by Sarah Morgan
Enjoy what? What was she going to do for three hours?
‘What’s this all about? Please tell me.’
Stefano took her face in his hands and lowered his head so that his mouth was almost touching hers. Almost, but not quite. ‘The next three hours are about you, Liv,’ he said softly. ‘And after that, it’s about us. Lie there and think about that while you’re being pampered.’
Pampered?
The questions flew from her brain as his mouth brushed hers in a seductive, deliberate kiss designed to tantalise rather than provide satisfaction.
Liv’s head swam dizzily as he slowly lifted his mouth from hers and smiled.
‘Enjoy yourself. Think about nothing but yourself. Promise?’
How could one kiss cause so much havoc?
Trying to control the fireworks in her insides, Liv allowed herself to be led through the elegant hotel lobby. Feeling like the only person in the world who wasn’t in on a secret, she followed the man into a lift, which slid soundlessly upwards to the top floor of the hotel. The doors opened onto a tranquil, luxurious spa overlooking the rooftops of London.
Stunned, Liv glanced around her at the acres of cool marble, glass and mirrors. ‘What is this place?’
‘I believe that most women believe it to be the place closest to heaven, madam,’ the man said dryly, guiding her towards an immaculately groomed woman in a white uniform. ‘This is Irina. She will take very good care of you.’
The next three hours passed in a blur of scented oils and relaxation. Liv was taken into a softly lit room filled with the exotic flowers and the relaxing sounds of tiny, bubbling fountains. Having changed into a soft white robe, she was given a massage that almost sent her to sleep.
‘I’ve never had one of these before,’ she murmured, ‘but it’s heaven. I don’t want it to end.’
Irina covered her with a warm towel. ‘Unfortunately it has to be a little shorter than usual because we still need to do your nails, hair and make-up. We don’t have much time.’
Liv lifted her head. ‘Before what?’
The girl smiled. ‘Before Stefano Lucarelli picks you up. The car will be here just before eight. And we want you to look your best.’
‘I have no idea what is going on, and I don’t even care any more,’ Liv murmured, closing her eyes again. ‘The only downside is realising what I’ve been missing all these years. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get through the rest of my life without a massage a day.’
* * *
Glancing at his watch, Stefano strode through the doors of the hotel and into the foyer.
They were cutting it fine, but hopefully the traffic would be in their favour.
Unless she was late.
Simmering with impatience because he’d given the staff of the spa a very precise brief, Stefano lifted his phone out of his pocket and was just about to blast someone into outer space when he saw her.
Her silver gown shimmered and sparkled under the lights. It fell from her neck to the floor, skimming her incredible curves and displaying just enough cleavage to ensure that none of the men in the hotel were able to continue a conversation. Her hair had been swept up in a style that was both elegant and contemporary and was held in place by a single white gold and diamond snowflake.
Stefano gave a satisfied smile. The white gold and diamond snowflake that he’d chosen. Matching diamond snowflakes dangled from her ears, sparkling against the slender column of her throat.
The only colour was the vivid red of her scarlet mouth and the green of her eyes, which were looking at him with a mixture of excitement and nerves.
Mentally congratulating himself, Stefano strode across to her and lifted her hand to his lips. ‘You look stunning.’
Her eyes were on his, anxious, seeking reassurance. ‘Really?’
‘Do you need proof?’ He slid his other arm round her waist and pulled her against him. ‘I’m beginning to wish we weren’t going out.’ His eyes drifted to the tempting shadow of her cleavage. The way he was feeling, he just wanted to check into the nearest room and rip the silver dress from her delicious body.
‘I’m presuming we’re going to the ball?’
Her excitement was infectious and he smiled. ‘What makes you think that?’
‘I don’t suppose you went to all this trouble to take me for a bowl of spaghetti at Luigi’s,’ she joked, ‘and given that Anna currently has my child, and I’m wearing an amazing dress—Did you choose the dress?’
‘I gave them the jewellery and a brief.’ A brief to make sure that she looked sexy, glamorous and incredibly feminine.
They’d excelled themselves, he decided, dragging his gaze from her lips and scanning her body.
‘This dress is amazing and the diamonds…’ She lifted her fingers to the snowflakes dangling from her ears. ‘I’m scared to wear them. What if I lose them?’
‘They’re yours to lose or to keep.’ Stefano shrugged. ‘Enjoy them.’ Knowing how fiercely independent she was, he braced himself for an argument, but she gave him a delicious smile that increased the heat in his groin by a thousand degrees.
‘I know I ought to argue with you and insist on giving them back,’ she confided, ‘but I can’t. I love them too much. Does that make me greedy?’
‘No, it makes you a woman.’ A gorgeous, captivating sexy woman. ‘It also makes me pleased. It’s always nice to know that a gift is well received.’ Engulfed by an explosion of raw, savage lust, Stefano was starting to wish he’d arranged for a private dinner instead of a very public, glittering Christmas ball.
‘I feel like a woman. I feel…fabulous. The dress is just amazing and I’m never going to take it off.’
She glowed like a candle and he couldn’t take his eyes from her face.
‘I will be the one taking it off, tesoro,’ Stefano murmured huskily and watched with satisfaction as her pupils dilated and her lips parted. Soft colour touched her cheeks and the fact that she couldn’t hide the way she felt about him simply intensified the almost agonising ache in his groin.
‘Stefano.’ she sounded breathless. ‘I honestly—It’s been such a long time—’
He covered her mouth with the tips of his fingers. ‘Anything you have forgotten, I will remind you.’ Seriously aroused, Stefano dragged his eyes from her lush, quivering body and glanced towards Reception. Check in, find the room—he could be working on her self-confidence in less than four minutes.
‘What’s the matter? Shouldn’t we be going?’ She tugged at his sleeve. ‘We don’t want to be late. I don’t want to miss a single minute of the dancing.’
Torn, Stefano glanced into her sparkling, excited eyes. ‘You want to dance?’
‘Of course I do. Have you any idea how long it is since I danced?’
‘The same length of time since you last had sex?’
‘Longer. You’re going to have to tear me off the dance floor. I just love the way this dress feels against my skin.’ Clearly enjoying her transformation, Liv circled her hips seductively and Stefano inhaled sharply, wondering how he was going to make it through the evening without exploding.
A man seated nearby dropped his glass and it shattered on the marble floor much to the irritation of his large, rather plain wife.
Deciding that he’d better remove Liv from the hotel before she was responsible for more marital disharmony, Stefano drew her arm through his. ‘Did they give you a coat of some sort?’ He glanced towards the door. ‘It’s snowing outside. You’ll be freezing.’
She turned and picked up a wrap of soft, white fur from the sofa next to them. ‘It isn’t real fur of course, but it looks amazing, don’t you think? It’s like being wrapped in a cloud.’
Pleased by the change in her, Stefano smiled. ‘What’s happened to the woman who loved her elephant pyjamas?’
Liv’s eyes sparkled as brightly as the diamonds she was wearing. ‘You’ve corrupted me. I’ve discovered that being rich and pampered is a life I could enjoy. Does that wor
ry you? Because it probably should. I think I might be about to transform into a greedy, grabbing gold-digger.’
‘You have a great deal to learn before you reach the status of gold-digger.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘We need to leave. The ball started five minutes ago.’
‘We’re late?’
‘Just late enough to make a grand entrance.’
* * *
Liv stood at the top of the sweeping staircase that led down to the ballroom. ‘Oh my goodness, it’s so pretty. I feel really Christmassy all of a sudden.’
Beneath her the room sparkled with festive lights and every table was sprinkled with tiny silver stars and decorated with generous bunches of holly and mistletoe. In the centre of the room a Christmas tree rose up towards the ceiling and a huge star rotated slowly, sending shards of light across the dance floor.
A jazz band was playing Christmas songs to welcome the guests and Liv smiled, so caught up in the excitement of the atmosphere and the sheer indulgence of the moment that it took her a moment to realise that the hum of conversation had dipped and that everyone was staring at her.
‘Oh…’ Her courage faltered slightly and then she felt Stefano’s hand cover hers.
‘You’re stunning. That’s why they’re staring.’ His tone was amused as he smiled down at her and his smile was so intimate and sexy that she couldn’t look away.
‘They’re probably wondering how long it’s going to take me to fall out of this dress,’ she muttered. ‘I don’t want to create a spectacle.’
With a slow, deliberate movement, he pulled her against him and brought his mouth down on hers, kissing her in full view of the entire hospital staff. His kiss was as skilled as it had been that first time and Liv melted like wax under a flame, oblivious to the stir they were causing. It was only when Stefano reluctantly lifted his head that she realised that a dreamy silence had descended on the ballroom. And everyone was still staring.
‘I was trying to stay out of the limelight,’ she said in a strangled voice. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’
‘Staking my claim,’ Stefano said calmly, leading her down the stairs. He stopped a waiter, helped himself to two glasses of champagne and handed her one. ‘Every man in the room was looking at you. I just wanted to make it clear that you’re mine.’ His possessive declaration made her stomach flip.
‘I’m not yours!’
‘Not yet…’ The devil danced in his eyes as he lifted his glass in a silent toast. ‘But you will be, tesoro.’
His words robbed her of thought and breath and Liv forgot about the people watching them. Standing in the full glare of his appreciative masculine gaze, she felt truly beautiful. And desperately nervous. He really did seem to be suggesting that—He was implying—
‘I’ve been living under your roof for two weeks and you…’ she licked her lips ‘…you haven’t—’
‘No, I haven’t.’ His eyes held hers and a faint smile touched his mouth. ‘Max was understandably unsettled by all the changes and I didn’t want to make things worse by introducing yet another new factor into his life. I’m assuming from Anna’s comments about your sex life that he isn’t used to seeing you with a man.’
‘So is this what tonight is all about? Are you delivering Anna’s Christmas present?’
‘This has nothing to do with Anna.’ Stefano lifted a lean brown hand and gently brushed his fingers over her cheek. ‘This is about us. I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since the first moment I laid eyes on you. The past fortnight has been a real test of willpower, believe me.’
Liv had to force herself to breathe. Stefano Lucarelli wanted her. This staggeringly handsome, rich, sophisticated man wanted her. And this time she didn’t doubt his sincerity because it shimmered in his eyes in a blaze of raw sexuality.
She felt light-headed, dizzy and ecstatic, as if she’d just swallowed the entire glass of champagne in one gulp. Having lived like a nun for four long years, believing that no man would ever find her attractive again, it was a heady experience to suddenly have an incredibly sexy man looking at her in the way Stefano was looking at her. The fact that he wanted her filled her with elation and trepidation.
He didn’t love her, she knew that.
She wasn’t going to fool herself that for him it was anything more than sexual attraction.
But what was it for her?
She didn’t know. She certainly hadn’t contemplated another relationship.
And while he was looking at her the way he was looking at her, she couldn’t think rationally.
Maybe it didn’t matter, she thought helplessly.
Even if she only had this one night, maybe that was just what she needed. Proof that she was an attractive woman. A boost to her confidence.
He was still holding her, his strong hand in the centre of her back, his thumb stroking her bare flesh as the chemistry devoured them both. His head was bent towards hers, and she found herself mesmerised by the sheer masculinity of his features. His face was lean and handsome and his jaw was already showing the beginnings of dark shadow, but what really held her attention was the heat in his eyes.
The atmosphere between them was so charged that Liv couldn’t think straight. Trying to catch her breath, she placed her hand in the centre of his chest and felt the steady thud of his heart under her fingers. For a moment she was totally lost in him, transfixed by the look in his eyes, seduced by the feel of hard male muscle and warm skin.
Neither of them said a word and yet with look and touch they shared something impossibly intimate and she knew that had they not been in public, it would have been now. Right now. Right here.
Stefano said something in Italian and released her with obvious reluctance, and she sensed the sudden dramatic increase in his tension levels.
Breathless, excited and dizzy with longing, Liv was wondering why he’d let her go when she realised that everyone was sitting down to dinner.
As he steered her towards their table, she was hyper-aware of him, her heart rate doubling with every glance he sent her, her skin tingling with anticipation as his arm brushed against hers.
Part of her wanted to be outrageous and suggest in his ear that they just go home, but another part of her was enjoying the glamour, the glitz and the sparkle of the Christmas ball. And the intoxicating, dizzying knowledge that Stefano Lucarelli wanted her.
She felt irresistible, and she wanted the feeling to last for ever.
It was hard to give any attention to the man seated on her other side because for her no one existed except for Stefano and just the thought of what was to come made her stomach perform acrobatics.
The waiters removed her first course untouched and then served her main course.
‘I thought working mothers need carbohydrates.’ Lifting his glass to his lips, Stefano glanced at her untouched plate. ‘What has happened to your appetite? You’re not hungry, tesoro?’
‘No.’ Her stomach performed another flip. ‘Not really.’
He rose to his feet and held out his hand. ‘Then let’s dance.’
Liv wasn’t sure that her legs would hold her but she let him lead her onto the dance floor.
He curved her against him in a decisive, possessive gesture that made her heart skip. Brought into close contact with his lean, hard body, she felt an unfamiliar flash of heat explode inside her. Her hands slid upwards to his powerful shoulders and then locked around his neck.
The music had tempted quite a few couples onto the dance floor, but Liv was oblivious to everyone except Stefano and she had a feeling that that was exactly the way he wanted it.
The anticipation of what was to come was almost suffocating. Warmth spread through her pelvis, turning her limbs to liquid and Liv gave a little shiver and slid her hands through the hair at the back of his neck.
The tension levels between them had reached the point of explosion and when a shower of tiny silver stars drifted onto the dance floor drawing gasps of delight from all around them, Stefano finally
eased her away from him and stared down at her.
‘Time to go home, I think,’ he breathed softly and guided her back to the table. They collected her bag and her wrap and left the ballroom to find the limousine waiting.
Liv slid into the warmth of the luxurious interior, but it was impossible to relax. Instead of savouring every second of the experience, she found herself desperate to arrive at his apartment and she suspected he was experiencing a similar degree of urgency because he suddenly lifted a hand, undid his tie and loosened his top button.
His eyes met hers for a brief, electrifying moment and she felt that look right through her body.
Why was she feeling this way?
Was it just because she hadn’t had sex for such a very long time?
Or was it something more?
She didn’t know. All she knew was that being with him felt right. Slightly scary, but right.
Outside, the streets of London were eerily empty, the snowfall muffling sounds and giving the city an ethereal quality that seemed to add to the tension of the moment. Shop windows shone and sparkled with festive decorations as the car purred silently through the wintry atmosphere and emerged in Knightsbridge.
Her high heels echoed on the marble floor of his apartment building, the sound reminding her of a dramatic drum roll announcing the grand finale of the evening. It was only as they walked into the lift and Stefano pressed the button for the top floor that reality hit her.
Suddenly consumed by a violent attack of nerves, Liv tried to extract her hand from Stefano’s, but his fingers held her firmly.
‘You are glamorous and beautiful and stop thinking otherwise.’
Wondering how he could read her so easily, she shot him an embarrassed glance. ‘Am I that transparent?’
‘Yes,’ he murmured, his eyes surprisingly gentle. ‘Unlike most women, you are refreshingly easy to understand.’
‘It’s the dress that’s glamorous and beautiful,’ she said in a strangled voice. ‘Underneath, I’m still me.’
‘I really hope so. I’m relying on that fact.’ Turning her to face him, Stefano slid his hands over the curve of her bottom and drew her against him. And then he brought his mouth down on hers.