stupid, considering they’d done this before. Even more stupid because she was carrying his child and they were connected in so many ways. But there it was. She wanted to be perfect for him, but her legs shook a little as she descended the steps between her rooms and his. What if...what if this wasn’t perfect? What if she let herself fall under his spell, gave him her heart and he stamped on it?
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